Redeye

On October 7, a huge crowd of people gathered outside a court building in Athens. They were waiting to hear the verdict in the trial of 68 members of the far-right organization Golden Dawn. The hearing was the biggest trial of fascists since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg after WWII. The crowd in Athens erupted with joy when news emerged that the judges had ruled that Golden Dawn was a criminal gang, not a legitimate political party. We speak with Patrick Strickland, an author, journalist and editor who divides his time between Athens and Texas.

The Fraser estuary is one of the largest estuaries on the Pacific coast of North America. It is the rearing grounds for Canada’s most productive salmon runs and connects a food web that links fish, birds and marine mammals across thousands of kilometres of the North Pacific Ocean. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is proposing another massive container terminal on Roberts Bank in the Strait of Georgia. We speak about the project with Misty MacDuffee of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Over 200 scholars of 20th century authoritarianism have signed an open letter of concern about the current state of democracy. The letter was released just a couple of days before the presidential election in the United States. It states that, while democracy appeared to be flourishing everywhere in the years following the end of the Cold War, today it seems to be withering or in full-scale collapse globally. We speak with Jennifer Evans of the New Fascism Syllabus board, who wrote the letter.

A constitutional test of Quebec's Bill 21 began Monday in the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal. The law, which was passed last year, prohibits public teachers, as well as government lawyers and other civil servants, from wearing religious symbols such as turbans and hijabs at work. The National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association are among the groups involved in the challenge. We speak with Sarah Abou-Bakr, Quebec Advocacy Coordinator with the NCCM.

British Columbia in known around the world for its beautiful natural scenery and abundant wildlife. But some species in BC have been dwindling. Sockeye salmon stocks plunged last year and caribou, moose and mountain sheep have also seen significant declines. A broad coalition had formed to urge the provincial government to take concrete steps to protect and restore habitat. We speak with John Bergenske, conservation director at Wildsight.

Built in the 1950s, the Little Mountain social housing complex was a key public asset in Vancouver. 13 years ago, the BC Liberals sold the housing to a private developer, Holborn Properties, in a deal shrouded in secrecy. Hundreds of people were displaced and more than 200 family homes were demolished. The residents were promised a quick return to new and modern homes but today, most of the social housing units remain un-built and the land sits virtually vacant. Community advocate David Chudnovsky joins us to talk about a recent legal victory in the fight to restore Little Mountain.

In January 2019, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle's motion declaring that we are in a global state of climate emergency and that constitutes a crisis for Vancouver. The motion went on to direct staff to prepare recommendations for ramping up the city’s climate actions in line with efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C. On November 3rd, the largest and most comprehensive set of climate emergency recommendations will be debated by city politicians.

On October 24, Chile voted in favour of replacing its neoliberal constitution written more than 40 years ago under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. 78% of people backed a new charter in a plebiscite held Sunday. Estefanía Milla-Moreno is from Santiago, Chile. She is currently a PhD candidate in forestry at the University of British Columbia.

A new report on the current and future viability of the Site C dam on the Peace River was released this month in the midst of BC’s recent election campaign. Energy economist Robert McCullough concluded that the project is a net loss and will cost British Columbians well into the future. Ken Boon is president of the Peace Valley Landowners Association. We spoke with him about the McCullough report.

If a mining company comes into a community to prospect for a mine and community members don’t want it there, they have to hit the ground running. A new book is going to make it a whole lot easier to do that. Unearthing Justice is a comprehensive guide on how to protect your community from the mining industry. We speak with author Joan Kuyek, founding national coordinator of Mining Watch, Joan Kuyek.

It’s 2020, and Canada is not on track to meet our greenhouse gas emissions targets. To do so, we’ll need radical systemic change to how we live and work—and fast. How can we ever achieve this? Top policy analyst and author Seth Klein reveals we can do it now because did it before during the Second World War. We speak with Seth Klein about how wartime thinking and community efforts can be repurposed for Canada’s own Green New Deal.

British Columbians relied heavily on a private carrier until Greyhound abandoned its BC routes in 2018, stranding thousands of highway bus users. What’s left is a dysfunctional patchwork of privately-owned bus services, private charters, taxis and local transit. A new campaign is calling for the provincial government to create a unified system that will guarantee all British Columbians essential transit access to the rest of the province. We talk with Maryann Abbs of Let's Ride: Make Public Transit BC Wide.

In the United States, Black and Latino pedestrians more likely to get hit by a car than white pedestrians They are less likely to own cars and more likely to take transit and walk. Plus, Black and Latino neighborhoods are passed over for safety improvements that white communities have the political clout to secure. These are some of the facts in a new book by journalist Angie Schmitt called Right of Way: Race, Class and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America. We spoke with Angie Schmitt in September.

A new report points out that women, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people are at the forefront of Canada’s pandemic response. More than half of women workers are concentrated in occupations known as the 5Cs: caring, cashiering, catering, cleaning and clerical functions. It says women need to be centred in Canada’s economic recovery efforts going forward. A Feminist Recovery Plan for Canada is co-authored by YWCA Canada. We speak with Anjum Sultana of the YWCA.

Municipal and provincial levels of government say that their hands are tied when it comes to bringing about decriminalization of drugs in their jurisdictions. But that’s not true, according to a new report by Pivot Legal. Author Caitlin Shane says there are simple actions that non-federal levels of government can take to reduce the harms of criminal sanctions for drug users.

Black Canadians are more than three times as likely as the general population to know someone who died of Covid-19. This is just one of the findings of a new online survey of several thousand Canadians about their experiences with Covid-19 since the pandemic started. The study was carried out by the Edmonton-based African Canadian Civic Engagement Council and Innovative Research Group. Dunia Nur is president of the ACCEC.

Research over the past 15 years shows that climate change has drastically amplified the conditions that help wildfires ignite and spread. Simon Donner is a climate scientist and professor of geography at the University of British Columbia. He discusses the factors that led to the catastrophic wildfires in the western United States.

The recently released report, A New Future for Old Forests, contains 14 recommendations on how BC can better manage its endangered old-growth forests. Jens Wieting applauds the report but is concerned about the BC government’s response to it. Jens Wieting is senior forest and climate campaigner with the Sierra Club.

John Ware is an iconic figure in the history of southern Alberta. He was a Black pioneer and rancher who settled in the province before the turn of the century. Born in the American South, he was already an accomplished cowboy by the time he arrived in Alberta. John Ware is the subject of a new NFB documentary now showing at the Calgary and Vancouver International Film Festival.

Lower Mainland city councils got back to work this week with no shortage of challenging topics on the agenda. Vancouver City Council discussed a whole raft of motions to tackle homelessness, including tiny houses, RV parking and more. Redeye Collective member Ian Mass joins us with his City Beat report.