rabble radio

This week on rabble radio, rabble contributor Doreen Nicoll sits down with David Fancy, a disability advocate and co-founder of the Well Earth Collaborative. Fancy talks about his own experience with an "invisible" disability and how it affects his life and work, and about co-founding Well Earth Collaborative with Dr. Riina Bray. About David Fancy David Fancy is a professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University, the co-founder of Well Earth Collaborative, an experienced disability advocate, and is finishing training as a registered psychotherapist. Well Earth Collaborative "pursues reciprocal healing between humans and the earth" by educating people about environmental health and providing tools for those living with environmental health issues. To learn more about Well Earth Collaborative, visit their website here. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on the show, rabble labour reporter Gabriela Calugay-Casuga sits down with Doug Allan, a researcher for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), to discuss the crisis in and surrounding Ontario's healthcare system. About Doug Allan Doug Allan has been a researcher for the Canadian Union of Public Employees for over 30 years. He writes the blog Defend Public Healthcare. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on the show, national politics reporter Scott Martin speaks with Donald Kingsbury to talk about Canada's historic and present relationship with the Organization of American States and foreign policy in South and Central America. This month, Stuart Savage was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS). Notably, Savage previously served as Canadian ambassador to Haiti between October 2019 and November 2021. In an article by Martin this week, he wrote: "The appointment of Savage to serve as ambassador to the OAS shows the relation between Canada's spotty history in Haiti, the imperialist function of the institution, and Canada's role in its implementation." Here to break down that spotty history is Donald Kingsbury. About Donald Kingbury Donald Kingsbury teaches political science and Latin American studies at the University of Toronto. His work centers on extractivism, decarbonization, and social movements in the Americas. Don's recent work can be read in Environmental Politics, The Journal of Political Ecology, Cultural Studies, The Anthropocene Review, The and Latin American Research Review. His latest book, Populist Moments and Extractivist States in Venezuela and Ecuador: The People's Oil? (with Teresa Kramarz) examines the role of oil economies for states in Latin America and grassroots responses to environmental harms and political exclusion that come with extractivist politics across political affinities. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on the show, national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell sits down with Leta McCollough Seletzky, author of The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. About Leta McCollough Seletzky Leta McCollough Seletzky grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and now lives in Walnut Creek, California. A litigator-turned-essayist and memoirist, her work appears in The Atlantic; the New York Times; the Grio; O, The Oprah Magazine; the Washington Post, and elsewhere. Her essay "The Man in the Picture," published in O, The Oprah Magazine, was selected as a notable essay in Best American Essays 2019. She holds a BA from Northwestern University and a JD from the George Washington University Law School. The Kneeling Man tells the life story of Seletzky's father and his witnessing of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Learn more about The Kneeling Man here. Photo of Leta McCollough Seletzky by Gretchen Adams. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, labour reporter Gabriela Calugay-Casuga sits down with Patrick DeRochie, the senior manager at Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health. The two discuss how Shift is fighting to protect pensions and the climate. "We track Canada's 11 or 12 largest public pension plans, together they have over $2 trillion Canadian and assets under management. What we've found so far in our research is that none of these funds are aligning their massive investment portfolios with climate safety, with limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and ensuring that their own beneficiaries have a safe climate future to retire into." – Patrick DeRochie. About Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health Patrick DeRochie is the senior manager for Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, a charitable project that mobilizes pension plan members to engage their investment managers on the climate crisis. At Shift, DeRochie is focused on tracking and analyzing the fossil fuel investments and climate plans of Canadian pension funds and building a network of pension beneficiaries advocating to invest their retirement savings in a zero-carbon future. Previously, DeRochie was climate and energy program manager with Environmental Defence Canada and a political organizer with SEIU Healthcare, one of Canada's largest healthcare labour unions. DeRochie has been deeply involved in developing federal and provincial climate and energy policy and regulations and acts as a regular commentator in national media. Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health is a charitable initiative that works to protect pensions and the climate by bringing together beneficiaries and their pension funds on the climate crisis. Shift helps Canadians understand where their retirement wealth is invested by tracking pension fund investments and strategy. Shift helps educate and empower Canadians on how to engage constructively with their pension funds to address the climate crisis. Do you want to take action today? Want to learn more about who your own pension manager is? Learn more about Shift and the work they do here. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, we share a segment from our most recent episode of the Courage My Friends podcast series, hosted on Needs No Introduction. In this episode of Courage My Friends, podcast series, host Resh Budhu sits down with Ana Guerra Marin and Dara Wawaite-Chabot of Iron & Earth. The three discuss what a just transition can look like for those working and living in Canada's oil patch and for Indigenous communities. About our guests Ana Guerra Marin, communities director and just transition lead, started her career in Colombia, listening to and empowering oil, gas and mining workers at various work sites through forming partnerships and understanding worker issues. As Marin delved into the extractive industries, she became more aware of how important it is to address the environmental and socio-economic impacts she was witnessing, and how urgent it is to create long-lasting solutions rooted in community-based initiatives that focus on the most vulnerable persons. This started a 15-year career focused on helping communities achieve self-determination through social and environmental justice in Latin America and Canada. As a white, cisgender, immigrant woman with invisible disabilities, Marin recognizes her position in the world and challenges societal ideas by creating transformative change through a praxis informed by intersectional and Black feminism, womanism, critical race theory, Indigenous Peoples' knowledge, decolonization, and critical consciousness. Dara Wawaite-Chabot, Indigenous lead researcher, is a single parent who studies political science full-time at the University of Ottawa and works part-time for Iron & Earth. They support their small family by creating art and working remote contracts fighting for environmental justice in so-called Canada. The Courage My Friends podcast series is presented by rabble.ca and the Tommy Douglas Institute, with the support of the Douglas Coldwell Layton Foundation. If you'd like to hear more from the Courage My Friends podcast, please subscribe to Needs No Introduction – a podcast by rabble which presents a series of speeches and lectures from the finest minds of our time. Available on rabble.ca, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and more. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, Stephen Wentzell sits down with Red Buffalo Nova, an Ojibwe Two-Spirit, transgender artist, filmmaker, and storyteller to talk about how their multi-layered Indigenous identity informs their creative and professional work. About Red Buffalo Nova Weipert Red Buffalo Nova Weipert (he/him/they/them) is an Anishinaabe Ojibwe, Two-Spirit and transgender interdisciplinary artist, writer, director, educator and storyteller. Nova is a proud enrolled member of the Pinaymootang First Nation located in Treaty 2 territory, and is a recent graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. They are a long time collaborator, producer and video mentor with Access to Media Education Society (AMES) and their work has screened at festivals such as imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (2021) and Vancouver Queer Film Festival (2022). If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, we feature a segment from our most recent Off the Hill political panel. This month, our theme was 'Off the Hill: Truth before reconciliation.' This month, our Off the Hill panel was informed by National Indigenous People's Day. From coast to coast to coast, Canadians want to see reconciliation – but are they willing to hear the truth first? Our June panel dissected this question and more. Special guests this month included: Joan Phillip, Melanie Mark and Rachel Snow. Hosted by Robin Browne and Libby Davies. About our guests Robin Browne is Off the Hill's co-host. Robin is a communications professional and founder of the 613-819 Black Hub, living in Ottawa. His blog is The "True" North. Libby Davies is Off the Hill's co-host and author of Outside In: a Political Memoir. She served as the MP for Vancouver East from 1997-2015, and is former NDP Deputy Leader and House Leader. Joan Phillip is a respected community leader and Indigenous Elder who has dedicated her life to fighting for social justice, human rights, and climate action. Her work experience includes youth counsellor at Britannia School, program director at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre, and lands manager for the Penticton Indian Band. Melanie Mark served as the MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant from 2016 to 2023. Mark is the first First Nations woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and the first First Nations woman to serve in the Cabinet of British Columbia. Mark is Nisga'a, Gitxsan, Cree and Ojibway. Rachel Snow is Iyahe Nakoda, the daughter of late Reverend Dr. Chief John Snow. She holds a juris doctor from the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan and is an outspoken educator, speaker, writer and co-contact person for the Indigenous Activist Networks. Rachel resides on her ancestral lands in Mini Thni which is west of Calgary, Alberta. Rachel is also a columnist for rabble. Photo: Tungsten Rising on Unsplash If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell sits down with Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter who has made headlines over the past four years as he created tiny shelters for the houseless population in Toronto. Wentzell and Seivwright discuss the need to provide meaningful quality of care for the houseless and also speak about the audience response to Someone Lives Here, the recent documentary following Seivwright's work during the COVID-19 pandemic. About Khaleel Seivwright Khaleel Seivwright is a carpenter known for formerly building tiny shelters for unhoused people in Toronto in the fall of 2020. Currently he is working with a team building tiny home communities for unhoused people in Toronto. In 2021, rabble columnist Cathy Crowe followed Seivwright's important work and his fight with the City of Toronto and then-mayor John Tory throughout his process. Someone Lives Here follows Seivwright during the COVID-19 pandemic as he launched a project of building small private shelters for homeless people in Toronto, against the bureaucratic resistance of the city government. The film premiered at the 2023 Hot Docs Festival where it was awarded the Rogers Audience Award. Join us for Off the Hill next week for National Indigenous People's Day On Wednesday, June 21 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET, join us for our final Off the Hill political panel before our summer hiatus. This month, we focus on National Indigenous People's Day. What is causing the slow-moving action on the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada? What can Landback look like across Turtle Island? And are we any closer to true reconciliation? Register for this free event today! If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, rabble contributor Doreen Nicoll sits down with Ontario educator Frank Domenic to discuss the state of Ontario's universal health care system. Health care privatization in Ontario is something rabble writers have been closely following over the past year. For further reading, please see the following pieces: Linda McQuaig – Ontario's shift to private health care will cost much, much more (May 23, 2023) Doreen Nicoll – Groups working to save public health care in Ontario (May 18, 2023) Karl Nerenberg – Doug Ford's private surgery plan is driven by ideology not innovation (January 17, 2023) rabble radio – The ongoing fight against privatized healthcare (September 16, 2022) rabble radio – The privatization of long-term care homes in Ontario must be stopped (May 6, 2022) About our guests Frank Domenic is a teacher in Ontario who creates content on social media focusing on news and politics, ranging from global issues to niche local Ontario content. You can follow him on Twitter @TheFrankDomenic and on TikTok @frankdomenic. Doreen Nicoll is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to rabble.ca She is diligently working to end poverty, hunger, and human rights abuses across Canada and the globe. Join us for Off the Hill On Wednesday, June 21 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET, join us for our final Off the Hill political panel before our summer hiatus. This month, we focus on National Indigenous People's Day. What is causing the slow-moving action on the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada? What can Landback look like across Turtle Island? And are we any closer to true reconciliation? Register for this free event today! If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.