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Here in Canada, we like to believe that we are a welcoming people, kind and generous to anyone who shows up on our doorstep. Today's guest challenges that assumption. Graeme Truelove's book Un-Canadian: Islamophobia in the True North looks specifically at our treatment and attitudes towards Muslims. The book looks further back, and demonstrates that our treatment of Muslims isn't all that different than our treatment of other people of non-white heritage throughout our history. He talked with Victoria Fenner about what those myths are, and also a couple of excerpts from the book, with permission of the publisher, Nightwood Editions. Thank you to Edward Moll for reading. Read another excerpt from UnCanadian: Islamophobia in the True North on rabble.ca. Image: Pixabay/Alfred Dielman

As the nation down south tucks into turkey dinners this year, there is bound to be a lot of interesting and even volatile conversations around the dinner table. Because, with the American presidential election just a little under a year away, not to mention the impeachments proceedings happening right now, dinner time could get a little fractious. Good luck with that! To recognize American Thanksgiving, our interview today is our contribution towards building democracy. Our advice to Americans living in Canada: register to vote! Today's first guest is David Mivasair. He's been living in Canada for many years but he's still very connected to his American roots. So much so that he's working hard to get other Americans living in Canada involved in helping determine the outcome for his country in November 2020. Today you'll be hearing about his organizing efforts with Democrats Abroad and why he's working hard to get fellow Americans living in Canada registered to vote. If you're a citizen of the U.S. and you want to register, go to either Democrats Abroad or Americans Abroad to find out how. And second, it's not just American Thanksgiving this week. It's Black Friday, that post-Thanksgiving celebration of consumerist excess about buying. And buying. And buying. Campbell McClintock is a writer and artist committed to social change who lives in Halifax. He's also an American citizen living in Canada. He shares his thoughts about how to burst the consumerist bubble this season. Image: David Mivasair

In Montreal, there are currently numerous Guinean asylum seekers facing deportation from Canada. Some of them, along with other community activists, have come together to protest the Canadian government's moves to deport refugees to West Africa. In the last year, stories of numerous cases of Guinean refugees have been shared widely on social media in Montreal and also discussed in the mainstream media. A grassroots campaign against the deportation of Guinean refugees was launched a couple years ago with a press conference, supported by the Immigrant Workers Centre, in Côte-Des-Neiges. Since that time, a series of protests and actions have been taking place across the city. Asylum seekers directly impacted by deportations, the wider Guinean, as well as broader West African community networks have been working steadily to convince the federal government to halt the deportations. Stefan Christoff, Montreal musician, community activist and radio host, produced this report for rabble radio. To highlight this community campaign against deportations he spoke with Mostafa Henaway from the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal and also Guinean asylum seeker Mohamed Barry who has been campaigning against the forced deportations. Editor's note, November 22, 2019: An earlier version of this story was incorrectly posted with an image of the Guinea-Bissau flag. The accompanying image has been changed to the flag of Guinea. Image: jorono/Pixabay

Over the past year, we've brought you stories on rabble about Edwin Espinel, a political prisoner in Honduras who was arrested in January 2018 following anti-government protests and held in a maximum security prison in deplorable conditions. It was the best of news when he was released on bail just this past August, after 18 months behind bars. But he's far from out of danger because his bail could be revoked at any time before the trial scheduled for next May. Edwin is married to Karen Spring who grew up in Elmvale, Ontario, and works with the Honduras Solidarity Network in Tegucigalpa. Janet Spring is Edwin's mother-in-law who still lives in Elmvale. She has been tirelessly campaigning to get the Canadian government to put pressure on the Honduran government to drop all charges against him. Janet has started a local support group in the small town Elmvale, the small central Ontario town where she lives. It's called Simcoe County Honduras Rights Monitor, and she now fears that recent events surrounding the president in Honduras could have repercussions for Edwin, other political prisoners, and everyone who works for social justice in the country. Janet Spring dropped by Victoria Fenner's studio in nearby Barrie and talked to her on November 5, just last week, about the current situation that Edwin and her daughter Karen are dealing with in Honduras. For more information on the situation as it evolves, you can go to the Honduras Solidarity Network, a network of approximately 30 organizations from across Canada and the United States that are committed to demonstrating and advocating for solidarity with the Honduran social movement. Image: Janet Spring/Edwin Espinel and Karen Spring in Honduras.

In recent weeks, mass protests have been shaking Chile. The protests began on October 7 as a fare-evasion protest by high school students. Throughout the rest of the month and now into November, the protests have rapidly escalated into a comprehensive challenge to the political and economic order established by Augusto Pinochet in the nation's 1980 constitution. On today's rabble radio, we'll also look at the background to these protests, starting with Chile's use under the brutal Pinochet dictatorship as a laboratory to test the neoliberal policies that would later be brought to the rest of the world, how the protests relate to the current state of the left across Latin America, and what their prospects of success are. As many as ten per cent of the country's population were on the streets on the biggest day of protest. We'll be hearing Corvin Russell talk to Carlos Torres about the protests. Torres is a long time activist and writer of the Chilean left, and a former political prisoner, who spent many years in Montreal and Toronto doing research, social justice, and international solidarity work, including serving on the World Social Forum International Council. Russell is an activist, writer, and educator living in Toronto. Carlos Torres has written recently for Amandla magazine in South Africa, and for Alternatives in Montreal. Most recently he has written three books — one on Che Guevara in the 21st century, one titled Venezuela: Democracy or Dictatorship?, and a book on the revolutionary left in Chile. He is currently finishing a PhD at the University of Buenos Aires, now lives in Santiago, which is where Corvin Russell reached him. This podcast features two different interviews. The first interview was done last Monday October 28. And because things are evolving and changing rapidly, Corvin did a followup interview with Carlos at the beginning of this week. Image: Wikimedia/Carlos Figueroa/Protestas en Chile de 2019, Plaza Baquedano, Santiago, Chile

We're well into the semester for Ontario's post secondary students. Reading week is over and everybody is settling in. One thing that isn't settling in yet, though, is the budgets of students unions, radio stations, student newspapers, food banks and all the other services which are being affected by the Ontario provincial government's Student Choice Initiative. Last spring, the program was announced, which would give students greater choice about what student they want to pay for and not. Most services on campuses like libraries, and athletic fees weren't affected, and critics of the plan say that this was ideologically driven to diminish student voices, opinion and action. The Canadian Federation of Students has launched a lawsuit which has been heard earlier in October, with a decision expected in six to eight weeks. Kayla Weiler is the Ontario representative for the CFS. She talked to Victoria Fenner about the status of the lawsuit, and also about the effects of the Student Choice Initiative on campuses so far. Image: Canadian Federation of Students Ontario. Used with permission.

The dust is settling on the 2019 election and we're all still figuring out what it all means. Minority governments can be messy, but it can also be a time for creative solutions too. In theory, it means that more voices will be heard, not just the governing party. Hopefully that will mean that some of the marginalized voices will be able to speak and be heard, including the voices of women. This time around, a record 98 women were elected on Monday. That's up from 88 in the previous Parliament, but still less than 30 per cent of the House. Last time around, the Liberals made big commitments to increase the impact and role of women in the government. How much that really happened is of course, a matter of interpretation. We will see in weeks to come if the commitment to women in positions of power continues in the same way it did during the previous Parliament. And whether or not the presence of more women will result in substantive change in how our government operates and the priorities it identifies. That's a big question — if there are more women in power, does it make a difference? Today's guest on rabble radio looks at that question. Sylvia Bashevkin is the editor of a new book called Doing Politics Differently? Women Premiers in Canada's Provinces and Territories. It's a collection of articles about 10 women premiers from coast to coast, an analysis of how they rose to power, what kept them in power and what caused their exits from the office of the premier in their various provinces. Sylvia Bashevkin is a professor in the department of political science at the University of Toronto. Her primary research focus is gender and politics, notably women's impact as public leaders. Image: Connor Mah/Flickr

This election is a nail biter. Will it be a minority government? Which party will have the most seats? What kinds of deals are going to be going down as the parties make their power plays to be the one who will lead our country. And, since it's looking like it won't be a majority government, which parties are positioning themselves to be king-makers? There are many questions and there won't be an answer until Monday. And maybe not a clear answer until later than that. Things are changing so quickly that we're posting this podcast a bit early — this conversation with rabble parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg was held on Tuesday, October 15. With the speed things are moving, this is one interview which shouldn't sit on the shelf. Because it might all change by tomorrow. Image: Ishmael Daro/Flickr

For a long time, many campus and community stations have considered themselves to be a force for social change in their communities. So, once again, they're using their airwaves towards that end. 1. Facts are Free is a collection of public service announcements that are being aired on campus and community radio stations across the country in the weeks leading up to the election. The non-profit and charitable radio sector in Canada has launched a campaign to raise awareness about climate change and environmental issues facing Canadians. The campaign is called Facts are Free and it's been created in cooperation with with Environmental Defence and the VX3 Exchange. Luke Smith is a learning and development officer with the National Campus and Community Radio Association. He talked to Victoria Fenner. 2. Canada's youth have the opportunity this election to shift the political landscape considerably. For the first time in Canada's history, millennials and Gen Z make up the largest voting bloc — 37 per cent of the electorate — so there is a lot of opportunity to force politicians to focus on youth issues that are otherwise ignored. If youth come out to vote, there could be far reaching consequences. Whether they'll take advantage of the opportunity remains to be seen. Future Majority is an organization set up to work towards that end. Shreya Kalra is working as a field organizer with Future Majority. As a part of this campaign, she's been speaking to about 100 students everyday at Seneca College's Newnham campus about the issues that are affecting their everyday lives. She took a break from organizing to talk to rabble radio on October 2, 2019. Image: Victoria Fenner

With the election less than a month away, all of us who are politically engaged are reflecting on how well our government has worked over the past few years. And governments of all kinds are operating very differently than they did even 10 years ago, thanks to digital innovation and theories of information management which arise from new technologies. The digital age has had a profound effect on the way our country and our government operates. You can explore these themes in Amanda Clarke's new book Opening the Government of Canada — The Federal Bureaucracy in the Digital Age. For example — she has a section in her book where she considers the legacy of former prime minister Stephen Harper as "Canada's first digital era prime minister." Considering the secrecy and information control rampant in the Harper era, it wouldn't surprise most of us that the transition towards open government has had its bumps along the way. And it still does, despite the very different style of the Trudeau government. While it's easy to criticize the federal government for being pretty slow about about figuring out new models to navigate the digital age, Clarke says there needs to be a balance. She makes the case for a more open model of governance, but says that the model also needs to be balanced with the democratic principles embedded at the heart of our parliamentary system of governance. It's a tricky thing. rabble podcast producer Victoria Fenner talked to Amanda Clarke about how those dynamics are playing out on Parliament Hill. Amanda Clarke joined the faculty of Carleton University's School of Public Policy and Administration in July 2014. Her research examines public sector reform, policymaking and civic engagement, focusing in particular on the impact of digital technologies on these domains. Prior to joining Carleton, Clarke completed a doctorate at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, as a Pierre Elliott Trudeau scholar, a Clarendon Press scholar and a fellow of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is co-editor of Issues in Canadian Governance and author of Opening the Government of Canada: The Federal Bureaucracy in the Digital Age. In 2017, Clarke was appointed Carleton University's Public Affairs Research Excellence Chair and in 2019, the Canada School of Public Service named her a Digital Government Research Fellow. She is the founder of the Canadian Digital Governance Research Network. Image: Open Knowledge Foundation/Flickr