Spacing Radio

In this episode, we look at the housing and homelessness crisis that has escalated into a full-blown disaster during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dania Majid, staff lawyer with Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, tells us about people fighting to keep their homes, and the push for an eviction moratorium.

And street nurse Cathy Crowe, and harm reduction worker Zoë Dodd, give us some insight into the challenges Toronto's homeless population continues to experience, the uncertain future of tent encampments, and how the City's response is felt on the ground.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an existential threat to local businesses all over the country. In an effort to help these shops keep their doors open, governments, organizations, and Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) have had to get creative.

In this episode, Canadian Urban Institute Senior Planner Ariana Holt talks about the Bring Back Main Street campaign.

We go to Belleville, Ontario, where the Digital Main Street initiative helped that town create the Downtown District Marketplace. Belleville Downtown Improvement Area Executive Director Marijo Cuerrier explains.

And Larry Burke, designer and board member of the Quinpool Road District Association in Halifax, New Brunswick tells us all about Shop Quinpool Online virtual shopping mall.

Canadian cities often struggle with their lack of autonomy. Their status as "creatures of the province" can be a source of frustration: higher orders of government can undermine local leadership, and cities themselves sometimes lack the ability to realize their goals.

In this episode, Massey College Principal Nathalie Des Rosiers lays out the issues with cities' low constitutional status.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps makes the case for a better, reliable share of funding for cities, and greater ability to enact laws around things like climate change.

And Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, who chairs the Big City Mayors' Caucus, tells us why being a Canadian mayor can sometimes feel like sitting at the "kids' table."

It's been too long since we had a classic Toronto transit episode. And, with the City and province grappling with the pandemic, and the threat of a second wave, there's a lot to discuss.

We talk with Tricia Wood, professor of geography at York University and Spacing columnist, and Matt Elliott Toronto Star city columnist and author of the City Hall Watcher newsletter.

How has COVID affected the TTC, and what happens to the Doug Ford Ontario governments priority transit projects in Toronto? We get into it.

Spacing and Evergreen proudly present The Future Fix: Solutions for Communities Across Canada, a special podcast series. This is a special, French-language edition.

Spacing et Evergreen présentent ensemble une nouvelle série de podcast, Face au futur : des solutions pour les communautés du Canada, d’une côte à l’autre. 

CET ÉPISODE: Internet devient un droit fondamental  

Si internet a toujours été considéré comme un outil utile, l’avènement de la pandémie de la covid-19 l’a récemment propulsé au rang de bien de première nécessité.  

Tout transite par internet : les cours en lignes, le télétravail, les rencontres virtuelles avec les médecins, les collègues et les amis.  

Pourtant, cette transition vers un monde digital n’est possible qu’avec un accès à internet fiable et abordable. À l’heure actuelle, cet accès n’est pas encore garanti dans toutes les communautés au Canada, un fait notamment mis en évidence dans le contexte de la pandémie. De quelle manière les populations vulnérables peuvent-elles accéder à Internet et quel est le rôle que les gouvernements locaux ont à jouer pour en garantir l’accès? 

Pour réfléchir à cette question plus en profondeur nous avons discuté avec Ismaël Seck un enseignant en adaptation scolaire dans une école située à Parc-Extension. Il nous a fait part de son expérience en tant qu’enseignant dans ce quartier montréalais dont le taux de revenu familial est l’un des plus faibles au pays et de la manière dont il a dû composer avec l’enseignement en temps de pandémie, alors que certains élèves n’avaient pas accès à du matériel technologique suffisamment efficace pour suivre les cours en ligne.  

Edith Cloutier, lDirectrice générale du Centre d’amitié autochtone de Val d’Or, a quant elle partagé avec nous les objectifs de l’initiative “Branché Kijaté” qui vise à garantir un accès à internet à 24 familles autochtones de Val d’Or.

It's been a rough summer for everyone, but people have found ways to get outside and make the most of it.

In this episode, we speak to 8 80 Cities' Managing Director Lanrick Bennett Jr. about the ActiveTO bike lanes and CafeTO patio spaces on Danforth Avenue in Toronto: a response to the need for alternative transportation routes and socially-distant business during COVID.

And we talk to Park People's Adri Stark and Jake Tobin Garrett about their second annual Canadian Parks Report, and their national COVID-19 and Parks Survey.

And we speak to author and musician Jonny Dovercourt about his new book Any Night of the Week: A D.I.Y. history of Toronto music 1957-2001, the unsung legacy of the city's music scene, and our disappearing venues.

We hear a lot about Open Data these days. Researchers demand it, governments continue to promise more of it, and everyday people use it to innovate and advocate for their communities. But what are we really talking about when we say "Open Data," and can it be harnessed to address urgent community needs like housing, public health, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic?

Tracey Lauriault, associate professor at Carleton University, specializes in critical media and big data. She's been studying the theoretical framework around data and says Open Data without critical data thinking does not go deep enough.

“Who's not being accounted for? Who's invisible in the conversation, and who's overly visible in the conversation, and then how do we start bridging that gap to be more equitable when it comes to data?”

Listen to the podcast for more about Open Data and equity.

In Winnipeg, a number of community-based organizations partnered to produce "Peg," a simple, searchable resource that allows people to cross reference different community health indicators like basic needs, the natural environment, and education. Jodene Baker is the director of impact innovation and evaluation at United Way Winnipeg:

“You really need to have goals for yourself. You need to understand the wellbeing and the health of the community. That's what Peg was born out of: the idea that caring was great, but you need to also have action and be able to track progress toward your goals.”

Listen to the episode to hear more about "Peg."

In this episode, Natasha Henry, president of the Ontario Black History Society, tells us about the importance of August 1st: Canada's Emancipation Day.

And Edmonton City Councillor Andrew Knack tells us about a motion to cut a planned police budget increase by $11 million, and the establishment of a community-led safety and wellbeing task force to address systemic racism and the future of policing.

Finally, photographer Vik Pahwa tells us about Spacing's new book "Remnants of Mid-Century Toronto," and shows us how to appreciate a sometimes unloved architectural style.

For our second season, we wanted to begin with a challenge that faces many cities, large and small, that has been given a higher sense of urgency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That challenge is the need for safe streets and active transportation routes for pedestrians and cyclists. To create these spaces, you need to be able to communicate the problem, and pinpoint where an intervention can provide the most benefit. That's where data comes in.

In this episode, Walk Toronto co-founder Sean Marshall tells us how the advocacy group used things like Google Maps to crowd-source sidewalks too narrow to social distance, and help influence policy.

Shabnem Afzal, road safety manager for Surrey, British Columbia, overseas that city's Vision Zero program — a global effort to reduce the amount of road injury and death to zero. She explains how data was used to generate support for a safe streets program and to identify problem areas.

And Halifax City Councillor Waye Mason tells us about that city's mobility response, and an interactive map that lets citizens identify spots where safe street interventions for walk, cycling, and social distancing are needed.

The world is taking a hard look at their police forces, the violence they use, the deaths that result, and the systemic and anti-Black racism that even people like Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders admits exists within the service.

In this episode, we speak to Cheryl Thompson, assistant professor at Ryerson University's School of Creative Industries and frequent Spacing contributor, about the way Black people are portrayed in Canadian culture, and the need for more citizen control over police.

Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson tells us about the repercussions politicians face when trying to make changes to the police service.

And author, lawyer and legal team lead at the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC), Nana Yanful, discusses the failed attempt at city council to cut the police budget, and what needs to happen next.