The Progress Report

Nobody's actually going to get elected to the Senate this year. So why are the UCP holding a Senate 'election'? And why's Duncan Kinney in it? Featuring guest host Producer Jim

How do we fix decades of state-sponsored, systemic anti-Muslim hate? According to Alberta's Justice Minister Kaycee Madu all we need is pepper spray. Dr. Muna Saleh and Haiqa Cheema join us to discuss the Alberta's government’s incredibly inadequate response to an epidemic of violent hate crimes against visibly Muslim women.

As the numbers of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools piles up Rob Houle returns to discuss happy and sad fireworks, what you're celebrating when you're celebrating Canada Day and we dive into the details of a couple of sites where it has long been speculated that there are mass, unmarked graves in Alberta.

A statue of Winston Churchill in Edmonton recently got an artistic re-imagining. Nisha Patel and Najib Jutt join host Duncan Kinney to talk about the racist, murderous legacy of Winston Churchill and the British Empire and what it is to be done about the statue, squares and schools named after this mass murderer. 

Where did Kevin J. Johnston come from? Independent journalist Kevin Metcalf digs into the history of this infamous Ontario and relatively recent Calgary transplant who has recently been locked up for a series of increasingly dangerous and aggressive anti-lockdown stunts.

University of Manitoba history professor Sean Carleton joins us to break down Jason Kenney's long history of defending the genocidal legacy of Canada and its first prime minister John A. MacDonald, whether Canada Day is cancelled (it is) and the pros of tearing down the statues of the architects of genocide. 

University of Calgary law professor Martin Olzsynski joins us to discuss the inquiry that never ends. Regardless of whether or not the Allan Inquiry meets its latest deadline the inquiry has been an omnishambles since it started—we break down why as well as what's going to happen with this mess. 

York University humanities professor Shama Rangwala joins us to dissect and discuss copaganda—everything from Adorno and Althusser to Brooklyn 99 and Falcon and the Winter Soldier as well as some examples from the local media and the local cops. And while we're bringing a critical and educational lens to this pod we need to be clear, this is a no-scold zone. You can still listen to this podcast and enjoy your shows. 

We have the originator of the term maplewashing, podcaster and Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage, on the pod to discuss the way politicians, corporations and the media sanitize and conceal Canada's violent, genocidal past and present by perpetuating the notion that Canada is somehow morally superior to other countaries. 

Every day for the past 14 months independent journalist Nora Loreto has tallied up COVID deaths in residential care. We chat with Nora about her incredibly valuable but unpaid journalism, the long-term care disaster and the state of Canadian media. Don't miss it. 

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Links: 

• Media Has Ignored The Anti-Vax Movement’s White Supremacist Roots 
• Nora's spreadsheet tracking COVID deaths in residential care