On June 13th, the NE end of the city of Calgary was hit by a hail storm that was the 4th largest natural disaster in Canadian history. Damages are estimated at around 1.2 Billion dollars, and that figure only represents the current costs. North East Calgary is an incredibly diverse area of the city, with many new Canadians making their homes there. Many of these new Canadians face not only language barriers but also systemic barriers when it comes to not only purchasing home insurance, but also in regards to beginning to initiate a claims process. Out of all of the chaos of the disaster, a group of community members started to organize, not only to support their neighbours but also to try and petition the government for additional support as they found that many residents of North East Calgary were, and still are, facing insurmountable obstacles in getting their homes repaired. Despite their efforts to stand up for their neighbours, this grassroots group has come under fire from UCP MLA Rajan Sawhney, with the MLA suggesting that their efforts are nothing more than political strategy. To try and better understand who this group is and what they want, we sat down with one of their organizers, Khalil Karbani.

As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab.

If you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rating, and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.