Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20th, as the new president of the United States, two weeks after violent protests in Washington, D.C.
Rohinton Medhora, the president of the Waterloo based Centre for International Governance Innovation, was watching closely events in Washington.
What does the new U.S. administration mean for Canada, how will it affect the technology sector of the Waterloo Region, and what does he think of the big tech’s take down of Donald Trump.
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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news. You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. And you can email news@radiowaterloo.ca to get in touch with comments or ideas about stories to cover.
The music was Blackroom by Moby, courtesy of mobygratis.com
Eleven years after his debut novel, Molasses, and three years after winning the RBC Taylor Prize as one of Canada’s top Emerging Authors for nonfiction, Antonio Michael Downing‘s new book just came out.
It’s a memoir called Saga Boy, My Life of Blackness and Becoming, and it’s the story of searching for identity, something this Canadian author has been exploring for a long time.
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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news. You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. And you can email news@radiowaterloo.ca to get in touch with comments or ideas about stories to cover.
The music was Blackroom by Moby, courtesy of mobygratis.com
December 17 is the International day to end violence against sex workers. If things were normal, on that day Kitchener and Waterloo would be painted in red, with sex workers and advocates coming together, carrying red umbrellas, a symbol for sex workers rights.
Those rights are in danger even in the best of times, and during pandemic, things went through the roof.
We’re talking with Amy Venner of ACCKWA – The AIDS Committee Of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo & Area, who is also a co-chair of SWAN – Sex Workers Action Network of Waterloo Region (@SWAN_Waterloo).
To follow along with the International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers on social media networks – use #IDEVASW
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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news. You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. And you can email news@radiowaterloo.ca to get in touch with comments or ideas about stories to cover.
The music was Blackroom by Moby, courtesy of mobygratis.com
As the Waterloo Region’s Police board is discussing the next police budget, Radio Waterloo sat with Dr. Kathy Hoghart, an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work in University of Waterloo, and former advisor to police chief Brian Larkin, on issues of race.
The discussion covers the widespread calls to reallocate police budget money into other services that can more competently do the work the police have been tasked with, and issues of systemic racism within the WRPS and policing generally.
In the last few months the police board received several reports that clearly show the police bias against black and indigenous people. While board members were surprised by those reports, Dr. Hoghart wasn’t surprised at all.
— This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news. You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. And you can email news@radiowaterloo.ca to get in touch with comments or ideas about stories to cover.
The music was Blackroom by Moby, courtesy of mobygratis.com
Since June 21, 2020 a number of indigenous people, sick of Kitchener and Waterloo charging them large amounts of money to gather in their traditional places, having to get permits and seek permission to gather on their traditional land, occupied a part of Victoria Park in Kitchener, a land reclamation known as “Land Back Camp” or O:se Kenhionhata:tie
They are demanding four things: to waive all fees for the Indigenous communities to host events in public spaces, to give back the land in Victoria Park and Waterloo Park, that the cities create paid positions at all levels for engaging with Indigenous Peoples, and that the cities create Indigenous Advisory Committees to address racial injustice.
Shawn Johnston and Amy Smoke. Photo: Ivan Angelovski
After more than 17 weeks of protest, they managed to resolve the fees problem and on Monday October 19, the city of Kitchener will be voting on establishing a team dedicated to addressing social justice issues, including Indigenous initiatives.
But that’s not going to resolve all the problems Indigenous peoples face in Waterloo Region.
On this episode we speak with Amy Smoke and Shawn Johnston from the Land Back Camp.
— This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news. You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. And you can email news@radiowaterloo.ca to get in touch with comments or ideas about stories to cover.
The music was Blackroom by Moby, courtesy of mobygratis.com
Black Lives Matter of Waterloo Region, along with other Black and African organizations in the Region, started a petition for the police to drop the charges against Irene Ekweozoh, a Waterloo based PhD candidate in law.
Ekweozoh was arrested on September 20th, after problems with her White neighbour in their apartment building.
The issues began in February, when, according to Ekweozoh and the police report, after an argument, her neighbour unleashed a dog on her and her 13 year old daughter. The police told Ekweozoh that charges were not warranted against her neighbour in that incident.
In this episode you will hear from: Irene Ekweozoh, PhD student targeted for arrest by Waterloo regional police, Fanis Juma an organizer with Black Lives Matter of Waterloo Region, Tapiwa Jabhama from the African Canadian Association, as well as Fidelia Otokhina and Promise O Williams from the Nigerians in the Region of Waterloo.
In a statement from the regional police service’s public relations department it was noted that “anyone with concerns about police conduct or professionalism can call to speak to a supervisor to relay their concerns or issue a formal complaint at 519-570-9777 (WRPS). Complaints about police conduct can also be filed with the Ontario Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) here:www.oiprd.on.ca.”
— This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
Check out the archived versions of this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news. You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. And you can email news@radiowaterloo.ca to get in touch with comments or ideas about stories to cover.
The music was Blackroom by Moby, courtesy of mobygratis.com
In June this year, tens of thousands of people marched the streets of Kitchener in support for the Black Lives Matter movement, asking for change. Their most important demand was to defund the police.
With similar calls across Canada that were unsuccessful, what will happen with the police budget in Waterloo region?
In this episode we talk with Teneile Warren, local organiser and anti-racism activist, and Karen Redman, Regional Chair and chair of the Waterloo Region Police Service board.
— This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
Early September the federal government announced investments of up to 221 million dollars to help Black-owned businesses.
But even before that, Black-owned businesses in Waterloo region have organized to help themselves.
Marc Lafleur is co-founder and the CEO of the Kitchener based TruLocal, a company that connects people with local farmers and provides them with locally-sourced meat products.
After Black Lives Matter protests in Canada early June, TruLocal organized what they called Equal opportunity grant, giving $5,000 to select Black-owned businesses.
The idea, as Marc Lafleur says, was to equal the playing field.
— This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
On May 27, 2020, in the High Park neighbourhood in Toronto, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old black-indigenous woman, ended up dead after an encounter with Toronto police. The police were originally called by her mother to try to de-escalate an unsafe mental health situation.
All of this is under several investigations, so I’m very careful with words.
One of those investigations – the one by the Special Investigations Unit, the SIU – unit that’s supposed to investigate police misconduct in Ontario, cleared all the police officers that were at the scene.
The decision sparked a new set of anti-racism protests across Canada, a series of protests started after the murder of George Floyd in the States.
Whatever the truth is, and probably only people who were in that apartment know what it is, the case goes to the list of cases in which people with mental problems ended up dead after coming across police officers in Ontario, like Ejaz Choudry, Ian Pryce, and Andrew Loku, among others.
In Toronto, an organization Doctors for defunding police started a petition, now signed by 622 Canadian doctors and health professionals, warning that policing in this country is a public health crisis and calling for a change on how this society is reacting to mental health, and other issues.
In this program, we’re talking with doctor Suzanne Shoush and medical student Semir Bulle, from the University of Toronto who started the organization.
White text in all capitals on a black background reading “Wellness checks should never be a death sentence.” @drsdefundpolice”. Image courtesy of Doctors For Defunding Polcie
— This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
With the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program introduced to help people who lost their jobs due to COVID-19, a lot of people started to talk about whether Canada would need such a program if there was already a Universal Basic Income in place for people getting exactly into that situation.
Radio Waterloo recently published a story on Kitchener council’s initiative to urge the provincial and federal government to start talking about universal basic income (https://radiowaterloo.ca/ckms-news-2020-06-04/). In that story we aired a short excerpt from the interview with Hugh Segal, former senator who designed the Ontario Basic Income Pilot Project and who recently published a book called Bootstraps Need Boots, One Tory’s Lonely Fight to End Poverty in Canada.
Now we’re airing the entire interview with Mr. Segal explaining the thought process behind the Pilot, the benefits of universal basic income, and why he feels lonely in his fight to end poverty in this country.
On June 3rd 2020, 11,000 people gathered in Kitchener for the KW Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter. Demonstrators demanded justice for for Regis Korchinski-Paquet, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, and so many other Black and Indigenous people killed by police in Canada, the US, and around the world. The demonstrators also demanded a defunding of the regional police force and an end to police officers in schools and “community policing” programs.
In this episode, you’ll hear the voices of Black people who marched, speaking about being Black in Canada.
You’ll also hear from, Selam Debs, Funke Oba from African Canadian Association, Fanis Juma, from Black Lives Matter KW, Laura Mae Lindo, MPP for Kitchener Center, Lannois Carrol-Woolery of The Caribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region and Ruth Cameron from The AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area, who spoke at the rally.
This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
On May 11 Kitchener city council endorsed a motion, proposed by councillor Bil Ioannidis, urging the provincial and federal government to start talking about universal basic income. The proposal passed with 8 to 3 which means it’s now an official document of the city of Kitchener.
Universal Basic Income in Canada has been periodically piloted since the 1960’s and the last attempt with it was in 2018, with The Ontario Basic Income Pilot during the provincial government of Kathleen Wynne.
The goal was to test whether UBI is a better way of providing social assistance to those who need it, and four thousand people from Brantford, Thunder Bay, Lindsay and Hamilton volunteered to participate in the pilot.
It didn’t end well.
In this episode, we talk with councillor Bil Ioannidis, who proposed the motion, Jessie Golem and Jodi Dean, UBI pilot participants from Hamilton, and Hugh Segal, a conservative political strategist, former senator, former Chief of Staff to Ontario Premier Bill Davis and later to Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney who designed the pilot.
— This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
After receiving her social assistance last month, Regan Sunshine Brussé (@ReganBrusse), a local advocate for the poor, and currently unemployed single mother of three, looked into her bank account, to find it almost empty. Scotiabank, garnisheed the only funds she and her kids had left to handle the pandemic.
“Technically they’re in the right to be doing what they’re doing, according to our current laws.” Brussé said. After being contacted about the issue Scotia bank did return the funds to Regan’s account.
On this episode of CKMS News, we discuss impacts of COVID-19 on people who are on social assistance or otherwise have a low monthly income. We also speak about what banks and the various levels of government are doing to ease these impacts.
Along with Regan Sunshine Brussé, we speak with Laura Mae Lindo, the Kitchener Centre representative in provincial parliament and Lea Caragata, a professor of social policy at Wilfrid Laurier University.
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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.
