A progressive take on current events. Produced by an independent media collective at Vancouver Cooperative Radio.
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English country mansions, colonialism and historic slavery
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The National Trust manages historic properties and areas of countryside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In September, the Trust commissioned a report on connections between their properties and colonialism, including links with historic slavery. The report attracted the attention of a group of Conservative MPs who are attempting to discredi…
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BC government decision on future of Site C dam expected any day
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British Columbia's energy minister says he has received a report on the status of the Site C dam project and will present its findings to cabinet soon. Bruce Ralston says the report by former deputy finance minister Peter Milburn is "helpful," but he wouldn't discuss its findings until they are reviewed by the cabinet and Premier John Horgan. We ta…
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Great Anarchists: Short biographies of ten founders of modern anarchist thought
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The newly released book Great Anarchists aims to bring radical ideas to a wider, non-academic audience. The book presents a series of vignettes on ten individuals who helped to lay the foundations of the anarchist tradition. We speak with co-author Ruth Kinna of Loughborough University in the UK.By Redeye Collective
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People living with chronic alcohol dependency also need a safe supply
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As B.C. expands the safe supply program for illicit drugs, researchers are calling on the province to do the same for people living with severe alcohol dependencies. BC currently has five of Canada’s managed alcohol programs – known as MAPs. We speak with Meaghan Brown is a PhD candidate at the UVic school of nursing and collaborator on the Canadia…
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Critical need for federal standards in the provision of long-term care
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The tragic deaths of thousands of seniors in care homes has highlighted the critical need for federal standards in the provision of long-term care. The pandemic has exposed a fragmented and under-resourced system that is heavily reliant on for-profit delivery. A new discussion paper released in November proposes foundational principles for continui…
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Fundamental change needed to ensure fair distribution of vaccines
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The vaccine rollout in Canada has given us the sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But the pandemic continues to rage, and the picture for poorer countries that aren’t first up for vaccine distribution is much bleaker. Jason Nickerson is humanitarian affairs advisor for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in Ottawa. He …
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Feds energy plan could see small nuclear reactors in remote communities
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In September, the Canadian government signalled its intention to develop nuclear power as part of its investment in clean technology companies. One aspect of the plan could see small modular reactors placed in remote communities currently powered by diesel. We discuss this new strategy with Susan O’Donnell of the Coalition for Responsible Energy De…
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Companies overstate benefits of coal mining in mountain caribou habitat
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A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives takes a look at the economic performance of coal mines located in mountain caribou habitat in northeastern British Columbia, where mining has been identified as a key driver of caribou extirpation. Economist Robyn Allan is co-author of the report, Who Benefits From Caribou Decline?…
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City Beat looks at how Lower Mainland municipalities coped with 2020
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City councils around the Lower Mainland are wrapping up a busy year, full of unprecedented challenges and crises. Redeye’s City Beat reporter Ian Mass joins us to look back on the six biggest issues municipalities faced in 2020.By Redeye Collective
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Canada needs to rebuild capacity to produce medications and vaccines
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As countries are rolling out plans to distribute new vaccines for Covid-19, Canada has to depend on foreign corporations to produce and obtain vaccines. But that has not always been the case - Canada used to have significant capacity to develop and produce important vaccines and drugs. Health policy researcher Colleen Fuller explains how Canada los…
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Parliamentary resolution signals intent to start new cold war on China
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On November 18, the federal Conservatives convinced the NDP, Greens and the Bloc to support a motion declaring that the People’s Republic of China is threatening Canada’s national interest and its values, and Parliament needs to do something decisive about it. To talk about the significance of this resolution, we're joined by John Price, professor …
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Killing of Iranian nuclear scientist dangerous and an assault on diplomacy
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Medea Benjamin of Code Pink for Peace condemns the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and says it’s aimed at derailing future efforts at diplomacy with Iran. She points out that, with Iran scheduled to have elections in June, incoming president Joe Biden has just four months to bring the United States back into the 2015 n…
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Art Heals: A podcast about the arts and mental health
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A group of dedicated volunteers has just launched a new podcast about the arts and mental health. When the team, led by music producer Earle Peach, got together a year ago to start planning, they had no idea how timely a mental health podcast would be in 2020. The first two episodes are up on their podcast. We speak with the host of the Art Heals P…
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CleanBC strategy at odds with NDP subsidies to oil and gas
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The BC NDP say that its CleanBC plan will put the province on the path to a cleaner, better future. However, this climate strategy seems at odds with the decision by the NDP government to continue to provide subsidies to oil and gas companies in the form of tax breaks, royalty reductions and investments of public money. We talk with Kai Nagata, ene…
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Covid-19 related job losses mean thousands of students face deportation
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Over 16,000 petitions were delivered to Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino’s office in November calling for changes to student work permit rules before Dec 31d. Covid-19 related job losses have meant that hundreds of thousands of former international students may be unable to qualify for permanent resident status. And the deadline for renewal of …
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Canadian government's net-zero law a good start but needs teeth
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In November, the federal government tabled legislation that makes net-zero emissions by 2050 a legally-binding target. While this is being seen as a positive first step, Canada has missed every single emission-reduction target it has ever set. Anna Johnston of West Coast Environment Law says that changes are needed for the law to show true climate …
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TMX and Keystone XL not needed, according to federal energy body
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Canada Energy Regulator just came out with its latest long-term energy outlook. The analysis in the report shows that with even modest new climate policies, there’s no need to build the Trans Mountain and Keystone XL pipelines, undermining Prime Minister Trudeau’s position that the expansion of oil production is consistent with Canada’s climate pol…
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New VPD unit could lead to more street checks in downtown core
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At a time when the Vancouver Police department is under pressure from a broad range of activist groups and the City of Vancouver to end street checks, it has formed a new neighbourhood response team in the downtown core that could lead to an expansion of this type of police activity. We talk with Meghan McDermott of the BC Civil Liberties Associati…
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Canadian citizenship study guide should tell the truth about racism
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Discover Canada is the official study guide for people who are preparing to take the Canadian citizenship test. But its portrayal of Canada is far from accurate, according to five women faculty members at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. We speak with Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Professor of Critical Development Studies and Global Health at the Uni…
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Vancouver passes motion to dramatically ramp up action on climate change
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Vancouver City Council just spent two weeks discussing the climate emergency plan they asked staff to develop last year. They heard from 75 speakers both for and against the actions recommended in the plan – and ended up passing all 37 recommendations. Ian Mass joins us on our City Beat feature with more details about the climate plan and several o…
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New mystery novel by Vancouver comedian and playwright Charles Demers
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A long tradition of the amateur detective exists in the mystery genre. The latest sleuth is Annick Boudreau, a clinical psychologist created by a Vancouver comedian, playwright, and novelist who based the character of Annick Boudreau, in part, on his own therapist. We speak with Charles Demers about the book, Primary Obsessions.…
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Gates Foundation investments in Covid-19 therapies hidden from view
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is reported to be the largest private foundation in the world holding almost $47 billion in assets. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Foundation has risen to a position of even greater prominence. However as a private institution, the Gates Foundation’s interests and investments remain largely hidden from public …
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Canada In The World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination
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Justin Trudeau once claimed that Canada had no colonial past. A new book just out from Fernwood Press would disagree. Canada In the World looks closely at Canadian foreign policy and finds a consistent pattern of colonial conquest and capital accumulation. We speak with the book’s author, Tyler Shipley, professor of society, culture, and commerce a…
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Time to end Canada's highly secretive no-fly list
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The Canadian government has announced that the final provisions of the Secure Air Travel Regulations are now in force. These new regulations modify Canada’s No Fly List regime but, according to the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, they do not address the basic problems that plague the system and continue to result in the undermining …
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Families and residents suffer due to visit restrictions for care homes
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More than 150 residents of long-term care and assisted living homes have lost their lives to Covid-19. However, tens of thousands more have been deeply impacted by the loss of connection to family and loved ones. Seniors Advocate Isobel MacKenzie says there have been more calls, letters and emails on the issue of visit restrictions than any other s…
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Greek judge rules Golden Dawn a criminal gang, not a political party
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On October 7, a huge crowd of people gathered outside a court building in Athens. They were waiting to hear the verdict in the trial of 68 members of the far-right organization Golden Dawn. The hearing was the biggest trial of fascists since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg after WWII. The crowd in Athens erupted with joy when news emerged that the jud…
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Container terminal expansion threatens salmon, orcas, bird migration
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The Fraser estuary is one of the largest estuaries on the Pacific coast of North America. It is the rearing grounds for Canada’s most productive salmon runs and connects a food web that links fish, birds and marine mammals across thousands of kilometres of the North Pacific Ocean. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is proposing another massive con…
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More than 200 scholars warn of global threats to democracy
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Over 200 scholars of 20th century authoritarianism have signed an open letter of concern about the current state of democracy. The letter was released just a couple of days before the presidential election in the United States. It states that, while democracy appeared to be flourishing everywhere in the years following the end of the Cold War, toda…
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Court challenge to Quebec's secularism law opens in Montreal
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A constitutional test of Quebec's Bill 21 began Monday in the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal. The law, which was passed last year, prohibits public teachers, as well as government lawyers and other civil servants, from wearing religious symbols such as turbans and hijabs at work. The National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Civil Li…
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Broad coalition forms in BC to counter serious declines in fish and wildlife
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British Columbia in known around the world for its beautiful natural scenery and abundant wildlife. But some species in BC have been dwindling. Sockeye salmon stocks plunged last year and caribou, moose and mountain sheep have also seen significant declines. A broad coalition had formed to urge the provincial government to take concrete steps to pr…
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Campaign to rebuild Little Mountain housing wins important victory
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Built in the 1950s, the Little Mountain social housing complex was a key public asset in Vancouver. 13 years ago, the BC Liberals sold the housing to a private developer, Holborn Properties, in a deal shrouded in secrecy. Hundreds of people were displaced and more than 200 family homes were demolished. The residents were promised a quick return to …
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Vancouver City Council to debate climate emergency recommendations
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In January 2019, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved OneCity Councillor Christine Boyle's motion declaring that we are in a global state of climate emergency and that constitutes a crisis for Vancouver. The motion went on to direct staff to prepare recommendations for ramping up the city’s climate actions in line with efforts to limit globa…
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Chileans vote overwhelmingly in favour of drafting a new constitution
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On October 24, Chile voted in favour of replacing its neoliberal constitution written more than 40 years ago under the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. 78% of people backed a new charter in a plebiscite held Sunday. Estefanía Milla-Moreno is from Santiago, Chile. She is currently a PhD candidate in forestry at the University of Br…
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New report on Site C casts doubt on project's financial viability
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A new report on the current and future viability of the Site C dam on the Peace River was released this month in the midst of BC’s recent election campaign. Energy economist Robert McCullough concluded that the project is a net loss and will cost British Columbians well into the future. Ken Boon is president of the Peace Valley Landowners Associati…
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How to protect your community when the mining industry comes to town
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If a mining company comes into a community to prospect for a mine and community members don’t want it there, they have to hit the ground running. A new book is going to make it a whole lot easier to do that. Unearthing Justice is a comprehensive guide on how to protect your community from the mining industry. We speak with author Joan Kuyek, foundi…
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A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency
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It’s 2020, and Canada is not on track to meet our greenhouse gas emissions targets. To do so, we’ll need radical systemic change to how we live and work—and fast. How can we ever achieve this? Top policy analyst and author Seth Klein reveals we can do it now because did it before during the Second World War. We speak with Seth Klein about how warti…
British Columbians relied heavily on a private carrier until Greyhound abandoned its BC routes in 2018, stranding thousands of highway bus users. What’s left is a dysfunctional patchwork of privately-owned bus services, private charters, taxis and local transit. A new campaign is calling for the provincial government to create a unified system that…
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Race, class, and the silent epidemic of pedestrian deaths
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In the United States, Black and Latino pedestrians more likely to get hit by a car than white pedestrians They are less likely to own cars and more likely to take transit and walk. Plus, Black and Latino neighborhoods are passed over for safety improvements that white communities have the political clout to secure. These are some of the facts in a …
A new report points out that women, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people are at the forefront of Canada’s pandemic response. More than half of women workers are concentrated in occupations known as the 5Cs: caring, cashiering, catering, cleaning and clerical functions. It says women need to be centred in Canada’s economic recovery efforts going for…
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Non-federal levels of government could act on decriminalization of drugs
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Municipal and provincial levels of government say that their hands are tied when it comes to bringing about decriminalization of drugs in their jurisdictions. But that’s not true, according to a new report by Pivot Legal. Author Caitlin Shane says there are simple actions that non-federal levels of government can take to reduce the harms of crimina…
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Black Canadians report far worse Covid-related health and social outcomes
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Black Canadians are more than three times as likely as the general population to know someone who died of Covid-19. This is just one of the findings of a new online survey of several thousand Canadians about their experiences with Covid-19 since the pandemic started. The study was carried out by the Edmonton-based African Canadian Civic Engagement …
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Understanding the role of climate change in California's forest fires
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Research over the past 15 years shows that climate change has drastically amplified the conditions that help wildfires ignite and spread. Simon Donner is a climate scientist and professor of geography at the University of British Columbia. He discusses the factors that led to the catastrophic wildfires in the western United States.…
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BC government releases long-awaited report on old-growth forests
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The recently released report, A New Future for Old Forests, contains 14 recommendations on how BC can better manage its endangered old-growth forests. Jens Wieting applauds the report but is concerned about the BC government’s response to it. Jens Wieting is senior forest and climate campaigner with the Sierra Club.…
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Cheryl Foggo on her new film about legendary Black cowboy John Ware
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John Ware is an iconic figure in the history of southern Alberta. He was a Black pioneer and rancher who settled in the province before the turn of the century. Born in the American South, he was already an accomplished cowboy by the time he arrived in Alberta. John Ware is the subject of a new NFB documentary now showing at the Calgary and Vancouv…
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City Beat: Housing, homelessness and public health
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Lower Mainland city councils got back to work this week with no shortage of challenging topics on the agenda. Vancouver City Council discussed a whole raft of motions to tackle homelessness, including tiny houses, RV parking and more. Redeye Collective member Ian Mass joins us with his City Beat report.…
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Analyzing the role of social media in misconceptions about Covid-19
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The prevalence of misinformation about Covid 19 is much higher on social media than in traditional news sources. A group of Canadian researchers has found that people who consume a lot of social media end up believing conspiracy theories and misinformation, and as a result do not engage in safe behaviours that prevent the spread of COVID-19. We spe…
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New study challenges statistics used to support wolf cull in BC
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Last year, the BC government expanded its wolf cull program in an attempt to protect endangered mountain caribou in the province. The adoption of this strategy was based on a study by Robert Serrouya and others at the University of Alberta. But when biologist Lee Harding went back into the data Serrouya used, he found that killing wolves had no det…
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Workers in craft and artisanal industries in Vancouver share horror stories
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Local craft and artisanal businesses are often celebrated as an antidote to the corporatization of everyday life. Yet workers in these local enterprises say they can be toxic places to work, offering low pay and little protection from arbitrary management practices. Benjamin Anderson is a labour studies lecturer and PHD candidate at SFU. He explain…
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The costs and challenges of cleaning up the Tulsequah Chief mine
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The Tulsequah Chief mine is in a remote corner of northwest BC. This mixed-metals mine has been leaching contaminated water into the largest tributary of the salmon-producing Taku River for more than 60 years, and the last owner of the mine is now bankrupt. We talk with journalist Matt Simmons about the delays in getting work started on the cleanup…
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Pandemic stresses threaten children’s future health and development
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While children are less directly affected by Covid-19, the pandemic may have long-term adverse effects on the health and well-being of children and adolescents. Dr. Michael Kobor is Canada Research Chair in Social Epigenetics and Professor in the UBC Department of Medical Genetics. He talks to us about how social factors can get “under the skin” to…