Redeye

In March, Ben Parfitt wrote an article critiquing the BC government’s direction and lack of progress on protecting old growth forests. This was centered on a confidential map of logging deferrals that was leaked from the provincial ministry of forests. Since then, new information has come out blaming the delays in protecting old growth on consultations with BC First Nations. We speak with Ben Parfitt, resource policy analyst for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC office.

In 2004, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel called on international scholars to break ties with Israeli academic institutions. In response, Israeli academics claimed to be simply bystanders to the apartheid policies of the Israeli state. A new book reveals just how deeply Israeli universities are entangled with the Israeli state’s systems of oppression. Maya Wind is the author of Towers of Ivory and Steel. She is a scholar of military expertise and a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

Jackie Shane was one of soul's first Black trans performers. She was born in 1940 in Nashville but her incredible voice took her across North America. She found a home in Toronto in the '60s, performing sold-out shows almost every night. In 1971, Shane disappeared from the spotlight.  When she eventually reemerged in the 2010s, there were still many questions surrounding her life and career.  Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee’s latest documentary, Any Other Way, tells the story of Shane's life.

On April 5, the Simcoe School Board joined four of the largest Ontario school boards in suing the companies behind Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. The lawsuit claims time spent on these apps  has led to “an attention, learning, and mental health crisis”.  Sachin Maharaj joins us to speak about the case and the impacts of social media apps on students. Maharaj is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Policy and Program Evaluation in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa.

UN negotiations took place in Ottawa last week, aimed at achieving an international plastics treaty. Leading up to these historic meetings, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has just released a groundbreaking study revealing the enormous climate impact of plastic production. We’re joined by Dr. Neil Tangri, Senior Fellow at University of California’s Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, to talk about the study and what’s needed in the treaty.

It’s been four years since the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released 231 calls for justice. Call to Justice number 4.8 says there must be safe and affordable transportation services for Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people living in remote or rural communities. We speak with two co-authors of a report on improving the intercommunity mobility of First Nations people in Canada. Apooyak’ii / Dr. Tiffany Prete is a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe) of the Siksikasitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy), located in the Treaty 7 area. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge.    Deanna Starr is from Little Pine First Nation in Treaty 6 Territory. She is the founder and lead occupational therapist of Miskihnak Occupational Therapy.

The BC social studies curriculum includes historical atrocities such the colonization of North America, the Holocaust, and the Rwandan genocide, but there is no mention of the Nakba. The Nakba was the violent dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from historic Palestine that led to the creation of the state of Israel. Now, parents and teachers in BC have launched a campaign to include the Nakba in the BC curriculum. We speak with Tamara Herman, a Vancouver parent and member of Independent Jewish Voices and KZ, a Palestinian educator involved in elementary education.

This week on City Beat, Ian Mass talks about how Vancouver City Council is planning to take advantage of provincial and federal housing initiatives. Plus the Vancouver Police Board, the oversight body for the Vancouver Police, has had its budget slashed and seen key members resign. And a new city bylaw takes what has been described as an “iron fist approach” to people living in tents in Crab Park. All this and more in our bi-weekly City Beat report.

On Mother’s Day, May 12, a caravan of anti-war activists will leave Vancouver for Ottawa, with the message Demilitarize, decarbonize, decolonize. They will be met by a sister caravan leaving from Halifax and arriving in Ottawa May 28. We speak with Ellen Woodsworth, co-chair of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, who, together with Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, are organizing the caravan.

Last week, a large memorial was installed near the entrance to Stanley Park in Vancouver. The flags planted in a large grassy area are a visual representation of the number of lives lost due to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, and a reminder of Canada’s role in funding the slaughter. This Vancouver installation follows a number of displays across the country and internationally, including in Portland and London. Lorraine Chisholm speaks about the memorial with organizer and community advocate Tamer Abu-Ramadan.