The Liberal government announced earlier this year that it would send around 200 troops to assist in a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali. But what does "peacekeeping" look like in today's world and what do peacekeepers actually do?   In this episode, we speak to  Major-General Denis Thompson (Retired) and Aisha Ahmad, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, to answer these questions. stions.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canada has 20 per cent of the world's freshwater and yet some Indigenous communities have not had access to clean drinking water for decades. In this episode, we speak to Rachel Arsenault a master’s student at Laurentian University's Indigenous Relations program who works with Decolonizing Water an Indigenous-led community-based water monitoring initiative. We also speak with Samantha Redsky of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation . Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The acquittal of Gerald Stanley in the shooting of Colten Boushie sparked outrage across Canada. The anger was further fuelled by the fact that the jury was all white, in a community that had a significant Indigenous population. After the Gerald Stanley verdict, the government proposed sweeping changes to the legal system in Bill C-75. The legal community has been divided on these proposed changes - some say they are an important first step to make juries more diverse, while other say they will actually make things worse.   Kent Roach, chair of law and public policy at the University of Toronto, talks about the legal mechanism that lets this happen.   Roseanne Sylvester tells the story of her brother, Donald Marshall Jr., a Mi'kmaq man who was wrongfully convicted by and all-white jury decades ago.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a teen, Elisa Hategan joined Canada's most notorious and well-organized white supremacist group, the Heritage Front. She later turned on the group and helped to take them down. What can we learn from the past about how white supremacists operate today? And what do we do about all these Nazis?   Elisa's book about her time in the Heritage Front is called Race Traitor.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The final episode of our two-parter on solitary confinement in Canada. In this episode, we hear two personal stories about the impacts that solitary confinement can have. Featuring Yusuf Faqiri and Dan Parlow.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A two part series in which we explore the conditions and consequences of solitary confinement use in Canada. Featuring Chris Jackel, a correctional officer who works in a maximum security Ontario prison, and lawyer/professor Lisa Kerr.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a well known narrative about the opioid epidemic: pharmaceutical companies and doctors over-prescribed addictive drugs on patients. But there's an important policy story here too, and we need to talk about it. Featuring longtime opiate user and activist, Garth Mullins, and lawyer, Caitlin Shane.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robyn Maynard is the author of Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present. We chat with Robyn about what she calls our (mis)education: Canada's amnesia to its history of slavery and segregation, and about the ways in which Canadian classrooms are still rife with anti-black racism.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Back next week with a new episode! In the meantime, check out a new CANADALAND show, Oppo.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canada's immigration system has a human rights problem. Each year, thousands of people are indefinitely jailed in prisons without any criminal charges. Babou was one of them.   This episode features Babou Jobe and Subodh Bharati.Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.