Independent journalist and activist Gurpreet Singh on the right-wing forces, at home and abroad, facing NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.

Insight on Terry Milewski’s aggressive record of anti-Sikh journalism at the CBC.

Plus: when will our celebrity Prime Minister begin leveraging his international profile to counter the rising tide of hate and extremism?

All this and more on episode 38 of Unpacking the News.

Mastered by Kris Hernandez at Villeray Studios.

This is the first in an ongoing series featuring content produced by the News Collective at CKUT 90.3FM in Montreal.

These episodes, highlighting perspectives on issues and current events in the province and around the country from the grassroots, are being rebroadcast for the first time and made available as an exclusive podcast through Ricochet Media.

This piece features a series of interviews, excerpts from speeches and live sound from the recent Rally Against Hate and Racism, the beginning of an organized, street-level pushback against Quebec's xenophobic Bill 62.

News Collective members Gau Mahadevan and Julia Bugiel were in downtown Montreal to record the event.

Bill 62, Québec's notorious religious neutrality law, is a clear attack on the rights of Muslim women in the province.

But Montréal lawyer Sibel Ataogul, co-founder of l'Association des Juristes Progressistes, also sees the law as an ideologically useful tool for the province's political elites.

Does pandering to xenophobia allow Phillip Couillard’s Liberal government a freer hand in implementing a neoliberal policy agenda?

Audio mastering courtesy of Chris Hernandez at Villeray Studios.

On this episode, journalist Kathryn Jezer-Morton joins host André Goulet to discuss interculturalism, Québec secularism and the political factors motivating the introduction of the transparently Islamophobic Bill 62.

Plus Valérie Plante and Projet Montréal's surprising municipal election win is a big victory for progressives in the provincial metropolis and an encouraging sign for Leftists across the country.

Lifelong political grifter Jason Kenney is the freshly-minted leader of the United Conservative Party of Alberta.

But as Kenney’s UCP prepares to leave the political wilderness and re-take it’s place as the natural governing party of Alberta, unforeseen challenges may lie ahead.

In this conversation, playwright Brad Fraser joins host Andre Goulet to discuss Kenney’s problematic political and public past. And what does Alberta's NDP government need to do to beat the odds in the 2019 election?

Plus: the Paradise Papers and Justin Trudeau’s 1% problem.

On this episode activist and academic Christo Aivalis argues that, despite a 3rd-place finish, Niki Ashton’s campaign for the NDP leadership succeeded in pulling the ideological conversation within the Party firmly to the left.

We also dig into some of the leadership race results and discuss the potential of a Jagmeet Singh-led federal NDP.

On this episode, a conversation with activist and academic Christo Aivalis on Andrew Scheer's decision to go all in on the Conservative Party’s association with Rebel Media. We also discuss his research on a young Pierre Trudeau and the CCF and uncover some surprises regarding the history of social democratic politics in la Belle Province.

Tune in next week for part two of our conversation as we post-mortem the campaigns of Jagmeet Singh, Niki Ashton, Charlie Angus and Guy Caron and take stock of the results of the NDP leadership race.

Consider the numbers:

More than 25,000,000 South Koreans live within range of nearly 14,000 pieces of conventional North Korean artillery. The likely human cost of a new Korean war is unthinkable with projections of 100,000 dead within 24 hours of the beginning of hostilities.

The unstable reality television host in the White House with full access to the nuclear codes has added a chaotic element to the tension on the Korean peninsula. The situation has become unpredictable and incredibly dangerous.

Investigative journalist Tim Shorrock has been writing about North and South Korea for The Nation magazine since the 1980's. In this conversation we discuss the very real nuclear threat posed by American political instability, assess the unthinkable human cost of a new Korean war and consider the role that countries like Canada have to play in resolving the nuclear crisis.

In 1968, a student-led initiative to bring improved medical services to Montreal’s working-class Point-Saint-Charles neighbourhood began. In collaboration with local residents, students from McGill University’s medicine, nursing and sociology programs established a new kind of community-based clinic connecting health and social problems with root causes.

In this special report, Ricochet’s Yasmin Hotter Ishay speaks with Geneviève Lambert Pilotte and Dr. Anna Kruzynski to explore the historical links between health, solidarity and gentrification at the Community Clinic of Point-Saint-Charles.

For more information on the Community Clinic of Pointe-Saint-Charles go to ccpsc.qc.ca

Music on this episode courtesy of local artist Goblin Butler.

In a recent piece at the National Post, Rex Murphy identifies Antifa as the contemporary face of Canadian fascism. But this week's guest thinks that Murphy’s comments against the anti-fascist activists are despicable, and that his position provides political cover for racist thugs

In this conversation Mike Palacek, President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, explains why fighting back against racism and fascism is the right thing to do.