Redeye
934 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 6 ratingsA progressive take on current events. Produced by an independent media collective at Vancouver Cooperative Radio.
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Episodes
New report highlights the voices of survivors of sexual assault
December 04, 2018 03:01 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBThis month, West Coast LEAF and the YWCA published a report that centered the voices of survivors of sexual assault, talking about their experiences of the barriers to reporting what happened to them. Alana Prochuk is a co-author of the report and manager of public legal education at West Coast LEAF.
Old-growth logging threatens orca rubbing beaches on Johnstone Strait
November 29, 2018 02:17 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBEnvironmental activists are calling for the BC government to immediately halt logging of intact old-growth areas like Schmidt Creek on Vancouver Island. They say there are very few undisturbed old-growth forests like these left and it may be too late by the time the NDP government makes good on its election promises. We talk with Jens Wieting, forest and climate campaigner with the Sierra Club BC.
Contract faculty outnumber tenured professors at many Canadian universities
November 27, 2018 04:06 - 14 minutes - 13 MBA university teaching position was once one of the most secure jobs in the country. But now faculty appointments in Canada have entered the realm of precarious labour. Last year, contract jobs in the sector accounted for the majority of all university faculty appointments. Erika Shaker is a senior education researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and one of the authors of a new report, Contract U.
Income assistance in BC stuck at $900 below the poverty line
November 22, 2018 03:09 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBEvery year for the past 6 years, Raise the Rates has issued the Welfare Food Challenge. This year, the organization realized that they couldn’t run the challenge again because the current welfare rate leaves only $6 a week for food – and that’s not possible to live on. Kell Gerlings says what’s needed now is for people of all income levels to demand the B.C. government do something about the depth of poverty that people are social assistance are experiencing.
City Beat: A busy first week for Vancouver's new city council
November 19, 2018 16:45 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBVancouver’s new mayor and city council met for the first time this past week and they all came ready to advance their campaign promises. It was a very busy week with three full days of meetings, ten motions from individual councillors, and 140 speakers registered to speak. In City Beat, Redeye collective member Ian Mass fills us in on what happened.
Three generations of Indigenous women share stories of violence and healing
November 17, 2018 21:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBMaterial Witness is a play about violence and healing, co-produced by New York-based Spiderwoman Theatre and Aanmitaagzi, an Indigenous arts company from Nipissing First Nation in Ontario. We speak with Sid Bobb, assistant director of Material Witness.
Journalists say Parks Canada staff and scientists not free to talk with media
November 16, 2018 17:11 - 9 minutes - 8.66 MBJournalist Gloria Dickie requested field access to Parks Canada scientists while working on a feature article about grizzly bears, and was surprised to have her request turned down. When she asked other journalists, they reported similar challenges in accessing information from Parks Canada employees. Gloria Dickie’s article, Parks in the Dark, appeared in The Narwhal in September.
Mining sector's push for deregulation to blame for two major mining disasters
November 13, 2018 01:55 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBA new report on the collapse of the tailings dam at Mount Polley and an even more catastrophic dam failure at the Samarco mine in Brazil finds many parallels between the two events. Judith Marshall says the mining industry’s deep resistance to government regulation meant warnings were ignored and emergency procedures inadequate. Judith Marshall is an associate at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University and a recently retired educator and writer with the U...
Youth in foster care in BC left to fend for themselves the day they turn 19
November 10, 2018 14:00 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MB45 youth in and from foster care traveled to Victoria last month to meet with ministers and MLAs. They are calling for urgent changes to a foster care system that fully supports them only until they become adults. They want to see universal and comprehensive support for youth aging out of care. We speak with Dylan Cohen, a community organizer with Fostering Change. Cohen is an Indigenous former youth in care from Treaty One territory.
On the ground with the caravan of asylum-seekers
November 07, 2018 14:15 - 10 minutes - 9.69 MBA few weeks ago, thousands of asylum-seekers left Honduras heading for the US-Mexico border. People have walked and hitchhiked about 1500 kilometres so far, and they are expecting to reach the United States in about 3 weeks. Martha Pskowski is an independent journalist based in Mexico City who has spent time with the asylum-seekers in the caravan.
French court delays decision in case of Ottawa academic Hassan Diab
November 05, 2018 17:04 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBHassan Diab is an Ottawa academic who was extradited to France to face terrorism charges in the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue. He was never brought to trial, spending more than three years in detention in a French jail. French investigative judges repeatedly ordered his release only to be overturned by French prosecutors. When Diab was finally released in January this year, French prosecutors appealed his release. On October 26, the French Court of Appeal delayed a decision on the case an...
Transforming Chinatown after Vancouver's apology for 150 years of racism
November 03, 2018 01:11 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBSeven years ago, the City of Vancouver allowed a comprehensive upzoning of Chinatown that brought in rapid condo development and accelerated the demise of this historic cultural site. Activists and local residents fought back, focusing their attention of a proposed condo tower in the heart of Chinatown. They won that fight and an apology from the city for 150 years of institutionalized racism. Melody Ma is one of the young activists who is fighting to preserve the historic Chinatown which she...
New trade deal better than NAFTA but still deeply flawed
October 31, 2018 13:15 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBOn October 1, Canada, the US and Mexico agreed on a new free trade to replace NAFTA. It’s called the US Mexico Canada Agreement. Sujata Dey of the Council of Canadians says the new deal is better than NAFTA but still deeply flawed. The Council of Canadians formed more than 30 years to fight the first US-Canada free trade agreement. Sujata Dey analyzes the deal for us.
A framework for ethical research in Vancouver's poorest neighbourhood
October 29, 2018 15:20 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBVancouver’s Downtown Eastside is amongst the most studied neighbourhood in the country. At any one time, there are dozens of research projects looking into the effects of drug use, poverty and other topics. Local residents donate a lot of time to assist researchers but often receive little or no benefit from their participation. Two local residents and a PhD student are among a group of people who have come up with a framework for ethical research in the Downtown Eastside. We speak with Samon...
The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and US-Saudi relations
October 25, 2018 03:06 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MBSaudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey. Khashoggi was a columnist at the Washington Post and a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. We talk with Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink and author of Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the US-Saudi Connection.
Quebec to bar public servants from wearing hijab
October 23, 2018 04:49 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBWhen the Coalition Avenir Quebec was elected in Quebec this month, the new premier Francois Legault moved quickly to bar public servants from wearing religious symbols. The focus of the new law is the hijab, or headscarf, worn by Muslim women. Monia Mazigh is a writer and activist who lived in Quebec for a number of years when she first came to Canada.
Climate change: Moving from grief to action
October 19, 2018 22:11 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBThis month the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change released its most-urgent report to date, saying that we have less than 20 years to avoid climate catastrophe. While some people sink into despair, others are spurred to action. Peter Kalmus is a climate scientist and writer, working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California. He’s the author of the article The Best Medicine for My Climate Grief. Note: Peter Kalmus’s opinions are his own and he is not speaking on behalf of NASA, the Je...
Increased density unlikely to fix Vancouver's affordability crisis
October 18, 2018 02:44 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBIn September, Vancouver councillors voted to allow duplexes everywhere in the city, as part of a plan to increase housing options. Mayor Gregor Robertson said it was a move to deal with the unaffordability of housing in Vancouver. John Rose is a geographer at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He says Vancouver’s high property values aren’t a supply problem and that this upzoning may actually make things worse.
City Beat: A round-up of election issues around the Lower Mainland
October 16, 2018 03:23 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBVancouver voters go the polls next Saturday, October 20. There are many interesting races taking place in Metro Vancouver. Our City Beat reporter Ian Mass joins us to walk us through the issues in Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby and Richmond.
Global Warming and The Sweetness of Life
October 11, 2018 13:00 - 17 minutes - 15.6 MBIn their new book, Global Warming and The Sweetness of Life, co-authors Matt Hern and Am Johal claim that any question of ecology is a primarily a question of land politics and sovereignty. In order to grapple with new definitions of ecology, they set off on a road trip with cartoonist Joe Sacco to visit the tar sands of Northern Alberta. During their travels, they spoke to people about their relationships to land and extractive capitalism. Am Johal talks with us about the book.
New website maps traditional land and languages of Indigenous people
October 08, 2018 13:00 - 16 minutes - 14.8 MBFreelance web developer Victor Temprano’s website, Native-Land.ca, began with research he was doing into resource development and pipelines in B.C. The project has expanded into a map that includes territories in North and South America, Australia and New Zealand.
Prisoners at Burnside jail in Nova Scotia launch peaceful protest
October 03, 2018 13:00 - 17 minutes - 16 MBIn August, prisoners at Nova Scotia’s largest correctional facility launched a peaceful protest in solidarity with striking prisoners in the United States. The Burnside prisoners also released a list of ten demands, including better healthcare, access to rehabilitation programs and visits with family members. El Jones is a poet, activist and prisoners’ rights advocate. She tells us about conditions inside Burnside and prison authorities’ response to the protest.
New documentary film explores the theory and practice of democracy
October 01, 2018 13:00 - 16 minutes - 14.9 MBA new documentary looks at the promise and challenges of creating a society ruled by its citizens. Astra Taylor is the director of What is Democracy? In her film, she talks with activists, workers and intellectuals about what people’s power and democracy mean to them.
Media coverage of extreme weather fails to mention climate change
September 27, 2018 13:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBLast year, the organization Media Matters did a survey of news coverage of hurricanes. The survey found that major outlets almost never connect the dots between extreme weather events and climate change. We speak with Lisa Hymas, Director of the Climate and Energy Program at Media Matters.
Vancouver's red-hot real estate market widens gulf between rich and poor
September 24, 2018 13:00 - 10 minutes - 9.93 MBWe often think of inequality as marked by differences in annual income but a recent article by Alex Hemingway suggests that, in a city like Vancouver, skyrocketing property values have a much bigger impact on the widening gap between rich and poor. Alex Hemingway is an economist and public finance policy analyst with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Israel: Canada's human rights exception
September 22, 2018 13:00 - 21 minutes - 20.1 MBIn this wide-ranging conversation, peace activist Professor William Geimer discusses Canada’s dismal record on protesting Israel’s human rights abuses. He also talks about his book, Canada: The Case for Staying Out of Other People’s Wars. William Geimer is one of three speakers at an event titled Israel: Canada’s Human Rights Exception, to be held September 25 at Duncan United Church on Vancouver Island.
New book says climate change denial is a crime against humanity
September 20, 2018 13:00 - 16 minutes - 14.8 MBIn their recently published book Unprecedented Crime, Elizabeth Woodworth and Peter Carter say that the catastrophic climate events we are seeing today have been consistently forecast ever since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, signed by all governments back in 1990. They examine the failure of corporations, governments, and especially the media to report or act on the climate emergency. We speak with Elizabeth Woodworth.
US cuts all funding to United Nations agency for Palestine refugees
September 17, 2018 13:00 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MBThe United States has long been the biggest donor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. At the beginning of September, the Trump administration announced it was cutting all funding to the agency. UNWRA is a humanitarian lifeline for Palestine refugees in the Middle East, providing food aid, education and health services for millions of people. We speak with Elizabeth Campbell, director of UNWRA USA.
Why federal court overturned Ottawa's approval of Trans Mountain pipeline
September 13, 2018 13:15 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBOn August 30, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the National Energy Board’s review of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion was flawed and that the federal government could not rely on it as a basis for their decision to approve the project. Elin Sigurdson represented the Upper Nicola Band at the hearing. She explains why the federal court made this ruling.
Vancouver and Victoria activists join global day of action for the climate
September 10, 2018 15:46 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBLast Saturday, more than 850 actions took place around the world to call for real action on climate change. The actions in Vancouver and Victoria both celebrated the recent court decision on Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion and highlighted issues on a local level. We speak with Shirley Samples of Climate Convergence in Vancouver and Sue Andrews with Rise and Resist in Victoria.
Inclusionary zoning bylaw in Burnaby too little too late
September 07, 2018 13:15 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MBAt the end of July, Burnaby City Council unanimously passed a motion to develop a rental only zoning bylaw. According to Mayor Derek Corrigan, the new rental housing bylaw will allow “the replacement of current rental units” in new towers. But community activists fighting the loss of rental housing say it is too little, too late. We speak with Emily Luba of Alliance Against Displacement.
Fearless Cities movement brings radical ideas to municipal politics
September 05, 2018 03:27 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBFearless Cities is a growing movement across the globe aiming to democratize municipal politics. A month ago, the first ever Fearless Cities summit in North America was held in New York City. Derrick O’Keefe is co-founder of the Vancouver Tenants’ Union and a COPE candidate in Vancouver’s upcoming municipal election. He was in New York for the summit.
Health professionals call for broad public health approach to tent cities
August 30, 2018 13:00 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MBTent cities are often closed down due to concerns over fire safety. More than 100 members of the public health community have written an open letter calling for a shift from using public health as a rationale to displace tent cities to adopting a public health approach to reduce safety concerns. Professor Bernie Pauly is a professor of nursing at the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research.
VPD “access without fear” policies create false sense of security
August 27, 2018 13:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBImmigration advocates who have led the push for Vancouver to adopt sanctuary city policies are deeply disappointed with the new guidelines announced by the Vancouver Police Department last month. They say the new policies fail to protect migrant and refugee communities from crime. Worse still, they create a false sense of security about reporting crimes to the police. Alejandra Lopez Bravo is with Sanctuary Health Vancouver.
Seth Klein on how pro-rep fixes problems with current electoral system
August 22, 2018 13:00 - 16 minutes - 15.5 MBChange is hard, says Seth Klein, and we’re always more comfortable with what we know. But, he argues, that’s no reason to stick with an electoral system that gives parties with 35% of the vote 100% of the power, or that forces us to vote against parties we don’t like instead of for parties we do. Seth Klein joins us for a second conversation about BC’s upcoming referendum on electoral reform.
Update on Treaty 8 injunction application against Site C dam
August 19, 2018 13:00 - 16 minutes - 15.5 MBThe West Moberly First Nations have been in BC Supreme Court since July 23 seeking an injunction to halt work on the Site C dam. They want to see construction stopped until the courts can rule on whether or not the dam constitutes treaty infringement. Sarah Cox is author of Breaching the Peace. She has been following the court case closely.
Animated feature film examines impact of Israel's wall
August 16, 2018 00:36 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBIn 2002, Israel began building a wall around the occupied West Bank. Seven years later, British playwright David Hare wrote a monologue examining the impact of the wall on Israelis and Palestinians. Canadian filmmaker Cam Christiansen took Hare’s monologue and crafted it into a feature-length animated film that makes its theatrical debut in Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary on August 17. We speak with Cam Christiansen.
City Beat: Mayoral races heat up in Vancouver and Burnaby
August 14, 2018 03:41 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBRedeye’s Ian Mass joins us to talk about who’s who in the wide-open race for mayor in Vancouver and about a campaign to unseat long-time Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan.
New film explores the lives of five gender-creative kids
August 11, 2018 13:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBIn the new short film Beauty, five kids speak frankly and movingly about claiming their own sense of gender in a binary world. We speak with director Christina Willings about the kids and the film. Beauty shows Friday Aug 17 at 5pm at The Coast is Genderqueer, part of the 2018 Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
Thomson Reuters one of ICE's corporate collaborators
August 09, 2018 13:00 - 10 minutes - 9.74 MBIn addition to running the one of the world’s largest news and journalism wire services, the Canadian media giant Thomson Reuters is an information clearing house. It creates databases with information gathered from cell phones, credit cards, and health records to name but a few. The data is then sold to law enforcement agencies such as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. Tracy Rosenberg thinks Canadians should be aware of this. She is with Media Alliance, a San Francisco-bas...
How Canadian courts interpret treaty infringement
August 06, 2018 13:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBWith West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations currently in BC Supreme Court seeking an injunction to stop work on Site C, the issue of what constitutes treaty infringement is an important one to examine. In this talk recorded July 5, Professor Gordon Christie of UBC looks at how Canadian courts have interpreted the nature of the Crown’s obligations on treaty land.
Canada's pension funds still powered by fossil fuels
August 04, 2018 13:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBThe British Columbia Investment Management Corporation is the fourth largest pension fund manager in Canada. It controls more than $135 billion, including almost all of the province’s public sector pension funds. A new report has found that, at a time when the financial risks and societal harms posed by climate change are mounting, the BCI is increasing its oil and gas holdings. We talk with James Rowe, associate professor at the University of Victoria and one of the authors of the report.
Canada's mountains 'sentinels for change' in a warming climate
August 01, 2018 13:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBA new report prepared by the Alpine Club of Canada highlights the impacts of climate change on many aspects of Canada’s mountain landscapes from glaciers to treelines to ski resorts. The 2018 State of the Mountains report says mountains are experiencing unprecedented pressures. We speak with co-editor, Lael Parrott who is with both UBC Okanagan and the Alpine Club of Canada.
Arts of Resistance: Politics and the Past in Latin America
July 30, 2018 15:17 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBA new exhibit at Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology shows how communities in Latin America are using traditional art forms to express contemporary political realities. Arts of Resistance features the work of artists from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador and Chile, with special focus on marginalized communities. Curator Laura Osorio Sunnucks examines the role of creativity during times of political turmoil.
López Obrador's ambitious progressive agenda for Mexico
July 24, 2018 23:50 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBMexico’s president-elect won a huge majority on July 1, gaining more support than any president since Mexico’s transition to democracy nearly 20 years ago. His core promises were immensely popular with voters: to end corruption, reduce violence and address Mexico’s poverty. Christy Thornton is an assistant professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University. She was in Mexico during the election as an election observer for the Scholars and Citizens Network for Democr...
BC's child workers experience high rate of injury on the job
July 21, 2018 03:01 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBSince 2003, British Columbia has had among the lowest standards for child labour. Children as young as 12 are allowed to work in the province for up to 7 hours a day. One of the results is that WCB injury claims among children has spiked. Helesia Luke is with First Call, the BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition.
The Trans Generation: How Trans Kids (and Their Parents) are Creating a Gender Revolution
July 18, 2018 15:58 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBFrom a very early age, some children know they are different from the sex category assigned to them at birth. Ann Travers spent five years talking with trans kids and their parents. Their new book, The Trans Generation, offers a rare look into what it is like to grow up as a transgender child. Ann Travers is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University.
Understanding BC's referendum on proportional representation
July 15, 2018 13:00 - 16 minutes - 15 MBSeth Klein thinks all three options on offer in BC’s upcoming electoral reform referendum are dramatically better than what we have now. In this interview, he explains the principal of proportional representation and talks about how each of the three proposed models would work. Seth Klein is director of the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Kinder Morgan protesters face jail time for civil disobedience
July 13, 2018 13:00 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBSince March, over 200 people have been arrested for defying an injunction to stay away from the Burnaby construction site for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The legal and financial consequences for these protesters have now increased significantly. We talk with Kris Hermes of the Terminal City Legal Collective.
Calls for end to Safe Third Country agreement between Canada and the US
July 12, 2018 01:10 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBFor 15 years, refugees arriving at the land border between the U.S. and Canada have been refused entry to Canada on the grounds that the United States is a safe country for refugee claimants. With the current harsh climate towards migrants, many Canadians are calling for the Canadian government to suspend the Safe Third Country agreement. We speak with Nadia Abu-Zahra, associate professor of international development and global studies at the University of Ottawa.