Under B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Act, industrial projects must be substantially started within a set period or their environmental certificates expire. KSM Mining ULC is arguing that its gold-copper mine in Northwestern BC is substantially started despite little having been done on the site in the past 10 years.  In December 2024, Ecojustice filed a judicial review on behalf of SkeenaWild, challenging the Environmental Assessment Office’s decision that the mine meets the substantial start requirement. The case went to the BC Supreme court in September. We speak with Adrienne Berchtold, ecologist & mining impacts researcher with Skeenawild.

In 2021, Amber Bracken, a freelance photojournalist on assignment for the Narwhal, was arrested by the RCMP on Wet’suwet’en territory and held in jail for 3 days. The charges against her were later dropped. The Narwhal and Amber Bracken are suing the RCMP in a case about press freedom. That trial begins in Vancouver on Jan 12. We speak with Carol Linnitt, editor-in-chief of the Narwhal.

Vancouver politics were busy in 2025 and with an October 2026 municipal election approaching, things won't be quieting down any time soon. Redeye collective member Ian Mass brings us his New Year's City Beat report.

In Canada, the policies affecting disabled people do not always follow a consistent approach. Alfiya Battalova says our narratives around disability shape our policies – and some key laws reveal a profound tension in Canada’s approach to disability rights and social responsibility. Alfiya Battalova is Assistant Professor in Justice Studies at Royal Roads University.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg was built to educate Canadians about stories of global injustice. Yet in the more than 10 years since it opened, it has not meaningfully acknowledged the dispossession of Palestinians in 1948 that resulted from the founding of Israel. But now the CMHR has announced an exhibit titled Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present to launch next year. Jonah Corne is an associate professor in the department of English, Theatre, Film and Media at the University of Manitoba. He joins us to talk about the significance of this move.

As students across Alberta returned to class this fall, families were met with a slate of changes targeting queer and trans kids, ushered in by the United Conservative Party government. These changes were largely driven by the movement for parental rights. Heather Ganshorn is research director for Support Our Students Alberta and author of the report, Challenging Parental Rights. She talks with us about links between the parental rights movement and the push to privatize education in Alberta.

On December 2, the OneBC party released its documentary Making a Killing: Reconciliation, genocide and plunder in Canada. Since then, the writer and producer of the film Tim Thielmann, has been fired along with two other senior staff.  MLA Dallas Brodie has herself been removed as interim party leader.  But the documentary lives on, with Dallas Brodie voicing Thielmann’s script and interviewing all the guests. We talk about the film with Sean Carleton, professor of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.

The Gitxaała & Ehattesaht First Nations have launched a court challenge to BC's free-entry mining regime. In a precedent-setting decision released last week, the BC Court of Appeal has affirmed that BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act creates legally enforceable obligations on the province to reform the mining permit process. We talk with Jamie Kneen of MiningWatch.

Solar farm projects in Alberta have stalled because of new provincial regulations. Yet some Canadian researchers are saying photovoltaic systems now produce the lowest-cost electricity in history and using them in agriculture increases crop yields. We speak with Joshua Pearce, co-author of a new study on agrivoltaics.

As hundreds of First Nations leaders gathered last week in Ottawa for their annual December meeting, the federal-provincial memorandum of understanding for a new pipeline to Asian markets was high on the agenda. The Assembly of First Nations chiefs voted unanimously on Tuesday to demand the withdrawal of the deal and expressed full support for First Nations on the British Columbia coast strongly opposing the initiative. Anna Johnston is a lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law and author of a brief on the legal and historical risk of a Northwest coast pipeline. management. We speak with her about the MOU and the risks of pursuing a new pipeline from Alberta to the BC coast.