PACE Society is a peer-driven organization located in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver that provides support, advocacy, and education for current and former sex workers. In late February, they announced they were temporarily suspending services and programming and laying off most staff. PACE’s announcement followed a string of closures and service reductions at other organizations serving sex workers and other marginalized women. Jennie Pearson joins us to talk about why these closures happened and what’s needed to support women in the Downtown Eastside. She is a PhD Candidate in the Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program at UBC. She is also a volunteer with PACE Society.

Peer-driven sex worker organizations face uncertain future in Vancouver

Canada Council director Michelle Chawla says Canadian decision-makers need to acknowledge that the arts have a vital role to play in these uncertain times. In response to the threats of annexation by the U.S. and the tariffs aimed at weakening the Canadian economy, there has been a major rise in nationalistic cultural expression.  Musicologist Rosheeka Parahoo says that when it comes to radio play, funding and recognition, the promise of diverse Canadian music has seldom matched the reality. And that needs to change.

Time to broaden the definition of what counts as Canadian music

Patriotism has surged across Canada in response to Donald Trump’s attacks on our economic stability and sovereignty. In the midst of all this rallying behind the flag, Alpha Abebe says it’s a good time to consider who and what is being obscured in the current surge of Canadian patriotism. She is with the Faculty of Humanities and the Lead for Africa and Black Diaspora Studies at McMaster University.

 Who and what is left out in current surge of Canadian patriotism

The Nechako River was one of the main tributaries of the Fraser until the Kenney Dam was built in the 1950s. The dam diverted most of the river’s flow to power Rio Tinto Alcan’s aluminum smelter in Kitimat, severely impacting the lives of the local Stellat’en and Saik’uz Nations. Nechako is a new film that documents years of resistance by the two Nations, including a groundbreaking legal proceeding against the Canadian government and Rio Tinto Alcan that continues to this day. We speak with writer and director Lyana Patrick of the Stellat’en First Nation.

Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again

The English Language leader’s debate on April 17 ended with the abrupt cancellation of standard post-debate scrum.  At the centre of the incident was the accreditation of right-wing Rebel News and tensions between them and journalists at the event. We talk with the Tyee's Jen St. Denis about what happened that evening in Montreal.

Why the media scrum was cancelled following second Leaders’ Debate

Every December, students across Canada enjoy a two-week break to celebrate Christmas. In spring, Good Friday and Easter Monday bring further celebrations and a long weekend. But for Canadian students who want to mark celebrations in their own traditions, it often means being marked “absent” from school. A research professor who worked with high school students in Alberta says Canada should recognize celebrations like Eid, Diwali and Lunar New Year as public holidays. We speak with Dr. Rahat Zaidi, research professor in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.



Collaborative project leads Alberta school to celebrate Eid and Diwali

Allegations of political interference involving Alberta Health Services have been swirling around the provincial government for weeks. The former CEO of Alberta Health Services. Athana Mentzelopoulos, is suing the province for wrongful dismissal, saying she was fired in January for looking into the overpays on contracts with private surgical providers. As the province continues to be hit by allegations of corruption and political interference, a new report from the Parkland Institute reveals how privatization has dramatically increased costs, undermined public hospitals, and prolonged wait times for critical surgeries. We speak with Andrew Longhurst, health policy researcher and the author of the report, Operation Profit.



Operation Profit reveals ongoing privatization of Alberta public health care

The ongoing genocide in Gaza has been widely covered in the Canadian media. Yet the coverage has been shown to be unfair, misleading, and biased in favour of Israel. A 2023 analysis by The Breach of thousands of sentences in Canada’s top newspapers found that the largest Canadian newspapers have given disproportionate attention to the deaths of Israelis, portrayed Israelis in more humanized ways and more often identified who was responsible for killing them. In response to this clear bias against Palestinians, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East set up their Media Accountability Project and has played an active role in challenging media bias about the situation in Gaza since then. We speak with Lynn Naji, media analyst at CJPME.

Lynn Naji on media analysis and the pervasive bias against Palestinians

Big news at Vancouver City Hall this week with the election of Lucy Maloney from OneCity and Sean Orr from COPE as the new city councillors. They are jumping into a busy council agenda including public hearings about the massive proposed development on the Jericho lands in Point Grey and four more Broadway plan rezoning. Redeye collective member Ian Mass joins us to give us his thoughts on next week’s goings on at Vancouver City Council.

City Beat: Vancouver voters send message to Major Ken Sim

People living in highly unequal societies experience a broad range of health and social problems which affect everyone, no matter how much money they have. That’s why we should be paying attention to the latest Statistics Canada data on rising economic inequality in Canada. The latest numbers on household finances show a near-record gap in the share of disposable income held by the top 40% of Canadian households compared to the bottom 40%. The wealth gap is even larger than the income gap. Yet even these shocking statistics don’t tell the whole story about wealth inequality in Canada. Alex Hemingway is senior economist and public finance policy analyst with BC Policy Solutions. He joins me today to talk about two facets of wealth inequality: billionaires and housing.

Billionaires and skyrocketing housing costs big drivers of wealth inequality

A progressive take on current events. Produced by an independent media collective at Vancouver Cooperative Radio.

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