rabble radio

Hello and welcome to rabble radio. It's Friday, January 28, 2022. I'm Breanne Doyle, the host of rabble radio. Thanks for tuning in. rabble's got its finger on the beat of the stories that matter to you. If you're curious about the latest in Canadian politics, labour, environment, or health – you've come to the right place to find the stories that matter to you. Free of corporate influence. This week we'll cover two stories on the growing tension between Russia and Ukraine. We ask the question that's on everyone's mind: how likely is it that this situation becomes a war? Plus - our national reporters cover Quebec's Law 21 and the Halifax police force looking to define "defunding the police." We'll check in all that and more, a bit later on in our show. First, rabble contributor Libby Davies joins political scientist Dr. Jeanette Ashe again this week. It's part two of their special two-part series. Dr. Ashe and Davies discuss what responsibility political parties have in upholding gender equality in Parliament. They ask what success might look like when we implement equity mandates. Dr. Ashe is the Chair of the Political Science Department at Douglas College. She's also a Visiting Faculty at the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, King's College, London. She also advises legislators on drafting legislation on gender equity and democratic reform. Libby Davies is the 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. Libby's also a recipient of the Order of Canada. Here are Libby and Jeanette in conversation, in part two of our two part special. Take a listen: (interview – 22 mins) That was Dr. Jeanette Ashe in conversation with Libby Davies. You can hear part one of their conversation from last week's episode. Thanks for that, Dr. Ashe and Libby, it's always great to hear from the both of you. Now, it's time for a segment we call, In Case You Missed It. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. This week rabble.ca delves into the growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Guest writer Fred Weir has been living in Russia and writing about the former Soviet Union since 1998. In his article, he asks: how likely is Russia to invade Ukraine? He implores readers to consider, despite the widespread media expectations of a blitzkrieg-like invasion, an all-out Russian assault on Ukraine is less likely than they might think. Rather than going to war, Weir writes, "Russian foreign policy experts suggest that an acceptable outcome for the Kremlin would be to create a system of neutral states between NATO and Russia, perhaps something like Finland or Austria during the Cold War." Weir also notes that the idea of war is largely unpopular for Russian citizens. He points to a survey by the Levada Center in Moscow, which found 54 percent of Russians felt positive toward Ukraine, compared to 31 percent who did not. As tensions mount as a result of speculation about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, columnist Bill Blaikie reflects on how things might have been different. Blaikie highlights key moments in Russia's recent history, from the Cold War until now, pondering the question: What role did the West have in creating the situation at hand? In Canadian Politics, senior national politics reporter Karl Nerenberg reports on the declining support for Law 21, which the Quebec government enacted back in 2019. In December, a school board in western Quebec transferred a teacher from her Grade 3 classroom to a behind-the-scenes role because she wore a hijab. In January, the firm Leger Marketing conducted a poll on attitudes toward Law 21 for the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies that found support for the law in Quebec has dropped from 64 per cent to 55 per cent. More importantly, the poll found a huge generation gap in attitudes toward Law 21. While older Quebecers still support it strongly, over 70 per cent of young people in the 18-to-24 age group do not support it. Meanwhile, Stephen Wenzell looks to the Halifax Regional Municipality which is set to become the first jurisdiction in Canada to define the phrase "defunding the police". The move comes as the result of a report that features 36 recommendations to reallocate resources away from the police to more appropriate service providers. Also on the site this week, columnist Rachel Snow criticizes the National Post for publishing a piece she deemed a "racist, historical slant that counters the lived experiences of thousands of First Nation peoples." The piece, written by National Post columnist Barbara Kay, keeps colonial narratives alive implying that residential schools were somehow beneficial for Indigenous children and that the unmarked graves found of hundreds of Indigenous children simply can't be true. Snow writes: "These narratives state that the kidnapping and forced labour of First Nation children in residential schools did not happen." rabble contributor David Climenhaga was among the first to report on far-fight influence in the online campaign for rolling truck blockades to protest vaccine mandates. Climenhaga argues the campaign raises questions about the potential use of the GoFundMe site to get around election financial reporting laws for what are clearly intended to be political campaigns attacking one party. That was, in case you missed it. You can find all those stories and much more, on rabble.ca rabble.ca is proud to announce the return of our Off the Hill political panel series in February. The theme of the upcoming show is: Who's budget is it, anyway? A new federal budget is about to be announced that will affect us all in big and small ways. Our panelists will focu s on deconstructing and understanding what a federal budget is all about: why is it important and what power does the government really have in designing a federal budget? We will also zero in on what a federal budget could look like for ordinary people to benefit. You can register to attend the entire panel on Thursday, February 10 in the link in our bio or catch a highlight of this event on our February 11th rabble radio episode. The last thing I'd like to leave you with today is this: rabble's annual fundraiser is on the go and we are looking for indie media heroes! Is that you? Please consider making a donation at rabble.ca/donate. The generous support from our readers is what makes it possible for quality journalism to support transformative political action. And that's it for rabble radio this week. Thanks as always for tuning in. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast app you use. 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. If you have feedback for the show – ideas, stories, opinions you'd like us to cover – I'd love to hear about. Get in touch with me anytime at editor@rabble.ca. Thank you to Libby Davies and Dr. Jeanette Ashe for their interview this week. Thanks also to Stephen Wentzell and Karl Nerenberg for their reporting - and Karl, too, for supplying the music. Thank you to all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca. And lastly, thank you to you for tuning into rabble radio. I'm Breanne Doyle, and I'll talk to you next week. Credit for photo: Roya Ann Miller / Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/nlmq5jC9Slo

Hello and welcome to rabble radio. It's Friday, January 21, 2022. I'm Breanne Doyle, the host of rabble radio. Thanks for tuning in. rabble's got its finger on the beat of the stories that matter to you. If you're curious about the latest in Canadian politics, labour, environment, or health – you've come to the right place to find the stories that matter to you. Free of corporate influence. This week we talk about why hazard pay isn't enough for our front-line workers in grocery stores. We'll also mark the passing of former NDP leader, Alexa McDonough. Karl Nerenberg and Monia Mazigh share their stories of Alexa. We'll check in all that and more, a bit later on in our show. First, rabble contributor and former NDP Deputy Leader and House Leader, Libby Davies, interviews political scientist Dr. Jeanette Ashe. In part one of this special two-part series, Davies and Dr. Ashe delved into the question of what a gender-sensitive parliament would look like. They take on topics of the gender-based heckling that takes place among elected representatives in our government, and how COVID-19 has affected women in politics. Dr. Ashe is the Chair of the Political Science Department at Douglas College. She's also a Visiting Faculty at the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, King's College, London. Her research interests include political recruitment, political parties, representation, and gender and politics. She is the author of Political Candidate Selection: Who Wins, Who Loses and Under-representation in the UK. Other recent publications include Gender Sensitivity Under Trudeau: Facebook Feminism or Real Change?, and Canada's Political Parties: Gatekeepers to Parliament . Dr. Ashe advises legislatures, parties, and organizations on assessing gender and diversity sensitivity. She also advises legislators on drafting legislation on gender equity and democratic reform. Libby Davies is the 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. Libby's also is recipient of the Order of Canada. Here are Libby and Jeanette in conversation, in part one of our two part special. Take a listen: (interview – 22 mins) That was Dr. Jeanette Ashe in conversation with Libby Davies. Join us again next week when we'll hear part two of that conversation. Thanks for that, Dr. Ashe and Libby. Looking forward to it. Now, it's time for a segment we like to call, In Case You Missed It. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. This week rabble remembers Alexa McDonough. McDonough was Canada's first woman to lead a major political party when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic in 1980. She passed away on Saturday, January 15, 2022 at the age of 77. Monia Mazigh was a close friend of McDonough. In her column, recalls how Alexa McDonough stood by her when her husband, Maher Arar, was held in US custody for two weeks after a family vacation in Tunis. Mazigh recalls McDonough standing against injustice when the Canadian government became complicit with the American authorities. The Americans had rendered her husband to Syria – a country he had not called home since he was 17 years old. Mazigh writes: "Alexa was not intimidated by the whispers that warned her my husband was a "hot potato." She stood with me and remained faithful to her principles of social justice and human rights. In 2003, my husband came home after spending more than a year in prison where he was never charged with any crime and endured torture. Upon his return, Alexa continued to be a pillar in our road towards justice." Karl Nerenberg shares a history of some of the highs and lows of McDonough's political career. He praises her as single-handedly re-building the NDP's presence in the Maritimes. There she established the party as a force for social justice and positive change on the national scene. That paved the way for her NDP successor, Jack Layton. Nerenberg observes: "Keeping the movement alive and relevant during its darkest hour might, indeed, be Alexa's greatest legacy." Also this week on the site, Stephen Wentzell criticizes grocery store CEOs reaping record profits while their grocery store workers remain among the lowest paid workers in Canada. Grocery chains in our country instituted hazard pay for a brief moment at the outset of the pandemic two years ago. But now, workers are back to unsafe conditions, minimum wage, and, often, with little or no paid sick leave. Wentzell writes that, even with a so-called "hazard pay" pay increase, it still leaves many low-income Canadians far from a livable wage. Lisa Cameron, writer and organizer with the Halifax Workers' Action Centre, tells rabble.ca that workers have devoted themselves "tirelessly" to their frontline work, while being both "underpaid and unappreciated." "Major grocery chains should recognize the risks undertaken by their employees and compensate them accordingly," Cameron says. "Even if these grocery chains reintroduce hazard pay for their employees, the fact remains that the minimum wage is too low across the country." Cameron adds that governments can't keep trusting employers to do the right thing when it comes to paid sick days, livable wages, and access to health and dental coverage. "These aren't decisions that we ought to leave in the hands of employers. These are decisions that ought to be determined by law," Cameron says. The last thing I'd like to leave you with today is this: rabble's annual fundraiser is on the go and we are looking for indie media heroes! Is that you? Please consider making a donation at rabble.ca/donate. The generous support from our readers is what makes it possible for quality journalism to support transformative political action. And that's it for rabble radio this week. Thanks as always for tuning in. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast app you use. 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. If you have feedback for the show – ideas, stories, opinions you'd like us to cover – I'd love to hear about. Get in touch with me anytime at editor@rabble.ca. Thank you to Libby Davies and Dr. Jeanette Ashe for their interview this week. Thanks also to Stephen Wentzell and Karl Nerenberg for their reporting - and Karl, too, for supplying the music. Thank you to all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca. And lastly, thank you to you for tuning into rabble radio. I'm Breanne Doyle, and I'll talk to you next week. Credit for photo: Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/TzVN0xQhWaQ

Hello and welcome to rabble radio. It's Friday, January 14, 2022. I'm Breanne Doyle, your new host of rabble radio. Thanks for tuning in. Where is Chelsea? Where, indeed. Well, as some of you may be aware, our dear Chelsea Nash has taken a job at the Hill Times in Ottawa. We'll miss her here at rabble, and wish her well! You may have heard my name on this podcast before - I've been behind-the-scenes here at rabble radio since we launched in October. I've been the podcast editor and chase producer - so I'm no stranger to the show. I'm excited to be bringing you the news you need to know from rabble.ca every week! So, let's jump right in. The top stories of this week include Omicron in our schools. National politics reporter Stephen Wentzell asks: "What will it take to open schools safely?" Some authorities say children have to get back to the classroom as quickly as possible. But epidemiologists warn that if we re-open in-person education without smaller classes and better ventilation schools will become "the single largest contiguous block of unvaccinated people." We'll discuss that and more, a bit later on in our show. First, a different story from Stephen: We listen to his conversation with Chris Draenos. Draenos is the Community Based Research Centre's National Sexually Transmitted and Blood-borne Infection Testing and Linkage Implementation Manager. Draenos tells Stephen how the company supplies HIV rapid tests across the country. He also explains why - whether in COVID-times or not - having accessible sexual health-care is something the government should focus more attention on. Here are Stephen and Chris in conversation: (interview – 20 mins) That was Chris Draenos in conversation with Stephen Wentzell. You can read more about Chris's work in Stephen's piece on the site this week. The piece is titled: "With health resources stretched, self-tests for HIV/AIDs could be a valuable resource." Thanks for that, Chris and Stephen. Now, it's time for a segment we like to call, In Case You Missed It. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. This week at rabble, our biggest story was - you guessed it - the COVID-19 Omicron variant in Canada. Stephen Wentzell explores the many-sided issue of sending Canadian children back to school after the winter break in the face of the quickly-spreading Omicron variant. The World Health Organization tallied 9.5 million new cases of COVID-19 around the world over the past week. That's a 71 percent spike from the week before. In Nova Scotia, students were supposed to return to in-person classes on Wednesday - that has now been pushed to January 17. The province has also announced it is suspending contact tracing for schools, and this could lead to fewer reported cases and a greater risk of exposure to the wider population. Most importantly, it won't give Nova Scotians an accurate and up-to-date picture of how safe from COVID-19 the province's schools are. Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Strang nevertheless argues that schools are the safest place for children. The province's teachers have a different view. Paul Wozney, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers' Union (NSTU), points out that Strang doesn't work in schools. The research Strang has based his opinion on "does not disclose the real truth" about how COVID-safe schools actually are, Wozney says. Are we stuck in an Omicron cycle? Evelyn Lazare addresses the question in her latest column, writing: "in Canada, we are between a rock and a hard place. Remember when we were trying to flatten the curve? With Omicron, we are, one more time. The only thing that can help defeat Omicron — and the Delta variant — is to increase the number of people vaccinated. We must also continue with masking, hand-washing, social distancing and isolation/quarantine when necessary. This is old news, but it does not make either the rock or the hard place any softer." she says. Also on the theme of the pandemic, columnist Cathy Crowe shares how the collapse of Toronto's shelters under COVID-19 could have been prevented. Crowe reflects on the recent disease history in Toronto. This analysis, she says, proves the decades of neglect has led to the collapse of the shelter system under COVID-19. David Suzuki encourages readers to challenge large corporations on greenwashing habits; until we do, they'll continue to grind up nature and spit out profit where rivers, forests and meadows once stood. And on a different theme, Doreen Nicoll visits Bela Farm, a farming community in Erin, Ontario. Sustainability and community is at the heart of everything it does. In collaboration with Everdale Community Farm, Bela Farm was able to distribute 100,000 pounds of organic vegetables to locals in need this year. Nicoll writes that the story of Bela Farms proves: "It's time to embrace new farming and food systems that benefit many while reducing our collective carbon footprint." Finally, it is with great sadness that the rabble community mourns the loss of author and rabble contributor, Joyce Nelson, who passed away in hospital following an illness, last week in Toronto. Joyce Nelson was the author of seven books and many hundreds of articles and essays published by a variety of magazines and websites – including The Watershed Sentinel and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Over her more than 30 years as a full-time writer, Joyce's work appeared in at least 25 book-length anthologies published in Canada and the U.S. She also created 23 hours of radio documentary broadcast by CBC Ideas, all re-broadcast by popular demand. A sought-after speaker, she lectured at locales as diverse as the Banff Centre for the Arts and Harvard University. Joyce taught at Queen's University and the University of Victoria. She was also an artist and fiction writer, as can be gleaned on her website. Joyce was a long-time and stellar contributor to rabble.ca -- never more so than over the past year when she turned her attention to the climate emergency, exposing the dangerous liaisons between corporate interests and elements of the green economy, and Canada's role in the world, in pieces on such diverse issues as Tech workers challenge the giants who employ them, Big Plastic's trashy lawsuit, Canada's ancient forests are being turned into toilet paper, and Sri Lanka shipping disaster and Canadian consumerism. We encourage everyone to read and share Joyce Nelson's work. Joyce was a long-time and stellar contributor to rabble.ca -- never more so than over the past year when she turned her attention to the climate emergency, exposing the dangerous liaisons between corporate interests and elements of the green economy, and Canada's role in the world. Our deepest condolences to her family, friends and community. That was In Case You Missed It. You can find all those stories and much, much more on rabble.ca. The last thing I'd like to leave you with today is this: rabble's annual fundraiser is on the go and we are looking for indie media heroes! Is that you? Please consider making a donation at rabble.ca/donate. The generous support from our readers is what makes it possible for quality journalism to support transformative political action. And that's it for rabble radio this week. Thanks as always for tuning in. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast app you use. 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. If you have feedback for the show – ideas, stories, opinions you'd like us to cover – I'd love to hear about. Get in touch with me anytime at editor@rabble.ca. Thank you to Stephen Wentzell and Chris Draenos for their interview this week. Thanks also to Karl Nerenberg for supplying the music, and to all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca. I'm Breanne Doyle, and thanks so much for listening to rabble radio.

Hello and welcome to rabble radio. It's Friday, December 17, 2021. I'm the host and the editor of rabble, Chelsea Nash. Thanks so much for listening! Rabble breaks down the news of the day from a progressive lens. It's a good place to catch up and catch on to what's happening in Canadian politics, activism, environment, and so much more. Listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We catch you up on the news of the week and take you further into the stories that matter to you. This week on rabble radio we're reflecting back on our year, highlighting 2021's most newsworthy stories – and let me just say, there were plenty of stories to choose from! 2021 presented a plethora of newsworthy moments for us here at rabble to dive into – from environmental news to Indigenous justice, to politics, rabble was there keeping you up-to-date on all the current news as it happened this year. To begin, let's start on the Pacific side of Canada – all the way at Fairy Creek, British Columbia. This old-growth forest in the southern portion of Vancouver Island has made headlines in the past year, being the site of ongoing protests against old-growth logging. In November, friend of the rabble family Libby Davies interviewed climate activist and land defender Rita Wong. In a clip, Rita discusses her role at Fairy Creek and why the site has had such an impact on activists in B.C.. Keeping the conversation on environmental justice and Indigenous rights, this year rabble correspondent Brent Patterson kept us all up to date on the latest news in his coverage of Wet'suwet'en territory. The protests concerning the construction of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline through 190 kilometres of the unceded lands of Wet'suwet'en First Nation territory have been ongoing, ever since Wetʼsuwetʼen hereditary chiefs opposed the project back in 2010. But it wasn't until last year, 2020, when action really started amping up. On our December 10th show, Brent sat down with sisters Eve Saint and Jocey Alec, Indigenous land defenders who were both criminally charged in the past two years protecting their traditional territory from the pipelines. Here's a clip from that interview of Eve Saint detailing the day she had been arrested. That was Brent Patterson in conversation with Eve Saint. You can listen to the full interview with Eve and her sister Jocey Alec in our December 10th episode – it's an incredibly powerful listen and we so appreciate the two sisters taking the time to speak with us. Thank you also to Brent Patterson for keeping such a detailed eye throughout the year with his coverage of Wet'suwet'en. You can be sure we'll be following this story into the new year. Switching gears now from environmental news to the world of the Internet – this year saw Facebook become engulfed in controversy and ultimately rebranded. In October, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was to be rebranded as "Meta" – however, critics believed that the re-naming was a just distraction from the controversies the social media conglomerate had found itself in. Canadians began to wonder – what will the government do to implement regulations for social media giants like Facebook? To break down this question and all-things regarding policy and Facebook, our national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell sat down with Dr. Michael Geist back in October. Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law. He's also the author of the 2015 book Law, Privacy, and Surveillance in Canada in the Post-Snowden Era. Here's a piece of that interview. This year also saw a snap election, of course; the result being Trudeau being re-elected for a third term as prime minister, with his second minority government. Though the Liberals were no doubt hoping to win a majority government when Trudeau called the election back in August, the results were for the most part unchanged from the 2019 Canadian federal election. Having said that, there was much news to be made out of the election and the actions Trudeau has made since then. Keeping rabble informed and up-to-date on everything going on at Parliament Hill was very own our senior politics reporter Karl Nerenberg. On the site, Karl brought us stories every week detailing how decisions made at Parliament would affect Canadians. In October, Karl joined me on the podcast to discuss Trudeau's cabinet shuffle and suggest why, at 39 members, the cabinet is as big as it is. Take a listen. That was Karl Nerenberg from our October 29 episode when we discussed Trudeau's 2021 cabinet. This month, on our Off the Hill political panel, we delved into Justin Trudeau's government once again, this time dissecting the speech from the throne. To break it down, hosts Libby Davies and Robin Browne prompted our panelists Karl Nerenberg, poet and scholar El Jones, MP Leah Gazan, and Indigenous activist and writer Clayton Thomas-Muller. Our esteemed guests discussed what was said during the speech, what was notably not mentioned in the speech, and what it all meant for activists. Our panelists were in agreement that while pretty words about Indigenous reconciliation, solving climate change, and keeping Canadians safe and healthy through the pandemic were said, the speech was devoid of real substance. MP Leah Gazan speaks in a clip from the panel. Those were our top stories on rabble radio this year. Now let's take a look at the top stories of the week on rabble.ca in a segment we call "in case you missed it." In case you missed it: This week at rabble, the Omicron variant appears to be taking hold around the globe. Have we actually learned anything from the last two years? Are our governments capable of providing support for society's most vulnerable to the virus? Are we making any progress on improving indoor air quality in communal spaces like schools? Are travel restrictions making any sort of difference? As Nora Loreto, author of the newly released book Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic says, "it feels like Groundhog Day." You know, the Bill Murray kind. Here we go again. I reviewed Nora's book this week on the site. It's an insightful, compelling and -- you've been warned -- depressing read about the government and media failure that in many ways paved the way for COVID-19 to wreak the havoc it has. Nora takes readers through the first 18 months of this pandemic: from January 2020 through the end of June 2021. As we well know by now, the pandemic didn't end then, and we are still grappling with many of the same challenges we faced one year ago. However, as Nora proves, at this point, we ought to know better. That's why in Karl Nrenberg's analysis of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's fall economic update, he wonders why there isn't more money being dedicated to improving indoor air quality for Canadians. There is indeed a section of the update most overlooked on Clean and Healthy Indoor Air. The finance minister's update includes a Small Business Refundable Tax Credit of up to $10,000 per location and $50,000 per business organization, which businesses can receive for "eligible air quality improvement expenses." There is, in addition, $100 million for provinces and territories for "improvements to ventilation" in schools, and an additional $70 million to the $100 million the government announced a year ago "to support ventilation projects in public and community buildings such as hospitals, libraries and community centres." It's something, but it's not much, considering the degree to which stopping the spread of this virus entails getting it out of the air we breathe. Speaking of lessons unlearned, over in Alberta, where Premier Jason Kenney infamously declared the pandemic "over" last summer, the government is restricting COVID-19 restrictions for the holiday season, David Climenhaga reports. Groundhog Day, indeed. Also this week on rabble.ca: In case you missed it, 34 people's names were commemorated at this month's Toronto monthly Homeless Memorial on December 14. Of those 34 names, 19 people died inside city shelters in the month of October, writes street nurse Cathy Crowe. In response, the Shelter Housing Justice Network demands that Toronto City Council must immediately strike a task force charged with taking all reasonable steps to reduce such deaths but also take measures to ensure safe shelter, an expansion of housing allowances, harm reduction measures and to stop encampment evictions. In case you missed it, Stephen Wentzell spoke to activists about the federal government's new bill to remove some mandatory minimum sentences from the Criminal Code. Toronto journalist, activist and author Desmond Cole panned the bill as "deeply cynical" and an "incomplete policy" as he calls for all mandatory minimum sentences to be dropped -- including those for crimes involving gangs -- and for life sentences to end. "I just think the government needs to spare us all of the rhetoric about race, when the sentences that they are keeping up will also continue to disproportionately put Black and Indigenous people in jail," Cole said. Justice Minister David Lametti said the government "will continue to address the social determinants of crime" and marked the bill as an important step. And with that, that is our show this week – and for this year. Rabble radio is taking a few weeks off for the holiday season, although the writers and contributors at rabble.ca will continue to bring you the up-to-date news throughout the month, so look out for that. As for rabble radio, you can tune into our next episode on January 14, 2021. If you liked what you heard on this week's show, please consider subscribing wherever you listen to your podcasts. Rate, review, share it with your friends -- it only takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble but it means so much. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. And if you have feedback for the show, I'd love to hear it - get in touch anytime at editor@rabble.ca. I'm your host, Chelsea Nash. On behalf of everyone here at rabble, we want to thank you for tuning in and supporting our show – and we also want to wish you a safe and happy new year! Thanks to our podcast producer Breanne Doyle. Thanks to Karl Nerenberg for the music, and all the journalists and writers who contributed to this year's content on rabble radio, Off the Hill and rabble.ca. Photo by Erwan Hesry at Unsplash

Hello and welcome to rabble radio. It's the week of Friday, December 10. I'm your host and the editor of rabble.ca, Chelsea Nash. This week on the podcast, rabble contributor Brent Patterson interviews Wet'suwet'en land defenders Eve Saint and Jocelyn, or Jocey, Alec. Eve and Jocey are sisters who have been arrested and criminalized for defending their sovereign territory in northern British Columbia from a fracked gas pipeline being built on those lands without consent. Eve was arrested by the RCMP on February 7, 2020, at the Gidimt'en checkpoint blockade at the 44-kilometre mark on the Morice River Forest Service Road. There were 60-100 police officers present, including the Emergency Response Team (ERT), dressed in army green and carrying automatic weapons. Before she was arrested, Eve said to them: "This is Wet'suwet'en territory. We are unarmed. We are peaceful. This is unceded territory. This is the territory of Woos. I am his daughter. You are invaders. You are not allowed here. You are not welcome." Eve was charged with obstruction of justice and held in custody for four days. More recently, Jocey was arrested by the RCMP on November 19, 2021, while inside a cabin at Coyote camp near the 63-kilometre mark on the road. That cabin was built on the Marten Forest Service Road near Morice River to stop Coastal GasLink from drilling under the river to lay the pipe for its pipeline. Jocey was inside the cabin when the RCMP used an axe and then a chainsaw to tear down its front door as an ERT officer pointed an automatic weapon at those inside. Journalist Michael Toledano filmed this dramatic footage of the assault. Jocey was charged with civil contempt for breaching the terms of an injunction granted to Coastal GasLink not released from custody until November 23. Eve has said: "The post-traumatic stress is real. As Indigenous peoples, we don't like to see these images of our relatives and loved ones being invaded with these colonial forces." Take a listen to these two powerful women as they discuss their experiences with Brent. That was rabble contributor Brent Patterson interviewing Wet'suwet'en land defenders Eve Saint and Jocelyn Alec. Now, it's time for the segment we call: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. This week at rabble, a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows just how much higher the risk of contracting COVID-19 is for Indigenous, racialized workers, senior national politics correspondent Karl Nerenberg reports. The new report does an analysis of jobs that require close physical contact with others and where risk of infection is highest. This includes jobs in health and long-term care, retail and warehousing and food processing. Here, the researchers' findings are striking. They identify not only a race and ethnicity gap, but also a gender gap. Indigenous women had the highest share of employment — over 30 percent — in the occupations that ranked as most dangerous and risky due to the physical proximity to others these roles demand. Next were non-Indigenous women at 28 per cent, followed by Indigenous men at 14.6 per cent. Non-Indigenous men had only a 12.5 per cent share of these dangerous and risky jobs. Racialized workers held well more than half — 57 per cent — of the jobs that included, to some degree, what the CCPA describes as "close proximity" to others. It is interesting to note that white women worked these jobs at almost as high a rate. On the other hand, a third of racialized men and only 28 per cent of white men worked in such high-risk situations. Overall, the CCPA notes that: "the fault lines of the pandemic have been drawn between low-wage and high-wage workers, between women and men, between those who could safely work from home and those who risked infection at work, between Indigenous Peoples and settlers, and between racialized and white Canadians (sic)." The study also noted that From July 2020 to June 2021, 28 per cent of Indigenous and 31 per cent of racialized households lived with economic insecurity. They lacked adequate funds to pay for basic needs such as food, housing and medicines. For white households, the proportion was much smaller: 16 per cent. It's these exact systemic disparities that authors Karen-Marie Elah Perry and Shila Avissa say are being brushed aside in our governments' ongoing pandemic response. Why are we being asked, they wonder, to return back to "normal" or to build "back," when "normal" is what got us here in the first place? Why are we being told that the pandemic is over because businesses have reopened meanwhile new variants are spreading rapidly across the globe, and the majority of the Global South is left without access to vaccinations? "Whether driven by a focus on the economy above the wellbeing of workers, white supremacy's refusal to acknowledge the pandemic's ongoing impacts on racialized communities, or toxic masculinity's tendency to conceal vulnerability and "push through" the emotional pain of the pandemic, gaslighting is culturally systemic," the authors write. Also this week: Writer and land defender Kelly Tatham writes about her decision to divest her personal funds from the Royal Bank of Canada due to its involvement in funding fossil fuel projects like the Coastal Gaslink project currently being pushed without consent through Wet'suwet'en land. There's absolutely no reason to continue letting the big banks use our savings to bulldoze through Indigenous rights and fund the destruction of the planet. Even if there isn't enough money in your account to make a measurable difference in fossil fuel project investments, closing your account sends a message and creates a ripple effect, both inspiring others to do the same and empowering you to take on more tangible actions in your day-to-day life, Tatham writes, as she encourages others to take similar action. Stephen Wentzell reports that Canada has been failing children living in impoverished conditions across the country for decades. At the current rate, childhood poverty won't be eradicated until the 2070s, according to a recently published report from Campaign 2000. The report concluded Canada has over 1.3 million children living in poverty, making up nearly one in five children. Between 2018 and 2019, just 24,170 children were lifted out of poverty, representing less than one per cent of Canada's impoverished youth. That's it for this week! If you like the show please consider subscribing. Rate, review, share it with your friends -- it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble and your time and effort is invaluable to us. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca, and if you'd really like to support us directly, you can make a donation at rabble.ca/donate. You make indie media happen. Got feedback for the show? Get in touch anytime at editor@rabble.ca. Thanks to our producer Breanne Doyle, to Brent Patterson for contributing this week's interview, and to Eve Saint and Jocey Alec for coming on the show. I'm your host Chelsea Nash. Thanks for listening to rabble radio -- I'll talk to you next week for our final episode of 2021. Photo: Gidimt'en Checkpoint Twitter

Hello, and welcome to rabble radio! It's the week of Friday, December 3, 2021. The top stories of this week include the Liberal government's ban on conversion therapy finally passing the House with unanimous consent, both Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford received failing grades on their environmental policy, and, Syrian refugees need Canada to act. Has it forgotten them? Rabble breaks down the news of the day from a progressive lens. It's a good place to catch up and catch on to what's happening in Canadian politics, activism, environment, and so much more. Listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We catch you up on the news of the week and take you further into the stories that matter to you. This week on the show, we're bringing you a segment of our monthly live politics panel: Off the Hill. This month, the theme is Games of the Throne. Libby Davies and Robin Browne host guests MP Leah Gazan, poet and scholar El Jones, Indigenous activist and writer Clayton Thomas-Müller and rabble's own national senior politics reporter Karl Nerenberg. Parliament is back, and our guests unpack the speech from the throne and what it means for activists. If you can believe it, this is the final show of 2021, and our panel looks back at the year that was — and takes a look forward to the new year. Take a listen: (OFF THE HILL) That was a clip from our live politics panel which took place last night, on Thursday, Dec. 2. Thanks to all who tuned in and to our wonderful guests for their insight. Stay tuned for details about January's Off the Hill panel early in the new year. Now, it's time for: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. This week at rabble, national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell covered two huge milestones for the 2SLGBTQ movement in Canada. First, a trans person became a leader of a major federal political party for the very first time when the Green Party of Canada appointed Amita Kuttner as its leader. Kuttner, 30, is the youngest, first trans person, and first person of east Asian descent to lead a national political party. Kuttner, who uses they/them pronouns, calls the appointment an "honour and a serious responsibility." They succeed Annamie Paul, the first Black and Jewish leader of a major federal party, who departed as leader amid controversy and major internal strife. Wednesday was another day of hope for the 2SLGBTQ community, when the House of Commons unanimously passed Bill C-4, an Act that, if passed, will criminalize so-called "conversion therapy" in Canada. A conversion therapy ban had been set to pass through the Senate late last summer, but fell off the order paper when Parliament was dissolved for the election. The new legislation goes further than its predecessor, however, as it bans the harmful practice for children as well as adults. The unanimous vote in the House of Commons was noteworthy, as previously, there were 62 votes against the legislation from Conservative Party members. For Mike Smith, a survivor of conversion "therapy," the ban means others won't have to suffer like they did, Wentzell reports. Smith was subjected to efforts to change their sexual orientation and gender identity at the age of 18, and suffered horrific trauma as a result. Read more at rabble.ca. Also this week: Karl Nerenberg reports on the failing grades received by both the Trudeau and Ford governments. Two days after the Trudeau government presented a throne speech that was disappointingly weak on plans to combat climate change, the federal environment commissioner blasted Canada's emissions reduction record. On that same day, Ontario auditor general (AG) Bonnie Lysyk reported that the Doug Ford government would not achieve even a fifth of the emission reductions it has promised to achieve by 2030 if it stays the course. Krystal Kraus writes about the need for the activist community to confront death and to develop new strategies for mutual and communal support for those in the movement who might be struggling with mental illness. She reflects on activists in the Toronto activist community who have died in recent years, and writes about the lessons each of them taught her. Columnist Rachel Snow wants Canadian settlers to ask themselves what they really know about the First Nations who reside in Canada. "The truth is that Canada does not see or understand First Nation people," Snow writes. "In fact, Canada has lumped together First Nations, Inuit and Métis into a potent mixture; Canada labels us "our" Indigenous peoples, as if this broad group could ever be possessed by the colonial state." That's it for this week! If you like the show please consider subscribing. Rate, review, share it with your friends -- it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. Got feedback for the show? Get in touch anytime at editor@rabble.ca. Thanks to our producer Breanne Doyle, to Off the Hill hosts Libby Davies and Robin Browne, guests El Jones, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Karl Nerenberg and MP Leah Gazan. Thanks to Karl Nerenberg for the music and his reporting, Stephen Wentzell for his reporting, and all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca.

Hello and welcome to rabble radio. It's the week of Friday, November 25. I'm your host and the editor of rabble, Chelsea Nash. The top stories of this week include the Trudeau government's return to Parliament. On Tuesday, we heard the Governor General deliver the speech from the throne. While Parliament will only resume for a very short time before it breaks again for the holidays, what did we learn about what's to come? And, rabble's coverage of the Wet'suwet'en crisis is ongoing. Contributor Brent Patterson traveled to the region to cover events as they unfolded. You'll hear the latest on that in just a few minutes. Rabble breaks down the news of the day from a progressive lens. It's a good place to catch up and catch on to what's happening in Canadian politics, activism, environment, and so much more. Listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We catch you up on the news of the week and take you further into the stories that matter to you. This week on the show, we welcome back Libby Davies as she interviews political scientist Dr. Jeanette Ashe about the state of women in politics in Canada. Dr. Ashe is the Chair of the Political Science Department at Douglas College and Visiting Faculty at the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, King's College, London. Her research interests include political recruitment, political parties, representation, and gender and politics. She is the author of Political Candidate Selection: Who Wins, Who Loses and Under-representation in the UK (Routledge, 2020). Other recent publications include Gender Sensitivity Under Trudeau: Facebook Feminism or Real Change? (University of Toronto, 2020), and Canada's Political Parties: Gatekeepers to Parliament (Palgrave, 2020). She advises legislatures, parties, and organizations on assessing gender and diversity sensitivity and advises legislators on drafting legislation on gender equity and democratic reform. Libby Davies, as you may know, is the 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, and is recipient of the Order of Canada. The two discuss the barriers that continue to exist for women in Canadian politics, despite the fact that the electorate is actually more likely to support women candidates. After an election like the one we just had, which saw the Liberals lose four female cabinet members, it's a good time to once again examine how our political parties here in Canada have a tendency to not support women and other diverse candidates. Here's their conversation, take a listen. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT This week at rabble, contributor Brent Patterson goes to the Wet'suwet'en territory and reports on the RCMP's raid of the protestors' blockade there as they defend the land against the Coastal GasLink pipeline project. Just days after the conclusion of the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow and calls from international groups to stop the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders, militarized police violence against defenders in Canada has seemingly become normalized, Patterson writes. Over 30 people and three journalists were arrested on November 18 and 19. It was the third RCMP assault on Wet'suwet'en territory in support of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline being constructed on their territory without free, prior and informed consent, with the first two taking place in January and February of this year. Patterson raised some questions about the infrastructure that enabled the raids. RCMP officers were seen arriving at Smithers airport and being carried away in two white school buses. In the days after the raid, the same make of white school buses were seen emerging from the Coastal GasLink man-camp on the Morice River Forest Service Road -- the same road that had been blockaded. This begged the question: were the RCMP using the Coastal GasLink camp to stage their raid? What other state infrastructure did they use to carry out the raid? Patterson reviews what they've used before. Further, Patterson reports there are first-hand witness accounts of the RCMP in Coastal GasLink cars on the territory and RCMP officers arriving in Coastal GasLink-marked buses in the nearby town of New Hazelton to break-up a rail blockade in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en. According to Patterson, all of this is compounded by the Canadian government's financial involvement in the GasLink project -- notably its $275 million investment in June 2019 supporting the LNG Canada export terminal along with Export Development Canada's $250 million to $500 million loan to Coastal GasLink in May 2020 for the construction of the pipeline. The appearance of collusion between the police and an energy company, along with the disregard of international human rights norms raise profound concerns that must be addressed, Patterson concludes. Also on the site this week: John Miller reports on a new survey from the Canadian Association of Journalists about who is telling you the news. Thursday, the CAJ released its inaugural measurement of the diversity of people who assign, cover and present the news. CAJ measured 3,873 news people at 209 media outlets, making it the largest-ever survey of the demographics of television and radio broadcasters, online news operations, and daily and community newspapers. Unsurprisingly, the typical Canadian newsroom is not representative of the Canadian population, with more than half of the newsrooms surveyed only employing white journalists. Joyce Nelson reports on a terrible paradox facing the so-called green energy transition: to develop windmills, solar panels, and the like, many metals and minerals will need to be mined. MiningWatch Canada is estimating that "[Three] billion tons of mined metals and minerals will be needed to power the energy transition" – a "massive" increase especially for six critical minerals: lithium, graphite, copper, cobalt, nickel and rare earth minerals. With mining being an exploitative and dirty industry -- of which Canadian companies are at the fore -- perhaps the green energy transition is more red than green after all. Plus -- Karl Nerenberg breaks down the speech from the throne, though as he reports, there's not much to break down. It was a speech full of platitudes and lacking in clear commitments, he writes. Catch Nerenberg and our other distinguished panelists next week for our Off the Hill live politics panel, where the theme is "Games of the Throne" and the return of Parliament. MP Leah Gazan will be there, as will Indigenous activist and writer Clayton Thomas-Müller and poet and scholar El Jones. Find all the details of that and so much more at rabble.ca. There are a few other must-reads on the site this week I'd recommend you don't miss -- so head there now! EXTRO That's it for this week! If you like the show please consider subscribing. Rate, review, share it with your friends -- it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. Got feedback for the show? Get in touch anytime at editor@rabble.ca. I can't always promise I'll respond, but I do read everything you write in. I'm your host, Chelsea Nash. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk next week! Thanks to our producer Breanne Doyle, Libby Davies and guest Dr. Jeanette Ashe. Thanks to Karl Nerenberg for the music and his reporting, Brent Patterson for his reporting, and all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca.

Hello and welcome to rabble radio. It's the week of Friday, November 19 and I'm your host and the editor of rabble, Chelsea Nash. Thanks so much for listening! Rabble breaks down the news of the day from a progressive lens. It's a good place to catch up and catch on to what's happening in Canadian politics, activism, environment, and so much more. Listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We catch you up on the news of the week and take you further into the stories that matter to you. This week on the show, friend of the rabble family Libby Davies interviews climate activist and land defender Rita Wong. Libby Davies is 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, and is recipient of the Order of Canada. Rita Wong is a poet-scholar who has written several books of poetry. She understands natural ecosystems as critical infrastructure that must be protected and cared for in order to survive the climate crisis. In other words, old growth forests are what remains of the Earth's lungs. They discuss Fairy Creek -- the site of ongoing protests against old-growth logging on the southern portion of Vancouver Island. The protests have been going on for over a year now, with many activists -- Rita included -- travelling to and from the region when they can at the invitation of Pacheedaht First Nation elder Bill Jones and hereditary leader Victor Peter, upon whose lands the logging is taking place. Rita has written about her experiences and the plight of the land defenders at Fairy Creek before for rabble.ca, writing: "The time I've spent at Fairy Creek is some of the most inspiring I've ever experienced, with creative, generous, kind and talented people, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, all spontaneously co-operating to uphold what Jones has asked us to: the responsibility to protect sacred forests for future generations." Libby and Rita also take some time to discuss the recent passing of Indigenous writer Lee Maracle, who was a mentor of Rita's. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Let's stay in B.C. for just a moment. This week at rabble, national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell writes about that province's proposal to "remove criminal penalties for people who possess small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use." The proposed exemption is a big win for decriminalization activists, who have long-argued that decriminalization will help reduce the fear and shame associated with substance use that can be a barrier for people requiring care. At the same time, some activists working to combat the opioid crisis say it's not enough. Wentzell spoke to Donald MacPherson, executive director for the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, who said he applauds the B.C. provincial government for its proposed shift, though he worries that leaving lower jurisdictions to implement varying decriminalization laws will create inconsistent and "piecemeal" policies around the country. "This is a federal law. The federal government hasn't taken this leadership," MacPherson said. "They should be taking the leadership to decriminalize simple possession for drugs across Canada." Also on the site this week: It's Trans Awareness Week, with Trans Remembrance Day taking place tomorrow, November 20. To mark the week, Charlotte Dalwood, a freelance writer based in Alberta, tells the story of how one woman went from being a trans ally to being an anti-trans activist, and back to an ally again (if not a passive one). Rather than arguing that trans exclusion is anti-feminist, writes Dalwood, trans women and our allies ought to instead mobilize the stories of ex-gender criticals (as the trans exclusionary movement likes to call themselves). "Whatever such people have done in the past, they are in a unique position now to pull others out of the gender-critical movement. That makes them invaluable allies." Earlier this week, columnist Chuka Ejeckam issued a warning to be wary of those who claim to speak for the Black community writ large. He tackles the controversial and, as he points out, unfounded opinion piece in the Toronto Star by Royson James, in which James attempts to take down former Star columnist and writer and activist Desmond Cole. Speaking of the Star, former Star reporter John Miller writes about the major problem facing Canadian media: a loss of public trust. He has some ideas on how we might repair that trust. All that and more, as always, on rabble.ca. EXTRO That's it for this week! We'll see you around the site, I'm sure. If you like the show please consider subscribing wherever you listen to your podcasts. Rate, review, share it with your friends -- it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. Got feedback for the show? Get in touch anytime at editor@rabble.ca. I can't always promise I'll respond, but I do read everything you write in. I'm your host, Chelsea Nash. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk next week! Thanks to our producer Breanne Doyle, Libby Davies and Rita Wong. Thanks to Karl Nerenberg for the music, and all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca. Photo by: A.Davey (via WikiCommons)

This week on the show, Hamilton local Wayne MacPhail interviews rabble contributor and fellow Hamilton-area local Doreen Nicoll about what she sees as the threat of urban sprawl in Hamilton, Ontario. On November 9, Hamilton City Council held a meeting to discuss whether or not to expand its urban boundary onto the surrounding farmland and the final vote will take place November 19. That farmland is squished between the current urban boundary and the Greenbelt, but is not protected. There are a number of factors at play, including the lack of affordable housing in the city, the erasure of prime farmland, and, as with anything else, the climate crisis. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Yesterday, November 11 was Remembrance Day, of course. Here at rabble.ca, we featured some coverage that is worth reading beyond just one day. Our own national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell wrote about the military's discriminatory history against queer folks, urging us to think about our veterans as having had intersectional identities and complex relationships with their fellow service members, the governments they served and the enemies they fought. Ottawa writer Morgan Duchesney delves into how it's most often the working class that ends up going to war, and the upper classes that end up in politics. Our veterans, especially our wounded veterans, deserve better. "Poppies remind me that wars are fought by working people who are often discarded when their courage is no longer required," writes Duchesney. Finally, Darrell Rankin wrote about the importance of remembering the Mac-Paps. That's the nickname for the Mackenzie-Papineau battalion, which, in 1937 through 1939, fought fascism in Spain for the International Brigades -- an effort closely associated with the Communist Party. Those volunteers went to join the fight in Spain illegally, against the wishes of then-prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. When they returned, they were ostracized. Many faced discrimination and lost their jobs. All were denied official recognition as veterans, meaning there were no health benefits or military pensions available to them. Also on the site this week: Karl Nerenberg looks at the results from the municipal elections throughout Quebec, which concluded on November 7, and sees hope for progressives across the country. A record number of young people and women were elected, and five of the ten largest Quebec cities are now led by women, he notes. Nerenberg sees the re-instalment of Valérie Plante as mayor of Montreal as a victory not just for her, but for her party, Projet Montreal, and the progressive, grassroots movement it spawned from. Politics in our time can be excruciatingly transactional, especially at the local level. Municipal leaders often focus intently on satisfying the narrow interests of powerful groups, particularly developers. The municipal administrations of Ottawa and Toronto are textbooks examples of that approach, writes Nerenberg. They should be taking notes. Columnist Rachel Snow spilled some ink on the site this week as she examined the settler-colonial concept of "progress" and its detrimental relationship with First Nations. Are First Nations moving forward? If Canadians want the truth, Snow writes, they will have to understand that the way forward for First Nations people must come from the actual voices of all the First Nation people. We are still waiting to talk. Finally, Brent Patterson writes about the need for the federal government to consider the emissions of the fighter jets it is working to acquire before it signs any contracts. This, especially in the wake of calls at COP26 for military emissions to be included when countries are discussing CO2 targets. As it stands, all the fuel they burn running jets, tanks and the like just… doesn't exist, as far as many nations' CO2 emissions measurements go. I'm your host, Chelsea Nash. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk next week! Thanks to our producer Breanne Doyle, Wayne MacPhail and guest Doreen Nicoll. Thanks to Karl Nerenberg for the music, and all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca. Photo: Rick Cordeiro (Creative Commons)

Hello and welcome to rabble radio: rabble.ca's weekly audio magazine. I'm your host and the editor of rabble.ca, Chelsea Nash. Rabble has its finger on the beat of the issues that matter to you and every Friday, we break it down for you - no matter where or how you're listening. It's a good way to catch up on the news of the week and, as with all rabble news, look at current events through a progressive lens. This week on the show, national politics reporter Stephen Wentzell speaks with American legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky to talk about his new book: Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights, in which Chemerinsky makes the case that the United States Supreme Court has been far more likely to uphold government abuses of power -- including those done by police against racial minorities -- than to stop them. Chemerinsky is the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT This week at rabble, senior politics reporter Karl Nerenberg had his suspicions confirmed when Justin Trudeau's government made the sly attempt to bury the news that it had filed an appeal to Federal Court Justice Paul Favel's September 29 ruling which upheld a Human Rights Tribunal order that the government pay $40,000 to all victims of the underfunded First Nations child and family welfare system. The government's lawyers waited until the very last minute last Friday to announce the appeal -- doing so after 5pm so as to attract as little public and media scrutiny as possible. "The only surprise in the late Friday announcement was that the government will suspend its appeal process for a couple of months in order to work on a negotiated settlement with the complainants, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society headed by Cindy Blackstock and the Assembly of First Nations," writes Nerenberg. The newly-minted ministers responsible for this file, Justice Minister David Lametti and newly-named Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations Ministers Patty Hajdu and Marc Miller, played their cards close to their chest. Government officials reached out to Blackstock but it wasn't until the day before the appeal that they approached her with the intention to have discussions. Blackstock and her partners at the Assembly of First Nations -- who have been fighting this fight for 14 years now -- have accepted the government's olive branch and are ready and eager to undertake good faith talks. Speaking of the new cabinet, street nurse and housing advocate Cathy Crowe weighed in on Trudeau's decision to appoint a new minister of housing. Sure, there have been ministers responsible for the housing file before, but until now, there had never been a minister with housing in their title. Ahmed Hussen now takes on that role with the official title of "minister of housing and diversity and inclusion." Crowe, having been let down by government promises on housing for decades, remains sceptical. "Our country needs a minister of housing," she writes. "We now have one in name, but with a catchall title that suggests some boxes were ticked off in Minister Hussen's appointment." In the media interviews the minister has done since his appointment, Hussen has predictably followed the Liberal's election platform pretty closely. It's what's missing there that concerns Crowe. Nowhere in the Liberal platform, nor in Hussen's interviews, has she heard the term "social housing." "We will truly have a minister of housing if the minister's mandate letter includes funding for social housing and rent-geared-to-income housing, creating a co-op housing stream, providing rehabilitation funds for old housing stock, ensuring that seniors' pensions are increased so they can afford to stay in their homes, and creating long-term care standards so our seniors can be housed safely in their later years, and the same for home care," Crowe writes. Also on the site this week: Our coverage of COP26 continues. Brent Patterson writes about how the prime minister's promise to cap Canada's oil and gas emissions will do nothing to stop the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders. Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan point out that because of vaccine apartheid and the U.K.'s obstructive visa requirements, COP26 is the whitest and most privileged of the United Nations' climate summits since 1992. Plus, two Indigenous films -- one a documentary -- are reviewed by Humberto DaSilva and Doreen Nicoll. Da Silva reviews Portrait From A Fire -- a small, award-winning film that follows a First Nations youth on a supernatural journey to unravel his family's secret tragedy. Portraits From a Fire is being screened in select Canadian theatres starting November 1 and will be released through video on demand on November 9. Nicoll reviews the documentary film: Kimmapiiyitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. Kimmapiiyitssini [GEE-maa-bee-bit-sin], the Blackfoot word for, "Giving kindness to each other," is key in reducing deaths from drug poisoning in the Kainai community in Southern Alberta. Filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers tells the story of the opioid crisis and how through harm reduction, compassion and de-colonizing recovery, the community has begun to heal. That film opens today, Nov. 5 in Vancouver with screenings scheduled across the country throughout November. Also in arts and culture this week, sex worker columnist Natasha Darling looks at the many ways sex workers contribute to pop culture. From the movie Zola to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's music, sex workers are most accurately represented when they themselves are in control of how they are depicted, Darling argues. Finally, last Friday, V.S. Wells takes a look at how Canada media is importing British transphobia. It started with Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno, writes Wells. Her Oct. 16 piece claimed gender-neutral language in healthcare erased women. It's not a particularly new or interesting take, and one that's been thoroughly critiqued over the years, but the Star gave the piece a full page (A3) in the news section — despite it being opinion. The online article also received a traffic boost due to being (controversially) tweeted by author Margaret Atwood on Oct. 19. A few days later, Atwood shared another article — this time from the CBC, decrying "toxic, in-your-face activism." The opinion piece was written by a trans woman, Jessica Triff, but was filled with transphobic talking points. Triff implied that trans people who do not transition medically are "risks to women's safety," and that the label "trans woman" should only be used to refer to someone who has "gone through therapy, hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgeries." Finally, there was also a CTV "investigation" into trans children and youth who are seeking gender affirming medical treatment. That story relied heavily on the stories of two cis women in the U.K. who identified as trans men, before re-transitioning back to live as women — in order to argue that trans affirming youth healthcare in Canada is too easy to access. This sudden resurgence in feminist-cloaked anti-trans media rhetoric is probably due to that strategy's success in my home country, the U.K. Wells breaks down the differences between American and British transphobia, and why we've been seeing a heightened degree of transphobia in Canadian media in recent weeks. Find all that and much more at rabble.ca, where as always, we're bringing you the latest in political, social and arts and culture reporting, opinion and analysis. EXTRO If you like the show please consider subscribing wherever you listen to your podcasts. Rate, review, share it with your friends -- it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. Got feedback for the show? Get in touch anytime at editor@rabble.ca. I can't always promise I'll respond, but I do read everything you write in. I'm your host, Chelsea Nash. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk next week! Thanks to our new podcast producer Breanne Doyle, Stephen Wentzell for his reporting, Karl Nerenberg for the music, and all the journalists and writers who contributed to this week's content on rabble.ca.