Needs No Introduction

For our fourth episode, Scholasticide and solidarity: The mind and memory of Gaza, we welcome University of Toronto professor, researcher and host of the Liberation Pedagogy Podcast, Dr. Chandni Desai and Mount Royal University professor, author and policy analyst with Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, Dr. Muhannad Ayyash. Discussing the months-long Israeli military onslaught waged on Palestinians, we focus on the destruction of Gaza’s educational systems, educators and students, the role of scholasticide within genocide and the global solidarity mobilizing across university and college campuses to counter it. Reflecting on scholasticide and the meaning of education for the Palestinian people Desai says: “Scholasticide is the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system, which has been ongoing since the 1948 Nakba…But in this genocide ..we are seeing a complete annihilation of the education system in Gaza…When a people have lost everything, including the land …education has become a real

The season’s third episode takes us back to George Brown College’s 32nd annual Labour Fair in Toronto, ‘Corporate Power vs. Labour Power: It’s Our Work!!’  Professor Benjamin McCarthy facilitates a discussion featuring Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada and Jared Ong, organizer and case worker with the Workers’ Action Centre. Together, they discuss how this new age of corporate-driven inequality impacts workers on the ground and the hope that lies within working peoples’ solidarity. Reflecting on how government should be investing in work, Ravon says: “ …When we think of what the government can invest in, when we talk about a Green Transition, the care economy is a great one. We have an aging population. Care services provide huge value to communities and also just create happier and healthier communities and they're low emissions. One of our alternatives is saying tax windfall profits, tax the super wealthy and invest in the care economy. This is also a sector that employs mostly women and raci

The season’s second episode focuses on George Brown College’s 32nd annual Labour Fair in Toronto and the opening keynote discussion with president of OPSEU/SEFPO JP Hornick on this year’s theme  ‘Corporate Power vs. Labour Power: It’s Our Work!!’ Opening a week of labour focused events, and speaking to George Brown College students and faculty, our conversation focuses on labour power and union organizing in this era of corporate driven inequality, privatization and the erosion of the rights of working peoples. According to Hornick:: “So everybody remember a year ago with CUPE, the education workers, OSBCU had organized themselves to the point where the government was like, ‘We are going to preemptively remove your right to strike.’ In other words, remove your Charter Right to withdraw your labour, because we're scared of what you're asking for. They did the same thing with Bill 124, where they imposed a three year moratorium on your ability to actually argue for a wage increase that was commensurate with inf

We launch our sixth season with Tamara Lorincz, environmental and feminist peace activist and Linda Thyer, founding member of Doctors for Planetary Health - West Coast and a discussion on the interconnected impacts of war and occupation on both people and planet, the costs of Canadian militarism and our involvement in NATO and the possibilities for global cooperation, peace, and climate justice in times of conflict.  Reflecting on the twin impacts of conflict on climate in Gaza and Ukraine, Lorincz says: “The Middle Eastern region has suffered from drought and from excessive heat. This genocide in Gaza is just horrendous for the people and it's exacerbating the climate emergency as well. These fossil fuel powered weapon systems that Israel is using, not just fighter jets, but attack helicopters and tanks.And the fact that Canada took over two and a half months for us finally to support a ceasefire, but we've been continuing to send weapons … we're prolonging the genocide and we are contributing to a climate e

For our sixth episode, Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada and Michéle Biss, national director of the National Right to Housing Network, discuss Oxfam's latest report, Inequality, Inc.on the growing power of corporate monopolies, the unprecedented rise in global inequality and the urgent need for public action.  Speaking to Oxfam’s latest report on global inequality, Ravon says: “This has been a decade so far that has been full of pain for most people around the world. The decade of a pandemic, of rampant inflation, food prices going up, war, climate chaos, climate emergencies … But this is also the decade where the wealth of the five richest men doubled. 5 billion people became poorer. So this report that Oxfam released Inequality Inc., is really painting this picture of a decade of division where you have huge wealth concentration in very, very few hands and more and more people on the planet struggling to get by. And this is not a coincidence that wealth is ballooning on one end and people are

Crushing fatigue, hot flashes (or should we say hot flushes), burning, itching, mood swings, heart palpitations, brain fog, anxiety, loss of self. What’s happening to me? Who can I talk to? How do I work? Sound familiar? After a bit of an extended pause, we begin the new year with the Menopause Foundation of Canada’s latest report: Menopause and Work in Canada. Foundation co-founders Janet Ko and Trish Barbato discuss the complex issues impacting a quarter of Canada’s working population as they embark on an important milestone in the prime of every woman’s life; yet one that is still subject to the heavy silences surrounding women’s health, in policy, in healthcare and in the workplace.  Reflecting on women’s experiences as well as her own, Barbato says: “[I]t's almost shocking to think that every woman is going to go through this and yet it's so misunderstood  and not understood and feared … When I think about all of the stories that we've heard and even my own experience, we don't connect the dots and certa

In our fourth episode Dalia Al-Awqati, head of humanitarian affairs for Save the Children Canada and Lauren Ravon, executive director of Oxfam Canada discuss the humanitarian crisis taking place in the Gaza Strip.  How do we understand the devastating toll of death, displacement and destruction upon the largely civilian Palestinian population, almost half of them children? What of the impossible choices facing aid workers and colleagues on the ground as they are caught within the turmoil of Gaza? Why are humanitarian pauses not enough? And why is a ceasefire the only answer? Describing the crisis facing the children of Gaza, Al-Awqati says:  “In the first three weeks of the conflict, more children were killed than the annual total of children killed in conflict zones across the world since 2019. That alone gives you a scale of how horrific this has been, and particularly for children. We see and we hear from our staff, and we see through the news, through social media as well, the impact that this is having,

It’s Halloween again and for the Courage My Friends podcast series, this means it’s a time for stories. Returning with our annual ‘mouth open, story jump out’ episode, storytellers Kesha Christie of Talkin’ Tales, Njoki Mbũrũ recent recipient of the Community Foundations of Canada Transformational Storytelling Fellowship and Rani Sanderson, storytelling workshop facilitator with StoryCentre Canada, share in stories and conversation about the power of storytelling for community work, transformation and social change.   Christie reflects on the power of stories: “When we share stories openly and honestly, we hear the heart of the other person. We're able to understand each other. It's the way that we pass down our beliefs and traditions. And it's also a way for us to question the society around us. It gives us a different view.” Reflecting on transformative storytelling, Mbũrũ says: “If storytelling continues to be extractive and commodified, then it becomes a product. And transformative storytelling is not abo

Our second episode quite literally puts the lens on climate as we spotlight the 24th annual Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival (PIF), running from October 12th-22nd at Toronto’s Paradise Theatre.  PIF executive director Katherine Bruce speaks with us about the continued and growing importance of Canada's largest and longest running environmental film festival and this year’s program of shorts, speakers and feature-length films.  Filmmaker Deirdre Leowinata discusses her film Keepers of the Land and its themes of reclamation and reconciliation.  We are also joined by Liz Marshall and Alfonso Salinas on the premiere of their powerful feature-length film, s-yéwyáw: Awaken.  Speaking about this year’s Planet in Focus Film Festival, Bruce says: “This year's program represents something that's broadened our definition of environment enormously over the last probably eight years, to include social justice, climate justice is racial justice … We really decided this year to create a tighter prog

In the launch of our fifth season, we are pleased to welcome back author, public intellectual and director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad. Taking us through the recent economic summits of BRICS and the G20, as well as the cascade coups in West Africa, Prashad delves into the rapid and stunning changes taking place in the world today, where they came from and what this could mean for a changing world order. Is it multipolarity or is it something else? In speaking of the origins of the BRICS bloc of economically emerging nations, Prashad says: “You know, it's interesting because it's almost as if people in the West were blindsided by the appearance of this thing called BRICS and recently, of course, the term Global South … there's a straight line between the anti-colonial struggles of the 19th century and these developments now … And so the BRICS isn't some invention of the Goldman Sachs economists. It didn't come out of nowhere. It's part of a long history by these countries to

For our season finale of Courage My Friends, we return to this year’s George Brown College Labour Fair, The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!!  In the panel on ‘Food Industries: Feeding Ourselves on a Precarious Planet’, moderator Lori Stahlbrand is joined by guests: Joshna Maharaj, a chef, social gastronomy activist, educator and host of the Hot Plate podcast; Chris Ramsaroop, an  organizer, educator and activist with Justice for Migrant Workers; and Charlotte Big Canoe, partner and membership director at The Full Plate. The four discuss food justice, social gastronomy and the rights of workers from farms and factories to fine-dining and food agencies in these times. Maharaj explains: “Social gastronomy is a practice about the power of the kitchen to change lives. Now that is a giant thing to say. But essentially what we're talking about is a growing movement of chefs who are finding really meaningful ways to use our craft to support and nurture communities. It's using our celebrit

In our sixth episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, series 4; Ana Guerra Marin, communities director and just transition lead, and lead Indigenous researcher, Dara Wawaite-Chabot discuss the mission of worker-founded Iron & Earth to create pathways for workers from traditional (carbon-based) energy jobs to jobs within renewable energy sectors and how green transition meets climate justice when it comes to the needs of workers, Indigenous communities and the country. According to Guerra Marin:   “Iron Earth started in the oil sands in Alberta, where some workers were concerned about one of the many boom and busts of the industry cycle. They were also concerned about what they were seeing with the environment … [O]ur mission and vision … right now is to empower fossil fuel workers and Indigenous workers to build and implement the climate solutions required to transition. It's not just the workers. The workers, their family. When a refinery shuts down in a town that affects commerce, education, churches,

In our fifth episode of this season of Courage My Friends, we revisit the George Brown College Labour Fair. This year, the theme of the fair is: The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!!  In this episode, we share the panel discussion on ‘Gig Workers and Precarity in the 21st Century.’ Moderator Jon Weier is joined by panelists Simran Dhunna and Jobanjeet Kaur of the Naujawan Support Network and Jennifer Scott from Gig Workers United. The groups discusses the tribulations faced by those working in precarious and gig jobs, increasingly exploitative employment structures and organizing for the rights and dignity of vulnerable workers.   Reflecting on the meaning of exploitation for precarious workers, especially international students and immigrant workers, Kaur says: “Exploitation involves taking from workers that is rightfully ours. Wage theft, sexual harassment, inadequate job training, threats of deportation are all the forms of exploitation because they rob us of our earnings, safe

Our latest episode of Courage My Friends takes its inspiration from friend and guest William Woolrich as he begins his search for a living kidney donor. He and Candice Coghlan, education and outreach coordinator for the University Health Network Ajmera Transplant Centre and host of the Living Transplant podcast, discuss the search for and ultimate gift of living organ donations. Speaking to how non-related or anonymous donors can help shorten the organ transplant waiting list, Coghlan says: “So these are people who have no connection to the recipient at all. They don't know them, but they decide to step forward out of the goodness of their heart, and they donate either a portion of their liver or a kidney to anyone who is in need, who would be a compatible match to them. ..For kidneys also, they can donate into the Paired Exchange Program.. that happens through the Canadian Blood Services; where if someone has a donor who is a healthy, great candidate, but they're not compatible with their recipient, they can

In our third episode, Jaime Kirkpatrick, senior program manager of Blue Green Canada, discusses the need for a Just Transition, what it should look like for labour, and how Canada is doing in its move toward a clean energy economy. Speaking to joint climate and labour demands and the idea of a Just Transition, Kirkpatrick says:  “Blue Green and a number of allies have been advocating ...the idea of buying clean..You're keeping people employed here at home. You're keeping plants up and running … It's 100 per cent about keeping jobs, reducing the carbon, building out a future together … If everyone is struggling to get by, you are living paycheck to paycheck and if that paycheck disappears, you're in deep trouble. And that's why we talked about the care economy … the importance of good union jobs and all of these things that don't always necessarily seem to be connected, but they very much are … Change is inevitable, but justice is not.”  About the speaker:  Jamie Kirkpatrick is the senior program manager for B

The second episode of this season, features a recording of the keynote address delivered by past president of the Canadian Labour Congress, Senator Hassan Yussuff at George Brown College’s 31st annual Labour Fair. Anchoring a week of labour focused discussions and speaking to George Brown College students and faculty, the Senator focuses on this year’s theme, 'The other P3s: pandemic, privatization, precarity,,, and planet!!' Reflecting on federal workers delivery of CERB during the pandemic, the Senator says:  “Those workers, six weeks it took them to create that program, to build it from scratch and to make sure it was working so we can get people money ... That's never happened in the history of this country ... Everybody always says, 'The public service cannot perform to the speed of the private sector.' Well, guess what? In the pandemic, it was the public service that was there looking after Canadians and meeting the needs of Canadians.. we need to recognize that because these are working men and women i

In the first episode of our fourth series, we welcome CLiFF (Canadian Labour International Film Festival board members, Lorene Oikawa and Derek Blackadder and George Brown College faculty and organizer with the Labour Fair, Kathryn Payne. We discuss the importance of bringing labour education to post-secondary and wider communities through the 31st annual Labour Fair at Toronto’s George Brown College (organized by the School of Labour and the Tommy Douglas Institute) and its collaboration with the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF). This episode sets the stage for the re-airing of major Labour Fair events on this podcast as well as on rabbleTV over the coming weeks. Reflecting on the Labour Fair at George Brown College, Payne says:    “The Labour Fair initially was meant to make sure that working class students .. had some knowledge of the unions in their sectors so .. they could find folks who could help them out and who could represent them. And also teach them the basics of organizing. Rig

In this two part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Telling Black histories: writing, recuperation and resistance, we are very pleased to welcome the 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto and the 7th Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Elliott Clarke. As we continue our conversation, Clarke reflects on past and current struggles against White western power, the meaning of decolonization and shaping effective resistance in Canada and beyond. Clarke discusses ongoing  legacies of colonialism and racist  imperialism in global politics,: “As Malcolm X said, ‘"you're a bunch of hypocrites’"...At the same time as you're expressing all these nostrums and parables of your supposed virtues, you are armed to the teeth. You are armed to the teeth! You are building jails to house masses of people seeking relief from the oppression that you have engineered in their home countries… And then these oppressed peoples flee for the refuge of your democracy and your attitude is to let them drown in the Mediterranean. ..

In this 2-part episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Telling Black histories: writing, recuperation and resistance, we are very pleased to welcome the 4th Poet Laureate of Toronto and the 7th Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Elliott Clarke.  In Part I of our conversation, Clarke takes us on a journey through Black and Africadian history in Canada, his life and work and discusses the importance of recuperating Black and colonized  histories through writing and resistance. Reflecting on the history of Black communities in Nova Scotia, Clarke says: Africadia is built, is constructed in complete defiance, of white supremacist, racist governmental decisions including environmental racism - placing dumps beside Black communities, placing polluting factories on the doorsteps of Black communities and so on. Those people, my ancestors, decided that they were going to construct communities. Church-based, church-anchored communities all around mainland Nova Scotia, in complete defiance of the racist opp

In this episode of the Courage My Friends podcast, Capitalism and the mental health crisis, social worker, researcher and writer, Madeleine Ritts, researcher on mental health of Black communities, Michelle Sraha-Yeboah, and researcher and educator in labor issues, Jon Weier, discuss the current mental health crisis as an inevitable outcome of capitalism and whether good mental health is a benefit or a boon to our economic system. According to Ritts: “...Poverty, exploitation, alienation, these are inherent features of capitalism. So the degradation of physical and mental health is inevitable as long as we continue to live under the domination of the market. And I think in our system of racialized capitalism those forces will continue to disproportionately impact racialized people.” Speaking to impacts on Black communities, Yeboah says: “The field of psychology was born at the height of imperial expansion and colonial conquest. It was created to reinforce and serve the interests of the state. And so we see a l