This week, we share a clip from the first episode of the latest season of the Courage My Friends podcast series. In this episode, independent journalist and public historian Taylor C. Noakes, author, political economist and senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ricardo Tranjan and social justice activist and former organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, John Clarke reflect on the current state of progressive politics in Canada.

Listen to the full episode here, on Needs No Introduction – home of the Courage My Friends podcast series.

About our guests

John Clarke is a writer and activist who became involved in anti-poverty organizing in the 1980s, when he helped to form a union of unemployed workers in London, Ontario. In 1990, he became an organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and stayed in this role until 2019 when he became Packer Visitor in Social Justice at York University.

Taylor C. Noakes is an independent journalist and public historian from Montreal.

Ricardo Tranjan is a political economist, senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, frequent media commentator in English and French, and author of two books, including the national bestseller The Tenant Class.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

In 2022, when Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States, it sent shockwaves through Canada as we questioned how this decision might impact us. For many, it sparked a new sense of concern that similar actions could be taken here, prompting a closer examination of the work needed to strengthen and expand reproductive rights and access in Canada.

This week, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. While he promises to usher in a "golden age," in the five days he's been in power, he's already made extremely harmful decisions concerning health care, gender identity, citizenship, the environment and much more.

And so we're forced to consider, again, what these actions could mean for Canada. Leading up to a federal election of our own, one where a Conservative federal leader seems the likely outcome, we're asking: what is the state of reproductive rights in Canada – and what's at stake in the upcoming election?

This week on the show, Jack Layton Journalism for Change fellow Eleanor Wand sits down with Joyce Arthur, the founder of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada to discuss all this and more.

About our guests

Joyce Arthur (she/her) has been an abortion rights activist for over 30 years. She is the founder and executive director of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, where she carries out lobbying work, activist campaigns, and public education. She's also a writer, media spokesperson, and speaker on abortion and other gender rights and social justice issues.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, we're sharing a clip from our first Off the Hill political panel of 2025.

In this panel, our guests – including NDP MP Niki Ashton, senior researcher at the CCPA National Office Stuart Trew, economist Jim Stanford, activist and writer Judy Haiven and rabble's parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg – talked about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's resignation announcement, his accomplishments and failings during his time as leader, parliament's current prorogation and what's next for Canada.

Review the entire panel here.

About our guests

Niki Ashton is NDP Member of Parliament for Churchill—Keewatinook Aski in Manitoba.

Stuart Trew is a senior researcher at the CCPA National Office and the past editor of the CCPA Monitor. He is director of the CCPA's Trade and Investment Research Project.

Jim Stanford is an economist and the director of the Centre for Future Work, a labour economics research institute with operations in Canada and Australia.

Karl Nerenberg is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker, working in both English and French languages. He is rabble's senior parliamentary reporter.

Judy Haiven is a former professor of Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She retired to become a volunteer human rights activist and writer. She is a founder of Equity Watch, a nonprofit organization that fights bullying, discrimination and harassment in the workplace. A founding member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Judy supports the struggle to end Israel's genocide against Palestinians. Her social justice newsletter, Another Ruined Dinner Party, is available for free on Substack.

About Off the Hill

Since 2019, Off the Hill has been rabble.ca's live political panel. Through this series, we break down important national and international news stories through a progressive lens.

This webinar series invites a rotating roster of guest activists, politicians, researchers and more to discuss how to mobilize and bring about progressive change in national politics — on and off Parliament Hill. Co-hosted by Robin Browne and Libby Davies.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, journalist and filmmaker Nelofer Pazira-Fisk sits down with Libby Davies to discuss her experience completing her late husband's book on Middle Eastern politics and shares her reflections on how Western mainstream media could be doing a better job reporting on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

For more information about Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East, visit this website.

About our guest

Nelofer Pazira-Fisk is an award-winning Afghan-Canadian author, journalist and filmmaker. She was based in Beirut for fifteen years working alongside her late husband, Robert Fisk. She reported for Canadian television and radio as well as UK and Canadian newspapers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt and Syria. In 2001, she starred in the film Kandahar, based on her real-life story and has directed and produced several films including Return to Kandahar (2003), Act of Dishonour (2010), and This is Not a Movie (2019). Nelofer's 2006 book, A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan, won the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize.

She is a recipient of Gemini Award, New York's Media Award, Gabriel Award and A.D. Dunton

Award of Distinction. She has a degree in journalism and English literature (Carleton University), an MA in Anthropology, Sociology and Religion (Concordia University), and two honorary doctorates from Carleton and Thomson River universities in Canada.

Recently, she saw the completion and publication of Robert Fisk's last book – Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East. Nelofer shares her time between Dublin and Ottawa.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

It's hard to believe, but it's already time to say goodbye to 2024 and ring in a new year. Before we do, however, we'd like to take the next half an hour to review some of our favourite interviews of this year. It's become a tradition at rabble radio, after all! Let's dive right in.

2024 at a glance…

In January, then-Jack Layton Journalism for Change fellow Madison Edward-Wright sat down with associate professor at Concordia University Ted Rutland to talk about his research work on anti-Black racism and policing in Canada – and specifically, in Montreal. In this clip, Rutland will take us through a brief history of policing in Quebec and give us a temperature check of the situation today.

At the end of her term as Jack Layton Journalism for Change fellow in 2023, Kiah Lucero covered the Kearl mine tailings leak, and how the Alberta Energy Regulator and Imperial Oil both failed to report those leaks for a disastrous nine-month period. Brandi Morin, an award-winning Cree/Iroquois/French journalist, released Killer Water, a documentary which shines a light on the environmental impacts of Alberta's oil sands industry. Morin shares with Lucero the grave ways the community of Fort Chipewyan has been impacted by the Kearl mine tailings spill.

May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada, and this year we were very excited to share with our listeners a two-part discussion on the history of Asian labour in Canada. Kiah Lucero sat down with Patricia Chong and Karine Ng from the Ontario and BC branches of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance. In this clip, we'll hear them dive into the concept of a "model minority" and how all racial justice fights are intertwined.

This year, a major win for the pro-choice movement – and indeed a win for women's health across Canada – came in the form of an announcement by the Liberal federal government that crisis pregnancy centers and charities must now clearly reveal to their clients whether they offer abortion or abortion referrals. This new policy will prevent anti-choice pregnancy crisis centers from misleading women to try to deter them from having an abortion. In the months leading up to this policy being announced, Joyce Arthur, the founder and executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, joined rabble editor Nick Seebruch to talk about belief-based denial of care and the state of abortion rights in Canada.

And finally, listeners, the last clip we wanted to highlight today came from a conversation between Nick Seebruch and Louise Smith from Independent Jewish Voices Canada. Solidarity with Palestine was a huge topic of conversation this year on the podcast and on rabble.ca, and in this interview Smith and Seebruch outline the important work Independent Jewish Voices Canada does to advocate for peace and justice in Israel-Palestine and explain how all forms of oppression are connected. In this clip, Smith aims to dispel the myth that solidarity with Palestine equals antisemitism and criticizes the Jewish groups in Canada which tout that sentiment.

Did we miss a favourite interview of yours from 2024? Let us know on social media or by leaving a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube!

Thank you for listening to rabble radio!

Our show would not be possible without listeners like you. So thank you!

From all of us here at rabble, we want to wish you and your communities a very merry holiday season and a safe and happy new year!

If we've caught you in the giving mood and would like to support our show today, please visit rabble.ca/donate.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca. Or, if you have feedback for the show, get in touch anytime at [email protected].

Last week, our Jack Layton Journalism for Change fellow Eleanor Wand shared a piece on rabble.ca which examined the Ontario government's decision to move forward with plans to close 10 of its 19 supervised consumption and treatment sites, despite a report from the auditor general criticizing the decision for lack of planning and consultation.

In the piece, she explained that experts and advocates argue that the decision to close these sites – which have been shown to reduce harm and save lives – will worsen the opioid crisis and increase public health and safety risks.

Today, Wand sits down with Dr. Alexander Caudarella, the CEO from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) and family physician, to talk about the benefits and misconceptions of supervised consumption sites and how whole communities must work together to discover what feels safe for all.

About our guest

Dr. Alexander Caudarella is a bilingual family physician with specialty training in substance use health issues. As a leader and clinician, he brings years of collaborative substance use healthcare experience to CCSA from his work across the country. Previously, Alexander served as the medical director of substance use services (SUS) at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, and lead SUS physician with Inner City Health Associates. In his work as a researcher and clinician he frequently advised public health officials on issues related to substance use health.

As one of the key leaders of the Toronto Opioid Overdose Action Network, Alexander coordinated the implementation of in-hospital substance use components and developed a regional system to access rapid expert support. He has served as a substance use consultant and clinician for the Government of Nunavut. For more than a decade, Alexander worked on Indigenous-lead programs in Canada and abroad aimed at building capacity, decreasing stigma and building local workforces.

He joined CCSA as Chief Executive Officer in August 2022. Through CCSA's work with national and international partners, Alexander wants people in Canada to understand the scope of substance use health and the solutions they can put in place in their communities. He passionately believes that collaboration across sectors is essential in improving the health and well-being of people who use drugs and alcohol.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

Earlier this year, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced dramatic changes to that province's approach to the healthcare, education, and inclusion of transgender youth.

READ MORE: In Alberta's new war on trans people, children will suffer

Since then, queer activists and groups supporting the rights of 2SLGBTQIA folks have come together to challenge and speak out against policies like the ones proposed in Alberta and have done their best to support queer and trans youth across the county.

This week on rabble radio, Jack Layton Journalism for Change fellow Eleanor Wand sits down with Bennett Jensen, the director of legal at Egale Canada to discuss what's at stake under the proposed legislation targeting trans youth in Alberta.

"When there are restrictions on access or information around queer and trans people, that communicates that there is something wrong with being queer or trans."

About our guest and Egale Canada

Bennett Jensen (he/him) is the director of legal at Egale Canada where he develops, leads and directs strategic litigation in furtherance of 2SGLBTQI rights. Jensen began his career as a litigator at a leading law firm in New York City, before becoming the deputy head of the firm's award-winning pro bono practice and leading responses to national rights violations like the Muslim travel ban and the family separation crisis.

Prior to joining Egale, he served as a policy advisor and then as director of litigation to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada where he supported the passage of the criminal ban against conversion "therapy." He has been recognized as a Rising Star by the American Bar Association, as one of the LGBTQ+ Bar Association's Best 40 Lawyers under 40, and, most recently, with the 2024 Canadian Bar Association's National SAGDA Hero Award.

Egale Canada is the country's leading 2SGLBTQI rights organization. Egale's vision is a Canada, and ultimately a world, without homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and all other forms of oppression so that every person can achieve their full potential, free from hatred and bias.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.

This week on rabble radio, we feature a segment from our most recent Off the Hill political panel. This month, our theme was 'Off the Hill: How just is Canada's justice system?'

Our panel featured poet and activist El Jones; and rabble's own parliamentary reporter Karl Nerenberg.

About our guests

El Jones is a poet, author, journalist, professor and activist living in Halifax. She is the author of Abolitionist Intimacies (2022) and Live from the Afrikan Resistance! (2014).

Karl Nerenberg is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and filmmaker, working in both English and French languages. He is rabble's senior parliamentary reporter.

If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. And please, rate, review, share rabble radio with your friends — it takes two seconds to support independent media like rabble. Follow us on social media across channels @rabbleca.