People First Radio

A team at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction is working on a framework for a standardized unit of THC in Canada. “The concentration of THC found in cannabis has really increased over time,” said Shea Wood,  a senior knowledge broker at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. “Compared to some […]

A project from UBC’s Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) team has identified public land across the province and scored it for housing potential. HART Associate Director Craig Jones spoke with People First Radio about the map. “Anybody in B.C, I don’t care if you are a community member, in government, in a non-profit builder, for-profit […]

A team in the Comox Valley has been working to understand and address the barriers faced by people when they visit the hospital. Sharon Karsten, a professor at Vancouver Island University, and Christohper Hauschild, a Mitacs research fellow employed by VIU, are involved with Walk With Me, a community engaged research project. One of its […]

During the outbreak of a new and potentially fatal disease in Toronto in 2003, it fell to psychiatrists Bob Maunder and Jon Hunter to help people in the SARS ward cope. The two have been focusing on coping in their professional lives ever since, and have recently co-authored a book on the subject, Coping: Fix […]

Journalist and author Jessica Barrett argues we can’t solve our housing crisis until we solve our crisis of home. Barrett is the author of No Place Like Home: The Missing Key to Our Housing Crisis, which combines a macro view of the Canadian housing landscape with stories of individual people – including Barrett. Over a […]

A group out of UBC says distraction blocking apps are often marketed at neurodiverse people, but little is known about how they are actually used. Kevin Chow and Marvel Hariadi were among the authors of a study that looked into the issue. They spoke with People First Radio about digital well being tools and inclusivity. […]

A UBC law prof argues that homelessness in Canada is governed by a patchwork of municipal bylaws. Alexandra Flynn is co-author of The Bylaw State, a book that explores municipal government responses to homeless encampments from a legal perspective. Flynn says that the idea for the book came when she and coauthor Joe Hermer were […]

After a decade of work with vulnerable populations, Cory Herzog-Fequet went back to school looking to help shine light on a structural issue. “It’s very meaningful to work one-on-one with people, but…you just see the same issues over and over and over perpetuating indefinitely because they’re systemic and they’re structural,” he said. “I focused on […]

After years of construction work, new shelter space is expected to open this month in downtown Nanaimo. The Salvation Army Centre of Hope is located at 19 Nicol St. Formerly known as the New Hope Centre, it houses a shelter and other support programming. Construction has been ongoing since 2023 for a new four story […]

Yo Bro Yo Girl co-founder Joe Calendino is working to prevent young people from leading the life he used to live. A few decades back, Calendino was a full patch member of the Hell’s Angels. Dealing with drug addiction, and involved in a high profile fight in a Kelowna casino in 2005, he was kicked […]