Expats & Allies

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This week, we spoke to Brent Patterson, executive director of Peace Brigades International - Canada, about the federal government’s plan to purchase 88 new F-35 fighter jets from American weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

Sound design by Sophia Sanford www.sanfordsanford.com; @_sanfordsanford.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

Support The Maple by subscribing to our daily newsletter for as little as $7 per month.

This week, we spoke to Yurii Sheliazhenko, a peace advocate based in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and Yves Engler, a fellow with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and Canada’s role in fuelling the geopolitical tensions at the heart of the conflict.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

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Why did police treat the far-right occupation of Ottawa and supportive convoys across Canada with kid gloves? We spoke to community organizers Audrey Redman and Jaggi Singh about their experiences countering the convoy protests in Edmonton and Montreal, and why police sympathy with the convoy's far-right politics highlights a systemic problem.

Follow Audrey, @AudreyJRedman, and Jaggi, @JaggiMontreal, on Twitter.

Follow No Borders Media, @NoBordersMedia.

Sound design by Sophia Sanford www.sanfordsanford.com; @_sanfordsanford.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

Support The Maple by subscribing to our daily newsletter for as little as $7 per month.

Police have moved in to clear the occupation of Ottawa by the so-called "freedom" convoy, but what was it really like for residents living in and around the downtown area, and what do the far-right politics of the convoy's leadership mean for the future?

We spoke with Riley, an Ottawa resident who has lived through the occupation, Maple contributor Cassandra Kislenko, and Humber College professor Tyler Shipley.

Sound design by Sophia Sanford www.sanfordsanford.com; @_sanfordsanford.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

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In this week's episode of the Great Gilded North podcast series, we spoke to Cassandra Kislenko about Canada's role in the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Cassandra Kislenko is a non-binary settler journalist working and writing on Treaty 13 territory in Tkaronto. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. 
 
Read Cassandra's original article for The Maple here.

Sound design by Sophia Sanford www.sanfordsanford.com; @_sanfordsanford.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

Support The Maple by subscribing to our daily newsletter for as little as $7 per month.

This week, The Maple's managing editor Alex Cosh spoke to Passage staff writer V.S. Wells about the "partygate" scandal currently unfolding inside the U.K.'s Conservative government, whether this might be the end of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's career, and what the debacle tells us about so-called "populist" right-wing politics.

V. S. Wells is a writer and journalist originally from the U.K. They currently live on unceded Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh territory in Vancouver, B.C. Find them on Twitter at @vsmwells.

Sign up for Passage's newsletter.

Sound design by Sophia Sanford www.sanfordsanford.com; @_sanfordsanford.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

Support The Maple by subscribing to our daily newsletter for as little as $7 per month.

This week, The Maple's managing editor Alex Cosh spoke to health policy researcher Andrew Longhurst about the B.C. NDP's inadequate response to the Omicron surge, which has already driven short-staffed hospitals into crisis mode. We talk about whether the B.C. government is "following the science," whether it is doing any better than right-wing Conservative governments in other provinces, and the NDP's longer term record on protecting the public health system.

Andrew is a health policy researcher specializing in comparative health policy, political economy and health system reform. He is a Ph.D. student at Simon Fraser University, and a research associate with the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Find him on Twitter @a_longhurst.

Read Andrew's piece for The Tyee.

Reporting from Capital Daily.

Sound design by Sophia Sanford www.sanfordsanford.com; @_sanfordsanford.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

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Support The Maple by subscribing to our daily newsletter for as little as $1 per week.

In this week's episode of the Great Gilded North podcast series, we spoke to independent journalist Jeremy Appel about how oil and gas barons are working behind the scenes to stymie Canada's climate goals.

Jeremy is a journalist based in Calgary, and his work has appeared in The Sprawl, CBC Calgary, Jacobin, Passage and the Forward. He also co-hosts the Forgotten Corner and Big Shiny Takes podcasts. Find him on Twitter @JeremyAppel1025.

Read Jeremy's original article for The Maple here.

Find out more about Jeremy's newsletter, The Orchard, here.

Music credit: "Fluidity," by tobylane.

Warning: This episode contains references to acts of violence against Indigenous Peoples and may not be suitable for everyone.

Nova Scotia-born Izaak Walton Killam made his millions through pulp, paper and hydro-electric projects across Latin America. His Montreal-based International Power company controlled a monopoly on electrical power in El Salvador and charged extremely high rates on the country’s exploited workers.

When Indigenous peasants began an organized uprising in 1932, Killam called in a personal favour to protect his capital. This would end in a civilian massacre that would usher in decades of military dictatorship, and ultimately help establish prestigious cornerstones of Canadian arts, culture and academics.

We spoke with Kislenko about how Canada facilitated one of the worst acts of violence against Indigenous People in this continent's history.

This is part of our series as selected by Maple readers exploring how the ruling elite and the wealthy shape power in Canada. Read the entire series here.

Cassandra Kislenko is a non-binary settler journalist working and writing on Treaty 13 territory in Tkaronto. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.  Subscribe today and support independent journalism like this for as little as $1 per week.

Read Kislenko's article here.

Find Tyler A. Shipley's book Canada In The World here.

Further reading:

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/may/27/pacific-rim-lawsuit-el-salvador-mine-gold-free-trade

https://nbmediacoop.org/2011/06/16/student-anti-mining-activist-murdered-in-el-salvador/

https://canadians.org/analysis/anti-mining-activists-murdered-el-salvador

https://mediacoop.ca/story/2391

https://progressive.org/magazine/how-el-salvador-won-on-mining/

https://miningwatch.ca/news/2016/10/14/there-are-no-winners-after-seven-years-and-millions-dollars-pac-rim-mining-loses

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/06/bitcoin-city-el-salvador-nayib-bukele/