There are about 25 neighbourhood rinks throughout Kitchener, and they are all run by volunteers who go out in the darkest and coldest time of night to keep the rinks clear and flooded. It’s not a glamorous job, but Chris Letizi, a volunteer rink coordinator for the rink at the Stanley Park Community Centre, says the role a rink plays in fostering community by providing a place for kids and families to get out and skate or for groups to play hockey, is worth it. He says finding volunteers willing to come out and do the work to keep the rinks operating is a problem all across the city and hopes more people will pitch in to share the load. Josh Joseph runs the Love My Hood program with the city and says the outdoor rink program is a decades-old program that could not run without volunteers.
Waterloo – “We have not been able to engage with any of our listeners on those platforms… We’re just getting caught up in it and it is not very fair to us.” is how Radio Waterloo’s president Nat Persaud responded when asked by CKMS News about the effects of Meta’s actions which de-platformed and restricted the community radio station’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
Similar to many community radio station across the country, Radio Waterloo, also known as CKMS, started to see restrictions on Facebook posts in August, and by September the station’s Facebook posts and profile were not viewable by folks inside of Canada. In early October, Radio Waterloo’s Instagram account had the same restrictions.
Meta has introduced restrictions on their platforms in response to the Canadian government’s bill C-18, which became law in June 2023 and is on track to come into full force in December. The bill, known as the Online News Act, in part seeks to impose fees on large social media and search engine companies for allowing Canadian created news content to be shared as links on their platforms, in effect charging the internet companies for re-publishing content if they profit from the interaction through selling advertising space or collecting and selling user info.
At this time, only Google and Meta meet the triggering guidelines of the legislation, though if other companies increase their revenues or presence in Canada, they too would have to follow the new regulations. Google has said they will implement their reaction to C-18 in December, with the delisting of news from the platform.
For today’s show, CKMS News spoke with CKMS President Nat Persaud and CKMS News editor Bob Jonkman, who are both members of the station’s technical team, and Barry Rooke, the executive director of the National Community and Campus Radio Association. The interviews included questions about the effects of bill C-18 on station operations, adaptations to the social media restrictions (like joining the fediverse), and ideas of the role of the government in funding community radio and local news.
For more in-depth background and analysis on Bill C-18, lawyer Michael Geist has discussed C-18 thoroughly on his website and podcast, which you can find at michaelgeist.ca/tag/c-18/
Kenny Hotz is a Canadian entertainer, South Park staff writer, “Kenny” of the Comedy Central television series Kenny vs. Spenny, creator of the FX series Testees, and Kenny Hotz’s Triumph of the Will. He has received numerous international awards for his film, television, and digital content. Hotz is a former Vice host and contributor who began his career as a Gulf War photo-journalist and is the godson of folk singer Joni Mitchell. In 2013 he was awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers from the Governor General of Canada.
Nelson Sobral is a guitarist, singer-songwriter based out of Toronto. His music is a bluesy r&b country-rock cocktail in the vein of The Black Crowes, Joey Landreth, Bahamas, Doyle Bramhall II & Glen Hansard.
