Vancouver is a host city for the FIFA World Cup this year, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the US. There are going to be seven matches at BC Place Stadium and an official FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE Amphitheatre. Organizers say more than a million visitors are expected province-wide, including over 360,000 during the tournament itself. The question is how all those people will move around the city once they get here. We speak with Denis Agar, executive director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders.

Vancouver needs more bus lanes to prevent FIFA gridlock

The number of businesses inviting us to tip their workers is growing all the time. Tipping used to be restricted to full service restaurants, but now it’s spread to coffee chains and fast-food joints. A new analysis published by BC Policy Solutions proposes that it’s time to finally ban tipping in Canada and enact a living wage. We speak with Simon Pek, one of the authors of the piece.

Time to ban tipping and enact a living wage

The Insurance Bureau of Canada said natural disaster claims cost a record 8.5 billion dollars in 2024 due to the increased frequency and severity of weather-related losses. Now Canada’s insurance sector is talking about the potential for the country to become uninsurable in 10 years, due to insufficient policy action on escalating climate disasters. Sue Big Oil is a campaign to pass along a share of the costs to the industry responsible for creating the crisis. We speak with Andrew Gage of West Coast Environmental Law.

Big oil should pay its share for climate-drive insurance crisis

Vancouver Council has booked themselves a heavy meeting schedule between now and the municipal election in October. Over and above their general council and committee meetings, they have 20 public hearing dates, with multiple redevelopment and rezoning applications to consider. Redeye’s Ian Mass joins us to talk about rezonings, world cup soccer, fireworks,  Vancouver politics and lots more in his regular City Beat report.

City Beat: Council to consider multiple redevelopment and rezoning plans

The Hungry Stories Project is a team of scholars, dietitians and artists who are fighting for the elimination of food insecurity by sharing what it takes to collectively care for each other’s food needs.  They are producing resources to understand food insecurity, and they say that we need to look at root causes. Dr. Jennifer Black is a member of the Hungry Stories Project  and Associate Professor in Food, Nutrition and Health at the University of British Columbia.

Food insecurity and the Hungry Stories Project

First Nations across the country are reporting a  major loss of funding for children’s programs after the federal government changed Jordan’s Principle rules last February. Mis­sissaugas of the Credit First Nation have been at a hearing at the Cana­dian Human Rights Tribunal since October, accusing Ott­awa of sys­tem­at­ic­ally under­fund­ing on-reserve child and family services in Canada. We speak with law­yer Kent Elson.

First Nation challenges chronic underfunding of on-reserve services for kids

The Vancouver organization Rungh has conducted several Wikipedia Edit-a-thon events and, in 2024, they launched Rungh Wikipedia Scholars. The program focuses on researching and creating Wikipedia entries about BIPOC artists and communities. Kika Memeh is a Vancouver-based Nigerian writer, journalist, and interdisciplinary producer. She is one of 2025’s Rungh Wikipedia Scholars. She talks about her research into the artist Chloe Onari and the goals of the Rungh program.

Addressing the lack of BIPOC artists and writers in Wikipedia

The American invasion of Venezuela — along with fresh threats to annex Greenland — is seen by many commentators as marking the collapse of the international legal order, based on rules enshrined in the United Nations Charter of 1945. The events in Venezuela suggest that this system, with its emphasis on sovereignty and fundamental rights, has been replaced by one more like the pre-Second World War system, when nations could go to war for almost any reason. Jorge Sanchez-Perez says it’s time to accept this reality if we are to build a better international order next time. Jorge Sanchez-Perez is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alberta.

Gaza, Venezuela and Greenland mark end of world legal order set up in 1945

Allowing more childcare in residential neighbourhoods, paying city staff and contractors a living wage, safe public washrooms for everybody and lots more. Redeye collective member Ian Mass brings us his preview of Vancouver Council’s agenda over the coming week with his City Beat report.

City Beat: Allowing more childcare in residential neighbourhoods

Under B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Act, industrial projects must be substantially started within a set period or their environmental certificates expire. KSM Mining ULC is arguing that its gold-copper mine in Northwestern BC is substantially started despite little having been done on the site in the past 10 years.  In December 2024, Ecojustice filed a judicial review on behalf of SkeenaWild, challenging the Environmental Assessment Office’s decision that the mine meets the substantial start requirement. The case went to the BC Supreme court in September. We speak with Adrienne Berchtold, ecologist & mining impacts researcher with Skeenawild.

Skeenawild challenges environmental certificate of KSM gold-copper mine

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