Needs No Introduction

A series of speeches and lectures from the finest minds of our time. Fresh ideas from speakers of note.

Labour Fair 2025: Labour now: Union responses to the polycrisis 04/16/2025

Labour Fair 2025: Labour now: Union responses to the polycrisis In episode eight, we return to the George Brown College Labour Fair and a discussion with Ontario Federation of Labour president Laura Walton and chief steward and second vice president of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 556 Jeff Brown. We discuss the multiple issues facing the labour movement, union priorities and, in this age of polycrisis, what exactly we are working for. Speaking to the upcoming federal elections, Walton says: “I think we all can agree it's not going to be an NDP federal government. It's either gonna be Liberals or Conservatives. And I call them cancer and chemo; one's gonna kill you, the other one's gonna make you sick. We're going to be under, in Ontario, two governments that are not worker friendly, both federally and provincially. And it's going to be incumbent on workers to really embrace organizing principles … Now's not the time to be quiet. Now's the time that we're going to have to join our voices together to really push back." Reflecting on the how the trade war may impact already underfunded Ontario colleges, Brown says: “The colleges extend into so many fields in our province. Obviously healthcare, nursing community workers, but also things like all the skilled trades, forestry, aviation. I mean, these are the workers in communities that are the backbone of our economy … and the concern that being this underfunded, now with this trade war … the provincial government will use this as an excuse to further starve the system.” About today’s guests: Laura Walton is the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) Canada’s largest provincial labour federation. Walton served as president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU) starting in 2019. She also served on the CUPE Ontario Executive Board. With a firm belief in the equalizing power of inclusive public education, Walton led her 55,000 coworkers across Ontario to withdraw their labour for two days in November 2022 in protest of the Ford government using the notwithstanding clause to ram through legislation that imposed a contract on CUPE education workers. Previously she served as president of CUPE Local 1022 which represents the education workers of Hastings and Prince Edward County District School Board. Dr. Jeff Brown is an experienced educator, researcher, and labour activist. He is a full-time professor in the Liberal Arts and Sciences department at George Brown College in Toronto and Chief Steward/2nd Vice-President of OPSEU Local 556, representing unionized faculty at George Brown. He is also a member of the Ontario College Faculty Divisional Executive. Session Introduction & Audience Questions by: Ashley Booth Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Laura Walton, Jeff Brown / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/36192625

Labour Fair 2025: Building a workers' first emergency response to the tariff crisis 04/11/2025

Labour Fair 2025: Building a workers' first emergency response to the tariff crisis In episode seven, we are pleased to feature executive director of the Workers’ Action Centre, Deena Ladd. In her keynote address for the 33rd annual Labour Fair at Toronto’s George Brown College, No One Left Behind: Building a Workers’ First Emergency Response to the Tariff Crisis that Unites Us, Ladd discusses the current trade war, the dangers facing workers and a solidarity-driven plan that puts workers first. Reflecting on what’s needed in a workers’ first approach to the tariff crisis, Ladd says: “Our communities are already in trouble. And we know that the tariffs imposed are gonna have a ripple impact, far worse than the pandemic's… We desperately need a government strategy that has learned from these past economic crises to ensure that no one gets left behind. ..To make sure that when you are providing supports, that they first of all have to be adequate. That they're not institutionalizing poverty. That they're accessible … And that they're structured in a way that doesn't unintentionally punish people after the fact." About today’s speaker: Deena Ladd has been working to improve wages and working conditions in sectors of work that are dominated with low-wages, violations of rights, precarious and temp work for over 30 years. She has worked to support and develop grassroots training, education and organizing to build the power of workers with groups such as the Fight for $15 and Fairness Campaign, Decent Work and Health Network, the Migrant Rights Network and Justice for Workers. Ladd is one of the founders and executive director of the Toronto . The Workers’ Action Centre organizes to improve wages and working conditions with low-waged workers, women, racialized and immigrant workers in precarious jobs that face discrimination, violations of rights and no benefits in the workplace. Clip: Audience Questions read by: Resh Budhu, Ben McCarthy Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or here. Image: Deena Ladd / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/36098920

Labour Fair 2025: The critical need for labour education 04/02/2025

Labour Fair 2025: The critical need for labour education In episode six, we feature the opening discussion of the at Toronto’s George Brown College. Under this year's theme, What Are We Working For? JP Hornick, president of OPSEU/SEFPO, (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), speaks on the critical need for labour education, labour organizing amid the changing nature of work and the crisis facing Ontario colleges. Reflecting on the need for labour education Hornick says: “These are the spaces where we learn how to organize, where we learn how to build community – it provides the critical analysis that people need to understand why there are inequities in society. Why systems of oppression such as racism, ableism, sexism, ageism, homophobia and transphobia are being used right now in this moment to try and divide workers from one another. Programs like the School of Labour or labour education are where we actually start to have conversations with workers about why we're not one another's enemies. I think about this quote from Angela Davis: ‘If they come for me in the morning, then they will come for you in the night.’" About today’s guest: JP Hornick (they/them) is the president of OPSEU/SEFPO, one of Canada’s largest provincial public sector unions, representing more than 180,000 members across Ontario. OPSEU/SEFPO members work for the Ontario government, at community colleges, for the LCBO, in health care, and in workplaces and community agencies across the broader public sector. Hornick has been a part of many mobilizations of working people, both in unions and in social justice spaces. Most recently, they taught labour history and was the coordinator of the School of Labour and the annual Labour Fair at George Brown College. They led OPSEU/SEFPO College faculty through a province-wide strike in 2017 and another successful round of bargaining in 2022, before being elected president of OPSEU/SEFPO for the first time in April of that year. Hornick was re-elected at the last OPSEU/SEFPO Convention in April 2024. Labour Fair Opening: Benjamin McCarthy, Labour Fair 2025 Coordinator Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: JP Hornick / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/35979460

Rebranded fascism, higher education and the burden of conscience 03/12/2025

Rebranded fascism, higher education and the burden of conscience In episode five, we are pleased to welcome back Henry Giroux, scholar, cultural critic and author, most recently of The Burden of Conscience: Educating Beyond the Veil of Silence. We discuss the rise of authoritarianism in the US and around the world as an updated fascism, its attack on democracy and higher education and the urgent need for solidarity, critical pedagogy and resistance in the face of the unspeakable. Reflecting on the necessity of higher and critical education in these times, Giroux says: “Education is the glue. Education is the bridge that stands between fascism and hope, between fascism and justice, between fascism and a socialist democracy, a real democracy, a radical democracy. And if we don't grasp the centrality of education here in terms of both its power and its role, both in and outside of schooling, we're in trouble. It's not going to work.” About today’s guest: Henry A. Giroux currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy. His most recent books include Pedagogy of Resistance: Against Manufactured Ignorance (Bloomsbury 2022); Insurrections: Education in the Age of Counter-revolutionary politics (Bloomsbury in 2023), co-authored with Anthony DiMaggio, Fascism on Trial: Education and the Possibility of Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2024), and Burden of Conscience (Bloomsbury, 2025). His website is Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Henry Giroux / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/35655715

George Brown College’s 25th annual Mental Health Conference: Decolonizing learning and creating conditions for student well-being 02/19/2025

George Brown College’s 25th annual Mental Health Conference: Decolonizing learning and creating conditions for student well-being In episode 4, we focus on the upcoming at George Brown College in Toronto and this year’s theme, Thriving Together in the Classroom: Creating the Conditions for Student Well-Being. Author, storyteller, Indigenous academic and conference keynote speaker Carolyn Roberts; dean of the Centre for Preparatory and Liberal Studies, Susan Toews; and director of Student Well-Being and Support, Alex Irwin discuss this year’s conference and its focus on teaching, the mental health and well-being of post-secondary students, decolonizing learning and Indigenous resurgence through education. Reflecting on the need for decolonizing and re-storying education, Roberts says: “When Indigenous students step into the classroom, we are being asked to leave a part of who we are at the door, because that's not talked about or shared within those spaces. So we have to leave our indigeneity at the door to come in to learn about something else. And that's not a sustainable thing.And not only for Indigenous students, but for all non white students that are walking into these spaces … We need to make sure that we're having multiple stories from multiple perspectives in our classrooms, so that all of our students can see a piece of them within the work that they're doing.” For online registration, conference fees and information about the February 27, 2025 conference, please click this . About today’s guests: Carolyn Roberts uses her voice to support Indigenous resurgence through education. She is a St’at’imc and Sto:lo woman belonging to the Thevarge family from N'quatqua Nation and the Kelly Family from the Tzeachten Nation and under the Indian Act she is a member of the Squamish Nation. Carolyn is a speaker, author, Indigenous academic, and a faculty member in UBC Teacher Education and NITEP programs. She has been an educator and administrator for over 20 years in the K-12 system. Carolyn’s work is grounded in educating about Indigenous people and the decolonization of the education system. She works with pre-service teachers to help build their understandings in Indigenous history, education, and ancestral ways of knowing, to create a brighter future for all Indigenous people and the seven generations yet to come.She is also the author of (2024). Alex Irwin is an accomplished educator with broad experience managing people and projects and developing innovative education programming for a wide range of students, both domestically and overseas. He is director of Student Well-Being and Support at George Brown College, where he oversees counselling, accessible learning services, deaf and hard of hearing services, and the college’s peer wellness programming. He is also a clinical social worker, with a history of working at community-based mental health and treatment centres. Susan Toews has over 35 years of experience in education, with the last 18 years of her career at George Brown College, where she has served in leadership positions in both academic roles and service areas. She is currently the Dean, Centre for Preparatory and Liberal Studies. Susan is a strong advocate for a whole campus/whole student approach to student mental health and believes in the wide application of Universal Design for Learning, as it provides guidance for creating accessible, inclusive and engaging student-centered learning opportunities – critical to student well-being. Susan holds an M.Ed. from OISE/University of Toronto and, as a committed lifelong learner, continually engages in professional development in education, including graduating from UBC’s Organizational Coaching program in 2024. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Carolyn Roberts, Susan Toews, Alex Irwin / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/35355150

Oxfam Inequality Report 2025: Billionaire colonialism in Canada 02/13/2025

Oxfam Inequality Report 2025: Billionaire colonialism in Canada In part two of our focus on Oxfam’s latest report: , we welcome associate professor and faculty chair of the Indigenous Relations Initiative at McGill University, Dr. Veldon Coburn. Reflecting on his 2022 book (co-edited with David Thomas) , we speak of the growth of billionaire colonialism and corporate power in Canada and the ways in which this is anchored in Canada’s continuing history of settler colonialism. Reflecting on corporate extraction and dispossession of Indigenous resources, Coburn says: “It's easier to steal and to take what's existing there, exactly what the Oxfam Report is titled, Takers Not Makers is the failure of the promise of capital to reproduce itself. .. wealth is only created through ongoing theft and dispossession… taking from someone else. And the broligarchs, the billionaire oligarchy, have seized quite a few of the interests of the State. And in a settler colonial society like this, those hallowed halls are easier to access through the capitalist class rather than the colonized peoples.” About today’s guest: Veldon Coburn is Anishinaabe, a citizen of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation. Veldon is an associate professor at McGill University and the faculty chair of the Indigenous Relations Initiative in the School of Continuing Studies. He earned degrees in economics and political science, and his PhD is from Queen’s University where his research focused on Indigenous politics and governance. Veldon arrived at McGill after previously teaching at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Coburn has over a decade of professional experience in program and strategic Indigenous policy with the Government of Canada as well as extensive experience working with Indigenous governments and organizations. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Veldon Coburn / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/35273440

Oxfam Inequality Report 2025: The takers not makers of billionaire colonialism 02/05/2025

Oxfam Inequality Report 2025: The takers not makers of billionaire colonialism In part one of this discussion, executive director of Oxfam Canada Lauren Ravon returns to discuss Oxfam’s latest report: . Ravon and Resh Budhu explore the extreme wealth and power of the billionaire class, this era of “billionaire colonialism” and what it will take to decolonize economies in Canada and throughout the world. According to Ravon: “I would say the highlight of this year's report is really well captured by the title Takers Not Makers, because we're focusing not just on this extreme and I'd say obscene wealth accumulation, not just the amount of wealth that's being held by the very few, but the fact that this is not wealth that is earned in any sense. This is wealth that has been taken, whether through corruption, through cronyism, through monopolistic power, through connections through inheritance, but also through the legacy, the very life legacy of colonialism." About today’s guests: Lauren Ravon, executive director of , is a committed feminist and social justice advocate with more than 15 years of international development experience. Lauren has been with Oxfam Canada since 2011, holding a number of roles – including director of Policy and Campaigns – and working tirelessly to put women’s rights at the heart of the global Oxfam confederation. Before joining Oxfam, Lauren worked at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), where she was program manager for the Americas and oversaw the Centre’s office and human rights programming in Haiti. She has also worked on programs to tackle gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood Global and the International Rescue Committee. Lauren has conducted extensive policy research and campaigned on issues of food justice, women’s economic equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights and the role of women’s movements. She holds master's degrees in international affairs and development studies from Columbia University and the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Lauren sits on the Board of Directors of the Humanitarian Coalition. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Lauren Ravon / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/35168790

Do we need a new progressive alternative in Canada? 01/22/2025

Do we need a new progressive alternative in Canada? In our season eight premiere, we welcome independent journalist and public historian Taylor C. Noakes, author, political economist and senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ricardo Tranjan and welcome back writer, social justice activist and former organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, John Clarke. The group reflects on the current state of progressive politics in Canada, the Liberal legacy and the possibility of a Conservative win. They discuss the need for a new progressive alternative and wonder aloud what this could look like. Reflecting on Canadian political parties, Noakes says: “They are far too established. They have become organizations unto themselves that seek self-preservation above all else … It has essentially prevented them by and large from experiencing the kind of renewal that's necessary to keep political parties vibrant and connected to people in their day-to-day concerns.” Speaking to the rise of political right-wing populism, Clarke says: “People's lives are being thrown into turmoil … But a serious left political alternative is not put before people. And there's no question that the Right is presenting alternatives, hateful, hateful alternatives and pseudo solutions … There's a great deal of anger that can take very positive directions, but there's also within a minority of the population a mood of reactionary rage.” According to Tranjan: “[W]hat would bring really [a] breathe of fresh air here is if we have a political formation, that is a vehicle for social movements for community organizations for the share of the workforce that does not benefit from being part of a union from those groups that are not now represented in the day-to-day claptrap of policy debate." About today’s guests: John Clarke is a writer and activist who became involved in anti-poverty organizing in the 1980s, when he helped to form a union of unemployed workers in London, Ontario. In 1990, he became an organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and stayed in this role until 2019 when he became Packer Visitor in Social Justice at York University. Taylor C. Noakes is an independent journalist and public historian from Montreal. Ricardo Tranjan is a political economist, senior researcher with the , frequent media commentator in English and French, and author of two books, including the national bestseller The Tenant Class. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or here. Image: Taylor C. Noakes, John Clarke, Ricardo Tranjan / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/34950300

BRICS, de-dollarization and Canada in a multipolar world 12/10/2024

BRICS, de-dollarization and Canada in a multipolar world In our final episode of the Courage My Friends podcast series, season seven, we are joined by author, professor and director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba, Dr. Radhika Desai, and author, professor and Chair of International Relations and Political Science at St. Thomas University, Dr. Shaun Narine. We discuss the shifting balance of power in global politics, BRICS, de-dollarization, the rise of Asia and the Global South, the challenges it poses to the rules-based international order of the Global North and Canada’s place within an inevitably multipolar world. Speaking on the growth of multipolarity, Desai says: “Lenin argued that imperialism, by which he meant the stage capitalism had arrived at in the early 20th century, was the highest stage of capitalism … Beyond it, there was not much capitalism had to give to humanity… After 40 years of neoliberalism … it is quite obvious that it is suffering from senility … low growth rates, low investment rates, low innovation rates … It is far from fulfilling the needs of humanity … it is far from keeping the West powerful. Part of the emergence of multipolarity … is the decline in the vigor of Western capitalist economies.” Reflecting on Canada as a middle power in a multipolar world, Narine says: “I think in a world where multipolarity is mattering more and more and more … simply being an American vassal state, which is what I'd argue we largely are right now … doesn't encourage anybody to look at Canada as an independent actor … I think the first step for us to be a Middle Power means to demonstrate that we're actually capable of independent thinking and independent policy and capable of articulating interests that aren't being dictated by the American embassy in Ottawa.” About today’s guests: Radhika Desai is professor of Political Studies and director of Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba, convenor of the International Manifesto Group and past president of the Society for Socialist Studies. Her wide-ranging work covers party politics, political and geopolitical economy, political and economic theory, nationalism, fascism, British, US and Indian politics. Geopolitical economy, the approach to the international relations of the capitalist world she proposed in her 2013 work, Geopolitical Economy, combines Marx’s analysis of capitalism with those of ‘late development’ and the developmental state as the key to explaining the dynamic of international relations of the modern capitalist world. Currently, she is working on several books including ‘Hindutva and the Political Economy of Indian Capitalism’ and ‘Marx as a Monetary Theorist’. Her numerous articles have appeared in Capital and Class, Economic and Political Weekly, International Critical Thought, New Left Review, Third World Quarterly, World Review of Political Economy and other journals and in edited collections on parties, political economy, culture and nationalism. She is regularly invited as a speaker and to conferences around the world. Shaun Narine is a professor of International Relations and Political Science at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. His research focuses on institutionalism in the Asia Pacific. He has written two books on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and published on issues related to ASEAN as well as Canadian foreign policy, Canada’s relations with China, and US foreign policy. He was a Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2000-2002) at the University of British Columbia and has been a Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center (2000) and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute (2017 and 2021) in Singapore. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Radhika Desai, Shaun Narine / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/34369685

Who’s Hungry? More than ever before 11/26/2024

Who’s Hungry? More than ever before In episode six of the latest season of the Courage My Friends podcast series, co-executive director of Food Secure Canada, Marissa Alexander and executive director of North York Harvest Food Bank, Ryan Noble discuss the alarming outcomes of Toronto’s Who’s Hungry report, the growing food and poverty crisis in Toronto and across Canada and urgent actions that need to be taken by policy-makers and civil society in averting this ever-worsening crisis. Reflecting on reasons for the record number of food banks visits this year, Noble says: “It's not as if there's been a sudden shock over the last year. What we're seeing is the continued culmination of insufficient supports for people, public and private, to deal with skyrocketing costs of living. .. whether those are employment supports, social assistance supports, settlement supports, to deal with an out of control cost of living, primarily driven by housing, but also by the cost of food and other essentials.” According to Alexander: “I don't think the systems are breaking down. I think the systems are working exactly as they were designed, which is not to support those who are the most marginalized and oppressed… like capitalism, but also the patriarchy, systemic racism and oppression ... So if we're going to make changes to ensuring that those people aren't "falling through the cracks," we have to make sure that those cracks aren't designed for them to fall through.” About today’s guest: Marissa (she/they) is a registered dietitian and co-executive director of , who is passionate about anti-racism, food security, and equity. Living and working on the traditional and unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, she has had the honour of working alongside 55 First Nations communities in northern BC. She is also privileged to be able to connect with many different peoples and communities through her anti-racism consulting work. In her very little spare time, she is working on her Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on equity and cultural studies. Access her socials here: / Instagram- @fscrad / / / X- @FoodSecureCAN Since 2015, Ryan Noble has served as the executive director of the . Previously, he was the vice chair of NYHFB’s board of directors. Under Ryan’s leadership, the organization has embraced a model of ‘community wealth building,’ integrating traditional charitable activities with social enterprise and workforce development initiatives. He is a past member of the Ontario Nonprofit Network's Policy Committee and the past chair and current member of the Board of Directors of Feed Ontario. Check out this year’s annual Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Marissa Alexander, Ryan Noble / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/34143386

The Honourable Murray Sinclair: 2018 keynote address on Indigenous Ways of Knowing 11/12/2024

The Honourable Murray Sinclair: 2018 keynote address on Indigenous Ways of Knowing In 2018, the Tommy Douglas Institute at George Brown College in Toronto welcomed then Senator and former head of the Truth and Reconciliation of Canada, the Honourable Murray Sinclair as its keynote speaker. Through his poignant address about the impacts of Canada’s colonial history and the residential school system on the lives of Indigenous Peoples and the meaning of reconciliation, we experienced first-hand the brilliance, integrity, kindness and humour of this truly remarkable individual. The Honourable Murray Sinclair passed away on the morning of November 4, 2024. In his memory, we bring you his 2018 keynote address on Community, Education, Change: Indigenous Ways of Knowing. Reflecting on reconciliation, Sinclair said: “Reconciliation is a process which is building. It's not a spectator sport. It involves everybody. And everybody is implicated in it .. No neutrality exists here. .. And understanding it is part of the educational process. And understanding the implications it has for you is part of the challenge that we also need to face. And all of that has to do with knowledge. All of that has to do with dialogue as well, and developing consensus and agreement about where we're going to go as a country… We have to talk about what kind of relationship we're going to have going forward. . And that means we have to think differently. We have to think better. ” rabble had previously shared this keynote address . About today’s speaker: The Honourable Murray Sinclair served the justice system in Manitoba for over 25 years. He was the first Indigenous Judge appointed in Manitoba and Canada’s second. Sinclair was Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in Manitoba and Chief Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). As head of the TRC, he participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada, culminating in the issuance of the TRC’s final report in 2015 and its 94 Calls to Action. He also oversaw an active multi-million dollar fundraising program to support various TRC events and activities. Over the years, Sinclair has been invited to speak throughout Canada, the United States and internationally, including the Cambridge Lectures for members of the Judiciary of various Commonwealth Courts in England. He served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Manitoba. In 2021, Sinclair was appointed 15th Chancellor of Queen’s University, later becoming Chancellor Emeritus and Special Advisor to the Principal on Reconciliation of Queen's University in 2024. Sinclair has received numerous awards and honours, including the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, The Mahatma Gandhi Prize for Peace, the Mandela Award, the Manitoba Bar Association’s Equality Award and its Distinguished Service Award, Canada’s World Peace Prize, and the Meritorius Service Cross. He has also received honorary doctorates and degrees from universities across Canada. Sinclair was appointed to the Canadian Senate on April 2, 2016 where he served as a Senator for five years.In 2022 Murray Sinclair was appointed a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba in 2024. Most recently Sinclair published his memoir, Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation The Honourable Murray Sinclair passed away peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones on November 4th, 2024. In lieu of flowers, his family requests that donations be made to the at the Winnipeg Foundation. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: The Honourable Murray Sinclair / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) Courage My Friends Podcast Organizing Committee: Chandra Budhu, Ashley Booth, Resh Budhu. Produced by: Resh Budhu, Tommy Douglas Institute and Breanne Doyle, rabble.ca. Original Editing and Recording by: Victoria Fenner and Emily Parr Host: Resh Budhu. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/33900752

Palestinian storytelling as resilience, recuperation and resistance 10/29/2024

Palestinian storytelling as resilience, recuperation and resistance In episode four, Palestinian storyteller Sarah Abu-Sharar joins us for our third annual Mouth Open Story Jump Out episode. Through Palestinian folktales and stories of her father, she reflects on the meaning and power of stories within Palestinian resilience, recuperation and resistance. Reflection on her journey into storytelling, Abu-Sharar says: “When I started storytelling, it had to be for Palestine because it was reclaiming my identity. It was a way of saying, the Occupation might have deprived me of my land, of my culture, but I will resist by telling our stories.” About today’s guest: Sarah Abu-Sharar comes from a long line of storytellers on her paternal side. She tells stories to both adults and children. Abu-Sharar has told stories both nationally and internationally at festivals in Canada, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Tunisia, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Because Abu-Sharar grew up in several countries she tells stories from all over the world with the focus on Palestinian and Croatian stories where her roots lie. Her favourite stories are ones that promote social change. She has also used stories in a therapeutic way with children in refugee camps and refugee children in Toronto, as part of their therapy. She works at the Parent Child Mother Goose Program using traditional storytelling to encourage parent child bonding. Abu-Sharar belongs to a collective called "Musical Story Studio" where stories and music are combined. She tells stories so that she may go deep inside of the tales and find herself in far away magical places that she remembers, from long, long ago. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Sarah Abu-Sharar / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/33670202

EdTech, AI and platform capitalism in the classroom 10/08/2024

EdTech, AI and platform capitalism in the classroom In episode three, researcher Dr. Rahul Kumar and political economist Dr. Tanner Mirrlees discuss the rise of education technology and artificial intelligence across colleges and universities, how they impact and disrupt teaching and learning, and how public post secondary education has become an incredibly lucrative business for privately owned EdTech corporations. Reflecting on the impacts of EdTech companies on education, Mirrlees says: “The very same business model that these corporations have developed and advanced in all facets of social life are now being advanced throughout the context of public education. Whereby platform capitalism is becoming the classroom. Surveillance capitalism is becoming the classroom. Data is being aggregated about all of the users of these services, teachers, learners, administrators, everyone.” Describing the interminable cycle of EdTech and AI, Kumar says: “Imagine a triangle where we have pedagogy, privacy and privatization. … pedagogy, we need to teach these things. Oh my goodness, we need graduates to be well versed in it. And that becomes the entry point. Well, you buy this piece of software, which is the private part. And it is going to lead to providing solutions. Meanwhile the tool is being used for surveillance, which allows for better improvements … which leads to that idea of more technology begets more technology.” About today’s guests: Rahul Kumar is an assistant professor at the Department of Educational Studies at Brock University. His current scholarship contributes to the discourse of AI’s role in higher education and K-12 system. He is an active contributor to several prestigious journals and a recipient of several internal and external grants for his research work. Prior to his academic post, Kumar worked in the IT industry and brings his theoretical and practical knowledge to understanding, promoting, and critiquing technology within education. Tanner Mirrlees is a political economist of the communication, media and tech industries, and teaches in the Communication and Digital Media Studies program at Ontario Tech University. Mirrlees is the author or co-author of numerous publications, including Work in the Digital Media and Entertainment Industries: A Critical Introduction (Routledge, 2024), Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization (Routledge, 2013), Hearts and Mines: The US Empire's Cultural Industry (UBC Press, 2016), and EdTech Inc.: Selling, Automating and Globalizing Higher Education in the Digital Age (Routledge, 2019). Mirrlees is also the co-editor of Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), Media, Technology, and the Culture of Militarism (Democratic Communiqué, 2014), and The Television Reader (Oxford University Press, 2012). Transcript of this episode can be accessed at Image: Tanner Mirrlees, Rahul Kumar / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/33377847

Truth and reconciliation: How is Canada doing? 09/24/2024

Truth and reconciliation: How is Canada doing? Episode two welcomes research director of the Yellowhead Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University, Eva Jewell and director of education, outreach and public programming at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, Kaila Johnston. As we enter National Truth and Reconciliation Week, we discuss Canada’s progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and the meaning of reconciliation and reclamation in this settler-colonial state. Reflecting on Canada’s progress on reconciliation, Johnston says: “It's been the low hanging fruit or the easy Calls to Action that have been addressed to date … A lot of the work that I have seen is through grassroots organizations and others who've been working away at the Calls to Action.” Speaking about two key aspects of reconciliation, Jewell says: “The first is for Canadians. They have to reconcile with themselves and with what their country has done … And then there's the work that we have to do as Indigenous Peoples … and that is reclaiming, recreating our world through our language practices, our cultural practices, our political practices, repopulating our political systems that were destroyed by Residential Schools.” About today’s guests: Dr. Eva Jewell is Anishinaabe from Deshkan Ziibiing (Chippewas of the Thames First Nation) in southwestern Ontario, with paternal lineage from Oneida Nation of the Thames. Her research is in areas of care, cultural reclamation, and accountability in reconciliation. Dr. Jewell is an assistant professor in the sociology department at Toronto Metropolitan University and research director at Yellowhead Institute.Follow Yellowhead Institute's work on . As the director of education, outreach, and public programming, Kaila Johnston oversees matters related to the support of educators, development of resources, establishment of outreach initiatives, as well as public engagement on residential schools and their legacy. Prior to joining the NCTR, Kaila worked with the TRC as a statement gatherer and coordinator to support statement gathering activities. She holds a BA (Hons.) in Criminal Justice from the University of Winnipeg and a MSc in International Crimes and Criminology from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Follow the NCTR at: Transcript of this episode can be accessed at Image: Eva Jewell, Kaila Johnston / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/33176022

Climate and the city: Are we ready? 09/10/2024

Climate and the city: Are we ready? In our season seven premiere, we welcome the managing director of the C40 Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy and former mayor of Toronto, David MIller. We discuss the crucial role of cities in “fixing” the climate crisis, what we can learn in building sustainable and equitable urban communities and explore the question of just how prepared Canadian cities are to meet the challenges of this crisis. Reflecting on the key role of cities in dealing with the climate crisis, Miller says: “The international community said, okay, climate change is a problem. And then they took 21 years to come to an agreement. Twenty-one years! … A mayor would be thrown out if she waited 21 years to act on anything. It's just inconceivable. So the nature of city governments lends themselves to action. And because they have responsibilities that significantly impact on whether we're going to have low-impact cities from a planetary perspective, whether we're going to have cities that emphasize equality or produce inequality. Their actions are really important.” About today’s guest: David Miller is the managing director of the . He is the author of “” (University of Toronto Press) and host of . Miller was Mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010 and served as Chair of C40 Cities from 2008 until 2010. Under his leadership, Toronto became widely admired internationally for its environmental leadership, economic strength and social integration. He is a leading advocate for the creation of sustainable urban economies. Miller has held a variety of public and private positions and served as Future of Cities Global Fellow at Polytechnic Institute of New York University from 2011 to 2014. He has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Environmental Studies, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from York University and is currently executive in residence at the University of Victoria. David Miller is a Harvard trained economist and professionally is a lawyer. He and his wife, lawyer Jill Arthur, are the parents of two children. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or here. Image: David Miller / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy) 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/32797557

Scholasticide and solidarity: The mind and memory of Gaza 05/15/2024

Scholasticide and solidarity: The mind and memory of Gaza For our fourth episode, Scholasticide and solidarity: The mind and memory of Gaza, we welcome University of Toronto professor, researcher and host of the Liberation Pedagogy Podcast, Dr. Chandni Desai and Mount Royal University professor, author and policy analyst with Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, Dr. Muhannad Ayyash. Discussing the months-long Israeli military onslaught waged on Palestinians, we focus on the destruction of Gaza’s educational systems, educators and students, the role of scholasticide within genocide and the global solidarity mobilizing across university and college campuses to counter it. Reflecting on scholasticide and the meaning of education for the Palestinian people Desai says: “Scholasticide is the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system, which has been ongoing since the 1948 Nakba…But in this genocide ..we are seeing a complete annihilation of the education system in Gaza…When a people have lost everything, including the land …education has become a really important pillar, not just in terms of preserving a national identity across fragmented borders and fragmented geographies, but also as a central pillar of knowledge that gets passed on in various ways that contribute to the cause for liberation. ” Speaking on the rise of global pro-Palestinian solidarity, including on university campuses, Ayyash says: “One of the reasons that the Palestinian struggle speaks to so many people around the world, why we see so many people going on their streets in all corners of the globe, speaking up for Palestine .. [i]t's precisely because the Palestinian struggle makes clear… a yearning for a liberation from the age of colonial modernity that has brought far too much death and destruction for too many around the world …In this moment, the Palestinian struggle is becoming a political consciousness. .. a way for people to make sense of their own systems of oppression.. that oppress and repress their own aspirations for freedom in their own context..” About the guests: Dr. Muhannad Ayyash was born and raised in Silwan, Al-Quds, before immigrating to Canada where he is professor of Sociology at Mount Royal University. He is also a policy analyst at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. He is the author of A Hermeneutics of Violence, has co-edited two books, and is the author of multiple journal articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces. Dr. Chandni Desai is an assistant professor in the Critical Studies of Equity and Solidarity at the University of Toronto. Her areas of research, teaching and supervision include: comparative settler colonialisms, Palestine studies, the politics of the Middle East, state violence (carceral politics, militarism and war), cultures of resistance and revolution, political economy, third world internationalism, solidarity, memory, oral history, anti-racism and feminism. She is working on her first book Revolutionary Circuits of Liberation: The Radical Tradition of Palestinian Resistance Culture and Internationalism. Desai also hosts the Liberation Pedagogy Podcast. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Chandni Desai, Muhannad Ayyash / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/31312402

Inequality Inc: Corporate power vs. workers’ rights 04/24/2024

Inequality Inc: Corporate power vs. workers’ rights 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: “ …When we think of what the government can invest in, when we talk about a Green Transition, the care economy is a great one. We have an aging population. Care services provide huge value to communities and also just create happier and healthier communities and they're low emissions. One of our alternatives is saying tax windfall profits, tax the super wealthy and invest in the care economy. This is also a sector that employs mostly women and racialized folks. You're creating employment opportunities. They're seen as less desirable jobs, not because they're inherently less interesting jobs than working in mining ... It's because they're not well paid. But we really see investments in the care economy as actually one of the solutions to the inequality crisis today and the climate crisis.” On the necessity of being politically engaged, Ong says: “..when we talk about how we organize, sometimes people say we have the power to vote. But I would say voting is just one piece that people do every four years or less that actually changes the government. We can do things in between to actually make changes happen. I used to have hair, and then I became an activist and look at me. So sometimes I think, you know, all that work and why did I do it? But people have been winning. When I first started out, people were like $15 minimum wage, it's never going to happen. And today, a couple of years later, people are like $15, hell no, that's not enough ... So I do tangibly feel on the street that things are changing.” About the guests: Lauren Ravon, executive director of , is a committed feminist and social justice advocate with more than 15 years of international development experience. Ravon has been with Oxfam Canada since 2011, holding a number of roles – including director of Policy and Campaigns – and working tirelessly to put women’s rights at the heart of the global Oxfam confederation. Before joining Oxfam, Ravon worked at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), where she was program manager for the Americas and oversaw the Centre’s office and human rights programming in Haiti. She has also worked on programs to tackle gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood Global and the International Rescue Committee. Lauren sits on the board of directors of the . Jared Ong is an organizer and case worker with the . He empowers workers with the tools and community to stand up against bad bosses and protect themselves at work. But he also knows that systemic changes must happen Ontario-wide to raise the bar for all our workers because our minimum labour standards are not enough. Panel Moderator, Benjamin McCarthy is a faculty with the School of Labour at George Brown College and an organizer with the College Annual Labour Fair. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Lauren Ravon, Jared Ong / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/30960328

JP Hornick on Corporate power vs. labour power: It’s our work 04/02/2024

JP Hornick on Corporate power vs. labour power: It’s our work 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 CUPE, the education workers, OSBCU had organized themselves to the point where the government was like, ‘We are going to preemptively remove your right to strike.’ In other words, remove your Charter Right to withdraw your labour, because we're scared of what you're asking for. They did the same thing with Bill 124, where they imposed a three year moratorium on your ability to actually argue for a wage increase that was commensurate with inflation … Now, these attacks on workers happen constantly right. Whether you're a migrant worker, whether you're an international student, whether you're unorganized or organized. But what we are seeing right now, is that workers are fed up ... I think that we've hit a tipping point culturally, where people can see it in their neighbors, in their kids, in their friends, that the impact of income inequality, that corporate greed, that corrupt governments, actually are as bad as we thought. And it's adding up. So workers are kind of pushing back and saying enough! And then all of labour jumps in … Because we know that a fight with this government, a fight for what's happening right now, is not a fight for someone else, it's a fight for all of us together.” About JP Hornick: Prior to being elected president of OPSEU/SEFPO (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), JP Hornick was chief steward for more than a decade within the College Faculty Division, representing instructors at Ontario’s 24 public colleges. They chaired the College Faculty bargaining teams in 2017 and 2021-22. JP grew up in a family of public service workers – educators, correctional workers and many more. They are a labour educator and previously served as the coordinator of the School of Labour at George Brown College. They have served as chair, treasurer and director on several community boards and has been on the front lines of activism to advance issues of equity, women’s rights, 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, anti-racism and decolonization. JP was elected OPSEU/SEFPO president in April 2022 on a platform that includes strengthening union democracy, building bargaining power, ensuring financial responsibility, fostering an inclusive union culture, and deepening connections to the labour movement and community. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or here. Image: JP Hornick / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/30647218

Climate, conflict and the meaning of peace 03/12/2024

Climate, conflict and the meaning of peace 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 genocide in Gaza is just horrendous for the people and it's exacerbating the climate emergency as well. These fossil fuel powered weapon systems that Israel is using, not just fighter jets, but attack helicopters and tanks.And the fact that Canada took over two and a half months for us finally to support a ceasefire, but we've been continuing to send weapons … we're prolonging the genocide and we are contributing to a climate emergency. Canada is doing the same thing in Eastern Europe by continuing to send arms to Ukraine. We're prolonging a conflict instead of calling for a ceasefire …We are contributing to human suffering, to a lot of death and destruction and contributing to the environmental harms.” Thyer says of our military spending: “Canadian military spending around $36 billion per year recently. So this is a massive amount of money, could certainly be much better … used to mitigate climate problems, used in new technology ... And could be used to help recoveries internationally as well as locally from these extreme weather events that we're seeing. In some of these war zones, people are being conscripted against their will to fighting. In Canada, our conscription is through our taxes that we are paying for this militarism, for the harms that are being done to the planet and to other people through our taxes every year.” About today’s guests: Tamara Lorincz is a PhD candidate in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has a Masters in International Politics & Security Studies from the University of Bradford and a Law degree and MBA specializing in environmental law and management from Dalhousie University. Her research is on the climate and environmental impacts of the military. She’s a member of the and the . Tamara is also on the advisory committee of the , and the No to NATO Network. She’s a long-time environmentalist, feminist and peace activist and a mother with two teenage boys. Linda Thyer is a mother of 3 youth, practicing family and sport medicine on traditional Coast Salish territories. She is a founding member of and active member of several community and medical organizations working towards peace and a healthy living home. She is grateful for the many healing and nourishing gifts of Mother Earth and works towards restoring health and peace for all. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or here. Image: Tamara Lorincz, Linda Thyer / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (Street Voices) /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/30344768

Inequality Inc: Corporate power vs. public action 01/29/2024

Inequality Inc: Corporate power vs. public action 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 emergencies … But this is also the decade where the wealth of the five richest men doubled. 5 billion people became poorer. So this report that Oxfam released Inequality Inc., is really painting this picture of a decade of division where you have huge wealth concentration in very, very few hands and more and more people on the planet struggling to get by. And this is not a coincidence that wealth is ballooning on one end and people are seeing the bottom fall out on the other end. Inequality is by design. It's not an accident. It's not inevitable. The super, super rich and their corporations are funneling wealth towards the top and robbing the rest of humanity of the very resources they need to survive.” Biss reflects on the role of communities in pushing back against corporate power and inequality: “I think about this context as well in terms of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda, right? We have a goal of no poverty by 2030. And as the Oxfam report said, 230 years away from no poverty, right? It's a long way to go. And it can really seem overwhelming in the face of this vast inequality.But if we want to get involved, if we want to push our governments to make better choices around regulation, around taxation, around investment in our social safety net and away from the private sector, a lot of that takes community engagement..And remembering that economic, social, and cultural rights, the right to housing, the right to food, the right to health, those aren't just words, they're actual human rights ..And so finding ways within communities, within the national context to exercise those rights is going to be really key to being able to turn the tide.” Read the latest Oxfam 2024 Report, About today’s guests: Lauren Ravon, executive director of , is a committed feminist and social justice advocate with more than 15 years of international development experience. Ravon has been with Oxfam Canada since 2011, holding a number of roles – including director of Policy and Campaigns – and working tirelessly to put women’s rights at the heart of the global Oxfam confederation. Before joining Oxfam, Ravon worked at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), where she was program manager for the Americas and oversaw the Centre’s office and human rights programming in Haiti. She has also worked on programs to tackle gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood Global and the International Rescue Committee. Lauren sits on the board of directors of the . Michèle Biss is the national director of the . As an expert in economic and social rights, she has presented at several United Nations treaty body reviews and at Canadian parliamentary committees. Prior to her work at the NRHN, Michèle was the policy director and human rights lawyer at . In 2016, she graduated from the Advanced Course on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. She has extensive professional experience working for marginalized groups, particularly women, persons with disabilities, newcomers, and Indigenous persons through casework, research, and community legal education. In her local Ottawa community, she sits on the board of directors of Ottawa Community Legal Services. She is a human rights lawyer and was called to the Ontario bar in 2014. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Images: Lauren Ravon, Michéle Biss / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/29700823

Menopause and work in Canada: Menopause is natural, suffering is not 01/15/2024

Menopause and work in Canada: Menopause is natural, suffering is not 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 subject to the heavy silences surrounding women’s health, in policy, in healthcare and in the workplace. Reflecting on women’s experiences as well as her own, Barbato says: “[I]t's almost shocking to think that every woman is going to go through this and yet it's so misunderstood and not understood and feared … When I think about all of the stories that we've heard and even my own experience, we don't connect the dots and certainly a supervisor, male or female, may not connect the dots on how the symptoms are showing up at a workplace … brain fog, anxiety, all of these things are going to have an impact … think of my experience of going through really horrific, extreme symptoms while at work and just not being able to perform. I think I was probably way worse on myself than maybe I let on to my colleagues where I hid a lot of my symptoms and managed them as best as I could.” According to Ko, we need to dispel the negativity and silences around menopause: “Menopause is overwhelmingly viewed as negative in our society. And because of that, there's a lot of silence associated with it, stigma and shame … most women do not want to be associated with that negative image of the menopausal woman. And then there's this notion that there's nothing you can do about it, so why bother having the conversation? And we know that our healthcare providers received almost zero education on something that's going to happen to half of the population. So we're at this really exciting place in time where we're changing that conversation and it's a great opportunity for women to really focus on themselves and their health. There's preventative care, there's lifestyle changes, and there's safe and effective treatments that are available. Women should not suffer through this period of time. Menopause is natural, suffering is not.” Read the ’s latest report You can also find out about the and check out the About today’s guests: Janet Ko is president and co-founder of , a national non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to breaking the silence and the stigma of menopause. Janet had looked forward to menopause as an exciting second act in life. Instead, she was blindsided by a host of symptoms that she did not understand were part of the menopause transition. She realized that women – like her – were struggling to find answers and to get help. Together with co-founder Trish Barbato and a medical advisory board of the country’s top menopause specialists, she launched the Menopause Foundation of Canada. Ko has held numerous senior leadership positions in the pharmaceutical, global life sciences and senior living sectors. She has served on the management teams of leading Canadian companies as senior vice president, Communications and has led marketing and organizational development functions throughout her career. Ko is dedicated to helping women thrive through their menopausal years and is a passionate speaker and menopause advocate. She is honoured to be one of the top 25 Women of Influence Award recipients for 2023. Trish Barbato is the co-founder of the . She has been a vocal advocate for the rights of menopausal women for the last decade. The Menopause Foundation of Canada released its landmark report “The Silence and the Stigma: Menopause in Canada” in 2022 and recently released its groundbreaking report “Menopause and Work in Canada”. Barbato has spoken internationally and is working with leaders in the Middle East Northern Africa (MENA) region to support a community-based initiative for mature women. Barbato is currently president and CEO of and has held progressive leadership positions in healthcare for the last 20 years. Barbato is a chartered professional accountant, published author, award-winning innovator, and recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Award for her volunteer work. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Images: Janet Ko, Trish Barbato / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/29496553

Gaza: Humanitarian agencies call for a ceasefire now 11/13/2023

Gaza: Humanitarian agencies call for a ceasefire now 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 the crisis facing the children of Gaza, Al-Awqati says: “In the first three weeks of the conflict, more children were killed than the annual total of children killed in conflict zones across the world since 2019. That alone gives you a scale of how horrific this has been, and particularly for children. We see and we hear from our staff, and we see through the news, through social media as well, the impact that this is having, in terms of mental health, but also in terms of people's ability to access their basic needs. We know that children are not able to access clean drinking water. This is a population, 80 per cent of which already depended on humanitarian aid prior to this latest escalation. There's 1,350 children that are missing in Gaza. Many of them feared to be under the rubble.” According to Ravon, the only answer is a ceasefire: “Oxfam and Save the Children and many other organizations around the world are calling for a ceasefire rather than a humanitarian pause or humanitarian corridors because the reality is that in these circumstances, in the way this attack is being carried out, there is no way to keep civilians safe. No corridor, no pause will guarantee safety, because people are deprived of resources. So even if you had a pause where you're safe from immediate bombing, that doesn't answer all the other immediate needs that people are facing … Depriving civilians of the means for survival is a violation of human rights; and a ceasefire is the only way to ensure that the physical violence stops and that humanitarian aid can enter in.” About today’s guests: Dalia Al-Awqati, head of humanitarian affairs for . Al-Awqati is the head of Humanitarian Affairs for Save the Children Canada. She has over twenty years of experience in the non-profit sector, with a specialization in emergency response and management in complex crises. Prior to joining Save the Children Canada, Al-Awqati has worked with various international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) including the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Mercy Corps, and Danish Refugee Council (DRC). As an emergency responder, Dalia has responded to crises in Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Libya, South Sudan, and Syria, amongst others. Al-Awqati grew up in the Middle East. She is a native Arabic speaker of Iraqi and Palestinian origins. Lauren Ravon, executive director of , is a committed feminist and social justice advocate with more than 15 years of international development experience. Ravon has been with Oxfam Canada since 2011, holding a number of roles – including director of Policy and Campaigns – and working tirelessly to put women’s rights at the heart of the global Oxfam confederation. Before joining Oxfam, Ravon worked at the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), where she was program manager for the Americas and oversaw the Centre’s office and human rights programming in Haiti. She has also worked on programs to tackle gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood Global and the International Rescue Committee. Lauren sits on the board of directors of the . You can donate to the by visiting their Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Images: Dalia Al-Awqati, Lauren Ravon / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/28619493

Mouth open story jump out: Storytelling for change 10/30/2023

Mouth open story jump out: Storytelling for change 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 share stories openly and honestly, we hear the heart of the other person. We're able to understand each other. It's the way that we pass down our beliefs and traditions. And it's also a way for us to question the society around us. It gives us a different view.” Reflecting on transformative storytelling, Mbũrũ says: “If storytelling continues to be extractive and commodified, then it becomes a product. And transformative storytelling is not about producing a series that is a hit show. It's not just about a product that is sellable. Transformative storytelling is really about honoring the dignity, the consent, the self determination and the sovereignty of whoever is giving a story.” Sanderson talks about how stories build connection: “Stories breed stories ... Somebody tells a story and then somebody else tells a story and then somebody else tells a story … Oh, that reminds me of this. That reminds me of this thing. And suddenly you have a whole room of people talking where maybe nobody, especially younger people [who] were a bit reticent to speak about some issues, some topic, just something. And during the pandemic, a lot of that was just about being isolated and lonely.” About today’s guests: Kesha Christie is an accomplished storyteller who uses African and Caribbean folktales to connect people and cultures. Her engaging performances and insightful commentary have earned her a reputation as a respected voice in the storytelling community, and she has performed at a variety of venues and events across Canada. Kesha also runs her own platforms, including the “Walk Good” podcast and “Talkin’ Tales” YouTube channel, where she shares her passion for storytelling and its ability to bring people together. She is deeply committed to preserving and promoting African and Caribbean cultural traditions, and her work continues to inspire audiences of all ages. To learn more about Kesha and her work, visit Rani Sanderson has a background in film studies and production, later obtaining her Masters of Environmental Studies, where she concentrated on community-engaged arts and environmental education. For the past 15 years she has been facilitating workshops, with a focus on digital storytelling. In 2015 she was invited to head up , (building on the work of American partners) where she develops and implements digital storytelling workshops for non-profit organizations across the country.StoryCenter founded and pioneered the Digital Storytelling methodology of participatory media creation in 1992, and has since taught hundreds of workshops around the world with a variety of communities and organizations. Njoki Mbũrũ is a storyteller, poet, and immigrant from Kenya who is currently living on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Building on her completion of the through the Vancouver Foundation in 2020, she has continued to advocate for policies, projects, and partnerships that uplift the leadership and voices of Indigenous and Black people and communities. Between November 2022 to August 2023, Njoki completed a with the ; an experience which has now propelled her to deepen her exploration of the relationships between public policy, emerging technologies, and philanthropy. As a guiding framework for her relationships and imagination work, she is guided by the question: "What else is possible?" Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Kesha Christie, Njoki Mbũrũ, Rani Sanderson / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/28465118

At the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival 10/16/2023

At the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival 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 also joined by Liz Marshall and Alfonso Salinas on the premiere of their powerful feature-length film, s-yéwyáw: Awaken. Speaking about this year’s Planet in Focus Film Festival, Bruce says: “This year's program represents something that's broadened our definition of environment enormously over the last probably eight years, to include social justice, climate justice is racial justice … We really decided this year to create a tighter program with as many panels and speakers, filmmakers present as possible … People long for connection when they've seen these films that we present. They come away with questions. They come away with concerns. They come away with a desire to be involved, to be engaged with the issues … And that's what I think is so beneficial about always offering an audience an avenue, but also a space – a space to gather.” On her festival short, Keepers of the Land, Leowinata says: “I hope that it'll get people really excited about what's happening in Canada. Because this is just one Indigenous community in Canada, and there are so many other communities who are doing work like the Kitasoo Xai'xais Nation, and who are really moving the needle in terms of Indigenous-led Conservation, and that's what our film is about. ” Reflecting on S-YéwYáw AWAKEN, Salinas says: “We've gone on this journey where we've learned so much about each other and what happened on the film, on and off the film, it was a lot of healing. And now we get to share that story with the world, which I think is the most important thing. ” The , running until October 22nd in Toronto at the Paradise Theatre (1006 Bloor St West). Check out for future viewing dates and locations. About today’s guests: A part of the Planet in Focus team from 2010-2012, executive director Katherine Bruce was delighted to return to the festival in 2016. She has worked extensively in the arts sector as a producer in film, theatre and visual arts including the UK-based Cape Farewell – The cultural response to climate change as Development Director for Carbon 14: Climate is Culture in partnership with ROM Contemporary Culture. She also serves on the steering committee of CREW Toronto (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather), the advisory committee for Youth Unstoppable and on the board of the international Green Film Network. Deirdre Leowinata was born in Jakarta, Indonesia to an Irish father and a Chinese-Indonesian mother. After spending much of her childhood in an international community in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she moved to Ottawa where she did her bachelor of science in evolution, ecology, and behaviour, focusing on the impacts of climate change on butterfly ecology and physiology. Compelled by a growing need for science communication, she moved to Toronto in 2013 to complete a post-graduate program in environmental visual communication through the Royal Ontario Museum and Fleming College. Since then Deirdre has led multimedia communications and reporting for local and international organizations of various sizes. A cinematographer, writer, and director and working in music videos, shorts, and feature-length films, she continues to facilitate impactful multimedia stories that address our relationships with the natural world. Kwamanchi, Alfonso Salinas is a shíshálh Nation member and the traditional wellness coordinator for the Nation. In his role, he creates programs to practice shíshálh traditions and opportunities for those who want to pass down their gifts. Alfonso received his drum from his grandfather in 2009 to become a song carrier. A graduate of the Indigenous filmmaker program at Capilano University, Alfonso worked for the shíshálh communications department and produced the “Voices of shíshálh” TV series. Later, he became a guide in Stanley Park teaching visitors the history and traditions of Coast Salish people. Alfonso continues to document important events for the Nation today. Working with diverse teams and communities, global funders and influencers, Canadian filmmaker Liz Marshall has written, directed, produced and filmed multiple impactful documentary projects around the globe since the 1990s. Motivated by the transformative language of film and television, her award-winning work is exhibited and reviewed widely. Feature length and broadcast titles include: s-yéwyáw / Awaken (2023) Meat the Future (2020) Midian Farm (2018) The Ghosts in Our Machine (2013) and Water on the Table (2010). Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Katherine Bruce, Deirdre Leowinata, Alfonso Salinas, Liz Marshall / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/28333091

BRICS: Summits, coups and a changing world order 09/20/2023

BRICS: Summits, coups and a changing world order 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 interesting because it's almost as if people in the West were blindsided by the appearance of this thing called BRICS and recently, of course, the term Global South … there's a straight line between the anti-colonial struggles of the 19th century and these developments now … And so the BRICS isn't some invention of the Goldman Sachs economists. It didn't come out of nowhere. It's part of a long history by these countries to fight for economic sovereignty, political democracy on the world stage in one sense or the other, and then some kind of economic parity.” Prashad also reflects on the history of coups in the Global South and those now taking place in West Africa: “In many parts of the Third World, especially during the period of the debt crisis and subsequent to that. .. there was a sense that nothing is going to change. You know, people resigned themselves to a kind of futility ...There is a sense of resignation to decay. We are not going to be able to develop. We're not going to be able to advance ... These coups, two of them in Mali, two of them in Burkina Faso, one in Niger, one in Gabon, these coups ... represent the frustration of their populations. And that's a reality. That's hard to take away. And that's why millions of people across the Sahel have been coming out to defend these coups.” Tune in to my conversation with Vijay Prashed on summits, coups and an empowered Global South that says, “we are not afraid of the West anymore.” About today’s guest: Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad is an historian, journalist, researcher, activist and a prolific writer. He has over 30 books to his name, including: The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World; The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South; Red Star Over the Third World; and Washington Bullets: A History of CIA, Coups, and Assassinations. He is the chief correspondent for Globetrotter, a columnist for Frontline News and chief editor of Leftword Books. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at . Image: Vijay Prsahd / Used with permission. Music: Ang Kahora. Lynne, Bjorn. Rights Purchased. Intro Voices: Ashley Booth (Podcast Announcer); Bob Luker (Tommy); Grace Taruc-Almeda, Karin Maier and Jim Cheung (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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/28071624

Labour Fair 2023: Food Justice, labour rights and social gastronomy 07/17/2023

Labour Fair 2023: Food Justice, labour rights and social gastronomy 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 justice, social gastronomy and the rights of workers from farms and factories to fine-dining and food agencies in these times. Maharaj explains: “Social gastronomy is a practice about the power of the kitchen to change lives. Now that is a giant thing to say. But essentially what we're talking about is a growing movement of chefs who are finding really meaningful ways to use our craft to support and nurture communities. It's using our celebrity, our purchasing power and our influence to build a more just and sustainable food system … But also it's about taking the idea of hospitality beyond restaurants, to institutions, to community spaces, and to public policy.” Ramsroop likens the current migrant worker system to that of indentureship: “People who come to work in Canada are on a Tied Work Permit … They have no labour and social mobility. And once they try to exert their rights or if they get injured and sick, in most cases they're sent home and they will not be so-called, named or able to return back to Canada… [Under] ‘agricultural exceptionalism’ or ‘corporate exceptionalism’ … we create something as a crisis, you get rid of all the rules and regulations and you say that the industry can … .ramp up production, bring people to come to work and face no accountability when things hit the fan … We tried to warn people to say, look, you cannot have workers coming to work in Canada under very precarious conditions, people are going to die. Nobody listened. Nobody took the initiatives or steps to protect workers. And lo and behold, we saw what happened during the pandemic and farm workers.” Reflecting on her organization and supporting food industry workers, Big Canoe says: “So what we want to focus on at The Full Plate is thinking about those little things that might make a difference for you in this role and might make it so that you feel you can stay in hospitality a little bit longer … Often you get to a point where your body can't take it anymore. You're mentally drained. You just want to do something else and kind of exit. And that's a really hard place to be in because it makes it so that people don't value this industry and ..we want people to love it. Because for a restaurant setting, people come to you on their best days. They come to you to celebrate … milestone moments in their life. And they also come in on some of their worst days and they want a little bit of a lift up...It's not just a set of hands bringing food to a table … For the people there to stay in that industry and continue to provide hospitality to others, we have to also give the hospitality back to those folks.” About our guests: Joshna Maharaj is a chef, a two-time TEDx speaker and activist who wants to help everyone have a better relationship with their food. She believes strongly in the power of chefs and social gastronomy to bring values of hospitality, sustainability, & social justice to the table. Maharaj works with hospitals & schools in Canada to build new models for institutional food service. Her first bookTake Back the Tray (May 2020) captures the lessons and experience from her work in changing institutional food systems around the globe. She is an enthusiastic instructor of both culinary and academic students, constantly finding ways to make food stories come alive. Maharaj hosts Kitchen Helpdesk, a weekly call-in food show on CBC Radio, and she co-hosts a food and drink podcast called HotPlate, currently in its fourth season. Charlotte Big Canoe is the partner and membership director at The Full Plate, a Toronto based non-profit that provides access to services and supports to hospitality workers in need. The Full Plate was founded in early 2020 by a group of women in the hospitality industry, and has grown to include access to produce boxes or grocery gift cards, wellness programs for hospitality workers, and training focused on inclusive environments in restaurant spaces. Big Canoe is of mixed heritage, with her father's family from the Chippewas of Georgina Island, and her mother's family being Irish settlers. Big Canoe has worked in various roles in the hospitality industry over the past 14 years, with a focus on wine and spirits education. Chris Ramsaroop is an organizer with , a grassroots activist collective that has been organizing with migrant workers for nearly 20 years and whose work is based on building long term trust and relationships with migrant workers and includes: engaging in direct actions, working with workers to resist at work, launching precedent setting legal cases, and organizing numerous collective actions. Ramsaroop is an instructor in the Caribbean Studies Program at the University of Toronto and a clinic instructor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Ramsaroop is working to complete his PhD at OISE/University of Toronto. Chris is also currently assistant professor at New College, University of Toronto, Community Engaged Learning. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or here. Images: Joshna Maharaj, Chris Ramsaroop / Used with permission. Charlotte Big Canoe / . 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/27468783

Iron & Earth: From the oil patch to the renewable economy 06/26/2023

Iron & Earth: From the oil patch to the renewable economy In our sixth episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, series 4; Ana Guerra Marin, communities director and just transition lead, and lead Indigenous researcher, Dara Wawaite-Chabot discuss the mission of worker-founded Iron & Earth to create pathways for workers from traditional (carbon-based) energy jobs to jobs within renewable energy sectors and how green transition meets climate justice when it comes to the needs of workers, Indigenous communities and the country. According to Guerra Marin: “Iron Earth started in the oil sands in Alberta, where some workers were concerned about one of the many boom and busts of the industry cycle. They were also concerned about what they were seeing with the environment … [O]ur mission and vision … right now is to empower fossil fuel workers and Indigenous workers to build and implement the climate solutions required to transition. It's not just the workers. The workers, their family. When a refinery shuts down in a town that affects commerce, education, churches, it affects everything … So we are currently in the process of doing that internal work. Our audience right now is workers, their communities and Indigenous peoples across nations and urban centers.” Wawatie-Chabot explains: “I work from an Indigenous perspective, given that I'm Algonquin Anishnaabe. I have grown up on the land with my family and I have that relationship with my communities that I'm from … To do any of this work in a just way requires acknowledging the history that Canada has socially, historically, economically, with Indigenous peoples across this land. So what that means for me, is that these relationships are our primary focus.We don't just meet with Indigenous people, we meet with politicians, educators, community leaders, different organizers and frontline activists so that we can assess the needs of everyone living in so-called Canada. The principles around this are really just to highlight the holistic nature of the work that we do. And ensuring a future for all really does mean for all. It's not exclusive.” About the speakers: Ana Guerra Marin, communities director and just transition lead, started her career in Colombia, listening to and empowering oil, gas and mining workers at various work sites through forming partnerships and understanding worker issues. As Marin delved into the extractive industries, she became more aware of how important it is to address the environmental and socio-economic impacts she was witnessing, and how urgent it is to create long-lasting solutions rooted in community-based initiatives that focus on the most vulnerable persons. This started a 15-year career focused on helping communities achieve self-determination through social and environmental justice in Latin America and Canada. As a white, cisgender, immigrant woman with invisible disabilities, Marin recognizes her position in the world and challenges societal ideas by creating transformative change through a praxis informed by intersectional and Black feminism, womanism, critical race theory, Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, decolonization, and critical consciousness. Dara Wawaite-Chabot, Indigenous lead researcher, is a single parent who studies political science full-time at the University of Ottawa and works part-time for Iron & Earth. They support their small family by creating art and working remote contracts fighting for environmental justice in so-called Canada. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or . Image: Ana Guerra Marin and Dara Wawaite-Chabot / 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. Special Thanks fo Joel Ornoy, Iron and Earth Host: Resh Budhu. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/27282612

Labour Fair 2023: Gig workers and precarity in the 21st century 06/05/2023

Labour Fair 2023: Gig workers and precarity in the 21st century In our fifth episode of this season of Courage My Friends, we revisit the George Brown College Labour Fair. This year, the theme of the fair is: The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!! In this episode, we share the panel discussion on ‘Gig Workers and Precarity in the 21st Century.’ Moderator is joined by panelists Simran Dhunna and Jobanjeet Kaur of the Naujawan Support Network and Jennifer Scott from Gig Workers United. The groups discusses the tribulations faced by those working in precarious and gig jobs, increasingly exploitative employment structures and organizing for the rights and dignity of vulnerable workers. Reflecting on the meaning of exploitation for precarious workers, especially international students and immigrant workers, Kaur says: “Exploitation involves taking from workers that is rightfully ours. Wage theft, sexual harassment, inadequate job training, threats of deportation are all the forms of exploitation because they rob us of our earnings, safety and dignity.Sometimes people just take it as we are not being paid and it's just exploitation of our money or something. No, it's also the exploitation for the dignity of a worker. Because we go there professionally, work and put in the hours and everything, and it's like they take our dignity away when they refuse to pay us.” Speaking to the situation facing gig workers in Ontario, Scott says: “Gig workers are misclassified workers. And so that means that we don't have basic workers' rights and protections … because apps, you know, our bosses, are disrupting employment standards and putting downward pressure on wages, on employment standards, on working conditions, not just for gig workers, but for all workers in the delivery and logistics sector … Bill-88 was something that apps like Uber and other bad bosses lobbied quite aggressively for … because it creates a standalone piece of legislation with separate and lesser protections, which really reinforces the narrative that apps use, that gig workers are not real workers.” When it comes to organizing workers, Dhunna says: “There's the legal realm and then there's the realm in the streets. We don't rely on lawsuits or kind of the legal system to build our power, but it is a reality. It is a tool and a weapon that is used by employers just as they have done with Bill-88, and with other legal mechanisms to silence workers. And it's not something that's going to intimidate workers, of course. We're thankful for some of the support that's come from other labour organizations and publications like Briar Patch, because this is kind of the way we've begun to connect with groups … that are waging similar struggles across the country.” About our guests: Simran Dhunna is currently studying medicine at Queen’s University. She is a member of Naujawan Support Network. Jobanjeet Kaur is a former international student who immigrated from Panjab in 2018. She was an active organizer in the Alpha College protests, and is now a member of Naujawan Support Network. Jennifer Scott is a gig worker and the President of Gig Workers United CUPW. She began delivering on apps in 2017 as a bicycle courier. She was a member in the Justice for Foodora Couriers CUPW campaign where workers won the right to unionize with 90% of workers voting YES to their union. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or here. Images: Simran Dhunna, Jobanjeet Kaur, Jennifer Scott / 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/27008469

Asking for a friend: Living organ donations, a gift beyond words 05/22/2023

Asking for a friend: Living organ donations, a gift beyond words Our 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: And check out the 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 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/26894178

Good jobs, clean economy: Pushing for a Just Transition 04/24/2023

Good jobs, clean economy: Pushing for a Just Transition In our third episode, Jaime Kirkpatrick, senior program manager of Blue Green Canada, discusses the need for a Just Transition, what it should look like for labour, and how Canada is doing in its move toward a clean energy economy. Speaking to joint climate and labour demands and the idea of a Just Transition, Kirkpatrick says: “Blue Green and a number of allies have been advocating ...the idea of buying clean..You're keeping people employed here at home. You're keeping plants up and running … It's 100 per cent about keeping jobs, reducing the carbon, building out a future together … If everyone is struggling to get by, you are living paycheck to paycheck and if that paycheck disappears, you're in deep trouble. And that's why we talked about the care economy … the importance of good union jobs and all of these things that don't always necessarily seem to be connected, but they very much are … Change is inevitable, but justice is not.” About the speaker: Jamie Kirkpatrick is the senior program manager for , an organization founded in 2010 by an alliance of Canadian labour unions, environmental groups, and civil society organizations. Blue Green Canada advocates for working people and the environment by promoting solutions to environmental issues that have positive employment and economic impacts. Kirkpatrick has over 25 years of campaign, research, and leadership experience, running successful campaigns related to climate change, public transit equity, air quality, and protecting natural spaces. Prior to moving west to Saskatoon, Jamie was the chief of staff to Toronto city councillors’ Mike Layton and Shelley Carroll. Jamie is a graduate of the University of Toronto with an Honours BA focused on environmental studies and environment and resource management where he studied under the late Jack Layton. Transcript of this episode can be accessed at or . Image: Jamie Kirkpatrick / 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. /episode/index/show/needsnointroduction/id/26636115

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