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Today marks the anniversary of the death of Jack Layton. He passed away from cancer on August 22, 2011, leaving a void in Canadian politics which will never be filled in quite the same way. Because Jack Layton was one of a kind. His message resonated with people so much that he brought the NDP party from 37 seats in the 2008 election to 103 seats in 2011. Under Jack Layton's leadership, the NDP became the official opposition in Parliament for the first time ever after the 2011 election. The quote for which he is best remembered comes from the end of a letter he wrote to the Canadian people in his final days. The letter concludes with the now well known passage: "My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Today on rabble radio you'll hear excerpts from Jack Layton's state funeral, held at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto on August 27, 2011. You'll hear Shawn Atleo, who, at the time, was the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He delivered a blessing on behalf of Canada's First Nations community. You'll also hear a welcome message from Anne McGrath, chief of staff during Jack Layton's time in office, and speeches by Stephen Lewis, a friend, humanitarian and fellow NDP member who was leader of the Ontario NDP in the 1970s. And we finish with Mike Layton, Jack Layton's son. Image: Elliott Margolies/Flickr

When rabble.ca podcast producer Victoria Fenner heard that Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was coming to the small conservative city of Barrie, Ontario, on July 18 for a pre-campaign town hall and rally, she could think of a lot of things to talk to her about. Barrie is right in the middle of Tory blue country and tough territory for progressives. It's the biggest city in Simcoe County, located on the traditional territory of the Haudensaunee, Ojibway/Chippewa and Anishnabek First Nations. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties. Colonization by Europeans began about 400 years ago by French explorers. The first elections here happened way back in 1823 after the British took over and it's been Conservative country for a very long time. It's close enough to Toronto that a lot of people commute every day from the south part of the riding. The north part of the county, not so much. But out towards Collingwood, cottagers and skiiers from Toronto contribute a lot of money towards the local economy. There are very few Red Tories in this county. Remember the Reform Party? That upstart right wing party that shifted politics further right in the late '80s and the '90s? The former riding of Simcoe Centre, which was right in the heart of the city of Barrie, was the only place in Canada east of Manitoba that ever elected a Reform Party MP. That's an indicator of how conservative this area of the country is. The Liberals do come close sometimes but not enough to get them elected. In the 2015 election, the Green Party was the distant fourth party. The Green Party message is a tough sell in places where people think they have to choose between a stable economy and a healthy environment to live in. But that's not just here — that kind of dichotomous thinking goes on in so many places. The good news is that this can change with people moving in from other places, and a growing sense that the environment needs to be a bigger priority. In today's rabble radio, Victoria Fenner and Elizabeth May talk about that and a wide range of subjects — the disconnect that some people see between economy and environment, the first-past-the-post system, how international trade agreements have affected the health of the planet, and the role of media in fostering an empowered, informed citizenry. Image: Victoria Fenner

When you think about it, public libraries are a pretty remarkable. Fascinating fact — did you know that the first free tax-supported public libraries in Canada opened in 1883 in Saint John, Guelph and Toronto? And now every town has one. Where else can you get access to thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, CDs and DVDs for the amazingly low price of free? (Well, except for the overdue fines, that is.) It's a staggeringly great deal when you think about it. That's not the only amazing thing about libraries, Olivia Robinson has discovered. She's the recipient of this year's Jack Layton Journalism for Change Fellowship. You'll be able to read her resulting series "The Future of the Public Library" starting on Tuesday, August 13, 2019. Robinson is rabble.ca's second recipient of the Jack Layton Journalism for Change Fellowship. The fellowship is a joint project by rabble.ca and The Institute for Change Leaders, and supports emerging writers and journalists who are passionate and engaged in developing unique voices in social change reporting. Robinson has discovered that the role of the library is changing. No more the stuffy, deadly quiet space with lots of rules, libraries are becoming the living room of our communities. And everyone is welcome. That includes people who live on the margins of society for whom reading in a warm space, using a computer or getting out of the cold is a lifeline. It brings about a whole other set of challenges for library staff, but there are some great examples where they are rising to those challenges. rabble podcast exec producer Victoria Fenner has been watching the progress of Robinson's series and has recorded two conversations with her that you'll hear today. The first part took place at the very beginning of her fellowship in January 2019 where she talked about her background and interest in libraries and the stories she was researching. The series started to go in a different direction in April when Doug Ford's Conservative government brought in some major cuts to libraries in Ontario. So Victoria gave Olivia a call again in May to find out how the project was going, and especially how this latest news in Ontario was shaping her coverage. Photo: Olivia Robinson

Pamela Palmater's Reconciliation Book Club successfully launched with the first book club event last Saturday. The book club is her way to help people learn about reconciliation and Canada's First Nations in a safe and supportive space. To date, it has received almost 1,000 views and over 60 comments online, so it seems to have hit the right notes. The first book she chose was Whose Land is it Anyway: A Manual for Decolonization published by the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators in B.C. It is available for free download by clicking the link above. Here at rabble, we really like this idea and we've done some stories about it in the last couple of weeks. We were all curious about how it went, and her plans for future editions so Victoria Fenner, rabble's podcast exec producer gave her a call. Pam says it went very well, and yes, she plans to do more. Victoria talked to her on Tuesday of this week, two days ago. Pam Palmater is a Mi'kmaw lawyer and member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick. She teaches Indigenous law, politics and governance at Ryerson University and heads their Centre for Indigenous Governance. She also has a blog on rabble.ca. The next book for the Reconciliation Book Club review will be Karen Stote's An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women published by Fernwood Publishing. Image and audio clip: Pamela Palmater. Used with permission.

Understanding the historic roots of the broken relationship between settlers and Canada's Indigenous people is a necessary step which we need to take to start solving the problems. And we especially need to acknowledge how those historic patterns still manifest themselves today. This edition of rabble radio features an interview with Dr. Bruce Clark. Bruce Clark has been arguing for the past two decades that Canada's courts have blocked the way to reconciliation with Canada's Indigenous people. In his recent book, he elaborates on his thesis that the legal system in Canada has been utilizing instruments to suppress Indigenous sovereignty in law and that it therefore is culpable in genocide. The book is called Ongoing Genocide caused by Judicial Suppression of the "Existing" Aboriginal Rights. Dr. Clark is a Canadian writer, activist and former lawyer. He first began working on Indigenous sovereignty issues back in 1973 when he was retained by the Temagami First Nation at Bear Island. The issue was an Ontario government plan to build an $80 million ski lodge on their land. He is also known for his work defending Indigenous land title at Gustafson Lake in the interior of British Columbia in 1995. In 1999, he was disbarred after criminal charges and convictions related to events that happened during that time. In the years since, he's used his legal knowledge to be an advocate for Indigenous rights and is the author of several books. The interview on today's show was done by Michael Welch of the Global Research News Hour. Thanks once again to Global Research News Hour for partnering with rabble.ca by letting us re-podcast their interviews. The show is hosted and produced in Winnipeg by CKUW news director and contributor, Michael Welch, in association with the Centre for Research on Globalization. Image: Pixabay – Monan – Canada Justice Law

David Kattenburg is a tireless advocate calling for the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. He's a Winnipeg based university science instructor and web publisher of The Green Planet Monitor. And he also works for social justice on matters related to environment, sustainability and the wide variety of subjects under that big tent. (A side note – he's also seeking a judicial review of a July 2017 decision by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, permitting illegal Jewish settlement wines to be labeled 'Product of Israel'. The Federal Court of Canada is expected to rule on his application in the Fall.) He goes to the Middle East whenever he can and spends a lot of his time in Palestine, bringing along his recorder and camera to gather material for The Green Planet Monitor. On the site, you can find his writings, audio interviews and photos from his explorations which back several years. What is compelling about his site is that it does a good job of explaining the complexities of this region. Like any good university prof, he explains the background in a way that people who don't have a comprehensive knowledge of the dynamics can understand. And he also does stories about daily life in Palestine – demonstrating how the occupation affects people's lives. Today we have a sampling of stories from David Kattenburg's explorations in June and early July this year. 1.) Protestors at a roadblock in the village of Kufr Qaddum which has been blocked by the Israeli military since since 2003. The people interviewed are residents of the village , talking about how the roadblock affects their economy and their lives. 2.) No Right to a Home – Jeff Halper is founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). House demolitions are routinely carried out in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, in Gaza and even in Israel's internationally recognized borders, but only to Palestinian homes. 3.) When people protest their living conditions, the result is often jail. Khalida Jarrar is a Palestinian politician who has been jailed for her political action. She talks to David Kattenburg about her times in prison and her efforts to make a difference in the lives of women and girls in the prison where she was locked up. Image: Israeli soldiers advance on protesting Palestinians, Kufr Qaddum. Photo by David Kattenburg. Used with permission.

Happy summer, everybody, now that it's here. It's been a long time coming in some parts of the country. It's an unusual summer, weatherwise, and it's also a different pace from summers gone by because we're in the leadup to the fall election. We'll be doing a lot of advance election coverage on rabble, including in our podcasts. But for today, we thought we'd do something a bit lighter related to summer reading and summer travel. 1) A couple of months ago, our podcast exec producer Victoria Fenner was in her local Chapters Indigo bookstore where she met Yahaya Baruwa. He is a young Toronto author who was promoting his first two books. She was impressed not just with the story, but also with his determination to get his books published. Being carried in a big bookstore is an accomplishment in itself. Baruwa has accomplished a lot in his young life and radiates this "get it done" kind of attitude which really drew her in. For example, he sold over 2,000 copies of his first book by going door to door in his neighbourhood in Scarborough. Yahaya Baruwa's first book is called Struggles of a Dreamer – The Battle between a Dream and Tradition. It's fiction, but largely based on his experiences as a young man who was born in Nigeria and grew up in Canada. He emigrated with his family at the age of 12 and writes about the difficult balance to respect and honour one's traditional culture and also adapt to life here in this country. Two of his books are published already, with a third coming out next month. 2.) If you're a writer or journalist, gathering stories while travelling is something we do. David Kattenburg is a freelance journalist and publisher of the website greenplanetmonitor.net. He is also a contributor to rabble radio. One of the places Kattenburg goes most frequently is Palestine. He is a fierce advocate for the end of the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel. Over the years he has developed many friendships and journalistic sources. Victoria Fenner caught up with him via Skype from his hotel room in Beirut this week. He shared some of this year's experiences, some of which were a bit hair-raising. He talks about the significant events from this year's travels and shares some useful travel tips about travelling as a freelance journalist in places where foreign journalists aren't always welcome. You can read and listen to David Kattenburg's dispatches from the Middle East by going to The Green Planet Monitor. There are audio interviews, blog posts and stunning photography from this trip and others which he has done over the years. Image: Yahaya Baruwa. Photo: Victoria Fenner Music Sting – Drum and Bass High Hat Conga loop – RutgerMuller – freesound.org

In May and June, over a hundred groups across the country came together for town hall meetings to discuss climate change and what a Green New Deal for Canada could look like. And the energy continues – there are still a few town halls happening in the month of July. This week, a report was posted online summarizing what some of those findings were, and what communities were saying about how the Green New Deal could be applied in their cities, towns, villages and townships. The Green New Deal town halls were organized by a coalition which included the Council of Canadians, Leadnow, GreenPeace Canada, The Leap and 350.org. According to the report released this week over 7,000 people took part in 150 town halls. On today's show: 1) rabble radio executive producer Victoria Fenner went to one of these town halls in Barrie, Ontario, just north of Toronto. What she discovered was a discussion that was wide ranging, going way beyond what is usually considered to be environmental issues. In a series of questions prepared by the national organizers, participants were invited to look at issues relating to environment and sustainability in the broadest terms possible. The solutions people came up with had to do with environment, economy, transportation, health and every facet of life which is or will be affected by climate change. 2) She also talked to Tim Ellis, one of the national organizers of the Green New Deal town hall project to find out what the next steps are. He works with Leadnow. 3) Also on today's show – Johnny Got His Gun is a musical response to school shootings in the United States, performed and composed by Emilie Feldberg, also known as E.L.F. She contacted rabble radio with her song, which is on today's show, along with an interview with E.L.F. about why she wrote the song. Her songs are strongly inspired by her political views, the impact of her environment on her, and the regular life of a seventeen-year-old today. She has studied music for most of her life, receiving training in classical studies as well as performing indie music. Emilie has taught both piano and voice and plays multiple musical instruments. She completed the royal conservatory of music grades in voice and uses her knowledge of vocal technique and classical styles to inspire her songs. She first became inspired by activism through feminism at a young age and has attended protests throughout her city. Since then, her music reflects what she sees in the world around her. Image: Victoria Fenner Music: Johnny Got His Gun. Used with permission of E.L.F. (Emilie Feldberg)

Next Tuesday, June 25 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Winnipeg General Strike. Today's program features a panel discussion about the impact of the strike a century later. It was done by the Global Research News Hour, hosted and produced by Michael Welch in the same city where the Winnipeg General Strike happened. Global Research News Hour is produced and broadcast at CKUW, the campus/community radio station at University of Winnipeg. The strike started on May 15, 1919 and lasted for six weeks. Over 30,000 workers walked off the job and shut down factories, shops and city services, and had a lasting impact on the labour movement and workers rights in general. Today's guests are talking about that legacy: Julie Guard is Professor of Labour Studies and History at the University of Manitoba. She has authored numerous academic articles and chapters in books. Her research focuses on Canadian labour history, social movement history, history of dissent and repression, history of the Canadian left, women's history, consumer and food history She is the author most recently of the 2019 book Radical Housewives: Price Wars and Food Politics in Mid 20th Century Canada. Harold Dyck is a long time anti-poverty and welfare advocate based in Winnipeg. He has played prominent roles with a number of Winnipeg-based anti-poverty organizations including the Manitoba Committee for Economic Justice, the National Anti poverty Organization and the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. He is also the long-time director of the Low Income Intermediary Project which conducts advocacy work for people on social assistance. John Clarke is a long time organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, a grassroots antipoverty organization based mostly in Toronto that combines collective struggles on behalf of individuals fighting for tenant rights, welfare access, and those threatened with eviction and deportation, with larger political campaigns geared toward policy changes in support of the most marginalized in our society. Image: Wikimedia – RNWMP operations in Winnipeg General Strike, 1919

This spring marks a grim anniversary. It's the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide which happened from April 7 to July 15 in 1994. Today's guest on rabble radio wants us to remember how genocides happen in the hopes that this knowledge will prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future. Heidi Berger believes that genocide education needs to be taught in Canadian classrooms. To address this need, she started an organization called The Foundation for Genocide Education. The foundation is made up of representatives from the Jewish, Rwandan, Armenian and First Nations communities. They are working with the Quebec Education Ministry to create a first-of-its-kind comprehensive, universal guide to enable high school teachers to better incorporate genocide education into their curriculum. Supported by educational videos and teacher training workshops organized by the Quebec government, the project will be piloted in schools across the province beginning in September 2019, and in use in every Quebec high school by 2020. With racism on the rise in Canada and worldwide, and with the knowledge that many high school students are graduating not knowing the meaning of genocide — including the Holocaust — The Foundation for Genocide Education is calling on governments across Canada to educate high school students on the history and consequences of intolerance. The goal is to educate the next generation of leaders on the dangers of intolerance and racism in order to prevent future atrocities. Heidi Berger is founder of The Foundation for Genocide Education. She is also a film producer, Concordia University teacher, and daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She was talking to me about the course that the foundation is developing to teach genocide education in high schools beginning in Quebec in 2020.Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation.