Alright, Now What?

With guest Barbara Perry.

White nationalism is on the rise in Canada. What does it have to do with women?

Researchers Barbara Perry and Ryan Scrivens describe far-right extremism as “a loose movement, animated by a racially, ethnically, and sexually defined nationalism.” They go on to explain that it’s “typically framed in terms of White power, and is grounded in xenophobic and exclusionary understandings of the perceived threats posed by such groups as non-Whites, Jews, immigrants, homosexuals and feminists.”

White nationalism is a core concept in this extremism. And many experts say it’s becoming more mainstream. In Canada, it’s been the basis of all kinds of dangerous things including deadly attacks, misinformation campaigns, and harassment and hate toward public figures, politicians and journalists, particularly racialized women.

In the swirl of media coverage about the issues, it can be hard to sort what it’s about and the implications from a gender and rights perspective.

Last episode, I spoke with journalist Erica Ifill about this topic. In this part two episode, we’re joined by Barbara Perry, Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism and Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University. She holds a UNESCO Chair in Hate Studies, a field in which she has written extensively, and she is generally recognized as the leading Canadian expert on hate crime and right-wing extremism. She is regularly called upon by policy makers, practitioners, and local, national, and international media as an expert on both topics.

Relevant links: Register for #NotOkay: The Chilling Tide of Abuse Faced by Women Journalists online event on November 30 at 1 PM EST; Women and White Nationalism (Part 1) (Episode 37, October 19, 2022);  A Feminist Lens on Alt-Right Ideology (Episode 19, February 9, 2022)

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With guest Erica Ifill.

White nationalism is on the rise in Canada. What does it have to do with women? 

White nationalism is a core concept in far-right extremism. And many experts say it’s becoming more mainstream. “Hate in Canada: A short guide to far-right extremist movements” (2022) says, “Far-right extremism is a form of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE) – but one that is difficult to describe. There is no one, single ideology motivating these groups, but there is a shared framework of beliefs, ideas, concepts, and literature that cuts across them.”

In Canada, white nationalism been the basis of all kinds of dangerous things, including deadly attacks, misinformation campaigns, and harassment and hate toward public figures, politicians and journalists, particularly women of colour.

In the swirl of media coverage about these issues, it can be hard to sort out what it’s about and the implications from a gender and rights perspective.

Our guest Erica Ifill offers clarifying analysis on these issues. Erica is a journalist, economist, and anti-racism expert. She founded Not In My Colour, an intersectional business consultancy that creates inclusive organizations and implements solutions to dismantle systemic discrimination. She also co-founded the Bad + Bitchy podcast, which offers a critical analysis of politics and pop culture through the lens of intersectional feminism. She’s a columnist for The Hill Times and she’s written for outlets such as The Globe and Mail, Refinery29, Chatelaine, and Maclean’s.

Relevant links: A Feminist Lens on Alt-Right Ideology (Episode 19, February 9, 2022)

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With guests Robyn Doolittle and Christina Frangou.

Equity-seeking journalists including women and racialized reporters investigate some of the most important and hidden stories. Whether writing articles for newspapers or magazines, editing, posting on social media or digital media, or blogging, we need them to give voice to issues otherwise unheard. This makes the harassment and abuse they experience at disproportionate levels particularly vexing. It’s harmful to them as people and media workers, and it runs counter to the goal of making things better and fairer in Canada. We can’t achieve that goal without a diverse news media landscape and truth in reporting.

Every year, the Canadian Women’s Foundation presents The Landsberg Award in partnership with The Canadian Journalism Foundation to acknowledge and inspire feminist journalism It's named after iconic journalist and author, Michele Landsberg. Past winners include Connie Walker, investigative reporter behind CBC’s Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo podcast, author and journalist Elizabeth Renzetti, and Toronto Star’s Alyshah Hasham and Wendy Gillis.

We’re joined Robyn Doolittle, who won the Landsberg in 2018, and Christina Frangou, who won this year.

Robyn Doolittle is member of The Globe and Mail’s investigative team and a two-time winner of Canada’s Michener Award. She has probed suspicious business contracts, political corruption, and Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her “Unfounded” investigation, which explored the ways that Canadian police services handle sexual assault cases, prompted a national overhaul of policy, training and practices around sexual violence. Her latest book, “Had It Coming – What’s Fair In The Age of #MeToo?” was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize for non-fiction. Doolittle was named Journalist of the Year in 2017.

Christina Frangou is a journalist, writer, and editor based in Calgary, Alberta. Her reporting has garnered multiple awards and nominations. She specializes in writing about health, medicine, and social issues: in 20+ years as a journalist, she’s written about addiction, bereavement, refugee health, firearm violence, safe consumption sites, and medical assistance in dying. On the lighter side, she writes about things like skiing and traveling and her favourite hairstylist. Selected credits include: The Globe and Mail, The Guardian, The Walrus, Maclean's, Chatelaine, and Reader's Digest.

Relevant links: We need systemic change so that journalists can do their jobs free from abuse, by Paulette Senior (TVO)

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We’re in climate crisis – and marginalized women, girls, and gender-diverse people bear the brunt. Young climate justice leaders are ringing the alarm. It’s about time we listen.

In a sense, climate change and global warming hurts everyone. But we’re not all equally impacted. Some people have more resources to deal with fallout. Some of us are more or less protected from consequences of growing carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas, emissions and the burning of fossil fuel, sea-level rise, methane, and more. It’s a matter of power.

The solution lies not only in mitigation and renewable energy. We need climate justice.

This is where gender justice comes in: the most vulnerable women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans and non-binary people experience the worst outcomes in climate crisis. And their leadership in climate solutions is more important than ever.

Young feminists are strong voices for the intertwined goal of climate justice and gender justice. We can’t have one without the other. Our guest Sydney Piggott (she/her) is a social impact leader and advocate for gender equity, climate action, and social justice on a global scale. She’s been a subject matter expert in several international forums including the Commission on the Status of Women, Women Deliver, Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference for Young Parliamentarians, and RightsCon. Passionate about supporting young changemakers, Sydney has worked with several youth initiatives focused on gender and climate justice including the Ontario Council for International Cooperation’s Youth Policy-Maker’s Hub, Apathy is Boring’s RISE program, Community Knowledge Exchange’s Cohort X, and the Online Thinkathon Challenge in partnership with the European Union. She is also a contributor at Btchcoin News and a member of the Equal Futures Network Advisory Committee. Sydney brings an intersectional feminist lens to all of her work, informed by her proud Afro-Caribbean heritage.

Relevant links: Got Your Back to support diverse girls and young people | Register for the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s September 29 Digital Town Hall | 1MILLION Activist Stories | Vanessa Nakate | Autumn Pelletier

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We found that around half of parents and caregivers in Canada believe their children aged 9 to 19 are struggling right now, two years into a global pandemic. But children and young people are a diverse group. We do a disservice when we don’t dig into what different young people face, depending on their unique identities and experiences.

“This is not the first crisis faced by Indigenous youth,” says Resetting Normal: The Impacts of COVID-19 on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Youth. Released in March 2022, this report is co-authored by Taylor Arnt and Courtney Vaughan with contributor Tori Chief Calf. The report goes onto say that “inequalities are amplified in emergency situations, which result in the most devastating social, health and economic impacts of the virus being borne disproportionately by Indigenous peoples.... Amidst these challenges, Indigenous youth continue to resist settler colonialism in remarkable ways: by advocating for their rights to be upheld, by revering the matriarch, Two-Spirit and elder leadership of their communities, and by protecting the lands and waters we call home. The contributions made by Indigenous youth to building a more equitable and sustainable society must be given due recognition.”

We had the honour of interviewing Taylor Arnt and Tori Chief Calf on the report and the survey of Indigenous young people it’s based on.

Taylor Arnt (she/they) is of mixed Anishinaabe and European heritage, from Treaty 1 territory near Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a member of Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Reserve, and now resides as a guest on  Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɬ territory. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Affairs and Policy Management and has five years of work experience throughout the federal public service, nonprofit, and Indigenous governance sectors. As the second Indigenous Peoples Specialist hired by the Canadian Red Cross, Taylor deployed to 10+ First Nations communities, assisting them through public health and climate crises. Now working as a Policy Analyst for the BC Assembly of First Nations, Taylor advocates for the title and treaty rights of the 203 First Nations communities across British Columbia. She is beginning her Master of Arts in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia in September 2022.

Tori Chief Calf is Blackfoot from the Kainai First Nation, located in Treaty 7 territory in southern Alberta. She is currently in her last year at the University of British Columbia studying social work, where she has a particular interest in social justice, advocacy, and supporting Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities. In her free time, Tori loves to read, dance, go for long walks, and spend time with those she loves.

Read Resetting Normal: The Impacts of COVID-19 on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Youth in English, Inuktitut, or French.

Support Got Your Back and show diverse girls and young people ages 9 to 19 that you’ve got their backs. 

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Content note: this episode addresses sexual violence.

We’ve all been exposed to rape culture, but girls and non-binary youth experience it differently depending on who they are. We don’t always catch these nuances. We’re not always listening the way we should. With back-to-school season coming up, we need to talk about interventions. How are we going push for an end to sexual violence for all young people, of all identities and backgrounds?

Our guest Dr. Mythili Rajiva is associate professor at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa, which is on unceded and unsurrendered Alqonquin territory. Her areas of academic research include intersectionality, feminist media studies, trauma, racialization, sexual violence, girlhood, South Asian diaspora and identity. She is the principal investigator on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded project that examines landscapes of sexual violence in the lives of adolescent girls with a particular attention to the impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous girls’ negotiations with violence. She was also a recent co-investigator on another SSHRC grant, on the consequences of the mass rape of German women in the last days of World War II; and the rapes and forced impregnation of mainly Muslim Bosnian women during the 1990s war in former Yugoslavia. She is currently serving on the executive of the Faculty/Librarian Union (APUO) as Equity Officer. She recently published a co-edited volume (with Dr. Stephanie Patrick) titled The Forgotten Victims of Sexual Violence in Film, Television, and New Media: Turning to the Margins (Palgrave Macmillan May 2022).

Support Got Your Back and show diverse girls and young people ages 9 to 19 that you’ve got their backs.

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

Visit our website and donate today: canadianwomen.org

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When we think “economy”, it’s easy to imagine stereotypical things: opening bell, chaotic trading floor, ups and downs of stock graphs. But the economy is made up of people and it’s deeply gendered. There is no economy without women—and we haven’t valued them the way we should.

Over half of all female workers are employed in occupations involving the “5 Cs”: caring, clerical, catering, cashiering, and cleaning. Workers in these sectors face a lot of marginalization due to racism and precarious immigration status. These are precisely the types of jobs that are underpaid and under-protected, and they've taken quite an economic hit over the past few years.

This episode features Andrea Gunraj’s May 2022 talk about what it would mean to value gendered care work, included at Concordia University presents “The Walrus Talks: What’s Next” in Toronto.

Andrea is Vice President of Public Engagement at Canadian Women's Foundation. She has 20 years of experience in community-based program development and communications and a passion for innovative public education and non-profit leadership for social change. She has worked with several organizations in the areas of equity, inclusion, systemic anti-racism practice, human rights policy and practice, gender-based violence prevention and intervention, housing and homelessness, and sexual and reproductive health. She is a trainer, public speaker, published author, and holds a Masters in Criminology from the University of Toronto.

Episode transcript

Read Resetting Normal Reports on Building Intersectional Gender Justice in Post-Pandemic Canada

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

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Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence and femicide.

On September 22, 2015, Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam were murdered by their former partner in Renfrew County, Ontario. Three lives were taken on one day. And friends, family, and neighbours were left grappling with the pain of it.

On June 28, 2022, a jury at the inquest into these women’s deaths recommended that the province declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. And with the help of grant from the Canadian Women’s Foundation, End Violence Against Women (EVA) Renfrew County was able to work with legal experts and hold community consultations to make sure the voices of people in the County were included in the inquest. This is a stunning example of systemic change work that happens with grants from Canadian Women’s Foundation, all due to generous donors and partners who give toward gender justice.

Feminist lawyer Pamela Cross joins us, a well-known and respected expert on violence against women and the law for her work as a researcher, writer, educator and trainer. She works with women’s equality and violence against women organizations across Ontario. One of her key roles is as the Legal Director of Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre in Durham Region, where she leads the organization’s provincial projects, including research, training and advocacy. Pamela has also been a member of the teaching faculty with the National Judicial Institute, and continues to plan and deliver educational programs on violence against women to Canadian judges. 

Pamela is the 2020 recipient of the Corry Award from Queen’s Law, the 2019 recipient of the Laura Legge Award from the Law Society of Ontario and a 2015 recipient of the Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction for her work on the issue of violence against women. In 2006, she was awarded the YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction award for her work in the area of law reform. She is a frequent speaker at provincial, national and international conferences. She is also a regular commentator on violence against women and the law for print media, radio and television across Canada.

Read 86 Recommendations for change from the Renfrew County Inquest

Episode Transcript 

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Northern Canada experiences some of the highest rates of violence, poverty, and health concerns and lower access to basic services. Legacies of colonialism and residential schools have eroded local connectedness and sense of identity.

Indigenous gender justice leaders in the North know the solutions to these challenges and what women, girls, and gender-diverse people need to reclaim connections to land and culture. They’re catalysts for sustainable and healthy futures.

Delma Autut leads the Northern Strategy, a granting partnership between Canadian Women’s Foundation and MakeWay Foundation. With the guidance of the Northern Women and Girls Advisory Committee, strong relationships have been built with groups like Northern Birthwork Collective, which leads an Accessible Doula Support Program and Indigenous Doula Training, and Messy Book Program of Arctic Rose Foundation, which leads after-school programming for girls and youth. Delma shares some of the live issues in the North and what it means to take Indigenizing approaches to building gender justice in the region.

Learn more about the Northern Strategy

Episode Transcript

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Content note: this episode addresses gender-based violence.

Anna Maria Tremonti and Eternity Martis are iconic voices in Canadian media. Both of them have shared their stories of facing intimate partner violence and the shame, silencing, and stigma that came with it. 

They joined the Canadian Women’s Foundation, Women’s Shelters Canada, and YWCA Canada in a dynamic conversation last week. This episode includes part of their conversation.

Anna Maria Tremonti is a long-time journalist for the CBC. She served as senior reporter for The National and hosted The Current until 2019. In February 2022, she published “Welcome to Paradise”, a podcast memoir — and for the first time ever, she disclosed her experience in a marriage to an abusive husband.

Eternity Martis is a journalist and editor who has worked with The Huffington Post, Chatelaine, Maclean’s, CBC, The Walrus, and more. In 2021, she published “They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up”, her bestselling memoir of her experiences with racism, partner abuse, and so much more at university.

Stay tuned for the full conversation, available soon on our YouTube channel.

Be a Signal for Help Responder: signalresponder.ca

Episode transcript

Please listen, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and share it with others. If you appreciate this content, if you want to get in on the efforts to build a gender equal Canada, please donate at canadianwomen.org and consider becoming a monthly donor.

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The Canadian Women's Foundation acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.