COMMONS

The War in Afghanistan was Canada's longest war. More than 40,000 Canadian troops served. And countless Canadian civilians went to work in the country. But after twenty years, billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, Afghanistan is worse off than before.

When the Taliban marched into Kabul last August, the world watched as Afghans clung to planes in an attempt to escape. We bring you the true story of the end of one of the forever wars through the eyes of the people who were there.

Featured in this episode: Wasai Rahimi, Ghousuddin Frotan, Brian Castner, Mohammed Sharif Sharaf, Matthieu Aikins

To learn more:

“Inside the Fall of Kabul” by Matthieu Aikins in New York Times Magazine

“Escape from Afghanistan” by Mark MacKinnon in The Globe and Mail

“Horror at Kabul's gate to freedom” by Nick Paton Walsh, Sandi Sidhu, Julia Hollingsworth, Masoud Popalzai, Sitara Zamani, Abdul Basir Bina, Katie Polglase & Gianluca Mezzofiore in CNN

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is brought to you by Rotman's Risk Management Program, Oxio, Escaping Denver, and Ground News

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Narcolords in league with the government. Hundreds of millions of dollars that vanish into thin air. Arrogant decision-making that leads to the deaths of Canadians and Afghans alike. This season of COMMONS will bring you the war stories that Canada wants you to forget.

First episode drops March 30, 2022.

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In 2007, the small Guatemalan village of Lote Ocho, Spanish for Lot 8, was burned to the ground by military, police and security for a Canadian-owned mine. Eleven women claim they were raped during the evictions.

A few years later, a prominent community activist is murdered in broad daylight by the head of security for the mining company. 

These are just some of the many crimes that Canadian mining companies have been accused of committing in this region over the last 60 years.

Many Canadian mining companies are pariahs around the world. So why does Canada allow this to happen? And is this industry violent by its very nature?

Featured in this episode: Angélica Choc, Grahame Russel, Catherin Nolin, Heather Gies, Richard Poplak

To learn more:

“How a Canadian mining company infiltrated the Guatemalan state” by Max Binks-Collier in The Intercept

“Guatemala mine's ex-security chief convicted of Indigenous leader's murder” by Sandra Cuffe in The Guardian

Paradise Lost by CTV's W5

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is brought to you by Rotman's Behaviourally Informed Strategy Program & Dispatch Coffee 

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

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Papua New Guinea is a part of the world that few Canadians ever think about. But for the people of Porgera, their lives have been shaped by the decisions of Canadian companies.

It's hard to wrap your head around the atrocities that people in Porgera have suffered over the last thirty year. Environmental devastation. Murder as a matter of course. Hundreds of women and girls who have been raped. 

So why is Barrick Gold, the company that has operated the mine for the last decade and a half, still celebrated across the country? And why is Barrick's founder, Peter Munk, still viewed as a philanthropic and corporate icon?

Featured in this episode: Everlyn Gaupe, McDiyan Robert Yapari, Stanley Peter, Cressida Kuala, Catherine Coumans, Richard Poplak

To learn more:

“Canadian Mining's Dark Heart” by Richard Poplak in The Walrus

“The Shooting Fields of Porgera” by the Akali Tange Association

“Raped by Canadian Gold Mine Guards, These Women Are Looking for Justice” by Hilary Beaumont in VICE News

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is brought to you by Rotman's Executive Leadership Online &  Dispatch Coffee 

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

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Support us at www.commonspodcast.com 

Attawapiskat has become famous across Canada and around the world. Not for the natural beauty that surrounds it, or for the Cree culture of the people who live there. Instead, it's become a byword for the toxic legacy of Canadian colonialism.

But while Attawapiskat faced crisis after crisis, the community was sitting on a literal diamond mine run by the world's most famous mining company.

So why is it that a community rich in diamonds is so poor? And why did the government and De Beers do so little to help them through?

Featured in this episode: Mike Koostachin, Vicki Lean, Anna Baggio

To learn more:

After the Last River by Victoria Lean

The People of the Kattawapiskak River by Alanis Obamsawin

“De Beers decision to dump sewage into Attawapiskat played role in current housing crisis” by Ossie Michelin in APTN News

“Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?” By Edward Jay Epstein in The Atlantic

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is brought to you by PolicyMe.

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

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Support us at www.commonspodcast.com 

A monster has been haunting the North.

Giant Mine may be a big reason why Yellowknife exists. But for seven decades, it's been a unique source of suffering for the people in the region.

Three stories from this uniquely haunted place: the damage it did when it opened, the bloodiest labour dispute in Canadian history, and the toxic legacy that may remain for thousands of years.

Featured in this episode: Morgan Tsetta, Arn Keeling, John Sandlos, Lee Selleck

To learn more:

Giant Monster Mine from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation

Dying for Gold: The True Story of the Giant Mine Murders by Lee Selleck and Francis Thompson

Toxic Legacies Project

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is brought to you by PolicyMe, and Manscaped.

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

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Support us at www.commonspodcast.com

Twenty-six men were working underground when an explosion tore through the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia. Their friends and colleagues went into the wreckage to try to save them.

The story of Westray is one of managerial malice and the heroism of everyday people. But why is it that governments let this happen over and over again, at the expense of so many lives?

Featured in this episode: Vernon Theriault, Tom Sandborn

To learn more:

Westray: My Journey From Darkness to Light by Vernon Theriault and Marjorie Coady

“Hell's History” by Tom Sandborn in The Tyee

The Last Shift by CBC's The Fifth Estate

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is brought to you by Rotman's Executive Leadership Online, PolicyMe, and Manscaped.

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

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Support us at commonspodcast.com

A tiny Canadian mining company discovers the largest gold deposit in human history. But when the company's chief geologist falls out of a helicopter over the Indonesian jungle, it was all revealed to be a mirage.

Bre-X was a national obsession that made many overnight millionaires. It also happened to be the biggest fraud in the history of mining. 

But questions still remain. Why did no one go to jail? And did that geologist actually die falling from a helicopter? Or is he off somewhere enjoying his ill-gotten gains?

Featured in this episode: Warren Irwin, Andrew Willis (The Globe and Mail), Stephen Ewart (Calgary Herald)

To learn more:

Fever: The Dark Mystery of the Bre-X Gold Rush by Jennifer Wells  

The Bre-X Fraud by Andrew Willis and Douglas Goold

“Bre-X – Of Course I Know Where Michael de Guzman Is” in CEO.com by Warren Irwin

Additional music from Audio Network

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For a century, Canada was one of the world's leading exporters of asbestos, most of it mined from the small town of Asbestos, Quebec. But during that time, governments and corporations in Canada did everything they could to hide the fact that asbestos is deadly.

They went to extraordinary lengths — secret organ smuggling, corporate-supervised police torture — to keep the ugly truth from the world.

Today, there's no longer a town called Asbestos, QC. But more people than ever are dying from what was mined out of the ground there. 

Featured in this episode: Heidi von Palleske, Jessica van Horssen, Tavia Grant (The Globe and Mail)

To learn more:

A Town Called Asbestos: Environmental Contamination, Health, and Resilience in a Resource Community by Jessica van Horssen

“No Safe Use: The Canadian Asbestos Epidemic” by Tavia Grant in The Globe and Mail

“Asbestos: Canada's Dirty Secret” by CBC's Fifth Estate

Additional music from Audio Network

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

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When gold was discovered in the Yukon, 100,000 people desperately tried to make it to a small patch of land in one of the most remote environments on the continent. Few made it all the way. 

The Klondike Gold Rush was many things: a media conspiracy, a ponzi scheme, a land grab. But above all, it was a humanitarian disaster that stretched over much of the Pacific Northwest.

Featured in this episode: Brian Castner, Deb Vanasse

To learn more:

Stampede: Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike by Brian Castner

Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Klondike Race for Gold by Deb Vanassse

Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush by Pierre Berton

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is sponsored by Rotman's Executive Leadership Online, Douglas and Dispatch Coffee. 

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.