Needs No Introduction

On September 27th, Peter Julian, NDP Critic on International Trade and MP for Burnaby- New Westminster, hosted a conference entitled “Walking the Talk: Human Rights Abroad.” Activists, lawyers and politicians alike gathered at the House of Commons for a day-long series of panels exploring international violations of human and environmental rights at the hands of Canadian corporations. The conference was intended to show the importance of Peter Julian’s Private Member’s Bill: C-354 – an act to amend the Federal Courts Act in the interest of promoting and protecting human rights on an international level. The first panel of the day featured the voices and experiences of those in other parts of the world. Introductory Statements: Mark Rowlinson, United Steelworkers' Canadian National Office legal department Peter Julian, MP, Burnaby-New Westminster Rick Arnold, Common Frontiers Panelists: Tenzin Lobsang Wangkhang, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet Jose Luis Abarca Montejo, Mexican Network of Perso

This podcast brings you a recording of the second panel from MP Peter Julian’s “Walking the Talk: Human Rights Abroad” conference held September 27th at the House of Commons. The event was held to examine violations of human and environmental rights at the hands of Canadian corporations abroad, and to explore legislative solutions such as MP Peter Julian’s Bill C-354 to amend the Federal Courts Act in the interest of international human rights. Whereas the conference’s first discussion explored stories from impacted communities around the world, the panel that followed looked at popular sector responses and strategies in North America to the abuses committed abroad by Canadian extractive industries. It was moderated by Laura Avalos, President of the Salvadorian Canadian Association of Ottawa and National Capital Region. Panelists: Grahame Russell, Co-Director of Rights Action, author of Code Z59.5: There is Only One People HereSakura Saunders, Editor and Co-Founder of ProtestBarrick.net Jamie Moffett, Docume

Billy Diamond, former Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees died September 30. In this podcast, recorded at the 2010 Congress of the Humanities, he tells his life story.

On May 28th, the Whitehorse Chapter of the Council of Canadians, along with sponsor PSAC (Public Service Alliance of Canada) North, held a panel discussion to examine the impact of trade agreements and industry on the access of local communities to clean water sources. Bill Slater -- an environmental consultant in Whitehorse -- was one of its featured speakers. He has worked with the Yukon First Nations, federal governments, private companies and NGOs on projects dealing with water management, mining and infrastructure development throughout the territory. Slater's portion of the panel brought a local context to the discussion, looking at how governments regulate water -- especially for industrial purposes -- and whether this reflects a "commons" or "commodity" approach to water issues.

On May 28th, the Whitehorse Chapter of the Council of Canadians, along with sponsor PSAC (Public Service Alliance of Canada) North, held a panel discussion to examine the impact of trade agreements and industry on the access of local communities to clean water sources. The key speaker was Maude Barlow, international water activist, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and author of 16 books including "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water." From Shipyards Park in Whitehorse, Yukon, Barlow discussed the concept of water as a commons versus a commodity.

In 1935, one of the biggest labour battles of the depression took place, when thousands of unemployed men from B.C.’s relief camps embarked on the On to Ottawa Trek for union wages and better working and living conditions. They made it as far as Regina on the tops of railway freight cars, but were stopped there by the RCMP and a riot ensued. Up until recently, even the On to Ottawa Historical Society wasn’t aware of any surviving members of the trek. Then they were contacted by the family of 92-year-old Al Dugas, who was 17 when he joined in the protest. David Yorke, one of the society’s directors, interviewed Dugas about his memories of the historic event. For more information about the trek, visit www.ontoottawa.ca Al Dugas: I ran away from home. I was 16. And I just shoveled into it I guess, somehow. It was just there. My dad said, if you’re working for anybody else you wouldn’t earn your salt. So I took off, and proved him wrong. Yorke: It was pretty hard to find work then I guess. Al Dugas: There was non

On June 29, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid hosted its Pride in Our Politics Cabaret in Toronto. One of the event's speakers was Haneen Maikey - a Jerusalem-based activist and the director of al-Qaws, a grassroots organization that works with LGBTQ Palestinians throughout Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories.

Kasari Govender is Legal Director of the West Coast Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). She spoke with Peter Driftmier of Simon Fraser University's CJSF-FM about the discussion of maternal health issues at the G8 and G20 summits, and its implications for women's rights.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. June 2nd marked the launch of a new book by Peter Stevens - a teacher of media studies at Sheridan who has written for the Globe and Mail, The Beaver, and The New Internationalist, to name a few publications. His book, "The News," is part of the "About Canada" series put out by Fernwood Books. This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. This last lecture from the Congress was delivered on June 2nd by Chief Billy Diamond, who became chief of the Waskaganish First Nation in 1970. Diamond signed the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement with the Canadian Government in 1975 and oversaw the creation of Air Creebec, Cree Construction Company Ltd, and Cree Yamaha Motors. Sharing memories of his own family life, Diamond gave a keynote address on family issues and experience in the North. This lecture was recorded by Kim Elliott. 

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year’s Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with “connected understanding” as its overriding theme. Jared Wesley is a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Manitoba. His lecture was an analysis of the recent Manitoba NDP leadership selection process, with critiques of the procedure of delegate voting as well as strategies used by individual candidates.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. Florian Olsen is a PhD candidate with the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. The lecture he gave on June 2nd was entitled, "Those About to Die Salute You: Sacrifice, The War in Iraq, and the Crisis of American Imperial Society." He argued that the Iraq War has caused division and resentment in American society between lower-middle class citizens more likely to experience the conflict through military service, and the more privileged, whose lives are not as directly impacted by it.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. Robert Smith is a Master's student at Concordia. His June 1st presentation shared the ongoing research of his work-in-progress: an investigation into the qualitative nature of eco-theological awareness in Quebec, to result in a full-length documentary film on the state of the movement in the region.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. "The Neo-Liberal Superhero Soldier" was the title of a lecture by Lori Crowe, of York University, on June 2nd at the Congress. Crowe argued that Hollywood superhero movies reproduce and promote militarism through their weaponry, fashion and narratives that emphasize neo-liberal values.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. JP Lewis is a doctoral Political Science student at Carleton University. His lecture explains the strategem behind his numerically-based ranking of Canadian premiers from 1980 to present. Lewis's explains the in-depth ranking system -- with everything taken into consideration from political party to personal legacy -- and, of course, which premiers came out on top of the analysis. This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. In 2010, Canada is playing an important role at the Social Summit on the Environment in Bolivia and the G8/20 meetings in Ontario. In this roundtable hosted by Judy Rebick, CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson University), participants discuss the shape of the global movement for economic and environmental justice, focusing on the influence of Indigenous movements, and on the opportunities the G8 and G20 meetings hold for reshaping social movements. Sonja Killoran-McKibbon, of Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, was the panel's second speaker.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. In 2010, Canada is playing an important role at the Social Summit on the Environment in Bolivia and the G8/20 meetings in Ontario. In this roundtable hosted by Judy Rebick, CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson University), participants discuss the shape of the global movement for economic and environmental justice, focusing on the influence of Indigenous movements, and on the opportunities the G8 and G20 meetings hold for reshaping social movements. The panel's third and final speaker was rabble.ca blogger Fred Wilson, of the Energy and Paperworks Union and the Council of Canadians.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. In 2010, Canada is playing an important role at the Social Summit on the Environment in Bolivia and the G8/20 meetings in Ontario. In this roundtable hosted by Judy Rebick, CAW Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy (Ryerson University), participants discuss the shape of the global movement for economic and environmental justice, focusing on the influence of Indigenous movements, and on the opportunities the G8 and G20 meetings hold for reshaping social movements. Ben Powless, a rabble.ca blogger and member of the Indigenous Environmental Network, was the panel's first speaker. This lecture was recorded by Kim Elliott     

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol has been hailed as the grand compromise of the North-South divide over climate change mitigation; however, its efficacy in this regard remains poorly understood. As Beth Jean Evans argues in her lecture, an examination of distributive and procedural issues characterizing the CDM shows that significant trade-offs exist between Northern and Southern interests and suggests that the interests of the South are often sacrificed. According to Evans, there is a need for increased attention to and accommodation of Southern interests in the CDM specifically, and global climate change efforts more broadly. This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual gathering of scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners to exchange ideas and nurture groundbreaking research. This year's Congress is being held at Concordia University in Montreal, with "connected understanding" as its overriding theme. Leigh Brownhill is a writer, editor and researcher at York University whose work focuses on social movements, feminism and the political economies of food and energy. On May 31st, Brownhill gave a lecture assessing food sovereignty movements in Kenya and Canada according to their ability not only to alleviate poverty and hunger, but also to encourge a carbon-neutral existence through environmentally-sound farming practices. This lecture was recorded by Tariq Jeeroburkhan.