Needs No Introduction

Van Jones is an American environmental advocate, civil rights activist, attorney, CNN commentator and best-selling author. Also an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009 on Green Jobs, he is in demand as a speaker on his views on the environment, jobs and the economy.

He is the keynote speaker this weekend, October 3-5 at The Good Jobs Summit in Toronto.

"We think that Van Jones will make an incredible contribution to the conversation that we need to have here in Canada about how we create quality employment opportunities, particularly for young workers and students," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "We know that the economy is churning out an increasing number of part-time, temporary and precarious jobs, which many cannot even afford to live on -- we need to have a serious conversation about solutions."

The Summit is sponsored by Canada's newest labour union Unifor, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the CAW-Ryerson Social Justice Chair, with the goal of sparking a national conversation about the quality of work in Canada and creating good jobs -- particularly for students and young workers. Ryerson's Centre for Labour Management Relations will host the event. Invitations are going out to other organizations and industry groups to participate -- with the objective of hosting a dialogue between government, industry, students, academics, post-secondary institutions, NGOs and unions.

"Creating good jobs is a non-partisan issue and one that all Canadians should care about. To design a good job takes no more effort than it does to design a bad job and because of that, there really are no more excuses for why bad jobs should continue to exist," said Dr. Maurice Mazerolle, Director of the Centre for Labour Management Relations.

The Good Jobs Summit, which is expected to draw at least 1,000 people, will take place at Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens (formerly Maple Leaf Gardens), October 3-5. Regional activities and events will also be organized across Canada -- locations and format to be determined.

In this episode of Needs No Introduction, Claudio D'Andrea spoke to Van Jones in advance of his appearance this weekend. They started by talking about last weekend's Climate March and what was accomplished.

It was supposed to be a debate between Toronto mayoral candidates John Tory and Olivia Chow.

It ended up being an opportunity for Olivia Chow to present her platform without opposition.

At approximately 2 p.m., three hours before the debate was set to begin, the organizers of the debate received a call from the Tory campaign advising the "because of competing campaign priorities in the new phase of the campaign," John Tory would not be attending the debate.

The event was co-sponsored by the Ryerson Students' Union and TTCriders: A Voice for Transit Riders.

Said Jessica Bell, Executive Director of TTC Riders: "TTC Riders are furious about John Tory's decision to cancel attendance at the debate last minute. It is disrespectful to riders."

"This is a sad day for student engagement in municipal elections", said Jesse Root, VP - Education of the Ryerson Students Union, adding that this is the second time the Tory campaign has cancelled an appearance with Ryerson students.

But, the show went on, giving Olivia Chow an opportunity to present her transit plan unopposed. Her address is followed by a selection of questions from the standing-room-only audience.

Chief Derek Nepinak was one of the youngest people to be elected Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. He is quickly becoming one of the strongest voices in the struggle for Aboriginal rights in Canada.

Born in Winnipeg, Chief Derek Nepinak, spent his first few years living in the home of his grandparents on the Pine Creek First Nation where he was able to live and observe the ways of his people; hunting, fishing, gardening, smoking fish, tanning moose hides and other traditional activities.

Many years later, he interrrupted his studies for his Masters in Aboriginal Governance at University of Winnipeg to return home where he became the Chief of the Pine Creek First Nation in 2009. Two years later, he became Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

He holds a first-class honours degree from the University of Alberta, a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan and has completed the intensive program aboriginal lands, resources and governance at Osgoode Hall law school.

Just before his appearance at the People's Social Forum, he made headlines by urging people to boycott Sun News. "The pro-Conservative anti-First Nations slant being falsely sold to Canadians as 'news' is robbing many people who read the tabloid paper from being properly informed about what is actually happening in this country."

rabble readers and listeners and anyone who follows and supports progressive politics in Canada know the work and writing of Linda McQuaig.

A journalist and best-selling author, McQuaig has developed a reputation for challenging the establishment. As a reporter for The Globe and Mail, she won a National Newspaper Award in 1989 for a series of articles which sparked a public inquiry into the activities of Ontario political lobbyist Patti Starr, and eventually led to Starr's imprisonment. As a Senior Writer for Maclean's magazine, McQuaig (along with business writer Ian Austen) probed the early business dealings of Conrad Black, uncovering how Black used political connections to avoid prosecution. An irate Black suggested on CBC radio that McQuaig should be horsewhipped. In 1991, she was awarded an Atkinson Fellowship for Journalism in Public Policy to study the social welfare systems in Europe and North America. McQuaig has been a rare voice in the mainstream media challenging the prevailing economic and political dogma -- as a columnist in the financial pages of the National Post in the late 1990s, and since 2002, as an op-ed columnist in the Toronto Star.

She has also taken on the status quo in a series of controversial books -- including seven national best-sellers -- such as Shooting the Hippo (short-listed for the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction), The Cult of Impotence and It's the Crude, Dude: War, Big Oil and the Fight for the Planet; The Trouble with Billionaires; and The Wealthy Barber's Wife.

She spoke to guests at rabble.ca's event Celebrating Indie Media and Activism at the Peoples' Social Forum in Ottawa on August 21, 2014.

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author and one of the most influential voices on our political and cultural environment, nationally and globally.

Her new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate is due to be released this month.

She spoke to the gathering at the Peoples' Social Forum on August 21, 2014 in Ottawa.

rabble.ca and the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives co-hosted a standing-room only event at the Round House in Vancouver on August 12, 2014 to talk about some important questions as we approach the federal election in 2015. It was called Living Consciously: Reinventing Democracy to Save Canada.

The evening's discussion focused on the issue of "agency": if our traditional institutions are failing us, who is going to lead the necessary struggles? What form would they take? If, as Murray Dobbin argues, "silo" approaches to politics no longer work, how do we create a broad-based social movement model? What is to be done?

Moderator: Duncan Cameron - rabble.ca president / Paola Qualizza (Groundswell)

Panel Discussion with Murray Dobbin, Iglika Ivanova (CCPA-BC), Fiona Rayher (Gen Why Media), Anjali Appadurai(climate justice activist) and Paola Qualizza (Groundswell) talking about how to "live consciously" and transform Canada,

With a federal election only a year way, we are facing crises in democracy, inequality, climate change, and peak oil. However, our collective institutions are at their weakest points just as we need to them to at their strongest and most imaginative.

Our democracy, including political parties, is increasingly unable to deliver what it once promised let alone what we want. Universities are increasingly corporatized, jettisoning traditional ethics for corporate loot to pay their bills; regulations developed over decades to protect us are either being eliminated or simply unenforced by governments whose job it was to ensure our safety. The media, which once, nominally at least, entertained the notion of political debate about society's direction, have been hijacked by corporatist ideology and are thus rendered incapable of seeking the truth let alone telling it.

The notion that we can behave as if it is business as usual will not wash. And while there are organizations out there that are actually addressing the crises, we must as engage people support them to a much greater extent than we do now.

rabble.ca and the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives co-hosted a standing-room only event at the Round House in Vancouver on August 12, 2014 to talk about these questions. It was called Living Consciously: Reinventing Democracy to Save Canada.

The evening's discussion focused on the issue of "agency": if our traditional institutions are failing us, who is going to lead the necessary struggles? What form would they take? If, as Murray Dobbin argues, "silo" approaches to politics no longer work, how do we create a broad-based social movement model? What is to be done?

Moderator: Duncan Cameron - rabble.ca president

Murray Dobbin - (journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist and past board member with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Anjali Appadurarai (climate justice activist)

Damion Gillis (documentary film maker)

Iglika Ivanova (CCPA-BC)

On July 29, 2014, a group of people from Grassy Narrows spoke at a public forum about the current conditions on their reserve. Several generations have now been affected as a result of the mercury which settled at the bottom of the river in the 1960s and '70s. And now, Grassy Narrows is also faced with a threat by the Ontario government to clear-cut on their territory.

The people of Grassy Narrows are demanding that the government apologize and take responsibility for the mercury pollution on their reserve; to compensate the survivors of mercury poisoning and make sure they have quality health care; to clean up the river; and to not allow clear-cutting on their land, which the provincial government is threatening to do.

Lending his support to the voices of the people of Grassy Narrows at the Public Forum was Stephen Lewis. Best known now for his international work around HIV/AIDS, he was an member of Provincial Parliament and also leader of the Ontario NDP when the issue first came to the legislature back in the 1970s. An MPP from 1963 to 1978, and leader of the NDP Party from 1970-78, he is now best known for his international work related to HIV/AIDS. He is currently a distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson, and also Board Chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Welcome by Emcee Wanda Nanibush

Opening - Grassy Narrows Women's Drum Group

Elder Steve Fobister Sr. -- an elder, a hunter and trapper and has been instrumental in demanding justice for Grassy Narrows.

Chief Roger Fobister Sr. -- Chief of Grassy Narrows, Chief Fobister was instrumental in the fight for Indigenous control of Indigenous education. He has also been involved in negotiating Indigenous self government at the community level, and also the fight that Grassy Narrows has faced for many years.

Stephen Lewis

Several high-profile rapes in India have made headlines around the world and have drawn attention to the need for change in laws and attitudes on the subcontinent. Much of the call for change is coming from Indian women themselves.

Poonam Kathuria is an Indian woman who has been working for change from her home base in Gujarat, India. She is the founder and director of SWATI - the Society for Women's Action and Training Initiatives, a major feminist advocacy, education and research organization. SWATI works for change at the state and national levels on issues related to violence against women, adolescent and women's health, right to information and governance.

She is involved in policy formulation, has written widely for newspapers and magazines and has published numerous research reports. A holistic and cross-sector approach to responding to the complex nature of development challenges has been central to her work. She is recognized for her innovative ideas, strategic thinking and conceptual skills in bridging the divide between practitioners and academia.

In this talk, she speaks of the changes in rape laws in India over the past 20 years, and highlights the need for yet more change. She spoke at the 17th Annual Dame Nita Barrow Lecture, organized by the Centre for Women's Studies in Education and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The event took place in Toronto last week, July 22, 2014.

Recording by: Steff Pinch.

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Here at rabble, we had a very busy month of June. Not only was it (and still is) our donor drive, we've been having launch parties all over the country for our new book The Best of rabble 2014 - The Year of Living Consciously, edited by Meagan Perry and Michael Stewart.

June 17 was the Ottawa launch, at the Parliament Pub across from Parliament Hill.

For those of you who couldn't be there, here are some of the sounds and the voices. It was hosted by rabble.ca editor-in-chief Meagan Perry. Together with fabulous music by our own Parliamentary correspondent, Karl Nerenberg and friends, it was a great time.

Speaker list:

Kim Elliott - Publisher - rabble.ca; Meagan Perry - Editor-in-Chief - rabble.ca welcome; Nathan Cullen - MP - Skeena Bulkley Valley - NDP Finance Critic; Meagan Perry introduces Hassan Yussuff - President - Canadian Labour Congress; Larry Brown - National Secretary Treasurer - National Union of Public and General Employees, also rabble board member; Toby Sanger - rabble.ca writer and contributor to The Best of rabble; Karl Nerenberg - rabble Parliamentary correspondent - (French followed by English); Musical reprise "This Little Light of Mine" ; All music performed by Karl Nerenberg (keyboard), Ish Theilheimer (voice and fiddle) and Dan Quinlan (percussion).