Tag Archives: Non-Music Interview

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 17 April 2023: The CFUW Book Sale with Rowena Samuel and Alison Watson

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Show Notes

(Rowena Samuel and Alison Watson sitting a the microphones in the CKMS-FM studio)
Rowena Samuel and Alison Watson

Bob Jonkman talks to Rowena Samuel and Alison Watson from CFUW (The Canadian Federation of University Women) about the upcoming giant used book sale. There’s info about CFUW, their programs, the scholarships, the advocacy work, and the social groups.

Some errors crept into our conversation. Mary Sehl writes:

There are more than 200 members in the Kitchener-Waterloo CFUW chapter alone. Across Canada there are more than more than 7,500 members.

The CFUW is now branding itself by its initials. It won’t drop the U for University but, as Alison and Rowena said, it is no longer exclusive to university graduates. Its legal name will remain the Canadian Federation of University Women but, not unlike many corporations these days, we will just use the initials.

Thanx, Mary!

The interview starts at 3m50s.

CFUW Online:

(illustration of an open book on a heart, with tulips above and below)

Upcoming Events

  • Book Donations
    • When: 9:00am to 9:00pm on Wednesday 19 April 2023 and 9:00am to 6:00pm on Thursday 20 April 2023
    • Where: First United Church
    • Location: 16 William Street, Waterloo Map
    • Website: https://www.cfuwkw.org/book-sale
  • Book Sale
    • When: 9:00am to 9:00pm on Friday 21 April 2023, and 9:00am to 1:00pm on Saturday, 22 April 2023.
    • Where: First United Church
    • Location: 16 William Street, Waterloo Map
    • Website: https://www.cfuwkw.org/book-sale

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-04-17-episode121-CFUW-Book-Sale-with-Rowena-Samuel-and-Alison-Watson.mp3 (53 MB, 57m41s, episode 121)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m51s Hackerboy CxViolet | Hackerboy (silhouette of a person standing in front of a sunset, with purple and pink sky and purple ground. At the right, sideways, are three lines of binary digits, 10010110 &c)
(single)		 CxViolet
3m05s Public Service Announcement: Mary Sehl announces the CFUW donation drive for books, audio books, CDs and sheet music.
3m50s Introducing Rowena Samual and Alison Watson of the CFUW. Alison tells us about the CFUW. There are 200 members across Canada, and it’s been around over 100 years. Rowena tells us about the different aspects of the CFUW — charities, social, dinner groups, book clubs, &c. It’s no longer just for university women, and the group has rebranded to drop “University” from their name, now they’re Canadian Federation of Women, but still known as CFUW
6m36s The book sale is in is 56th year, although they missed three years due to Covid. It has become the main fundraiser, and possibly the most successful fundraiser of any CFUW chapter. Alison gives us a rundown of what happens on Wednesday and Thursday, with the actual sale on Friday and Saturday. There are lots of shifts for people to help. Planning for this event started last year September. And then there’s a lot of cleanup afterwards.
11m37s The book sale nets about $30,000 a year, which gets invested over the years. In addition there are donations from members and friends. Alison is a trustee of the charitable fund for the CFUW charity. This fundraiser is going towards scholarships, there are fifteen different awards that go out. The education awards are the main focus, but there are other fundraisers, for example an evening with Lisa LaFlamme. Those funds went to organizations that Lisa is associated with. Tickets were sold out months in advance. Other CFUW chapters also raise funds for scholarships, since women’s education is at the forefront of CFUW. They have an advocacy committee, to select the causes to support. In the future they’re looking for other events, since book sales may not always be this popular. There is a clothing donation drive for women who need business attire for their job search.
16m22s There are things other than books in the book sale. The books need to be in good condition, if not they’re put into the skip bin. No magazines, no reference books, and no vinyl records, but they take CDs, DVDs, and sheet music. Volunteers arrive at 8:00am to begin the sale, doors open at 9:00am.
19m32s Are people still reading, or are they just going online and looking at their phones? There are still people buying books, and reading is good for child developement. Rowena is disappointed that she’s not reading as much as she used to. Alison has been worried about decline for years, but people are still buying books. Maybe someday books will become collectors’ items like vinyl is today, but books are still the best way to read and share. Rowena’s neighbourhood is full of book boxes, and they get good circulation.
22m02s IG iNJOY (album cover)
INJOY		 Kwazzi feat. Nathan Baya & Terence Penny
25m00s Public Service Announcement: Mary Sehl announces the CFUW-KW 56th Giant Used Book Sale.
25m45s Alison gives more information on Open Closet, collecting clothing donations and through social agencies in Waterloo Region making it available men, women, and children. There are Random Acts of Kindness, working with the homeless community, St. John’s Kitchen, and the Out Of The Cold program. CFUW does a December 6th vigil, working with the University of Waterloo. There is a strong affirmative action advocacy group; the Advocacy Committee is working on aging and long-term care; housing, environment — a lot of women in CFUW are working on making things better.
28m12s What are the criteria for people receiving the scholarships? There are fifteen awards, two for high school students, the top student in chemistry and the top female graduating student. There are bursaries for practical nursing students. There’s an award to the Kitchener Junior Symphony for a string player looking to continue their studies, which is in memory of one of the CFUW members’ sons. There are about 60 students in Waterloo Region who receive awards.
30m26s Back to the book sale: Rowena says that books and CDs sell for $2.00 or $3.00, but by Saturday they’re sold by the box — $15.00 for as many books as you can fit in a box. But you have to be able to carry the box out, no boxes on wheels! Sometimes staff will collect a box of related books and offer it as a “mystery box”. There are three rooms of books: the main gymnasium room with hardbacks, the cloak room with children’s books and non-fiction, and the chapel with more children’s books and paperbacks. There are too many books, maybe 50,000 books donated, to have them catalogued or sorted. They’re organized by category: Self-help, humour, classic literature. There used to a separate room for dealers, but now they have to sort through the all the books like everyone else. A sign of the times: There are not as many used book sellers as there used to be. A lot of people are buying books online, and books aren’t the quality they used to be and fall apart before they can be resold.
37m14s The social connections of the club gives people different reasons for joining. Alison joined because she was looking for a book club. There are bridge groups, food is a large part of the organization, there are hiking groups, cycling groups… Somebody recently start a sketching group. CFUW is a great way for women to meet others with similar interests and maybe improve their skills. Alison is also in a French Language group. Most groups meet once a month. And there are monthly speakers: Authors, hikers, people to talk about the environment, theatre events. It’s a wide range of interests. These meetings are for members only, and often held in people’s homes. The social activities are a big draw for new members. Duing the last three years of the pandemic people got very good at Zoom. The dining groups would order take-out and eat it on Zoom. But for speakers it’s difficult to engage the audience through a camera.
0m55s Saturday Night Natalia Valencia | Saturday Night (B&W line illustration of a bar with bottles on shelves in the background and barstools in the foreground)
(single)		 Natalia Valencia
45m01s Recap of the book sale hours and collection times. Looking at the CFUW-KW Facebook page with pictures of the evening with Lisa LaFlamme, talking about the event.
48m00s Any other events? CFUW slows down during the summer, but looking for something in the fall and next year’s book sale. Talking about Mary Sehl’s public service announcement, and encouraging any Waterloo Region organizations to put their PSAs on the radio.
49m30s PSA: CFUW book sale donations
50m15s PSA: CFUW 56th Giant Used Book Sale
50m59s How the First United Church gets booked. It’s a busy venue, and they’ve expanded their programs so CFUW has slightly less space than in the past. Most volunteers have done this before, people who have been members for a long time. The book sale used to be cash-only, but this year they have the capability to take credit and debit cards. And they can give charitable receipts. There are volunteers staffing a bag check, so you don’t have to carry around bags of books as you shop.
53m39s How long has CFUW done the book sale at First United? All 56 years? The church has been there a very long time.
54m44s How to join CFUW? Look on the website, there’s information on how to become a member. The CFUW year is almost over, new people will probably join in September. There are a lot of new members interested the advocacy work. Alison gives a recap on the recipients of the funds raised at the book sale.
56m39s Bob gives the end credits.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Video

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for Monday 17 April 2023

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 10 April 2023 with Amy Yardley and Garret Titus of The Purpletones

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Show Notes

Jeff Stager talks to Amy Yardley and Garret Titus of The Purpletones about the upcoming KidsAbility fundraiser. Donate at CanadaHelps.

The interview starts at 5m41s.

Amy Yardley

Amy Yardley:

Garret Titus

Garret Titus:

Group photo of the members of The Purpletones sitting on a green leather couch in front of a small painting, there is some art on the wall to the left, and the Purpletones logo is in the upper right.
The Purpletones

The Purpletones:

KidsAbility (blue text on a white background, with a colourful line drawing of a butterfly over the last two letters)
KidsAbility

KidsAbility:

Upcoming Events

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-04-10-episode119.mp3 (53MB, 58m10s, episode 119)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m28s Jeff Stager introduces the show and the guests, Amy Yardley and Garret Titus. Garret introduces the first song.
2m03s September The P (a white stylized letter P in the shape of a musical note, with two white circles around it, with a white word "THE" at the 10 o'clock position; all on a purple background)
(single)		 The Purpletones
5m41s Getting to know Amy and Garret: How many people at the Christmas feast? Then Amy introduces the next song.
8m10s Ain’t No Sunshine (Shawn James in profile, in front of a mic, holding a guitar, with his eyes closed concentrating on the song)
YouTube		 Shawn James
10m57s Garret is a teacher, excited about the school’s upcoming spring play. The band (The Purpletones) is just a fun thing on the side. Garret is also a voice actor. Amy has a lot of hobbies, and is on the board for Hepcat Swing. Garret tells us about the next song.
14m27s Uptown Funk The P (a white stylized letter P in the shape of a musical note, with two white circles around it, with a white word "THE" at the 10 o'clock position; all on a purple background)
(single)		 The Purpletones
18m40s Garret tells us about The Purpletones, how their music is mostly unique in the Region.
20m03s Amy has a birthday coming, and is holding a fundraiser to celebrate. She tells us about KidsAbility, and how it’s helped her family. You can call KidsAbility directly to make a donation. She tells us about pimping up the venue, and the Los Rolling Tacos food truck will be outside. Amy tells us how the donations work. And there will be an intro swing dancing lesson!
26m57s The Purpletones are an event band; there are eight musicians, so they’re not a bar band. They’ve done fundraisers before, but this is the first time for KidsAbility. Amy introduces the next song.
29m30s Beyond The Sea Bobby Darin | Beyond The Sea (blue and white letters on a red background, with a black and white photo of Bobby Darin at the right) The white of the photo is actually red due to the background colour)
(single)		 Bobby Darin
32m21s Catching up on things Jeff may have missed. Garret was a sax player, but is now doing voice acting. He toured with an a capella band, then an audio producer, and now he’s a teacher. Amy says some guests may want to jump in and participate in the music making; Garret sounds worried. Amy did some performance with Hepcats, but she’s never been in the band. Jeff tells us that Hepcat Swing has a community dance every Monday night, with a free beginner lesson at 7:30pm. There are a variety of advanced lessons too. There will likely be swing dancing at the fundraiser. Garret says bands really appreciate the feedback from dancers. People don’t necessarily know what R&B is, it’s not just old-timey music, but dancy music. The Purpletones often play at EVO Kitchen & Bar in Cambridge. Amy agrees, blues music is very varied. But maybe there won’t be polkas… Garret recounts how he met others in his band. Much respect for Amy, The Purpletones vocalist. There are still tickets left for the fundraiser.
43m10s Amy tells us about her daughter, who has exceptionalities, experiences at school. Amy started The A Team, other kids from the school who help out. Some of them will be helping out at the fundraiser. Jeff and Garret introduce the last song.
46m06s Canned Heat The P (a white stylized letter P in the shape of a musical note, with two white circles around it, with a white word "THE" at the 10 o'clock position; all on a purple background)
(single)		 The Purpletones
49m56s Jeff gets Amy and Garret to make CKMS-FM stationIDs. Amy recaps information about the event. Garret covers contact info for The Purpletones
53m24s Jeff asks the question “What are you doing in the next two hours, two days, two weeks, two months, two years, twenty years?”
57m16s End credits

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 13 March 2023 with Jenna Mayne and Lillie Proksch of Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region

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Show Notes

Bob Jonkman talks to Jenna Mayne and Lillie Proksch of Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region about the WCSWR and the podcast She Is Your Neighbour.

The interview starts at 3m37s.

Previously on CKMS Community Connections: CKMS Community Connections for 14 December 2020 with Jen Hutton, of Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region

She Is Your Neighbour: Understanding Femicide on CKMS-FM: She Is Your Neighbour – Season Four Mondays 1:00pm-2:00pm.

24 Hour Support Line

Kitchener-Waterloo: +1‑519‑742‑5894
Cambridge: +1‑519‑653‑2422
In danger? Call 911

She Is Your Neighbour | Understanding Femicide (collage of portraits of the six guests above white text on a black background with an illustration of a microphone to the left; wordmarks of sponsors below that, Spotify, Apple iTunes, Google Podcasts, Rogers, WCSWR)
She Is Your Neighbour poster
She Is Your Neighbour

Moving Beyond Violence (words around a blue circle with a silhouette of a dragonfly)
Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region

WCSWR Online:

Jenna Mayne (a woman with blonde hair wearing a white sweater sits in front of a microphone)
Jenna Mayne

Jenna Mayne Online:

Lillie Proksch (A woman with pink hair wearing a gray cardigan sits in front of a microphone and smiles into the camera)
Lillie Proksch

Lillie Proksch Online:

Upcoming Events

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-03-13-episode116.mp3 (53.2 MB, 55m23s, episode 116)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m55s Saturday Night Natalia Valencia | Saturday Night (B&W line illustration of a bar with bottles on shelves in the background and barstools in the foreground)
(single)		 Natalia Valencia
3m37s Introducing Lillie Proksch, the Senior Communications and Events Coordinator at Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region, and the producer of the She Is Your Neighbour podcast; Jenna Mayne is Communications and Fund Development Manager, and the host of the podcast.
4m26s WCSWR supports women and children who are experiencing domestic violence. Not just physical violence, but also emotional, financial, psychological, coercive control. Support is through emergency shelter, outreach services, transitional housing, and other support services. There are 45 beds in each location, Haven House in Cambridge and Anselma House in Kitchener. Both are at capacity. The units are hotel-style, with adjoining rooms available for women with children. With the housing crisis, stays can be from eight to twelve months. The long stays prompted the start of the transitional housing program, at Aspen Place, which is three units to house up to twelve people. And housing placement workers will help women get permanent housing. The need for services has increased 92% over the last two years, and that’s related to the additional stresses from Covid.
9m06s Women don’t need to stay at the shelters to access the WCSWR services. Help is available through the two support phone numbers, and online at https://wcswr.org/ The online chat was implemented at the start of Covid, and is staffed by a social worker. The web site has a safety exit that deletes all the history from the WCSWR web site.
11m13s WCSWR started the She Is Your Neighbour podcast to talk about the fact that domestic violence is happening to people in all different neighbourhoods, doesn’t matter what their background. They wanted to bring a face and a voice to the issue – the women experiencing abuse are not like they’re portrayed in mainstream media, these are strong women. WCSWR hired a professional photographer, Hilary Gauld to take pictures of the podcast participants. The podcast is aimed both at the general public, but also at women experiencing domestic violence, knowing they’re not alone in this experience. This is Season Four, Understanding Femicide. It’s six episodes discussing what happens when domestic violence becomes lethal.
14m19s Trailer for Understanding Femicide.
15m07s She Is Your Neighbour Season Four: Understanding Femicide will air on CKMS-FM from 1pm to Noon from 13 March 2023 until 17 April 2023. It is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and other sites. Episodes can also be heard on the She Is Your Neighbour website. Featured on the website is Dr. Jennifer Kagan-Viater, featured on the second episode of the podcast. One purpose of the podcast is general education, including the definition of femicide: All killings of women and girls that involve sex- or gender-related motivations or indicators. Lillie gives a synopsis of the first episode with Fallon Farinacci.
19m11s Clip from Episode One with Fallon Farinacci
20m15s Discussing the serverity of femicide: In 2022 there were 52 femicides in 52 weeks. The word “Femicide” is hardly ever heard in mainstream media. The issue of femicide appears to be getting worse, and more so due to the pandemic. Women need to know they can reach out for support. It’s difficult to know who is experienci domestic violence because women don’t always report it, or reaches out for help. There is a lot of shame and stigma surrounding domestic violence. Women may be afraid to call the police or come out to an emergency shelter. But all kinds of people come to the shelter, all different backgrounds, wealthy people, older women. There is domestic violence in same-sex relationships, but violence against women is disproportionally by men.
23m28s There are a lot of male allies and supporters, some of whom are on the podcast. Men can help by being supportive, providing information on the WCSWR support lines, but not necessarily asking women to leave their relationship right away.
24m49s I’ll Go Who We Are | Act Of Nature (out-of-focus picture of a river running between trees)
Who We Are		 Act Of Nature
28m32s What does it take to produce a podcast? It’s a long process, especially when it comes to safety concerns. It starts about six months in advance when they reach out to their guests. Lillie and Jenna write questions, pre-interview guests, have the photographer take pictures. The first seasons were ten episodes, but now reduced to six episodes to make it more manageable. There is a mix of ways they find their guests. Big names have appeared on the podcast, such as Anna Maria Tremonti. Bob had not imagined that someone as high-profile as Anna Maria Tremonti would be a victim of domestic violence. Lillie and Jenna reached out to her agent, and also through Twitter. Some people they reach out to don’t want to be on the podcast, other people have approached them. Ensuring the safety of their guests is a primary concern.
33m52s Before Covid the interviews were done in person, now they’re done remotely. That has given Lillie a bit more prominence. They’re using Riverside FM as their remote recording sofware, and ensure the guests have a good microphone and setup. Bob geeks out over the technical specs of the software. The podcast is minimally edited to keep the guests as authentic as possible. The podcast started very small in a room at WCSWR and has turned into a bigger and better thing than expected. Bob says the podcast is very well done.
38m05s Plans for the future? the next four episodes are airing weekly through the social media channels and the website. They’re trying to make She Is Your Neighbour as big as it can possibly be. Then they’ll start choosing next season’s theme and the guests. And they’re making She Is Your Neighbour into more than a podcast. There is a group called Neighbours And Loved Ones, standard training for community members who are worried about someone or who want to know about the services WCSWR provides. That’s run by a social worker on request. There is also a She Is Your Neighbour podcast club, like a book club but better because you don’t have to read anything. There’s a merch line to try to keep the project sustainable. There are several sponsors, some for individual episodes, and Rogers has sponsored the entire last two seasons. Sponsors come from contacts at the various events WCSWR runs throughout the year. It’s difficult to put a cost on the podcast, it’s rolled into all the other work Lillie and Jenna do.
41m22s The podcast is being syndicated on Midtown Radio as the March feature, and a little bit on Rogers. Bob suggests they syndicate on the NCRA’s !earshot Digital Distribution System, and get distribution to campus and community stations across Canada.
42m37s Haunted Haunted (multiple streaked B&W pictures of Clarissa Diokno's head)
(single)		 Clarissa Diokno
46m10s Future episodes feature experts and survivors. Episode three will have Dr. Myrna Dawson, and episode four has local guest Sarah Robertson. Other guests are Sofia Aresta and Marlene Ham.
48m37s WCSWR coordinates with other shelters out of the region when there aren’t enough spaces locally. WCSWR is one of the biggest crisis services organizations in Ontario. It used to be two separate organizations, Anselma House and Haven House, and people still remember it that way. WCSWR is biggest for a variety of reasons, not necessarily that things are worse here. Any women and their children who are experiencing any form of domestic abuse can make use of the support services. Lillie and Jenna repeat the contact information for support.
51m38s Talking about how WCSWR is funded: 60% of the funding is from the Ontario ministry of Children and Community Services, the rest is from fundraising. Some programs, like music therapy are completely funded by donors. There are two signature events, the next is Hats Off To Mom, the annual Mother’s Day brunch, the first time it’s being held in-person in three years. Angie Hill is hosting, Juneyt is providing music.
54m25s End credits.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Video

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for Monday 13 March 2023

Photo Gallery

Lillie Proksch and Jenna Mayne (two women in the CKMS-FM studio sitting behind microphones, smiling at the camera, one in the back ground (Lillie) and one in the foreground (Jenna), who is holding the camera for a selfie)
Lillie Proksch and Jenna Mayne in the studio

Twitter

Great start to the week at @RadioWaterloo this morning with @LillieProksch talking about @WomensCrisisSWR and #SheIsYourNeighbour 🎙️✨ pic.twitter.com/C8404QJNzd

— Jenna Mayne (@jennafree16) March 13, 2023


Video: Natalia Valencia – Reaction to being on CKMS-FM, 4 MBytes
(from Instagram Stories)

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 20 February 2023 with Jim Stewart of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition

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Show Notes

Jim Stewart in 2022

Jim Stewart of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition joins Bob Jonkman by phone to discuss the state of public health in Ontario, and to talk about the upcoming pickets in support of the Ontario Nurses’ Association this Thursday, 23 February 2023 at St. Mary’s Hospital and Grand River Hospital.

Waterloo Region Health Coalition:

Ontario Health Coalition:

The Waterloo Region Health Coalition previously on Radio Waterloo:

Upcoming Events

The Waterloo Region Health Coalition has confirmed that Thursday’s pickets are on, regardless of weather.

Better Staffing Care Wages | ONA Ontario Nurses' Association (pink and white lettering on a black background. "Better" is tilted on its side so it's an adjective for all three of "Staffing", "Care", "Wages")

  • Picket at St. Mary’s Hospital
    • When: Thursday 23 February 2023, One Hour commencing at 11:00am until Noon
    • Where: St Mary’s General Hospital
    • Location: 911 Queen’s Boulevard, Kitchener Map 1
    • Contact: Jennifer Cepukus, ONA Local 139 Coordinator/Bargaining Unit President local139@ona.org
  • Picket at Grand River Hospital
    • When: Thursday 23 February 2023, One Hour commencing at 12:30pm until 1:30pm
    • Where: Grand River General Hospital
    • Location: 835 King Street West, Kitchener Map 2
    • Contact: Deanna Dowsett, ONA Local 55 Coordinator/Bargaining Unit President local055@ona.org
    •  or: Stephanie Hamill, ONA Local 55 Vice President l55vpsmgh@ona.org

More information on pickets across Ontario: https://www.ona.org/bettercare/feb23/

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-02-20-episode114.mp3 (49.2 MB, 51m09s, episode 114)

Index

All songs today are new releases from (B&W solarized, elongated, wiggly photo of four men)Living Room for Small.

Time Title
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc Steve Todd
0m59s what’s my issue (idk) (Living Room for Small)
4m29s Welcoming Jim Stewart back to the studio. Jim explains the crisis in Ontario health care. Funding for the pandemic came from the Federal government ($6.5 billion for all of Canada by March 2022, according to a government press release).
6m48s Premier Doug Ford has capitalized on the backlog in surgeries as a result of the pandemic, but surgical backlogs are happening globally. Taking advantage of Ontario’s backlog to begin privatization is “absolutely despicable”. Nurses in New York are striking over their work conditions, we have the same conditions in Ontario. Nurses in Ontario aren’t on strike yet, but there will be pickets by nurses in front of hospitals across Ontario, including St. Mary’s and Grand River hospitals in Kitchener.
9m52s Doug Ford’s do-nothing strategies has resulted in Ontario being in last place for per-capita health care funding, last in numbers of beds per-capita, and dead last in the number of nurses per-capita. The Health Coalitions would like to see Ontario get back to an average rating, but the current privatization strategy will only make it worse. The right-wing mantra is to create a crisis, then claim that privatization is the only solution. But it is well known that privatization only makes these metrics worse. The Ontario government has been underfunding health care by $900 million, according to finance critic Catherine Fife, NDP MPP for Waterloo. And the plan in the new budget is to reduce health care spending by 2024 even more, by $5 billion dollars, according to Liberal health critic Dr. Adil Shamji. It is unlikely that we will ever be able to come back to a public health care system. At the same time, Doug Ford has been transferring funds from our public hospitals to independent health care facilities, to move 50% of our surgeries to for-profit, private clinics. And Doug Ford has introduced Bill 124 to reduce the wages of nurses and other medical professionals, resulting in nurses leaving our public hospitals, and making recuitment for new nurses dreadful. We have massive vacancies in nursing staffing levels. The crisis Doug Ford has created is a political decision, to proceed with privatization of the public health care system. There are over 1137 pro-privatization health care lobbyists at Queen’s Park. The WRHC thinks privatization is a disaster for public health care, a fatal blow for our hospitals, especially small and medium hospitals.
16m18s Privatization has been happening for several years with diagnostic imaging and blood tests, now transferred to cataract surgeries and other opthalmic procedures. Private clinics will only take the easiest, most profitable cases. OHIP will pay $610 per cataract, but only $400 when done in a public hospital. In addition there are facility fees for maintenance and administration in private clinics. In 2014 OHIP paid $198 million in procedural fees, but $434 million for facility fees. OHIP is paying this extra money for building and administering private clinics. This is not in the public interest, since we have the surgical capacity in our existing hospitals.
20m01s Private clinics take the easy surgeries at greater expense, so our underfunded and understaffed public hospitals will need to deal with the more complex surgeries. Jim again calls this despicable. There are 24,000 vacancies for health care professionals, 140 in Waterloo Region alone. Then the call drops, and Bob introduces the next song.
22m11s the death of u (Living Room for Small)
26m48s Jim was talking about the band Kroka, and Bob suggests they come in to the studio for a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance!
27m28s Are we losing the health care battle? We have the capability of stopping privatization. Jim explains the structure of the Ontario Health Coalition and the Waterloo Region Health Coalition, non-partisan organizations. Everyone Jim knows supports the public health care system, which is why Jim is so disturbed by the announcements to privatize. The former Ontario minister of health, Christine Elliott, made an announcement in February 2-2022 that they would privatize health care. This was an existential threat to public health care. Jim was interviewed by The Record about this announcement, but when The Record contacted the Ontario ministry of health for a response they said what the WRHC was saying was categorically false, although Jim had a recording of Christine Elliott’s announcement. The OHC and WRHC launched a campaign with lawn signs and radio spots. All during the election the Ontario PC Party denied any plans to privatize. They offered no campaign platform and didn’t show up for all-candidate meetings. But two months after the election they announced 50% privatization again. Jim and the health coalitions are finding out from Ontarians whether the government has a mandate to privatize.
34m48s There are other organizations that care about public health care. We have to take some ownership; if Ontario decides to privatize health care it will happen across the country. We’ll have American style medical debt and medical bankrupcy. Some 150 million Americans have at least $10,000USD of medical debt; 50% of all American bankrupcies are due to medical debt.
36m27s What’s the trend for privatization in the rest of the world? No, it’s not happening globally. The OECD countries all have publicly funded systems. There are some examples of alternative systems, we could consider adopting some of those strategies. There are some countries that have some privatization, but it’s difficult to compare those systems to ours; Jim describes the French system, which includes pharmaceuticals, dental, and eye care. There may be private insurace for a private room, but that’s the ancillary care, not the primary health care. Germany has private health care only for the very rich, but the overwhelming majority of Germans are covered by their national health care. By contrast, in Ontario all our doctors have private practices, all our laboratory services are private, much of our medical imaging is privatized, about 70% of our long-term care is privatized, and home care is almost 100% privatized. All we have left is our public hospitals. And now 50% of surgeries are to be privatized. We are working against the global trend, we need to think about re-establishing public health care system we believe should be there.
40m29s Would there be some advantage to having a national health care system instead of a provincial one? Constitutionally we have the Canada Health Act with requires the provinces to administer health care in a public fashion, but it doesn’t force provinces to deliver health care in any meaningful way with a public methodology. In Alberta their private health care delivery hasn’t work; surgical wait lists grew. But it has been a lucrative business. The proposed Ontario privatization will still be paid through OHIP, so surgeries will be paid at a premium rate; surgeons can make an extra $200 by performing surgery in their private clinics. And who is deliver the care now? Where do the nurses, medical technologists, and physicians come from? They come from the public system, there are only a limited pool of human resources. And so the public system will have enormously long wait lists for surgeries and other procedures. But a fully public health care system has better outcomes at lower costs. This can be seen between the partly private NHS system in England compared to the public NHS in Scotland. NHS in England is barely surviving, will never go back to a public system, and that’s Jim’s big fear for Ontario.
45m30s What are the Ontario and Waterloo Region Health Coalitions doing? They’re lobbying the government directly, and talk to the media, and support local initiatives such as the ONA picket lines Thursday 23 February 2023. Come out and tell the media we are not supportive of privatizing our public health care system; we want the reverse, a fully funded public health care system, to grow it and strengthen it and finance it properly with the right kind of human resources and financial resources. Join the Waterloo Region Health Coalition which is made of concerned citizens who want to take action. The best way to join is through their Facebook website or send Jim an e-mail at waterlooregionhealthcoalition@gmail.com. Also the OHC website, https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/. WRHC has regular monthly meetings on Zoom, Jim hopes to go back to in-person meetings soon. There are also individual memberships to the OHC, join up and be a Health Care Defender. They’re looking for people to report on fees being charged for surgeries &c. Pickets at the hospitals are right at the main entrance, an hour at each hospital, just show up.
50m09s End credits.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Video

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for Monday, 20 February 2023

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 3 February 2023 with Cait Glasson

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Show Notes

Cait Glasson sporting green hair and wearing headphones smiles towards the camera
Cait Glasson

Cait Glasson, “Social Activist At Large”, spoke with Bob Jonkman about the Government of Canada petition E-4268: To extend to transgender and nonbinary people the right to claim asylum in Canada by reason of eliminationist laws in their home countries.

Cait was previously on CKMS-FM for a CKMS News segment on 25 June 2021, and on CKMS Community Connections for 27 May 2019.

The interview starts at 4m56s.

Cait Online:

Spectrum

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-02-03-episode113.mp3 (53.4 MB, 55m35s, episode 113)

Index

All music today is from Three, the latest album from Dichroma. Dichroma (red-tinted photo of broken-down building supports, beams, posts, all underwater)

Time Title
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections by Steve Todd
1m00s Thirsty (Dichroma)
5m00s

Introducing Cait, and the reason for the petition to have asylum protections extended to Trans people because of eliminationist laws in their own countries, necessitated by recent announcements in the US and UK to outlaw Trans people. Ordinarily we would consider the US and the UK as “safe third countries”; Cait perceives what is happening in those countries as genocide, and does not want to turn away people as Canada did with the St. Louis, a ship from the Third Reich carrying people trying to get away. The petition was initiated a week ago on Thursday, 26 January 2023, and had received 18,388 signatures at air time. The petition is online at https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4268. Cait reads the petition.

Cait tells us that the holocaust of the second world war started with the Trans people. Cait tells us of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, who coined the word “transsexual”. Berlin was the gay capital of the world, but this culture was the first thing the Nazis tore down. After the war, when people were liberated, homosexuals and Trans people were put back in jail. West Germany and Canada had laws against homosexuality until 1969, and in the military until 1992. Cait herself was caught in this law when she was in the military, and discharged.

Cait tells us about conditions in the UK, starting with Terfs, Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists, telling us about J.K. Rowling and other online trolls. They specialize in brigading Trans women to take their lives, and they like to SWAT people, calling the police under false pretences to harass Trans people. Cait has taken precautions to ensure her security, online and with the police. Cait says the hate against Trans people is the worst it has been since she transitioned thirty years ago.
19m28s Dead To Me (Dichroma)
22m12s

Commenting on the music: Bob calls it “the aluminum of heavy metal”. But he likes the music.

Cait tells us how to get a petition before the government. It needs 500 signatures, so Cait set the petition to four months. Cait approached Mike Morrice, MP for Kitchener to help with the petition and to sponsor it. The petition is now up to 18,512, up 200 in 20 minutes. It took about three weeks to get the petition from writing down the idea to getting it online.

We’ve had problems with anti-Trans politics in our own municipal elections, with the election of several anti-Trans school board trustees. Cait hasn’t felt in danger in Kitchener herself recently, but some younger friends are regularly harassed. But the police won’t take action. Bob suggests this is not transphobia, a fear, but transmisia, an out-and-out hate. Cait thinks it’s all starts from fear and disgust, citing research that this may be caused by an overactive amygdala.

There’s a right-wing ecosystem of media that set up to feed into those fears, and push it to engage their base. Talking about the hate on social media. Twitter is especially bad, but Mastodon in the Fediverse is much better, “the grown-up version of social media” — there are no algorithms pushing hateful content in your face.

Talking about Cait’s account in the Fediverse: @oldladyplays@wargamers.social. Cait tells us how she got the online name “Old Lady Plays”, playing video games. Someone mentioned Cait playing on Reddit, and Cait’s subscriptions shot up, and she was interviewed on international radio! Cait tells us about a virtual football manager game, and a linguistic game.

Cait’s career was as a translator of French, German and Russian; she tells us how translation is not interpretation. How she got into translation, right at the time of perestroika in 1987. She can understand spoken Russian and some Ukrainian, but speaking is much harder.
38m58s Broken Inside (Dichroma)
41m54s

Talking about the time signature in Broken Inside.

What can be done to return things to normal? Cait is very public about being transgender, both for the Trans community and the Cis community, to show that she’s just another person in the community.

She does education work for Spectrum, going to companites and organizations to teach them how to deal with the Queer community. The equity laws tell companies what do do, Cait’s program tells them how. This is the Rainbow Diversity Training program.

Mis-gendering people is a big deal to Trans people. When it happens, treat it like you would stepping on someone’s toe. Apologize, and move on. No need to make further excuses.

Cait reviews the purpose of the petition. Sucessful completion of the petition only means that it will be debated in parliament, not necessarily that a law to enact it will be passed. That’s why Cait now hopes to get 100,000 signatures, approximately that of an election riding, to show politicians that this is what Canadian citizens want.

Bob gives the end credits.
51m50s Strange Attractor (Dichroma)

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Video

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for Friday, 3 February 2023

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 23 January 2023 with Peter Tudisco of the Kiwanis Club of Cambridge

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Show Notes

(headshot of a man smiling into the camera)
Peter Tudisco

Jeff Stager talks with Peter Tudisco of the Kiwanis Club of Cambridge about service clubs.

The interview starts at 6m59s.

Kiwanis Club of Cambridge

Peter Tudisco

Upcoming Events

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-01-23-episode111.mp3 (55.2 MB, 57m29s, episode 111)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m28s Jeff Stager introduces Peter Tudisco, who introduces the first song.
2m19s Moondance Van Morrison Moondance (four small headshots of Van Morrison along the left side, one large headshot of Van Morrison turned one-quarter to the right below the text)
Moondance		 Van Morrison
6m59s Getting to know Peter Tudisco.
11m27s Fly Me To The Moon Frank Sinatra - Count Basie and his orchestra | It Might As Well Be Swing | arranged by Quincy Jones (disembodied heads of Frank Sinatra wearing a fedora and Count Basie wearing a captain's hat, surrounded by the song titles on the album in blue, green, and purple text; "It Might As Well Be Swing" is in red curly text swooping from top left to middle right)
It Might As Well Be Swing		 Frank Sinatra
14m04s Learning more about Peter, and his 25 years with Kiwanis and giving back to the community. His involvement with service clubs has enabled him to travel. Recently Peter has rekindled his interest in music.
21m12s Moonshadow Cat Stevens (text above an illustration of a young boy wearing a top hat, beside an orange cat, both sitting on the edge of a sidewalk in front of a broken fence with an old tree on the right, and the moon above the fence)
Teaser and the Firecat		 Cat Stevens
23m54s

Different service clubs have their own objectives and origins. Kiwanis has existed for 108 years, started in Detroit, Hamilton had the first Canadian Kiwanis club. Peter has just moved to Ayr, wants to start a Kiwanis club in North Dumfries.

The Kiwanis slogan is “Kids need Kiwanis”, its purpose is to improve the lives of children around the world, starting in their own communities. The ideas come from the communities where the clubs are. There is still a Moose Lodge in Kitchener. “Kiwanis” is a First Nations name, meaning “We trade”.

It’s not just about providing services, but there’s also the social aspects of the club. Even today there are gaps in services that Kiwanis fills.

Peter tells us about the “Fallen Sparrows” foundation, raising money for families with disabled children. Peter calls these experiences “Kiwanis moments”.

There are 17 countries in the Eastern Canada and Caribbean district, including the tip of South America.

Peter tells of the world-famous Kiwanis music festival. Elvis Presley was a Kiwanis “Key Clubber”, the student-led organization of Kiwanis.
36m40s Harvest Moon Neil Young - Harvest Moon (silhouette of a man wearing a coat with fringes, walking in a meadow under a cloudy sky)
Harvest Moon		 Neil Young
41m32s Peter is setting up a new Kiwanis club in Ayr. The community is expanding. This would be for North Dumfries, including Clyde, Roseville, even Glen Morris. Peter tells us about the Information Meeting about the new club location. Peter tells of the other members involved in doing the work.
47m49s Dancing In The Moonlight King Harvest | Dancing in the Moonlight - Lady, Come On Home (B&W photo of six men standing on a street corner, some leaning against a lamp post, with ladders and old buildings in the background)
Dancing In The Moonlight – Lady, Come On Home		 King Harvest
50m44s

Peter repeats the invitation to the Information Meeting. A new club needs a minimum of 15 members, there will be an organizational meeting in February, and then they’ll apply to Kiwanis International to get their charter.

Peter tells us what he’s doing in the next 2 hours, 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, and 2 years.

56m29s End credits.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 13 January 2023 with Tamara Lorincz of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and Stuart Ross of World Beyond War

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Show Notes

Tamara Lorincz

Stuart Ross at the microphone in the CKMS-FM studio
Stuart Ross

Bob Jonkman talks with Tamara Lorincz, who’s involved with a number of Peace and Social Justice organizations, and Stuart Ross from World Beyond War.

On last week’s CKMS Community Connections I spoke with Tamara and Stuart briefly at the “No F35 Fighter Jets” rally, but there was so much else to talk about that Tamara and Stuart came to the studio for a longer conversation.

The interview starts at 3m20s.

Tamara Lorincz:

Tamara Lorincz previously appeared on CKMS Community Connections for 20 January 2020.

Canadian Voice of Women for Peace:

World BEYOND War:

Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF):

No Fighter Jets Coalition:

Sign the Parliamentary petition to: Study the financial, climate, environmental, and social costs of the F35 fighter jets; Make public the results of that study; and Cancel the planned purchase of F35 fighter jets and invest in climate action and the well-being of Canadians: e-4217 : Petition to the House of Commons

An earlier Parliamentary petition endorsed by the No Fighter Jets Coalition was presented by the Hon. Bardish Chagger, MP for Waterloo: e-3821 (National defence and military operations) to which members of the government have responded.

Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network:

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-01-13-episode109.mp3 (53.7 MB, 55m55s, episode 109)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m57s The Place I Leave Behind Cameronoise | Racing To The Next Red Light (four coloured panels showing the same B&W image of a Vespa scooter, "Cameronoise" in the centre with red-on-yellow text and the album name at the bottom in yellow on red text.
Racing To The Next Red Light		 Cameronoise
3m09s Stuart Ross tells us how he became involved with World Beyond War. Tamara Lorincz tells us of several other organizations that promote peace and non-violence.
9m52s Talking about the F35 fighter jet purchase by the Canadian government. Discussing the expense, the carbon emissions, other pollutants in the fuel, stolen Indigenous lands for airforce bases, and the trauma and chronic disease brought to these communities from the effects of fighter jet emissions. Militaries are responsible for a 5% of the total carbon emissions across the world, and the United States military is the largest consumer of fossil fuels on the planet. In Canada, the Department of National Defense accounts for 61% of all federal government emissions. There is no plan to offset the emissions from military vehicles and operations. We need to talk about demilitarization for decarbonization. The F35s are not defense armament, but attack fighters. And they are seriously flawed: They only have a range of 2,200km, they can’t fly across the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, or even across Canada, without flying alongside a tanker. And so Canada will not just be purchasing fighter jets, they will also be purchasing a fleet of strategic tankers to supply these fighter jets. And also runways, hangars, and fuel tanks in the Arctic. Instead of this, Canadians need affordable housing, and health care, and education, and public transit. And yet, these F35s are well known to have many technical flaws, but Canada will not own any of the software or repair manuals.
25m48s The purchase has already been approved; what can we do to reverse this? Call, e-mail, mail, or meet your member of Parliament. Postage to MPs is free. Sign the Parliamentary petition. Check https://nofighterjets.ca/ and read the report Soaring: The Harms And Risks Of Fighter Jets And Why Canada Must Not Buy A New Fleet (PDF, 1.41 MB) which compiles all the problems with the F35 fighter jet.
27m24s Bob introduces the next song, No To NATO by Mistahi, a musician from Winnipeg (not Edmonton).
27m39s No To NATO (Black and white photo of Mistahi Corgill sitting at tympani drums with mics on mic stands in the foreground)
(YouTube)		 Mistahi
31m19s Tamara gives some context for No To NATO, including the clips from speeches by veterans from the war in Afghanistan. Tamara encourages us to view the video on YouTube: “No NATO, No War”: U.S. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Return War Medals at NATO Summit. Stuart recommends a film Soldiers Without Guns. Tamara provides background information on NATO, a U.S. let military alliance that has launched illegal wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Libya; its role in provoking the war in Ukraine, and its attempts at globalizing conflict in Asia. NATO is the greatest threat to peace in the world. Tamara explains the situation of Sweden, and especially Finland experiencing pressure to join NATO, even though Finnish citizens are opposed. Tamara says that if we want to succeed on peace, to succeed on the climate crisis and the Sustainable Development Goals then we need to work collaboratively and co-operatively with Russia and with China. Tamara urges people to read Stephen Cohen’s book War with Russia? The south-east region of Ukraine is the Donbas, a dominant Russian-speaking minority, who held a referendum to say they want to be part of Russia. NATO-backed forces have been shelling and killing Donbas civilians, yet this is something people don’t hear in the mainstream media. If NATO countries had respected the Minsk agreements, giving autonomy within Ukraine for the Donbas region to end the violence against the Russian speaking minority, then this Russia-Ukraine war would never have happened. Tamara wants to see political parties and elected officials to call for an inquiry, and to stop sending weapons, and to support peace and a political resolution.
47m40s What can be done? People can find out what the peace movement is doing in Canada at https://peaceandjusticenetwork.ca/. They are planning an international weekend of action from 24-26 February 2023 to rally in the streets and public squares, to contact their elected representatives, and they will be holding webinars on true nature of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the F35 fighter jet purchase. Also check the World Beyond War website.

We need peace for a livable planet, and we need peace for a positive happy future for out children and future generations. Stuart hopes that the millions of peace and environmental organizations can get together and have a solid, large voice in stopping this war in Ukraine.

51m33s Bob gives the end credits
52m15s Killer Drones (Drums) (Black and white photo of Mistahi Corgill sitting at tympani drums with mics on mic stands in the foreground)
(YouTube)		 Mistahi

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Video

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 13 January 2023

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 6 January 2023 with Tamara Lorincz, Stuart Ross, Alex, and Steven of the #NoFighterJets Protest Rally

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Show Notes

People standing on the steps in front of 100 Regina Street South, with Tamara Lorincz in the foreground taking a selfie)
At the #NoFighterJets protest rally

Today’s show is a mix of protest music, KWCon music by musicians from Waterloo Region, and some live reports from the #NoFighterJets protest rally outside MP Bardish Chagger’s office in Waterloo.

No Fighter Jets:

World Beyond War:

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2023-01-06-episode108.mp3 (56.3 MB, 58m32s, episode 108)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m28s Bob Jonkman introduces the show, talks about the #NoFighterJets protest rally in Waterloo, lists the KWCon musicians in the playlist today, and introduces the first song.
1m14s Killer Drones (Black and white photo of Mistahi Corgil sitting at tympani drums with mics on mic stands in the foreground)
Music For Change		 Mistahi
4m56s Rome is Burning
8m45s Interview with Tamara Lorincz at the protest rally.
10m57s No to NATO (Black and white photo of Mistahi Corgil sitting at tympani drums with mics on mic stands in the foreground)
Music For Change		 Mistahi
14m30s Interview with Stuart Ross from World Beyond War.
16m23s Gone (Insane) Joshua Sade James | Gone 4.8.22 | 337501 | Parental Advisory Explicit Content (a naked, wild-eyed Joshua holding a sign with his name and numbers, as in a mugshot)
(single)		 Joshua Säde James
18m53s Hakai (bold colored drawings, including anime, on a dark background)
ShundereWitch		 BlxnkMind
21m34s Rain on CD Latecomber | Rain On CD (abstract light blue shapes, fractured font for lettering)
Pallisades		 latecomber
24m55s This Page
28m50s Interview with Alex and Steven, who made a delegation and presented a petition in MP Bardish Chagger’s office.
31m00s On My Own (Rosie Samra sitting at a desk with a lamp behind her and a large book in front)
(single)		 Rosie Samra
34m08s YurippeTenshi (illustration in Anime style of three women standing and sitting around patio furniture; background is glowing magenta)
MaidensOfStarlight		 SpaceDeath
38m48s AuroraCrescent
42m35s Sand And Oil Floorboards | Christa Mercey (photo of Christa Mercey on the right in front of an abstract painting with thickly applied paint)
Floorboards EP		 Christa Mercey
45m50s Late Nights featuring SANT HK24 (B&W photo of three men, man in th eforeground wearing a bandana around his forehead shields his eyes from the camera; two men in the background have their eyes barred over to hide their identities)
HK24		 Harchit Kohli
49m28s Want You More
53m01s End Credits
54m00s Which Side Are You On? Which Side Are You On? | Artists For Action (illustration of a record in front of a background of blue at the top and yellow on the bottom; the record label reads "This Machine Kills Fascism")
(single)		 Artists for Action

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Video

Video: CKMS Community Connections for 6 January 2023 with Tamara Lorincz at the #NoFigherJets Rally in Waterloo

Photo Gallery

Photos courtesy of Tamara Lorincz.

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2023 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 30 December 2022 with Kevin Thomason and Henriette Thompson of Stop Bill 23

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Show Notes

Developer Fees Go Down. | Taxes Go Up. | Stop Bill 23

Stop Bill 23 | Experts say Bill 23 Does More Harm for Affordable Housing than Good

More Money for Developers | Stop Bill 23

No More Urban Sprawl | Stop Bill 23

No Protection for Renters | Stop Bill 23

Protect Our Farmland | Stop Bill 23

Jeff Stager talks to Kevin Thomason and Henriette Thompson, who organize a number of community groups to stop Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022.

The interview starts at 6m07s.

This episode was re-broadcast on Guelph University’s CFRU-FM 93.3 on the Breezy Breakfast Radio Hour on 2 January 2023.

Online:

Kevin Thomason
Henriette Thompson
Environmental Defence
Hold The Line

Stop Bill 23 | Protect Our Water Save Our Wetlands | Stop Bill 23 We Care If Our Houses Flood | Stop Bill 23 Stop Bill 23 | We Have The Right to Protect Our Communities We Will Not Sell Conservation Lands | Stop Bill 23

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-12-30-episode107.mp3 (55.7 MB, 57m59s, episode 107)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m25s Jeff Stager introduces Kevin Thomason and Henriette Thompson, and the first piece of music.
1m56s You’ve Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind) Buffy Sainte-Marie | Medicine Songs (Bubby Sainte-Marie with eyes closed, holding a mic in her right hand, and with her left arm outstretched towards the viewer)
Medicine Songs		 Buffy Sainte-Marie and Tanya Tagaq
5m36s Public Service Announcement: Hands Off the Greenbelt
6m07s Henriette talks about seeing Buffy Sainte-Marie in concert. Getting to know Henriette and Kevin. Introducing the next song.
10m07s Ontario’s Greenbelt – The Full Story (two men wearing hats standing in a field)
(YouTube)		 Stuart Davis
10m57s Public Service Announcements: Doug Ford is forcing unsustainable urban sprawl on municipalities.
11m27s Thanks to listeners at CFRU-FM in Guelph! The concerns of youth with climate change. Henriette tells how she got involved in social and economic justice. The organizations in Waterloo Region involved in climate justice: Faith groups, a group to write letters to the editor, there’s an e-newsletter that goes to over 100 members, TransformWR workshops and webinars, and Bill-23 rallies. And Henriette still has time for other interests like music! Introducing the next song, in recognition of climate anxiety affecting all ages.
18m55s Like The Weather 10000 Maniacs | Like The Weather (black and white photo of a person holding a bow, shooting an arrow into the air)
In My Tribe		 10,000 Maniacs
22m49s Public Service Announcement: Doug Ford is threatening to override our sustainable Regional official plan.
23m20s Kevin gives his background, how he got involved in environmental justice. How Waterloo Region set up its own environmental protections. Kevin helped set up a greenbelt area in Europe, from Finland to Bulgaria. Now the provincial goverment is coming to take away Waterloo Region’s protections. Kevin still has time to raise his children in the outdoors. Kevin introduces the next song.
29m34s Escarpment Blues Sarah Harmer | I'm A Mountain (illustration of a picture of a mountain hanging on a wall beside a door above a red chair)
I’m A Mountain		 Sarah Harmer
33m28s Kevin has seen Sarah Harmer in concert, Henriette hasn’t, but loves her music. Jeff introduces the next PSA.
35m28s Public Service Announcement: Despite our unique global success…
35m58s Henriette explains how these PSAs address the issues in fighting Bill 23 in three ways: 1) There are real-world effects of political decisions, eg. housing shortages. 2) These real-world effects are not just affecting people, but creatures and whole ecosystems. Bill 23 is undoing the work that has been done to see how interconnected we really are. 3) Bill 23 is undermining trust in government and politicians. Without trust the fabric of society comes apart. Kevin says over 41 individuals and community groups provided funding for producing the PSAs. Fighting Bill 23 has brought together groups that have never worked together before, that were at odds with each other over other issues. The previous PSA was specific to Waterloo Region like our Regional Plan, a bold document which has set the tone for the entire region. It has done things that were rarely done before, eg. the Blue Box program, the LRT, the Countryside Line. Other areas like Hamilton are now emulating our success, eg. the LRT and stopping urban sprawl. Our plans were unanimously supported by the Region’s municipalities, but the province just overrode that by requiring growth on farmland and the Greenbelt. Henriette acknowledges the support of the Small Change Fund, how it has enabled their group to communicate broadly and deeply about important matters. Kevin says we’re lucky to live in this community with groups to bring their resources together: Kevin’s environmental contacts, Henriette’s faith-based groups, Jeff’s agricultural people. The entire community needs to be involved, there are opportunities for everyone, eg. submitting comments on the Environmental Registry of Ontario to give suggestions indicate concerns. Some consultations are getting tens of thousands of comments from people across the province, almost unanimously opposing these plans. Henriette says Indigenous leaders are saying that the provice has not exercised its duty to consult with First Nations. She finds it inconceivable that governments can trample over people’s rights. Kevin is disturbed by the lack of response — protests are held in front of empty offices, where the politicians and staff have been told to not come in to work to avoid the protests. Henriette introduces the next song, which provides hope that another world is possible.
47m43s What A Wonderful World What A Wonderful World | Louis Armstrong
(single)		 Louis Armstrong
49m58s Public Service Announcement: Doug Ford has just used his majority to force Bill 23 into law.
50m30s Kevin brings a positive message, other countries are making good environmental decisions. Henriette gives tribute to the young environmental leaders, Indigenous leaders, and land defenders from East Africa, and partners from Kairos who spoke at COP27 and the biodiversity event in Montréal. Henriette stongly encourages everyone who has been hesitating to get involved to do it now: Write your MPP, write a letter to the editor, submit a comment to the Ontario Environmental Registry. Do it now. Contact, reach out, learn, and get involved. Don’t delay.
53m15s If A Tree Falls Bruce Cockburn - Big Circumstance (Bruce Cockburn sitting on a stool between two green stripes)
Big Circumstance		 Bruce Cockburn
54m36s Henriette and Kevin tell us what they will be doing in the next two hours, two days, two weeks, two months, and two years, Jeff says goodbye, and the end credits play.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 14 October 2022 with Suzy on the news from Kurdistan

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Show Notes

Mahsa Amini (woman wearing black clothes, including a hijab)
Mahsa Amini
Jeff Stager speaks with Suzy about life in Syria and the political situation in Kurdistan.

The interview starts at 7m53s.

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-10-14-episode102.mp3 (53.2 MB, 55m21s, episode 102)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m29s Jeff Stager introduces Suzy, and Suzy introduces Jna Peshmarga by Nasser Razazi, a song about the Kurdish Women Fighters.
1m51s Jna Peshmarga (woman aiming a rifle towards the right of the camera)
(YouTube)		 Nasser Razazi
7m53s Suzy explains the difficulty in saying she comes from Kurdistan, not Syria or Iran. She gives some background on the history of Kurdistan. She talks about coming to Canada. Suzy tells us about Mahsa Amini, and introduces Baraye by Shervin Hajipour.
14m23s Baraye Shervin Hajipour (very small B&W image of Shervin Hajipour, like a social media avatar. Text also in Arabic or Farsi)
(YouTube)		 Shervin Hajipour
16m36s Suzy explains that the Baraye lyrics came from messages posted on Twitter. Talking about Mahsa Amini, and the freedom to wear the clothes you want to wear. Explaining some of the culture.
25m29s Her Kurd Ebin Outline of a map of Kurdistan coloured in the colours of the Kurdish flag on a background of people protesting and waving Kurdish flags)
(YouTube)		 Kurdish Patriotic Anthem
28m05s Suzy talks about the other issues going on in Iran, even from before the revolution in 1979. Encouraging people to spread this news, it’s not being done by mainstream media. Introducing Hassan Zirak.
38m14s Kermanshah Hassan Zirak, Songs | Kurdish Music (illustration of a jacket with flowers coming out the neck, on a blue background. The text is also present in Arabic or Farsi)
(YouTube)		 Hassan Zirak
45m30s Suzy gives more info about Hassan Zirak. Suzy is getting feedback on her phone. Talking about Kurdish language and dialects; the other issues in Kurdistan. Explaining what happened to Mahsa Amini. Jeff Stager gives some info on Radio Waterloo, and how to start a show.
54m26s End credits.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 23 September 2022 with Aalaa, Abdullah, and Ayla Rehman of #CANYouthVoteMatter #CANMinorityVoteMatter

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Show Notes

Aalaa Rehman in the studio
Aalaa Rehman
Ayla and Abdullah Rehman in the studio
Ayla and Abdullah Rehman
Aalaa, Abdullah, and Ayla Rehman of #CANYouthVoteMatter #CANMinorityVoteMatter join Bob Jonkman in the studio. We discuss the importance of voter engagement, we get to know the Rehmans, and Abdullah spins some tunes.

Municipal Election 2022: #CANYouthVoteMatter & #CANMinorityVoteMatter airs Sundays from Noon to 12:30pm starting 25 September and running to 23 October 2022.

The interview starts at 4m49s.

Online:

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-09-23-episode101.mp3 (50.8 MB, 52m52s, episode 101)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m59s Can’t Lose Again Luc LeMans | Can't Lose Again (sepia-toned image of Luc at a card table flinging a pair of dice towards the camera)
(single)		 Luc LeMans
4m49s Introducing Aalaa, Ayla, and Abdullah. Aalaa makes a land acknowledgement, makes a pitch for donations, and tells us what the #CANYouthVoteMatter #CANMinorityVoteMatter show is about, and her motivations for doing a radio show. Talking about the poor voter turnout, getting every vote out. Looking for candidates.
11m22s Coldest Nights (Man wearing a winter jacket with his back to the camera facing a playground swing set)
(single)		 Kylof Söze
13m30s Learning about Abdullah, Ayla, and Aalaa outside of politics. Besides school there are lots of extracurricular activities. Ayla has written a book, The Fantastic Friends: Snake Goes Crazy. And the three siblings have written several other comics and stories. And all three are musicians and play in a guitar club.
19m08s Corner of Lincoln Corner of Lincoln | Lethal Pandemic & Hypnotic Mirage (B&W photo of shattered glass or ice, with a glass or ice flower in the centre)
(single)		 Lethal Pandemic & Hypnotic Mirage
22m34s Narine Dat Sookram is the first guest on Sunday; Aalaa, Ayla, and Abdullah have been on Narine’s show, Let’s Chit Chat with Narine Dat. Aalaa tells us how she finds candidates to interview. Contact information for any candidates if they want to be interviewed. Then Abdullah plays some music.
26m22s Infinte Everything Missy Bauman (illustration of a woman holding a bunny while hiding behind ferns)
Sweet		 Missy Bauman
29m44s Lana Del Rey
32m07s Aalaa interviews Bob Jonkman, finding out what he’s been up to. How podcasts are made. But being in studio is nicer.
35m19s Neon Soul Here Between | Eric Bolton (photos in primary colour stripes)
Here Between		 Eric Bolton
38m43s Abdullah gives a bio of Eric Bolton, and introduces the next track.
39m25s Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans Iron Tonic Jazz Band (stylized logo/wordmark, black letters except the word Jazz in pink)
(single)		 Iron Tonic Jazz Band
43m10s Discussing the Heffner Studio at the Kitchener Public Library. Encouraging someone (anyone!) to host a Jazz show on CKMS-FM.
45m38s Blue Skies Iron Tonic Jazz Band (stylized logo/wordmark, black letters except the word Jazz in pink)
(single)		 Iron Tonic Jazz Band
47m38s Abdullah extros the previous track, Aalaa encourages voter turnout, Bob gives the end credits, and Abdullah plays some nice music to take us out.
48m49s Lay Me Down Speed Of Life | Sammy Duke (stylized illustration of a pale pink moon over orange mountains with a dark red river running through them)
(single)		 Sammy Duke

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 23 September 2022

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 5 September 2022 with Matthew Albrecht of WR Nonviolence

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Show Notes

Waterloo Region Nonviolence | WRN (words in an arc around WRN in blue text, gold wavy line along the bottom, and a stylized butterfly in the middle)

Matt Albrecht joins Bob Jonkman to talk about the upcoming Nonviolence Day In The Park, WR Nonviolence‘s definition of Nonviolence, and some of the work that goes into putting on a festival.

There’s a false start to the interview at 4m29s, but the real interview starts at 9m21s.

Online:

Map to Non Violence Day In The Park 2022 (blue marker on OpenStreetMap)

Upcoming Events

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-09-05-episode100.mp3 (51.2 MB, 53m17s, episode 100)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m55s Boathouse (Roadhouse) Blues Pete Temple & The Cornerstones | Live At The Boat House (white and red letters over a background photo of The Boathouse looking over Victoria Park lake)
Live At The Boathouse		 Pete Temple & The Cornerstones
4m29s First introduction of Matthew Albrecht when Bob presses the wrong button on the computer and cuts Matt off in mid-sentence.
5m44s La Grange Pete Temple & The Cornerstones | Live At The Boat House (white and red letters over a background photo of The Boathouse looking over Victoria Park lake)
Live At The Boathouse		 Pete Temple & The Cornerstones
9m21s Introduction of Matthew Albrecht and WR Nonviolence. Matt explains what nonviolence is, and how Nonviolence Day In The Park exemplifies nonviolence. Listing some of the exhibitors, musical acts, and activities.
13m21s History of Nonviolence Day In The Park, based on The Dandelion Festival. Introducing Peter Jantzi and Gary Jones, the other organizers (and Bob Jonkman too). Gary has been the driving force in organizing this years’ event.
17m30 What it takes to put on a festival. WR Nonviolence needs volunteers to help with setup, running the festival, and takedown. Contact Matt Albrecht at info@wrnonviolence.org. Talking about the Kids’ Games at Nonviolence Day In The Park, and the Meditation Labyrinth.
23m02 Matt and Bob talk about the philosophy of nonviolence: Violence is treating people as an object. Animals killing animals, boxers fighting, playing “violent” video games, watching “violent” movies are not considered violence because no-one is objectified. But the monetary system is considered violence, and WR Nonviolence has the Usury-Free Day event in November to address this.
29m50s How to contact WR Nonviolence: Join the Tuesday night meetings at 7:00pm, an online meeting. Bob summarizes the Nonviolence Day In The Park, and introduces the next song.
33m13s The Water Calls Speed Of Life | Sammy Duke (stylized illustration of a pale pink moon over orange mountains with a dark red river running through them)
Speed Of Life		 Sammy Duke
36m25s Bob reads Sammy Duke’s promo material, and invites him to the studio. If anyone wants to submit music send an e-mail to office@radiowaterloo.ca to get your material in the Radio Waterloo library. Bob introduces the next song.
39m07s Speed Of Life Speed Of Life | Sammy Duke (stylized illustration of a pale pink moon over orange mountains with a dark red river running through them)
Speed Of Life		 Sammy Duke
43m10s Reading Pete Temple’s letter, and introducing the next song.
44m33s Boom Boom Boom Boom Pete Temple & The Cornerstones | Live At The Boat House (white and red letters over a background photo of The Boathouse looking over Victoria Park lake)
Live At The Boathouse		 Pete Temple & The Cornerstones
49m02s Bob summarizes Nonviolence Day In The Park again, gives the end credits, and introduces the last song.
50m23s Mojo Workin’ Pete Temple & The Cornerstones | Live At The Boat House (white and red letters over a background photo of The Boathouse looking over Victoria Park lake)
Live At The Boathouse		 Pete Temple & The Cornerstones

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 10 June 2022: Encampment Evictions with Dr. Erin Dej, Dr. Laura Pin, and Lesley Crompton

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Dr. Erin Dej, wearing a T-Shirt with the words "but first, housing"
Dr. Erin Dej
Dr. Laura Pin
Dr. Laura Pin
Lesley Crompton
Lesley Crompton

Show Notes

Bob Jonkman is joined by Dr. Erin Dej, Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Dr. Laura Pin, Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department, also at Wilfrid Laurier University, and Lesley Crompton, who works with the Unsheltered Campaign at the Civic Hub in Waterloo Region. They discuss the impending eviction of the people at the Victoria/Weber encampment, direct aid, government responsibilities, housing policy, and the role of academia.

The interview starts at 3m57s.

Online Resources:

Community Fridges

A community fridge facilitates access to high quality food. It is open 24 hour a day, 7 days a week and available to anyone who needs food at any time. Donations of fresh food or non-perishable items are welcomed.

Kitchener
The Kitchener Market Map
300 King Street East
Kitchener, Ontario
Waterloo
Cafe Pyrus Outpost Map
120 Roger Street
Waterloo, Ontario

CKMS Newsroom: The KW Community Fridge is solidarity through mutual aid

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-06-10-episode097.mp3 (50.1 MB, 52m05s, episode 097)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m55s Abolition Now! Abolition Now! (black upper case letters drawn on an orange background surrounded by explosion lines)
Abolition Now!		 The Soviet Influence
3m57s Dr. Erin Dej introduces herself, explains the role of critical criminology in social justice issues, and begins to explain the Point-In-Time count when technical difficulties arise.
6m33s Thieves of Joy The Soviet Influence | Thieves Of Joy (cartoon of a worker fighting an octopus with arms labelled Militia, Police, Black List, Injunctions, Employers Assn, RBA; the octopus head has a $ sign, there's a large knife labelled Socialist Ballot, and the cartoon caption is Say, Mr. Worker, haven't you been in the grip of this monster about long enough? Why not try the knife on him?
Thieves of Joy		 The Soviet Influence
9m35s Dr. Erin Dej explains that what is happening in Waterloo Region with homelessness is happening across the country, and across the world. The Point-In-Time count shows a doubling of homelessness since 2018. Part of that is due to Covid, but there are a variety of factors that contribute.

Dr. Laura Pin introduces herself, and explains how Political Science influence policy action around social issues and homelessness.

Lesley Crompton introduces herself, and the Unsheltered Campaign which has been filling gaps in social services for food, water, sanitary facilities, and shelter. Talking to people with lived experience, and gathering stories. Identifying the “hidden homeless”, people who are not registered with the municipality for the shelter system. Extended families are excluded, but may have some of the same issues. The Point-In-Time count had to be done by the municipality in order to get funding from other levels of government, but contracted the service out to the assistive organizations like Unsheltered Campaign. There are issues dealing with the macro issues because so much attention is focused on the micro issues.

17m43s Direct aid provided by eg. Unsheltered Campaign, Going Mobile KW, 519 Community Collective provide food, food ingredients, and food preparation for people who have food insecurity. It is difficult to prepare a variety of meals from supplies from the food banks; it does not provide the recipients with the choice of what to eat. There is no confirmation of need, no means testing; treating people with dignity. Are people satisfied, well-nourished? It’s difficult to say. Is this Canada’s “Social Safety Net”? Aid agencies need a “Billing For Filling” initiative, billing the state for filling the gap. This goes back to social policy, social assistance for people who have disabilities or are unemployed; the rates are not enough for people to afford shelter and food. The single rate for Ontario Works (OW) is $750/month; the Ontario Disability Support Program is about $1150/month. These are not livable, humane rates.
24m30s At the Waterloo Region Council Meeting on Tuesday, 7 June 2022, there was a call for additional funding from higher levels of government. Housing requires intergovernmental relations and multiple levels of government to manage. But at the regional level there are lots of things that can be done, eg. a regional encampment protocol. While there is a need for additional funding, it’s not an excuse for making use of the powers the regional government has for taking action. Beyond food, there are other issues that require support. Shelter support for families in motels are the same facilities used for people displaced from encampments, but this does not work for many people. Waterloo Region contracts out these services to aid agencies. Lesley Crompton says we need an Auditor General to ensure that there is more public accountability and transparency between the Region and its service providers to ensure they’re doing what we think they’re supposed to be doing — Lesley doesn’t think they are.
29m21s There are upwards of 50 people living at the Victoria and Weber encampment. Regional Council seemed sympathetic, but not motivated to help. Premier Doug Ford has said that for people in this situation just need to get a job. But Dr. Dej says that lots of people in this situation have a job! They’re working, but it’s not enough to pay the rent. For those without work, it is difficult to get a job. How do people without a job get a bus pass to find work? How do they get equipment like steel-toed boots needed to get a job? How can people try to get a job when they’re in an encampment, likely sleep deprived from being in the same area with 50 other people, concerned for their safety, and unable to get good rest from sleeping on the ground. And even when people on social assistance do get work, their earnings are clawed back at %50, an effective tax rate much higher than anyone else has to pay. The provincial government is cutting its sources of revenue (license plate renewal), federal government isn’t pursuing foreign holdings tax which could be used to invest in affordable housing and social housing. Dr. Pin says that at the local government level, a vacant home tax or foreign ownership tax could raise revenues for social programs. People are working part-time, employers cutting hours to minimize benefits. But even people working full-time at minimum wage earn only about $2000/month before deductions, yet rents are around $1600/month. If we took an approach of housing as a human right it shouldn’t matter whether people work full-time, part-time, if they need child care, or if people have a disability and can’t work — people still have a right to decent and affordable housing. The Region of Waterloo’s housing policy has put forward a human rights approach to housing; the federal government in its national housing strategy has also put forth a human rights approach to housing. But how can we make this a lived experience for people experiencing homelessness? Yet the Region of Waterloo Council has not advanced this into a formal motion.
35m30s International Human Rights declaration indicate that people are not to be evicted from their housing, or even encampments. What legal ramifications are there for municipalities that break the International Human Rights declaration? Dr. Dej says that federally this has already been adopted. Yet municipalities don’t follow it. Instead, municipalities are adopting a criminalizatin of homelessness, and even a militarization of the efforts to evict people from encampments. We do have a national protocol for homeless encampments in Canada to follow for removing people from encampments developed by the former UN Rapporteur on Housing, Lailani Farha and Dr. Kaitlin Schwan that tells municipalities how to do it within our international human rights obligations. Recognize that people don’t want to live in encampments, they want to be housed. The challenge is that following this protocol takes time, but people want quick fixes. Yet removing encampments is not that quick fix people are looking for, it’s not going to end homelessness.
38m06s Lesley Crompton points out that people need more than just housing: They need wrap-around services such as cooking instruction, a social structure, mental health issues that need to be addressed. Some shelters have zero-tolerance for violence. But what is violence? Someone speaking exteremely loudly may be considered violent, and get evicted. At motels used for housing, the staff are not able to deal with mental health issues. People need on-going supports, but some municipal housing staff think that merely providing housing is enough. What can academics do to influence the outcome of the pending eviction? Dr. Pin recognizes her privilege; people from the region connect with her in ways that they don’t connect with people on the ground. The 30 June deadline for evicting people from the Victoria and Weber encampment is artificial, the site is not needed for construction until the fall. Dr. Pin suggests we push back against that deadline to give people more time to discuss with decision makers as to what they need. Dr. Dej suggests that we push as hard as we can to make sure that the voices of the people in the encampments are the ones that are heard. She has received criticism about the Point-In-Time counts and other academic pursuits, that money spent on academic studies would be better spent on housing directly. But there is a lot of power in that data, it can convince people in ways that people might be convinced otherwise. For example, Dr. Dej has researched, rigorous data that supports Lesley’s statements on the need for ongoing services. Use this as clout to amplify the voices of people on the ground.
43m33s How does this get to the politicians who make the decisions? Dr. Pin has been inviting councillors and staff into the Unsheltered Campaign meetings to hear what community organizations have to say on the issue. Dr. Pin’s graduate seminar prepared a report on comparative encampment protocols from a human rights perspective to provide the Region with data on how difference cities have put forward protocols to manage encampments, and providing some analysis to determine which protocols are more consistent with a human rights approach. Building relationships and capacity at the Regional level to do that kind of analysis. What can ordinary citizens do? Lesley Crompton says to take time to understand, to talk to people at the encampments, to talk to people who have been working for the people at encampments. The Region’s capacity of outreach staff is very limited, and does not give enough time to spend with the individuals at the encampments. Get involved, so you can then speak to the Region. This is an election year, and while there are no Regional or City councillors on the same page as Premier Ford, it is time for a change. CARE (Coalition Against Removing Encampments) is a grassroots organization that looks at other social justice issues, a coalition of other organizations. Dr. Pin mentions the Social Development Centre and the Civic Hub WR for people who are interested in connecting in a immediate way. Challenge the stigma that’s presented to the people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, recognize that the people in encampments are our neighbours and community members.
49m23s Bob thanks the guests, gives the credits for CKMS Community Connections, and introduces Dreamer by Rose Brokenshire.
50m35s Dreamer (photo of Rose Brokenshire among fluffy clouds)
(single)		 Rose Brokenshire

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 10 June 2022

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 14 March 2022 with Barbara Schumacher and Jim Stewart of WRHC

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Show Notes

Screencap of a web conference with Barbara Schumacher (top) and Jim Stewart (bottom)
Barbara Schumacher and Jim Stewart of WRHC

Barbara Schumacher and Jim Stewart of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition join Bob Jonkman on a web conference to talk about the Ontario government’s creeping advances to privatized health care, the diminishing level of health care in Ontario compared to other provinces, ideas to improve public health care, the effects of having private hospitals, and an announcement of the upcoming Waterloo Region Health care Privatization Summit.

We had some technical difficulties during the live broadcast, but the podcast cleaned up nicely, although the web conference created some dropout in the audio at some points.

The interview starts at 5m08s.

Online:


Ontario Health Coalition | Protecting public healthcare for all

See also:

Upcoming Events

Previous shows with WRHC

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-03-14-episode093.mp3 (38.9 MB, 40m27s, episode 093)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc and show introduction by Bob Jonkman CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
1m07s Boy Beast & Fish | The Day Is Gone (two boys in silhouette playing on a grassy field)
The Day Is Gone		 Beast & Fish
5m08s Introductions: Barbara Schumacher is a retired physician and the former Medical Director of the University of Waterloo Health Service; Jim Stewart is the chair of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition. WRHC is a chapter of the Ontario Health Coalition, a non-partisan public watchdog for health care. Provincial legislation is introducing privatization of health care by stealth; result of insufficient funding for the health care system. Canadian Doctors for Medicare has done studies of the administration of private health care: Canadian public health has half the administrative cost of private health care.
13m37s Ontario is dead last among the provinces in funding public health care: fewest hospital beds, fewest nurses, and funding hospitals at the lowest rate of any province. We need to look for ways to invest in public health, not take funds out and drive them into profit-driven “Independent Health Facilities”. Federal health care transfer payments have dropped from 50% to 20%. There is a massive reduction in provincial health care spending. Federal government transfer payments are intended to administer a provincial health care system, not deliver health care. In 2019 the Ontario People’s Health Care Act created a super agency with powers to restructure the public health care system, now there is a patchwork across the province, different in Waterloo Region from Windsor, Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, Sudbury.
17m14s How to make things better? Focus on public health care, we paid for this over decades, why throw it out? Comparing England, where NHS privatized, but the private company went bankrupt and left. How sustainable are private companies for delivering health care. But Scotland’s NHS rejected privatization and focused on public infrastructure and create a strategy for sustainability for the NHS in Scotland. As a result, Scotland is a world leader in reducing wait times, reduction of hospital acquired infections, and reducing re-admission rates. They used four strategies: 1) Redesign and transform capacity on population-based requirements; 2) Information (linked electronic health records); 3) Planning strategy, including continuous quality improvement; 4) Peformance Management Strategy, holding regional health units accountable when they don’t reach targets. Canadian Doctors for Medicare has a lot of studies on how our Canadian health care system can be reformed. Private health care is not the only alternative. Private clinics primarily focus on profit, that’s what they’re designed to do.
25m00s On 1 February 2022 the Ontario Health Minister, Christine Elliot, gave a press conference where she said “Let independent health facilities create private hospitals.” This is an alarming announcement, it speaks to the complete coring out of our public hospitals, having them recall diagnostic and surgical services, to be reconstituted in private clinics. In private hospitals the simple procedures and uncomplicated patients get drawn in the private system, then the public hospitals are left with the more expensive cases requiring more intense professional care, so public hospitals have expenses that far exceed those of private hospitals. Private hospitals also pull professional expertise out of the public system, but since there will be no additional doctors it leaves public hospitals with fewer resources. Private hospitals only benefit people who can afford it; poor people will go to underfunded, understaffed public hospitals. Public hospitals have a flat-fee system to compensate doctors; all neurologists or all obstetricians are paid the same. In a private system there can be a differential fee scale according to expertise. The public system doesn’t reinforce holding on to quality, we see physicians with specialized skills move to the US, draining the public care system. But some Canadian physicians find the private system in the US burdensome (health insurance costs, tracking down overdue payments, take orders from health insurance corporations) so their ability to deliver high-quality health care is diminished significantly, and they return to Canada.
30m33s WRHC is trying to warn the Region of Waterloo what is happening with privatization. They are holding an emergency summit on Tuesday, 5 April 2022, at 7:00pm register with Zoom. Speakers include Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition. Find out what’s happening so people can make a decision a the voting booth in June.
31m48s Discussing the politics of health care. WRHC is non-partisan, but there’s no need to have a political affiliation, almost all parties support the public health care system. It’s not a political position, it’s a social position. Discussing the scope of health care delivery: Eye care, hearing care, dental care, pharmacare, and mental health care. “Health care above the neck.” Pharmacare on a large scale gets better competitive pricing, but the strong Pharma lobby is holding us back.
36m16s Jim Stewart gives the WRHC contact info and Bob gives the credits as Extended Heatwarning plays out to the end of the podcast. Ponysapien (clouds over water, coloured with a spectrum of colours)
Ponysapien		 Ponysapien

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 14 March 2022

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 11 March 2022 with Martin Asling of WR YIMBY

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Show Notes

(Martin Asling)
Martin Asling of WR YIMBY
Martin Asling standing behind a banner with homes drawn on it and the words "Yes In My Backyard" in large letters. Trees and a lake are in the background.
Martin Asling from WR YIMBY at the KW Multicultural Festival. Photo: WR YIMBY

Bob Jonkman talks to Martin Asling of WR YIMBY (Waterloo Region Yes In My Back Yard) about housing in Waterloo Region, the Ontario Housing report, and WR YIMBY and Hold The Line‘s answer to some of the issues it presents.

The interview starts at 3m01s.

Online:

Resources mentioned in the show:

And Martin provided these links:

Listen to previous CKMS-FM shows with Martin Asling and WR YIMBY.

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2022-03-11-episode092.mp3 (41.4 MB, 43m04s, episode 092)

Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc CKMS Sunflower logo (yellow petals surrounding a black centre with white wavies all on a teal background)
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m51s Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father (3/4 reverse photo of Rose Brokenshire against a cloudy sky)
(single)		 Rose Brokenshire
3m01s Bob Jonkman and Martin Asling discuss WR YIMBY, housing in Waterloo Region, the Report of the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force and WR YIMBY and Hold The Line‘s response, and talk about housing affordability and some zoning issues.
41m45s Martin provides contact info, Bob gives the credits and a hint for next Friday’s show.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 11 March 2022

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2022 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 20 September 2021 with Mo Markham of Vegfest

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Show Notes

Mo Markham headshot, in front of pink curtains
Mo Markham of KW Vegfest
Mo Markham joins me, Bob Jonkman, on a web conference to talk about the upcoming KW Vegfest 2021, and tells us about the speakers and vendors who will be at this year’s Vegfest. We talk about veganism, the need for a plant-based diet, and the “Ag Gag” laws that try to suppress publication of the problems with industrial agriculture. The speaker presentations are being recorded, so we’ll have Mo back in a few weeks to as we put some on the air.

I promised to play a bunch of new CanCon and KWCon music today, but there was so much Vegfest to talk about we didn’t get to it. We’ll definitely have a full music episode next week, and I’ll invite the musicians to come into the studio (when it re-opens) for a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance!

The interview starts at 6m30s.

Online:

Upcoming Events

Kitchener Waterloo VegFest (illustration of carrots between Kitchener and Waterloo)

KW Vegfest 2021

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2021-09-20-episode085.mp3 (82.9 MB, 57m32s, episode 085)

Podcast Index

Time Title Album Artist
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc
CKMS Community Connections		 Steve Todd
0m52s Scuppernong and Fooferaw The Raoul Santodomingo Experience (nightscape of a carnival with fireworks, surrounded by the text in a circle around it)
The Raoul Santodomingo Experience		 The Raoul Santodomingo Experience
6m16s Mo Markham tells us about this year’s KW Vegfest, being held in-person at the Kitchener Market. She gives a little history, and then goes over the Covid protocols in place, done by the Kitchener Market staff. There’s no online component, but presentations will be recorded and we’ll air excerpts on a future CCC. Mo tells us about the KW Vegfest programme, and tells us about some of the musical guests. There’s more stuff happening outside, and Mo goes over the list of vendors. We talk about transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, there are Vegan Societies to help people with this, for example the KW Vegan Society and the Cambridge, Ontario Vegan Society. KW Vegfest is put on by KW Animal Save.

Veganism is one of the ways to address climate change — animal agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Plant Based Treaty was recently set up to bring attention to this, and some municipal councillors are already on board.

Mo’s cat Joanie introduces herself, and we talk about plant-based cat food. Cats are obligate carnivores, they’re required to eat meat. But the only nutrient needed by cats missing in plants is taurine, so adding a taurine supplement makes plant-based cat food completely nutritious for cats.

We talk about “vegan” as an ethical choice, separate from eating a plant-based diet. Veganism includes not using any animal based clothing, not going to the zoo, not riding a horse, not using animals in any way. It’s not only animal welfare that drives people to veganism, but also climate change. Mo tells us of her experiences in seeing the effects of climate change herself.

32m42s Talkers Sam & The Terrible News | Face A (flower floating on water)
Face A		 Sam & The Terrible News
35m24s Talking about “Ag Gag Laws”, to suppress information about the conditions for animals in industrial agriculture. Mo gives details about some of these “acceptable” practices. Content Warning: Mo gives some explicit descriptions of animal abuse. Talking about the specifics of the law, how it doesn’t do what it claims to do. There have been no incidents of disease brought in my activists. But it’s foreign and low-paid workers who are most at risk of the zoonotic diseases spread by poor working conditions in these places. Strong agricultural industry lobbying keeps this law on the books.
54m34s Hardest Part (vocals by CJ Cooper)
and Bob gives the closing credits		 (no text; person standing at the end of a wharf in the rain)
Save Me A Seat		 Stewart McKie

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 20 September 2021

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2021 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 9 August 2021: The Toronto Prisoners Rights Project Compilation Launch

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Show Notes

Peter Snow at the microphone
Peter Snow

You may remember our show from 10 May 2021 with Peter Snow from The Soviet Influence, a politically active, indie rock band from southern Ontario. Peter spoke of a live, online event in August for prisoner justice.

The Soviet Influence have partnered up with the Toronto Prisoners Rights Project (B&W illustration of birds escaping from a gap in barbed wire)Toronto Prisoner Rights Project and produced a compilation record and streamed show this past weekend to raise funds and awareness of this cause. CKMS Community Connections is re-broadcasting that show, recorded by our sister campus radio station from Guelph University, CFRU-FM. It features performances from The Soviet Influence, Friday Empire, Skye Wallace, and Joni Void, along with interviews and information about the project.

The Toronto Prisoner’s Rights Project (TPRP) is a volunteer organization of former prisoners, people with loved ones inside, front-line workers, artists, researchers, educators and students. They engage in direct action, public education, and mutual aid to shed light on the harms caused by incarceration and connect prisoners with social, financial, legal and health supports. They’re committed to abolition and building sustainable communities rooted in community care, transformative justice, and accountability.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 10 August 2021 is Prisoners' Justice Day 2021 | August 10, 5-8pm Church of the Holy Triniity, 19 Trinity Square | #PJD #NoMoreDeathsInCustodyPrisoner Justice Day. Please join the memorial at the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Trinity Square tucked between the Eatons Centre and the Marriott Downtown. Between 5pm and 8pm there will be a vigil in solidarity with those who have died while incarcerated as well as to show support for prisoners’ rights. Former prisoners and their loved ones will share their stories and truths. There will be activities, music, performances, food, swag and more! Folks are encouraged to show up to demonstrate solidarity with prisoners and those impacted by incarceration. No one is free until we are all free.

You can support the Toronto Prisoner Rights Project at https://www.torontoprisonersrightsproject.org/get-involved-and-support All proceeds go to mutual aid projects including the Prisoner Emergency Support Fund, Jail Hotline, and Good Food Boxes, and support our direct action advocacy work (through digital organizing tools and protest supplies). Supporters can contribute a monthly donation on Patreon that includes exclusive TPRP merchandise as a thank-you.

https://www.patreon.com/torontoprisonersrights

Or you can make a one-time donation to the Prisoner Emergency Support Fund, started by the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project and the Toronto Prisoners’’ Rights Project. It’s a team of volunteers that are organizing to support prisoners, who believe that people need access to community support and not human cages. The fund was originally launched as a response to the pandemic. Given the clear gaps in care that have been revealed by the volume of applications, they are continuing to raise funds so long as there are needs to be met. This fund is intended for people inside prisons and jails and recently released prisoners. People behind bars often need support to contact their loved ones or purchase essential items on their canteen. Recently released prisoners need access to funds for housing, food, clothing, and physical and mental health supports. Families who still have loved ones behind bars need funds for expensive phone bills and canteens.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/prisoner-emergency-support-fund

Toronto Prisoners' Rights Project Compilation | Musicians For Mutual Aid | Ft. The Burning Hell //Sean Bertram//Sky Wallace//Davita Guslits//Friday Empire//The Soviet Influence//Joni Void + Jerry Quickley//The Young AbolitionistsAnd you can download the Toronto Prisonsers Rights Project Compilation EP by Musicians For Mutual Aid. The record features new music from The Soviet Influence along with tracks from Skye Wallace, The Burning Hell, Sean Bertram, Friday Empire, Davita Guslits, Joni Void + Jerry Quickley, and Kayla Hagerty.

https://thesovietinfluence.bandcamp.com/album/toronto-prisoner-rights-project-compilation

The broadcast starts at 4m43s.

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2021-08-09-episode084.mp3 (90.3 MB, 1h02m38s, episode 084)

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: Musicians For Mutual Aid In Support of the Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2021 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 15 February 2021 with Val Scheer and Rob Curwain

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Show Notes

Bob Jonkman talks with CKMS DJs and show hosts Val Scheer and Rob Curwain about radio broadcasting, the courses available at colleges, and their experiences.

The interview starts at 4m49s.

Online:

Val Scheer at the microphone
Val Scheer

Val Scheer

Fanshawe College


Rob Curwain
Rob Curwain

Rob Curwain

Niagara College

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2021-02-15-episode079.mp3 (46.8 MB, 48m38s, episode 079)

Podcast Index

Time Title Artist Album
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc Steve Todd CKMS Community Connections
0m22s Air Between Your Ears DJ LiquidN8V Dimensional Split (Image of a galaxy taken by a space telescope)Dimensional Split
4m49s DJs Val Scheer and Rob Curwain introduce themselves and their shows; how they got their start into radio; the courses at Fanshawe College and Niagara College; discussing home production equipment and techniques, and comparing it to the college’s equipment; transferrable skills? With Covid, even commercial radio station show hosts are working from home;
20m30s Sleight Of Hand Duff Thompson Duff Thompson - haywire (portrait of a man in clown makeup)Haywire
25m37s The differences between commercial radio and Community Radio: So many shows! So much freedom! The mandate for Community Radio is to provide an alternative to commercial radio. But the skills are transferrable, working at CKMS helps hone the craft for a commercial radio career. Val and Rob both have “The Voice” of professional announcers — how did they get it? Mostly it comes from yourself, but in the broadcast course people will point out voice problems. Having “The Voice” isn’t needed on Community Radio, we’re more interested in what you have to say than in how you say it.
37m30s To Mend Colin Fowlie Colin Fowlie | To Mend (sparse tree on a rocky outcrop in the mist)To Mend
40m47s Technical difficulties arose, so Rob and Val weren’t audible for the rest of the podcast. Instead, Bob introduces more music.
42m09s Coal Mine I, The Mountain I, The Mountain | Coal Mine (an island with trees under a setting sun)(single)
45m31s Bob gives the extro credits, and introduces The Drift Weak Size Fish Weak Size Fish | The Drift (triangle with a spiral inside and rays coming out the bottom and waves on top)The Drift

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other inte

resting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!


Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2021 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 6 February 2021 with Michael Heitmann

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CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo #CommunityConnections #MakingRealConnections

Show Notes

Today on CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo #CommunityConnections we continue our series highlighting the programmers and members of our Radio Station. Today’s guest is Michael Heitmann of one of our most unique Programmes “The Golden Record” ! He also is very passionate with Videography as well as Photography. Here are some links to his works.

Online:

The Golden Record

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2021-02-06-episode077 (111.2 MB, 57m53s, episode 077)

Video Clip


Facebook: CKMS Community Connections – CCC – 6 February 2021

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2021 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 8 February 2021 with Lesley Crompton of the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region

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Show Notes

Yenny Stronge talks with Lesley Crompton of the

(Six stick figures standing on each others' shoulders in the shape of hexagons)
Social Development Centre Waterloo Region
Social Development Centre Waterloo Region about homelessness, affordable housing, the KW Community Fridge, foodbanks, Universal Basic Income (UBI) and the Unsheltered Campaign.

The interview starts at 0m23s.

Online:

Social Development Centre Waterloo Region (SDCWR)


SHELTER 4 ALL | Unsheltered Campaign (stylized graphic of a house, white on orange)
Unsheltered Campaign

Unsheltered Campaign

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2021-02-08-episode078.mp3 (41.5 MB, 43m07s, episode 078)

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2021 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 28 December 2020: The Festival Of Neighbourhoods Report

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Show Notes

Festival of Neighbourhoods poster
Poster

On Sunday, 15 November 2020 the Kitchener Festival of Neighbourhoods held its Mosaic of Neighbourhoods online meeting. Allison Brown, the Celebration Planner/Multi-Media Specialist with FON sends us a report featuring highlights from the meeting. It’s in two parts, the first features the Neighbourhood Exchange program and the second part is the feedback from the discussions. Allison writes “Bear in mind that this audio all comes from Zoom, so it’s not the best.” You can read all about it on their website: Festival Of Neighbourhoods 2020: A Mosaic Of Neighbourhoods.

We previously reported on the Festival of Neighbourhoods on CKMS Community Connections for 26 October 2020.

The Festival of Neighbourhood report starts at 5m09s.

Online:

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2020-12-28-episode073.mp3 (58.6 MB, 1h00m59s, episode 073)

Podcast Index

Time Title Artist Album
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc Steve Todd CKMS Community Connections
0m24s The Ghost From Christmas Past Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Ghost From Christmas Past | Kingfish (a Christmas tree fallen over in the snow)(single)
5m09s Festival of Neighbourhoods Report Allison Brown (solarized photo of very colourful houses)Festival of Neighbourhoods
35m49s The Eggnog Shuffle Michael Falzarano A Kaleidoscope Christmas | Michael Falzarano | Extended Family (a Christmas wreath around an ornament)A Kaleidoscope Christmas
39m06s Boogie Woogie Christmas
43m20s Ça c’est Noël Julie Aubé (no text, Julie Aubé beside a guitar head)(video)
46m14s Christmas Love The Dears The Dears | Christmas Love (illustration of a city scene covered in snow, people hugging on the sidewalk, a snowplow in the road)(single)
51m40s This Time Last Year Old Haunt
(Lucas Huang)		 Old Haunt | This Time Last Year (pencil sketch of a cabin in the woods under a moon)(single)
55m47s Jingle Bell Jingle Jam Michael Falzarano A Kaleidoscope Christmas | Michael Falzarano | Extended Family (a Christmas wreath around an ornament)A Kaleidoscope Christmas

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

More videos on the Kitchener’s Festival Of Neighbourhoods Videos Facebook page.

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2020 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and deriviatives works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 14 December 2020 with Jen Hutton, of Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region

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Show Notes

Portrait of Jen Hutton
Jen Hutton
Moving Beyond Violence (text surrounding a circle with silhoutte of a dragonfly)
#She Is Your Neighbour (WCSWR)

Jen Hutton, the CEO of Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region talks to Bob Jonkman about the services offered, the process of getting support, and the podcast She Is Your Neighbour.

The interview starts at 4m45s.

Online:

24 Hour Support Line

Kitchener-Waterloo: +1‑519‑742‑5894
Cambridge: +1‑519‑653‑2422

In danger? Call 911

The Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region is holding their Gift of Hope campaign during the holiday season. By donating to Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region you are providing essential services to women and children who have experienced domestic violence and come to WCSWR for support. Donate today!

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2020-12-14-episode071.mp3 (56.2 MB, 58m30s, episode 071)

Podcast Index

Time Title Artist Album
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc Steve Todd CKMS Community Connections
0m46s Christmas Changes Taylor Davison Christmas Changes (closeup of ornments in a tree)single
4m45s How Bob came across WCSWR looking for podcasts on WR Dashboard; Jen Hutton explains what Women’s Crisis Services is and does; statistics on domestic violence; the kinds of abuse that women suffer; listing the 24 Hour Support Lines: Kitchener-Waterloo: +1‑519‑742‑5894 or Cambridge: +1‑519‑653‑2422, both available to rural townships as well; how to access shelter support; better to prevent domestic abuse from happening in the first place;
20m26s All I Want For Christmas Is You I, The Mountain (Colllage of I, The Mountain members)(single)
24m58s What happens when someone calls the 24 hour support line; receiving calls from family and friends; planning, and things to consider when leaving; what a shelter is like — hotel style, communal dining area; staying at the shelter until housing is available; working with community partners like thrift stores and food banks; providing outreach support after moving out; a network of shelter support services across Ontario;
39m01s Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Softtone Remix) Astrocolor Astrocolor | Remixes for Christmas (out-of-focus Christmas lights in front of silhouettes of people)Remixes for Christmas
42m10s Talking about the She Is Your Neighbour podcast, hosted by Jenna Mayne; origins of the podcast; introducing episode 3: A Childhood Experience of Domestic Violence with Chris Linklater
46m49s A Childhood Experience of Domestic Violence with Chris Linklater Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region Moving Beyond Violence (text surrounding a circle with silhoutte of a dragonfly)#She Is Your Neighbour (WCSWR)
55m45s Discussing the podcast episode; contact information for WCSWR.

Bob gives the end credits.

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community ConnectionsSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2020 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and deriviatives works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 7 December 2020 with Kevin California and ABC Life Literacy Canada

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Show Notes

Kevin California, outdoors
Kevin California

Kevin California

Bob Jonkman talks to Kevin California about his new EP Timeless.

The interview starts at 3m53s.

Online:

Timeless (Official Music Video)

Mack Rogers on Jitsi web conference
Mack Rogers
Katherine Arruda on Jitsi web conference
Katherine Arruda

Mack Rogers of ABC Life Literacy Canada and Katherine Arruda of the TD Bank

ABC Life Literacy Canada is A National Literacy Organization. Mack Rogers and Katherine Arruda talk to Bob Jonkman about November’s Financial Literacy Month program at Kitchener Public Library, and go over a few examples.

The interview starts at 37m04s

Online:

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2020-12-07-episode070.mp3 (53.7 MB, 55m53s, episode 070)

Podcast Index

Time Title Artist Album
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc Steve Todd CKMS Community Connections
0m44s Lover and Best Friend Kevin California (a Newton's Cradle with a heart where the second ball should be)Timeless
3m53s Kevin California’s origins in Waterloo and travels elsewhere, developing as a musician, using his degree in kinesiology, doing production work on his albums, credits to the staff working on Timeless, describing the Timeless video
18m17s Timeless Kevin California (a Newton's Cradle with a heart where the second ball should be)Timeless
22m23s More chatting with Kevin California: More album credits, how to shoot a music video, preparing footage for the next video and the next album. Introducing Currency.
34m07s Currency Kevin California (a Newton's Cradle with a heart where the second ball should be)Timeless
37m04s Bob Jonkman talks to Mack Rogers and Katherine Arruda. Mack explains Life Literacy Canada and National Literacy Month; moving the Money Matters program at Kitchener Public Library online. The goal is to raise people’ confidence with finance, how to save, how to take out a loan; making sure the program is accessible to everyone. Working with TD Bank experts to explain financial products, and to be an on-going contact for participants. Katherine explains the contents of the program, how people get signed up (through the library). Providing access to financial resources online. Katherine teaches Bob the basics of financial literacy – ask questions, review budgets, get companies to reduce their rates. Talking about investments and retirements. ABC Life Literace continues to do online learning with community groups, these are all free.
56m00s 2 Lane Blacktop Lies
and Bob gives the end credits and a plug for the 25 Hour Xmas Radiothon starting Thursday at 8pm.		 Dan Walsh Dan Walsh | Virtusoso (Dan Walsh playing guitar)Virtusoso

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

See all CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo | Community Connections | Monday 11am-Noon, Saturday 1pm-2pmCKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 7 December 2020

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2020 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and deriviatives works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 30 November 2020 with Chuck Howitt

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Show Notes

Chuck Howitt at the CKMS 102.7 FM microphone
Chuck Howitt

Chuck Howitt, author of BlackBerry Town | How high tech success has played out in Kitchener-Waterloo | Chuck HowittBlackBerry Town joins Bob Jonkman to talk about writing, journalism, and technology.

You can buy BlackBerry Town Online at Lorimer or from Words Worth Books in downtown Waterloo.

The interview starts at 5m30s.

Online:

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2020-11-30-episode069.mp3 (56.2 MB , 58m30s, episode 069)

Podcast Index

Time Title Artist Album
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc Steve Todd CKMS Community Connections
00m48s Take It In/Vertigo In/Vertigo - Sex Love & Chaos (a ring of fire with a serpent on sword)Sex Love & Chaos
4m27s Bob introduces In/Vertigo, reads Keaton’s letter
5m30s Chuck Howitt talks about his time at The Record; how BlackBerry Town came to be; the research involved in writing a book; a rival book, Losing The Signal appears; finding a publisher with the help of Steve Izma; Lorimer Publishing accepts, but imposes a deadline. Chuck writes to meet the deadline; changes suggested by Lorimer made it a better book. Not a history book, but about people and stories and technology. Chuck explains what happened with RIM and its stock options. Talking about patents, patent trolls, and RIM’s patent lawsuit. What took BlackBerry down? Chuck thinks it was distractions (buying hockey teams, physics institutes), complacency, and failure to innovate. Discussing the technology offered by the competition. With RIM’s centralized infrastructure, how secure was the BlackBerry technology really? Chuck Howitt reads some excerpts from BlackBerry Town. Talking about other technology companies in Waterloo. “Unicorn companies”, worth billions of dollars on paper, but what are they really worth? Promoting the book in the media. Chuck is now writing a blog. How to buy the book: Online at Lorimer, IRL at Words Worth Books. Audio book on CKMS-FM? Stay tuned!
57m10s Empty To Fill
and Bob Jonkman gives the end credits		 Peach & Quiet Peach & Quiet - Just Beyond The Shine (top of a peach in the shape of lips with a finger in the shushing position)Just Beyond the Shine

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from Noon to 1:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community Connections | Mondays 10 am - 12 NoonSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 30 November 2020

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2020 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and deriviatives works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.

CKMS Community Connections, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS Community Connections for 9 November 2020 with Jim Stewart and Riani de Wet of Waterloo Region Health Coalition

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Show Notes

Jim Stewart and Riani de Wet at the microphone
Jim Stewart and Riani de Wet in May 2019

Jim Stewart and Riani de Wet of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition return to CKMS Community Connections to talk about the new legislation for Long Term Care facilities and privatization of health care.

Previous appearance on CCC: 27 May 2019.

The interview starts at 3m23s.

Online:


Ontario Health Coalition | Protecting public healthcare for all

See also:

Additional Notes from WRHC:

November 2, 2020 

For Immediate Release Attn: Assignment Editor 

Ford’s 4-hour long-term care announcement too late: 

Need commitment to deal with staffing crisis now 

Toronto – While the Ontario Health Coalition is happy that the Ford government has finally adopted the 4-hour  minimum care standard as policy, the timeline that they have given is so long that it is meaningless for the people  who are suffering and dying in long-term care now, warns the Coalition. The Coalition has been working to win a  minimum care standard in long-term care for more than 20 years, since the Harris government removed the existing  care standard in the late 1990s. For at least 15 years this has been a priority issue and the Health Coalition has held  countless events and activities to pressure consecutive governments to bring it in. Today the Ford government  announced that it has adopted the 4-hour target but will not commit to implementing it until 2024/25, four years  and a provincial election away. 

“Too much of the government’s response to date has been focused on PR at the expense of concrete measures, said  Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. “There is much more that the Ford government could do right now to save lives and get care levels up, so announcing a care standard four years from now is just not  good enough.” 

“Ontarians need to know what concrete recruitment and training is going to happen right now to get staff into the  homes and to move us toward the four-hour minimum average care level as quickly as possible,” Ms. Mehra went on  to say. 

For example: 

  • 4 months ago, at the beginning of June, Quebec’s government launched a recruitment drive backed by the  full power of government and funded fully to get 10,000 PSW-equivalent workers, paid them $21 per hour  for training, increased wages to $26 an hour and is deploying this small army of workers into the homes. 
  • British Columbia’s government took action 6 months ago to provide full time work and an increased wage of  $21.75 per hour for PSWs in long-term care to stabilize the workforce. 
  • In contrast, Ontario’s government did nothing substantial in the summer months when there was a lull in  COVID-19 cases and should have been planning for the fall. Finally in September, they announced funding  and training for 2000 PSWs along with a series of piecemeal funding and training; no big recruitment drive,  no full time work, no improvement in wages and working conditions that would attract people to this work.  They also renewed the pandemic pay until March, but at $1 per hour less than it was in the summer.

“We are happy that the minimum care standard is finally, belatedly, adopted as policy but we cannot allow this to be  the way that this government tries to shut down the legitimate criticism about their inadequate response. We  desperately need staff in the homes now. It is in this government’s power to do more. Why will they not do it?”  concluded Ms. Mehra.

15 Gervais Drive, Suite 201, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Y8 Tel: 416-441-2502 Email: ohc@sympatico.ca Web: www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca 

November 4, 2020 

Attn: Assignment Editor For Immediate Release 

Almost Four Dozen People Who Applied to Testify Before the  

Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Bill 218 Limiting Legal Liability  for COVID-19 Harms for Long-Term Care Homes and Others, 

Cut Out of the Hearings Today 

Toronto – Increasingly frustrated with the lack of accountability for the response to COVID-19 in Ontario’s long-term  care homes, Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra called today’s revelation that dozens of people who applied  for standing in today’s legislative hearings on Bill 218 which limits legal liability for the home operators, “Injustice  heaped upon injustice,” for the families of those who have died.  

A number of family members and their lawyers were among those cut from the hearings, as the Ford government has  limited the hearings to one part-day meaning that there are only 15 spaces for people to be heard. The government  gave almost no notice for the hearings, which are being held this afternoon, so families spent hours in the past two  days reliving the horrors of the last days of their loved ones lives while trying to write up their presentations, only to  find that they will not be heard, Ms. Mehra reported. “It is heartbreaking, just so wrong,” she said. 

Fifty-eight people applied for standing and only 15 are being heard. The practice of severely limiting public hearings  has reached unprecedented levels under the Ford government which has also changed the rules of the Legislature to  enable themselves to pass bills with unprecedented speed. 

“There is no reason that the government cannot extend the hearings to one more day to hear from people who have  been directly impacted in the most devastating of ways,” she said. “We are calling on the government to extend the  hearings and give the families the ability to have input on this legislation that directly impacts their attempt to seek  justice.” 

Bill 218 raises the legal bar for those suing for COVID-19 harms to gross negligence from simple negligence. It  redefines “good faith effort” which usually means a reasonable and competent effort to say that long-term care and  retirement homes, among others, just had to make an “honest effort, whether reasonable or not”, thereby making it  both harder to sue and easier to defend. It makes these measures retroactive to March 17, 2020, the week that  COVID-19 began to spread in long-term care homes, impacting more than two dozen class action and legal suits that  are already underway against for-profit long-term care homes that were responsible for more than half of the COVID 19 deaths in Ontario’s homes in the first wave of the pandemic, a trend that is shaping up to be the same or worse in  the second wave, reported the Coalition. 

The Health Coalition, which opposes these measures for long-term care and retirement homes, will testify before the  Standing Committee on Justice Policy at 1 p.m. today and will call on the committee to extend the hearings.

15 Gervais Drive, Suite 201, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Y8 Tel: 416-441-2502 Email: ohc@sympatico.ca Web: www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca 

Podcast

Download: ckms-community-connections-2020-11-09-episode067.mp3 (56.4 MB , 58m44s, episode 067)

Podcast Index

Time Title Artist Album
0m00s Theme for CKMS Community Connections ccc Steve Todd CKMS Community Connections
0m25s Currency Kevin California (a Newton's Cradle with a heart where the second ball should be)Timeless
3m23s Bob Jonkman and Jim Stewart talk about the state of the Covid pandemic in Ontario, and are joined by Riani de Wet to discuss long term care legislation.
58m01s Ridin’ With A Thief
while Bob gives the end credits.		 Dan Walsh Dan Walsh | Virtuoso (Dan Walsh playing guitar)Virtuoso

CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from Noon to 1:00pm.

Got music, spoken word, or other interesting stuff? Let us know at office@radiowaterloo.ca or leave a comment on our “About” page.

CKMS logo with wavies coming out the sidesSubscribe to the CKMS Community Connections podcast!

CKMS | 102.7 FM | Radio Waterloo | Community Connections | Mondays 10 am - 12 NoonSee all CKMS Community Connections shows!

Bonus Footage

YouTube: CKMS Community Connections for 9 November 2020

Show notes and podcast interview content is Copyright © 2020 by the participants, and released under a CC BYCreative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and deriviatives works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.