The fiercely independent, proudly polemical and reader-supported BRIARPATCH has been publishing award-winning, hard-hitting journalism and critical commentary out of Regina, Saskatchewan since 1973. In it's 50th anniversary year Unpacking the News is excited to partner with so-called Canada's oldest legacy Left media space for bi-monthly episodes featuring journalists talking about their original insight, analysis and grassroots reporting from the magazine's latest issue.

On this episode social service work educator Griffin Epstein and trauma-informed adult educator Kate Klein discuss disability justice as a lens for organizing collective safety in the labour movement and what the Left risks by erasing or “moving on” from COVID in their new piece 'THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT FOR THIS' in the May/June issue of Briarpatch, available now.

For more visit briarpatchmag.com
Support Unpacking the News on Patreon.

Find this episode's featured new release from Fernwood Publishing 'Country of Poxes' by Dr. Baijayanta Mukhopadhyay at fernwoodpublishing.ca

Trailblazing progressive podcast UNPACKING THE NEWS is back after a 30 month hiatus for an all-new Season 2! In this kick-off episode BERRYGROUNDS' Justin Brake joins host Andre Goulet to explore how his work as The Independent interim editor will be afflicting the comfortable in Newfoundland and Labrador society and politics, his background in unapologetic, confrontational journalism and how Pierre Poilievre’s attacks on the CBC distort the reality of public broadcasting in so-called Canada.

Watch for new episodes this spring and summer co-produced with Briarpatch contributors celebrating the magazine's 50th anniversary, Fernwood Publishing authors discussing new releases, conversations with data activists at the Mobilizing Data for Justice conference May 5-7 plus a week-long daily show at the 2023 Canadian Labour Congress covering events at the year's big union conference happening May 8-12 in collaboration with our friends at Quebec solidarity journalism cooperative Pivot.

If you like the work we do consider supporting the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Newfoundland and Labrador's #1 progressive news source at https://theindependent.ca/

We're back!

Returning after a two and a half year hiatus Unpacking the News is a weekly progressive podcast featuring in-depth interviews and panel conversations on Canadian society, culture and politics with journalists, academics and activists from coast to coast. Hosted by André Goulet in Montréal, this season will include episodes co-produced with:

• Council of Canadians campaign organizers
• Briarpatch contributors celebrating the magazine’s 50th anniversary
• Fernwood Publishing authors discussing new book releases
• a week-long daily live series recorded at the 2023 Canadian Labour Congress
• a live episode recorded at Concordia University's Mobilizing Data for Justice conference
• and much more over a 15 episode season

New episodes drop every Wednesday in late April, May and June and it's going to be so much fun! Tell a friend, support the show at https://www.patreon.com/unpackingthenews and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Music on this preview 'We're Coming Back' is courtesy of Titus Andronicus, from their 2022 album 'An Anomaly. Find out more about "The Rock Fan's Rock Band" at http://titusandronicus.net/

In the SERIES FINALE, join host Andre Goulet and a cross-country conclave of comrades for the first day back to school at Podcast High!

Hear conversations with Chris (Left Behind), Gabrielle (les Ficelles/Ricochet), Tyler + Roberta (Alberta Advantage), Evan (Kino Lefter), Paris (Tech Won’t Save Us), Eric (Big Shiny Takes), Umair (Oats for Breakfast) and Rob Rousseau (49th Parahell) as they navigate the hallways and classrooms of a new school year and explain why a Universal Basic Income, a green transition for Alberta’s energy sector, a federal jobs guarantee program and more should all be on the federal agenda for a People’s Recovery in next week’s Speech From the Throne.

Plus: friend of the show Savanna Craig returns to expose Podcast High’s bureaucratic negligence and inadequate pandemic ventilation system and Andre looks back on 135 episodes of Unpacking the News and imagines an exciting future for Canada’s left podcast community.

Unpacking the News 2017-2020 RIP – thanks everyone! And watch this space in early October for what’s coming next…….

How will Canadians cope with rising unemployment, a housing crunch and paying rent? How should government handle the economic recovery, including proposed bailouts for big corporations? And what is the future of affordable housing in Canada?

On the last in a series of summer episodes exploring how the pandemic interacts with social issues in Canada, David DesBaillets returns with the fifth edition of ‘Housing Party’ to speak with poverty activist, Tiny Home Alliance Canada Executive Director and Brockville City Councillor Leigh Bursey.

Read about The People's Bailout at https://theleap.org/peoples-bailout/housing/

Find out more about the Tiny Homes movement at https://www.tinyhomealliance.ca/

Hear Justin Trudeau's 11/22/17 National Housing Strategy address at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0W-FLw55Cc

This conversation was recorded on August 10th, 2020.

Pivot Legal Society's Meenakshi Mannoe (Vancouver Prison Justice Day Committee) and Montreal academic and activist Ted Rutland (The Anti-Carceral Group) join host Andre Goulet to discuss decarceration, abolition and the past, present and future of Prison Justice organizing in an era of COVID-19.

Find out more about how you can support prisoners and Prison Justice activism at
http://prisonjustice.ca/ and https://www.noprisons.ca/

Get involved with The Anti-Carceral Group at
https://www.facebook.com/anticarceralgroup/

'COVID-19 Pandemic Plan Needed for Canada’s Jails and Prisons' audio
is courtesy of APTN news:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjngGVN7Xk

This conversation was recorded on July 27th, 2020.

As the movement to defund police continues to gain momentum across North America, a coalition of more than twenty Montreal community groups are calling for a 50% cut to the police budget in one of Canada's safest and most over-policed cities. But where would these cuts happen? And how could funding be re-directed?

On this episode Black Lives Matter Montreal organizer Marlihan Lopez, Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal coordinator Jessica Quijano and Stella executive director Sandra Wesley join host Andre Goulet to discuss what defunding and demilitarizing the police would look like, how this process can lead to decolonization and decriminalization, and why re-directing funding and reinvesting in communities are a crucial part of reducing over-policing and police violence in our cities.

Get involved with BLM Montreal at
https://www.facebook.com/blmmontreal/

Learn more about Stella's advocacy work at
https://chezstella.org/en/home/

Support the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal at
http://www.nwsm.info/

'Over Policing in Montreal?' is courtesy of Tina Tenneriello at City News.

This conversation was recorded on July 13th, 2020.

On a special Canada Day crossover host Andre Goulet teams up with the sensational socialist film crit of Kino Lefter's Abdul, Laura and Evan! Join the gang for a hallucinogenic history tour as they unpack Matthew Rankin's surreal 2019 not-quite-biopic 'The 20th Century', featuring beloved bachelor and long-time Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Thrill to analysis of the artificiality of the Canadian subconscious! Shudder as the deepest fears about our country are made manifest! Marvel at the greatest crime against national dignity ever attempted by a motion picture!

Support independent Canadian cinema by watching 'The 20th Century' at
https://www.cinemamoderne.com/en/films/details/the-twentieth-century/

Follow Kino Lefter wherever you get your podcasts and support the show at https://www.patreon.com/kinolefter

Support Unpacking the News at https://www.patreon.com/unpackingthenews

This conversation was recorded on July 28, 2020.

What kind of challenges come with organizing in the midst of a public health crisis? On a new episode of UtN's summer series 'The Intersect', Free Transit Edmonton's Juan Felipe Vargas Alba and Free Transit Ottawa's Julia Szwarc join host Andre Goulet to explore the rapid growth of the Free Transit movement and how it intersects with police violence, labour, class and race.

Audio on this episode features Herman Rosenfeld, author of ‘Toronto: Challenging the Impossible' on CityNews Toronto.

Find out more or get involved at https://freetransitedmonton.ca/ and https://freetransitottawa.ca/

This conversation was recorded on June 8th, 2020

Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/unpackingthenews

On the first in a series of episodes exploring how the pandemic interacts with social issues in Canada, David Desbaillets returns with a new edition of ‘Housing Party’ to talk with Marie-Hélène Landry of women’s shelter Chez Doris about economic, social and housing realities in the era of COVID-19.

Community organization Chez Doris has been providing shelter to vulnerable and homeless women in Montreal for more than 40 years. Find out more at: https://www.chezdoris.org/en/#

Audio on this episode features Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante and Julie Grenier of the CIUSSS Centre-Sud (Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux)

This conversation was recorded on May 19th, 2020

Support the show at https://www.patreon.com/unpackingthenews