Asking for a friend: Living organ donations, a gift beyond words
Release Date: 05/22/2023
Inequality Inc: Corporate power vs. workers’ rights
Needs No Introduction
The season’s third episode takes us back to George Brown College’s 32nd annual Labour Fair in Toronto, ‘Corporate Power vs. Labour Power: It’s Our Work!!’ Professor Benjamin McCarthy facilitates a discussion featuring Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada and Jared Ong, organizer and case worker with the Workers’ Action Centre. Together, they discuss how this new age of corporate-driven inequality impacts workers on the ground and the hope that lies within working peoples’ solidarity. Reflecting on how government should be investing in work, Ravon says: “...
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JP Hornick on Corporate power vs. labour power: It’s our work
Needs No Introduction
The season’s second episode focuses on George Brown College’s 32nd annual Labour Fair in Toronto and the opening keynote discussion with president of OPSEU/SEFPO JP Hornick on this year’s theme ‘Corporate Power vs. Labour Power: It’s Our Work!!’ Opening a week of labour focused events, and speaking to George Brown College students and faculty, our conversation focuses on labour power and union organizing in this era of corporate driven inequality, privatization and the erosion of the rights of working peoples. According to Hornick:: “So everybody remember a year ago with...
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Climate, conflict and the meaning of peace
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We launch our sixth season with Tamara Lorincz, environmental and feminist peace activist and Linda Thyer, founding member of Doctors for Planetary Health - West Coast and a discussion on the interconnected impacts of war and occupation on both people and planet, the costs of Canadian militarism and our involvement in NATO and the possibilities for global cooperation, peace, and climate justice in times of conflict. Reflecting on the twin impacts of conflict on climate in Gaza and Ukraine, Lorincz says: “The Middle Eastern region has suffered from drought and from excessive heat. This...
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Inequality Inc: Corporate power vs. public action
Needs No Introduction
For our sixth episode, Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada and Michéle Biss, national director of the National Right to Housing Network, discuss Oxfam's latest report, Inequality, Inc.on the growing power of corporate monopolies, the unprecedented rise in global inequality and the urgent need for public action. Speaking to Oxfam’s latest report on global inequality, Ravon says: “This has been a decade so far that has been full of pain for most people around the world. The decade of a pandemic, of rampant inflation, food prices going up, war, climate chaos, climate...
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Menopause and work in Canada: Menopause is natural, suffering is not
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Crushing fatigue, hot flashes (or should we say hot flushes), burning, itching, mood swings, heart palpitations, brain fog, anxiety, loss of self. What’s happening to me? Who can I talk to? How do I work? Sound familiar? After a bit of an extended pause, we begin the new year with the Menopause Foundation of Canada’s latest report: Menopause and Work in Canada. Foundation co-founders Janet Ko and Trish Barbato discuss the complex issues impacting a quarter of Canada’s working population as they embark on an important milestone in the prime of every woman’s life; yet one that is still...
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Gaza: Humanitarian agencies call for a ceasefire now
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In our fourth episode Dalia Al-Awqati, head of humanitarian affairs for Save the Children Canada and Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada discuss the humanitarian crisis taking place in the Gaza Strip. How do we understand the devastating toll of death, displacement and destruction upon the largely civilian Palestinian population, almost half of them children? What of the impossible choices facing aid workers and colleagues on the ground as they are caught within the turmoil of Gaza? Why are humanitarian pauses not enough? And why is a ceasefire the only answer? Describing...
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Mouth open story jump out: Storytelling for change
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It’s Halloween again and for the Courage My Friends podcast series, this means it’s a time for stories. Returning with our annual ‘mouth open, story jump out’ episode, storytellers Kesha Christie of Talkin’ Tales, Njoki Mbũrũ recent recipient of the Community Foundations of Canada Transformational Storytelling Fellowship and Rani Sanderson, storytelling workshop facilitator with StoryCentre Canada, share in stories and conversation about the power of storytelling for community work, transformation and social change. Christie reflects on the power of stories: “When we...
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At the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival
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Our second episode quite literally puts the lens on climate as we spotlight the 24th annual Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (PIF), running from October 12th-22nd at Toronto’s Paradise Theatre. PIF executive director Katherine Bruce speaks with us about the continued and growing importance of Canada's largest and longest running environmental film festival and this year’s program of shorts, speakers and feature-length films. Filmmaker Deirdre Leowinata discusses her film Keepers of the Land and its themes of reclamation and reconciliation. We are...
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BRICS: Summits, coups and a changing world order
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In the launch of our fifth season, we are pleased to welcome back author, public intellectual and director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad. Taking us through the recent economic summits of BRICS and the G20, as well as the cascade coups in West Africa, Prashad delves into the rapid and stunning changes taking place in the world today, where they came from and what this could mean for a changing world order. Is it multipolarity or is it something else? In speaking of the origins of the BRICS bloc of economically emerging nations, Prashad says: “You know, it's...
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Labour Fair 2023: Food Justice, labour rights and social gastronomy
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For our season finale of Courage My Friends, we return to this year’s George Brown College Labour Fair, The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!! In the panel on ‘Food Industries: Feeding Ourselves on a Precarious Planet’, moderator Lori Stahlbrand is joined by guests: Joshna Maharaj, a chef, social gastronomy activist, educator and host of the Hot Plate podcast; Chris Ramsaroop, an organizer, educator and activist with Justice for Migrant Workers; and Charlotte Big Canoe, partner and membership director at The Full Plate. The four discuss food...
info_outlineOur latest episode of Courage My Friends takes its inspiration from friend and guest William Woolrich as he begins his search for a living kidney donor. He and Candice Coghlan, education and outreach coordinator for the University Health Network Ajmera Transplant Centre and host of the Living Transplant podcast, discuss the search for and ultimate gift of living organ donations.
Speaking to how non-related or anonymous donors can help shorten the organ transplant waiting list, Coghlan says:
“So these are people who have no connection to the recipient at all. They don't know them, but they decide to step forward out of the goodness of their heart, and they donate either a portion of their liver or a kidney to anyone who is in need, who would be a compatible match to them. ..For kidneys also, they can donate into the Paired Exchange Program.. that happens through the Canadian Blood Services; where if someone has a donor who is a healthy, great candidate, but they're not compatible with their recipient, they can go into this "chain" we call it, and they can swap kidneys… There's an algorithm that happens about three times a year that matches people across the country with donors. And so these anonymous donors can also donate into that pool. Which means not only is someone getting a kidney, but it's taking someone off that wait-list as well.”
As Woolrich begins his search for a living kidney transplant, he reflects on the meaning of living organ donations:
“[Even] if you aren't a match for me, you might be matched for someone. And, you know, I can't describe the gift that you would be giving to someone that you may not ever meet. ..you have managed to save their life. I mean, how many of us can say that, that we managed to save a life somehow. And this does that. So I really, really encourage people to get involved. .. Look at the resources that Candice mentioned, that you're going to post, Resh on the podcast. And really consider it. Because it does mean the world to someone. And I think that it provides that sense of altruism, a reward even to the giver as well. There is a feeling that someone can get, that I'm sure is indescribable from having saved a life.”
If you are interested in finding out more or becoming a donor for William or someone else, please visit these links:
Welcome to the Ajmera Transplant Centre (uhn.ca)
Living Donor Transplant Program Donor Health History Form (uhn.ca)
GREAT ACTIONS LEAVE A MARK | UHN
And check out the Living Transplant Podcast (uhn.ca) hosted by Candice Coghlan.
About our guests:
William Woolrich has had kidney disease since he was a teenager as a result of an autoimmune disorder. More recently, he has needed to go on peritoneal dialysis and is hopeful of a transplant. He earned his Doctorate in Education in 2019 from York University. Although currently on long term disability, he is a full-time professor at George Brown College in the Social Service Worker program. He is married and the father of two.
Candice Coghlan is the education and outreach coordinator for the Centre for Living Organ Donation at UHN’s Ajmera Transplant Centre. She is also the host of the Living Transplant podcast. Coghlan not only works in the world of organ donation, but her passion also comes from her lived experience. When Coghlan was 24 years old, she was a crash start onto hemodialysis, with no prior knowledge of renal disease. She did both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. After 15 months, Coghlan’s mother became her kidney donor, giving her a second chance at life. Since then, Coghlan has accomplished many things, including finishing her degree, getting married, travelling, and welcoming a healthy baby girl in 2021.
Transcript of this episode can be accessed at georgebrown.ca/TommyDouglasInstitute or here.
Image: William Woolrich and Candice Coghlan / Used with permission.
Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased.
Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Injila Rajab Khan and Danesh Hanbury (Street Voices)
Courage My Friends podcast organizing committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu.
Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca.
Host: Resh Budhu.