rabble radio

This week on rabble radio, we feature a segment from our most recent Off the Hill political panel. This month, our theme was ‘Off the Hill: Summer of fire – what’s Ottawa got to do with it?’ In this panel, our guests discuss the social and environmental impact the wildfires had on Canada this summer, how Canadians can get involved in climate justice and how we can hold the federal government accountable for climate solutions.  Our panel included MP Leah Gazan, Clayton Thomas-Müller, Chuka Ejeckam, Diana Yoon and Karl Nerenberg. Hosted by Robin Browne and Nick Seebruch. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

Today, Friday September 15, a worldwide climate strike is happening. In Canada, people are joining the fight against climate change on Parliament Hill, calling for the government to end the funding of new fossil fuel projects. The strike on Parliament Hill is organized in part by Fridays for Future Ottawa. On rabble radio this week, rabble labour reporter Gabriela Calugay-Casuga speaks to Shana Quesnel. Ahead of this day of action, the two discuss why strikes like this are crucial and the importance of youth becoming involved in climate action.  Shana Quesnel is a fifth-year student at the University of Ottawa in history and political science. She is passionate about climate activism, a scene she has been part of since 2021. She is currently a volunteer for Fridays for Future Ottawa and also the co-president of Climate Justice uOttawa. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on the show, national politics reporter Scott Martin sits down with Sean Smukler. Sean Smukler is an associate professor in applied biology and soil science at University of British Columbia (UBC) and director of the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm.  Martin and Smukler discuss the current challenges farmers are facing in Canada due to climate change – and wonder aloud where Canada is headed.  “We are facing a climate emergency, and we’re pretending like it’s something for the next generation to deal with. No one grasps the fact that if we don’t deal with it now, the next generation can’t deal with it.” - Sean Smukler To learn more about the state of Canadian agriculture in the face of climate change, read Scott Martin’s full piece here.  If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. 

This week on the show, rabble labour reporter Gabriela Calguay-Casuga sits down with Laura Sullivan, a spokesperson from On2Ottawa.  “We are ordinary Canadians stepping into nonviolent civil disobedience to get urgent government action on the climate crisis, starting with the formation of a permanent, professional national firefighting agency sized to meet the enormity of the crisis.  The climate crisis is real and it is now. We face the consequences daily. Canadians are dealing with fire, flood and drought because our governments have been failing us for decades. Until we zero our emissions it will keep getting worse.” – https://on2ottawa.ca/   On2Ottawa is calling on the government to implement a National Firefighting Agency that trains and employs 50 000 firefighters, and legally binding citizen's assemblies to address the climate crisis. The campaign is in the midst of its first action phase, disrupting traffic to call for action on these demands.  Sullivan has been with On2Ottawa since its creation early this year. She's been arrested twice, for painting Woolly the Mammoth, a statue in the Royal BC Museum, and painting the iconic "Toronto" sign in Nathan Phillips Square to draw attention to the On2Ottawa campaign.  If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.   

Georgia Kelly sits down with Elsa Perry and Rebekah Hansen of Shelter Movers. Shelter Movers is a Canadian organization which helps survivors of gender-based violence transition to a better, safer life. Shelter Movers collaborates with local businesses and community services who refer clients that have decided to leave an abuser, and have a safer place to go. Shelter Movers makes all the arrangements to move and store survivors’ belongings securely, on the clients’ terms. The organization seeks to empower survivors as they transition to a life free of violence.  For volunteer opportunities with Shelter Movers, please visit: www.sheltermovers.com/volunteer/  About our guests  Elsa Perry comes to Shelter Movers with extensive experience in the non-profit and private sectors throughout western Canada. She has a background in developing and implementing educational outreach materials and programs for children and youth. Perry is originally from rural Southern Alberta, just under the mountains in Kananaskis Country. Rebekah Hansen, chapter director for Shelter Movers Edmonton, began her work in the gender-based violence sector in January 2016. Since 2018, Hansen has served on the board of directors for Boys and Girls Club Whitecourt & District and continues to support them in her role as past president. When Hansen discovered the work of Shelter Movers, she resonated with the mission and knew she had to get involved. Georgia Kelly is a third-year undergraduate in the University of Toronto’s Ethics, Society, and Law program. In addition to her work at rabble, she is also an associate editor for her student newspaper, the Varsity. If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, rabble assistant editor Georgia Kelly sits down with Marva Burnett, national president of ACORN Canada. The two discuss the ways ACORN Canada is committed to achieving livable and affordable housing for all Canadians.  About our guests Burnett is the chair of Scarborough ACORN and the national president of ACORN Canada. She  is also a child care worker and a mother. She has been a passionate leader with ACORN since it first started organizing in Scarborough in 2005 and has led countless campaigns over the years. ACORN Canada is an independent national organization of low and moderate income people with over 160,000 members in over 20 neighbourhood chapters across nine cities. Georgia Kelly is a third-year undergraduate in the University of Toronto’s Ethics, Society, and Law program. In addition to her work at rabble, she is also an associate editor for her student newspaper, the Varsity.  If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. 

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

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

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

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