Viewpoints is the latest news magazine produced by the Community Radio Fund of Canada. It provides an overview of what’s happening across Canada, thanks to some 20 radio reporters posted across the country (British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, North West Territories, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) and working for the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI). The Local Journalism Initiative supports the production of original civic journalism news content that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada. Politics, society, environment, community, arts and culture take the air on «Viewpoints» hosted by Boris Chassagne. The Community Radio Fund of Canada works in collaboration with the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC).
Viewpoints is syndicated on Radio Waterloo from the NCRA’s !earshot Digital Distribution System, and currently airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Thursdays from 1:00pm to 1:30pm.
The housing crisis leads to more barriers for the marginalized individuals within our community. Residents are facing an affordable housing crisis in Waterloo region. The low income housing waitlist is almost 6 years until you are able to be offered a unit. Marginalized members of this community are struggling to find and maintain stable housing in this region.
On this episode of CKMS News, we interview Sandy Dietrich-Bell, CEO of OneROOF a youth shelter in Kitchener. Part 2 of the interview focuses on some solutions to the housing crisis and the barriers that youth face while trying to obtain stable housing.
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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant project 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, and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca
You can follow us on twitter @radiowaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
The housing crisis leads to more barriers for the marginalized individuals within our community. Residents are facing an affordable housing crisis in Waterloo region. The low income housing waitlist is almost 6 years until you are able to be offered a unit. Marginalized members of this community are struggling to find and maintain stable housing in this region.
On this episode of CKMS News, we interview Sandy Dietrich-Bell, CEO of OneROOF a youth shelter in Kitchener. We discuss the barriers that marginalized members of our community face while trying to obtain stable housing as well as how the community can come together for a solution to this housing crisis.
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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant project 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, and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca
You can follow us on twitter @radiowaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on how people live their lives. How we work, shop, conduct business and experience entertainment have been transformed. As we continue to emerge from long-periods of restrictions, organizations such as the Uptown Waterloo Business Improvement Area are trying to re-ignite the passion for coming together again for events that bring people together in a real way. Tracy Van Kalsbeek executive director of the UWBIA speaks about bringing people back to uptown.
Events are vital in the country’s economic recovery and the mental wellness of countless community members. However is there hesitancy in going back to normal with events? We explore the importance of such events and speak with Waterloo resident Sarah about comfort in participating in the community as COVID-19 restrictions ease.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca.
Fitsum Areguy is a Black activist and writer who grew up in Kitchener. He draws on years of experience as a community worker and advocate for youth rights and disability justice. Voted Waterloo Region’s ‘Best Local Writer’ in 2020, he has published in Canadian Dimension, The Waterloo Region Record, Briarpatch Magazine, The Community Edition, and Korea Expose. His interests focus on human rights, misuses of power, and community development, connecting local stories to provincial, national, and global issues through reporting and analysis. Fitsum is also the co-founder and project director of Textile, a literary publication and writing mentorship program, where Fitsum and I work together.
As the pandemic has impacted workers across every and any industry, we talked about the importance of upholding the complexity of local stories, finding a rhythm as a journalist during the pandemic, and of course, the launch of InsideWaterloo, an independent media initiative publishing investigative and personal stories of identity and belonging not otherwise covered by traditional media in Waterloo Region.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca.
Music for this episode was courtesy of Dylan Prowse.
Recent numbers released fromStatistics Canada indicated that 1.5 million women in Canada lost their jobs during the first 2 months of the pandemic. This led to unemployment rates as high as 20% among women, compared to13% among their male counterparts.
The YWCA Canada has since developed a Feminist Recovery Plan which emphasizes that women’s rights and gender equity could see the biggest rollback if left unchecked.
Rosalind Gunn, Director of Marketing and Communications of the YWCA Cambridge and Jennifer Gordon, Director of Advocacy at YW Kitchener-Waterloo discuss the impacts of the global pandemic their organizations have seen on women in the workplace in the Waterloo region.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca.
COVID-19 has impacted billions of lives around the globe since March of last year. During these unprecedented times, the role of non-profit organizations has been key in combating the impact on our most vulnerable populations. As businesses grappled with adapting services, so too did local non profits.
CKMS News spoke to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region and the Wilmot Family Resource Centre to learn more about how they adapted, lessons learned and key takeaways moving forward.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca.
After 15 years on King Street West in Kitchener’s downtown core, the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre announced its new location. The 54-year old organization will be moving to 715 Fischer-Hallman Road after construction is completed.
The Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre – known to many for its annual festival in Victoria Park – provides a wide variety of services for new immigrants to the community and operates an interpretation and translation business that saw service volumes rise to nearly 20,000 service requests last year.
We spoke to COO of the Multicultural Centre, Lucia Harrison to learn more about their relocation and what the organisation has been up to recently.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
This piece features interviews with Baitul Mosque volunteer Nabeel Rana, Cambridge mayor Kathryn McGarry and Coalition of Muslim Women KW President Sarah Shafiq.
The mosque in the Galt area of Cambridge was severely vandalized this week in an act of hate, and Rana estimates the damage at about $15,000 to $20,000.
The vandalism is under investigation by the Waterloo Regional Police.
The Cambridge community has come together to support the mosque while the vandalism comes off the heels of the murder of four members of a Muslim family in London last month.
Update: 1 man has been arrested so far in connection to this incident.
— 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 onradiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative atcanada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter@RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
Today’s Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup episode focuses on the June 22nd Region of Waterloo council meeting. This was a rather full agenda as it was the last council meeting prior to the summer break.
Topics discussed at this meeting included the Climate Action Plan, several housing projects, and an update regarding the Region’s child care plan since closing the 5 regionally owned centres last year. There’s also a discussion regarding plans for the Charles Street terminal redevelopment and ReallocateWR’s proposal for an Indigenous Community Hub on that land.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
This piece features interviews from early June with two small business owners in the Waterloo Region.
Bon Apatreat bakery owner Chantelle Villeneuve and The Branches (formerly Queen Street Yoga) owner/director Leena Miller Cressman. Each of the businesses has adapted during a very tough time.
Villeneuve was forced to close her storefront in 2020, but developed a brand new website and delivered treats herself for the past few months. Bon Apatreat will be opening its new storefront location in the Driftwood Plaza in Kitchener.
Queen Street Yoga, which has run online classes since the onset of the pandemic, rebranded and is now called The Branches. They plan to run outdoor classes, in their new location when permitted.
Villeneuve and Cressman discuss the challenges and tribulations of running businesses during COVID-19.
— 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 onradiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative atcanada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter@RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
During this global pandemic, stress levels in our communities has risen. Many Individuals in the community that are already struggling with their mental health, are now having a hard time coping with the added stress and anxiety.
On this episode of CKMS News, we interview a community member, Kelly Maeve, who is diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and discuss how the pandemic has affected our mental health.
Kelly also speaks about some of the strategies she has employed as the pandemic has progressed.
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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant project 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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
Schreiner, an MPP in Guelph, argues that campsites should be open, and should have been open all the time. He says that if people are allowed to travel to cottages, families should be able to travel to campsites and pitch a tent.
Schreiner says that the Ontario Government hasn’t listened to advice from the science table in terms of their restrictions.
In addition, the piece involves topics such as the country’s borders, as well as the national and provincial vaccine rollout.
— 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 onradiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative atcanada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter@RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
This piece features an interview on May 26, with Guy Freedman, president of the First People’s Group, an Indigenous advisory firm based out of Ottawa.
The First People’s Group is in the midst of conducting a community engagement process in regards to the Prime Ministers Path in Baden and steps forward.
Debate around the need for the path began when the Sir John A. Macdonald statue was painted red in June 2020. The painting off a heated debate within the community of whether the statue should remain. After much deliberation, Wilmot council temporarily removed the SJAM statue later in 2020.
Earlier in 2021, council hired the First People’s Group to conduct a consultation process and conduct community engagement for the path.
“These are Wilmot recommendations,” said Freedman, highlighting the need for community engagement on the future of the path.
The community engagement process launched earlier in May. The next official update from the First People’s Group is on June 5 while people can input their opinions right now on the Township of Wilmot website.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
The 519 Community Collective, an example of mutual aid that this show examined back in March, has been gifted $15,000 worth of a fridge and freezer from Shopify.
In addition the Collective has been invited to set up kitchen at the Immanuel Pentecostal Church, giving them a dedicated work space, storage facilities, and out of Julie Savatsky’s kitchen.
In this edition of CKMS News, I talk to Julie Sawatsky of the 519 Community Collective and Pastor David Wilkinson of Immanuel Pentecostal Church.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
In July 2020, while the community was managing the COVID19 pandemic, including erecting checkpoints to keep non-residents from their reserve lands, some Indigenous folks from Six Nations of the Grand River also took action against continued land theft by housing developers and the nearby town of Caledonia by setting up the 1492 LandBack Lane reclamation camp.
Through court injunctions, lawsuits, a police raid, police intimidation, police violence, 17 million dollars in police spending, and being demonized by settler governments including Haldimand mayor Ken Hewitt and Ontario premier Doug Ford, the land reclamation action has continued and the LandBack movement has grown.
On April 20th 2021 members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs council, alongside spokesperson Skyler Williams announced the “Protect The Tract” initiative, declaring a moratorium on development in the Haldimand Tract and a need for real consultation with the community before any projects move forward.
This episode features an interview with Skyler Williams, the spokesperson for the 1492 LandBackLane land reclamation camp on Haudenosaunee territory at Six Nations in south-west Ontario.
To stay updated on the activities at the camp, check out @1492LBL on twitter and 1492LandBackLane on facebook. For more on the development moratorium and the history of land struggle at Six Nations, visit protectthetract.com
This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant project 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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
This week, we follow up on the previous episode which focused on Cambridge council’s discussion about whether to proceed with community consultation on two candidate locations for a possible consumption and treatment services (CTS) site. While last episode shared information from some of the more than 25 delegations who spoke to this issue, this episode examines the council discussion and final decision on community consultation.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
Last week’s episode of the Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup had us hearing updates from across the region. Today’s episode has us planting ourselves in just one location – Cambridge. This is the first of a two part series that focuses on the discussion Cambridge is having on candidate locations for a potential Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) site in Cambridge. This episode looks at the March 30th meeting which saw over 25 delegations speak to council on the issue of CTS.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
In this episode we’ll take a bit of a tour through much of the region! I’ll share updates about a proposed development in New Hamburg that was met with some resistance from neighbours. There are many housing updates from Kitchener council including a unique partnership with the YWCA for new supportive housing. The Region also discussed housing as they approved a new development with an estimated 50 affordable housing units for the Beechwood neighbourhood. And finally, we will hear some updates from Waterloo council and the work they are doing on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
On today’s show are interviews with two different types of mutual aid and one interview with a charity.
The first interview is with the local chapter of Hockey Helps the Homeless, a long-standing charitable organization that raises money on behalf of local agencies.
The second interview is with Julie Sawatzky who started the 519 Community Collective during the dark days of the pandemic.
And finally, Father Toby Collins speaks about the affordable takeout dinner service started at St Mary’s Catholic Church in downtown Kitchener. Both last two are examples mutual aid within the community.
Each interview covers how the projects function, how they came to be, important initiatives, and ways to volunteer.
Used with permission from 519 Community Pantries.
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. You can access the archives of this show on radiowaterloo.ca/news or on the national LJI website.
The music on today’s show has been ‘Fat Cartoon Jazz’ by Purple Planet Music .
The accompanying photograph was obtained from truthseeker08 on Pixabay.com.
In 2019, 10% of households in Waterloo Region experienced food insecurity. That’s close to 20,000 people struggling to provide food for themselves or their family, and these numbers most certainly increased during 2020. Food charities, such as the Food Bank, are underfunded and oversubscribed. Despite good efforts, hunger in our community persists. With an appreciation of the complex nature of hunger, groups of individuals are stepping up to help their neighbours and fill in the gaps.
A group of Waterloo Region residents recently started a community fridge to facilitate access to high quality food and to reduce food waste in the area.
The KW Community Fridge sits at the back entrance of Full Circle Foods in downtown Kitchener at 3 Charles St West and is the first of its kind in this Region. We talked to Kamil Ahmed, one of the organizers, about the fridge and how it is going.
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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. You can access the archives of this show on radiowaterloo.ca/news or on the national LJI website.
The music on today’s show has been ‘Fat Cartoon Jazz’ by Purple Planet Music .
In this episode we’ll hear updates on the community working group on the vaccine rollout and the latest decisions at this month’s Regional Council meeting. Kitchener had some committee meetings on March 8th and we’ll take a closer look at their discussions on the Regional Official Plan review and how it could impact Kitchener specifically. It wouldn’t be a Waterloo Region Weekly Round-up episode if we didn’t discuss housing, so I’ll share a bit from the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation’s recent Do More Good Dialogue on the Intersection of Housing and Race.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca
Over 250 organizations and over 3,000 individuals have signed onto “Choosing Real Safety: A Historic Declaration to Divest from Policing and Prisons and Build Safer Communities for All.”
Signatories include UNIFOR, and a wide array of human rights and racial justice organizations across Canada who talked at the recent online conference, presenting the declaration.
In this episode, we’re listening from Christin Macklin from UNIFOR, Robyn Maynard of Abolition Coalition, Ravyn Wyngs, of Black Lives Matter -Toronto, Molly Swain of the indigenous led organization Free Lands Free People, Nanky Rai of Doctors for Defunding Police, Souheil Benslima of the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP), and Harsha Walia of British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, Canada’s oldest civil liberties organization.
The website sharing information about the declaration and facilitating individuals and organisations can sign on to declaration is www.choosingrealsafety.com.
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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
Early February, frontpages of around 100 newspapers in Canada went blank, starting the campaign by News Media Canada called “Disappearing Headlines,” calling for regulation of Google and Facebook in this country. Basically, they are asking the politicians to take money from internet giants and give it to them.
Today we’re talking with Dwayne Winseck, Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton university in Ottawa, about what’s behind the blank front pages, do Canadian publishers have the right to protest against Google and Facebook, and does anyone have a public interest in mind?
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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
In this week’s episode, we will once again update on some of the affordable housing issues that local municipalities are involved in. The Region of Waterloo council shared an update about where things currently stand since approving the closure of the 5 regionally-operated children’s centres.
Also, communities that are racialized and/or marginalized have been impacted more deeply by this pandemic. I’ll share an update from a recent regional council public health board meeting that discussed this issue and some of the plans stemming from that meeting.
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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., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.
You can follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca