Below the Radar

Episode 10 of Below the Radar features Sharon Gregson, who works with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC as the provincial spokesperson for the successful $10aDay Child Care campaign. Sharon Gregson and Am Johal discuss policy change and what is needed for sustainable child care in BC. Twice elected as a Trustee to the Vancouver School Board, Sharon’s advocacy for affordable child care stretches back over three decades. To learn more visit www.10aday.ca

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/10-sharon-gregson.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/10-sharon-gregson.html

Bio:

Sharon Gregson is the provincial spokesperson for the popular $10aDay Child Care Plan in BC. She works with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC travelling throughout the province presenting the $10aDay Plan as the solution to BC’s child care chaos. She is a former two-term elected Vancouver School Board Trustee with 30 years of experience in the child care sector. Sharon is a feminist, passionate about the rights of women to access affordable child care services, the rights of children to high quality early years experiences, and the rights of early childhood educators to be well-paid for the important work they do.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Tirelessly advocating for child care in BC — with Sharon Gregson” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, February 11, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/10-sharon-gregson.html

Sarah Blyth joins Jamie-Leigh Gonzales for a conversation about the politics of illicit drugs. With an understanding of what it is like to make change from her experience as both a policy maker and a frontline worker, Sarah uses her voice to advocate for access to safe drugs for community members in the DTES. In this episode we take a closer look at what our politicians can do to acknowledge and respond to the opioid crisis. We also discuss the implications of legalizing cannabis for low income or homeless folks, and the importance of discussing these topics with youth.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/9-sarah-blyth.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/9-sarah-blyth.html

For more info visit:

https://vancityoverdoseprevention.com/

Bio:

Sarah Blyth is former Chair of the Vancouver Park Board Commission and Founding member of the Overdose Prevention Society, an organization that has inspired many overdose prevention sites across Canada and around the world and saves lives every day.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Gonzales, Jamie-Leigh. “Call it what it is: a look at the opioid crisis — with Sarah Blyth” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 28, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/9-sarah-blyth.html

SFU’s VOCE longtime partner, Megaphone Magazine, is featured in episode 8 of Below the Radar. Megaphone creates meaningful work for people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Each month they produce a magazine that looks at issues and events happening in our city with a local perspective. Along with the monthly magazine, the annual Hope in Shadows calendar is produced and sold by low-income and homeless vendors on the streets of Vancouver and Victoria to earn income and build community. This episode features Executive Director, Jessica Hannon, along with vendor, Peter Thompson in conversation with Jamie-Leigh Gonzales from SFU’s VOCE. Find out more about Megaphone at megaphonemagazine.com.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/8-jessica-hannon-peter-thompson.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/8-jessica-hannon-peter-thompson.html

Bio:

Megaphone changes the story on poverty by promoting social equity, amplifying marginalized voices, and creating meaningful work. They produce a high-quality monthly magazine and annual calendar that low-income vendors sell on the streets of Vancouver and Victoria to earn income and build community.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Gonzales, Jamie-Leigh. “Megaphone: changing the narrative — with Jessica Hannon & Peter Thompson” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 14, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/8-jessica-hannon-peter-thompson.html

Hives for Humanity creates and supports opportunities to connect people back to the land through community and pollinators. They’ve been providing opportunities for people to engage in the therapeutic culture of beekeeping while supporting at-risk populations of people and pollinators since 2012. Episode 7 features community beekeepers, Sarah Common and Kevin Sleziak, in conversation with Am Johal.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/7-sarah-common-kevin-sleziak.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/7-sarah-common-kevin-sleziak.html

Read more about Hives for Humanity on their website:

https://hivesforhumanity.com/

Bio:

Hives for Humanity is a non-profit organization that encourages community connections through apiculture, more commonly known as beekeeping. Through mentorship based programming we create flexible opportunities for people to engage in the therapeutic culture that surrounds the hive.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Episode 7: Connecting to community through the bees — with Sarah Common and Kevin Sleziak” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 2, 2019. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/7-sarah-common-kevin-sleziak.html

The Binners’ Project is a Vancouver-based initiative dedicated to advocating for waste-pickers in the city. Am Johal interviews Binners’ Project staff members Davin Boutang and Anna Godefroy about their beginnings and evolution as an organization. They discuss their Universal Carts Initiative, the Coffee Cup Revolution and how the project has grown in its capacity to create opportunities for binners, destigmatizing the work they do in diverting waste from landfills.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/6-davin-boutang-anna-godefroy.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/6-davin-boutang-anna-godefroy.html

Read more about Binners’ Project on their website:

https://www.binnersproject.org/

Bio:

The Binners’ Project fosters social and economic inclusion, builds community resilience and stronger networks, and engages on sustainability issues. Through our programs, they empower binners as part of the circular economy — building a community from the bottom up.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Binners’ Project: an origin story — with Davin Boutang and Anna Godefroy” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, December 17, 2018. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/6-davin-boutang-anna-godefroy.html

"The way that I rationalize spending so much time in the theory world is because I think it helps train your intuition." Berlin-based artist Patricia Reed talks to Am Johal about the relationship between theory and practice in her work.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/5-patricia-reed.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/5-patricia-reed.html

Patricia gave a talk at SFU in October, "On Horizonless Futures." Watch the video recording from her talk in our audio and video gallery:

http://www.sfu.ca/sfuwoodwards/community-engagement/audio-video-gallery.html

Find more of Patricia's work on her website:

http://www.aestheticmanagement.com/

Bio:

Patricia Reed is an artist, writer and designer based in Berlin. As an artist, selected exhibitions include: The One and The Many, CUAG, Ottawa; The Museum of Capitalism, Oakland; Homeworks 7, Beirut; Witte de With, Rotterdam; HKW, Berlin; and Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart. Read more about her work and experience.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “On horizonless futures — with Patricia Reed” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, December 2, 2018. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/5-patricia-reed.html

From 312 Main and the future of public infrastructure in Surrey, to his “mad socialist period” in Dave Barrett’s NDP government. Am Johal interviews former city planner, MLA, and cabinet minister Bob Williams about his long and storied history of government work and community development in BC.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/4-bob-williams.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/4-bob-williams.html

Bob gave a public talk on the future of Surrey at SFU last fall. Check out the video recording here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgQJLv5eFt8&feature=youtu.be

Bio:

Bob Williams is an urban planner and former provincial MLA and cabinet minister. His leadership, inspiration and action over the past 60 years have helped to improve and transform B.C.'s rural and urban communities, and the lives of its citizens. Williams is president and chair of the Jim Green Foundation. He is an experienced civic leader and is currently on the management committee for 312 Main, Vancouver's Social and Economic Innovation Centre. Formerly, Bob worked as a Vancouver city councillor, and a provincial cabinet minister with Premier Dave Barrett. Bob's past career also included being a long time director of Vancity Credit Union, owning the Railway Club Bar, advising the Four Corners Bank, and establishing Robson Square and the modern Whistler Blackcomb.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “A history of community-building in BC — with Bob Williams” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 26, 2018. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/4-bob-williams.html

“We don’t have time not to have women at the table,” says Ellen Woodsworth, our guest this week. Ellen is a former Vancouver city councillor and founder of Women Transforming Cities. She is interviewed by Jamie-Leigh Gonzales. They talk about the invisible labour of women, how women experience different social and environmental issues, the inclusion of women’s voices in governance, and how to make our cities women-friendly.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/3-ellen-woodsworth.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/3-ellen-woodsworth.html

Read more about Ellen’s work on the Women Transforming Cities website:

http://www.womentransformingcities.org/ellen-woodsworth

Bio:

Ellen Woodsworth is the founder of Women Transforming Cities International Society and Co-Chairperson. She works to make cities work for self identified women and girls all over the world from local neighbourhoods to global gatherings like UN Habitat 3. She thinks that women and girls work for cities but cities don’t work for women and girls. She believes cities must put a gendered intersectional lens and use disaggregated data on policies, programmes, budgets, funding, staffing and governance in order to create women-friendly cities. Ellen is an international speaker and urban consultant on gender and intersectional planning. She is a former Vancouver City Councillor and was their representative on the Executive of Union of B.C. Municipalities and the Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory Committee. Ellen provides workshops for cities and NGO’s using “Advancing Equity and Inclusion a Guide for Municipalities”. She spoke at the UN Habitat 3 conferences in Prague and in Quito and at the Smart Sustainable Cities conference in Montevideo, Uruguay as well as participating in the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights meeting about the “Right to the City” and housing. She also spoke at WUF 9 in Kuala Lumpur and moderated the Women Transforming Cities launch of the Women Friendly Cities Challenge an online library of wise practices tied to the SDG’s, CEDAW and NUA. She spoke at WUF 10 on LGTBQI2S issues in Abu Dhabi and been a consultant to UN Habitat on LGTBQi2S issues. She is coordinating the Hot Pink Municipal Campaign, which focuses on 11 issues that could make cities women-friendly. She gives talks on how to put a gendered intersectional lens on everything from climate change, housing, transit, electoral reform and COVID 19.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Gonzales, Jamie-Leigh. “Giving women a seat at the table — with Ellen Woodsworth” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 19, 2018. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/3-ellen-woodsworth.html

With as little as 3.7% of referendum ballots returned as of last week, our discussion of electoral reform in BC continues. Last week, we heard from Maria Dobrinskaya, advocating in favour of Proportional Representation. This week Am Johal is in conversation with Bill Tieleman from the 'No' side. A political commentator and former NDP political strategist, Bill argues for a rejection of PR in the 2018 referendum.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/2-bill-tieleman.html

Read the Transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/2-bill-tieleman.html

Read more from Bill Tieleman on his website:

http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/

Bio:

Bill Tieleman is one of BC's best known communicators, political commentators and strategists. Bill is a political panelist regularly on CBC Radio and TV in BC and with other media. Bill has been Communications Director in the B.C. Premier's Office and at the BC Federation of Labour. Bill owns West Star Communications, a consulting firm providing strategy and communication services for labour, business, non-profits and government.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “The flip side: Why vote ‘No’ to Proportional Representation? — with Bill Tieleman” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 12, 2018. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/2-bill-tieleman.html

With a referendum on Proportional Representation looming, BC will decide whether or not to move to a new way of electing our provincial government — or stick with our current First Past the Post system.

Our first guest is Maria Dobrinskaya, BC Director of the Broadbent Institute. Maria shares why she is advocating for BC residents to vote ‘Yes’ to PR when they mail in their ballots this month. She is interviewed by your host, Am Johal, the director of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/1-maria-dobrinskaya.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/1-maria-dobrinskaya.html

Resources:

Supplemental reading from the Broadbent Institute:

http://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/electoral_system_for_all_bc

Bio:

Maria Dobrinskaya is the BC Director, overseeing the work of the Broadbent Institute in British Columbia. A creative political strategist and effective communicator, Maria is committed to expanding the political arena and increasing the access and involvement we can all have with our governments. Maria has over fifteen years of political experience; she’s worked for government, she’s run a governing political party, and she’s been involved in numerous campaigns at the local, provincial, and federal levels, in both electoral and issue-based politics. Maria is a regular media commentator on both municipal and provincial politics. Before working in politics and government, Maria spent over a decade in Vancouver’s hospitality sector.

Cite this episode:

Chicago Style

Johal, Am. “Why Vote ‘Yes’ to Proportional Representation? — with Maria Dobrinskaya” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, November 5, 2018. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/1-maria-dobrinskaya.html