Listen to This

Glen McGregor, Parliament Hill reporter for the Ottawa Citizen In Listen to This #020, This Magazine associate editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey talks with Ottawa Citizen Parliament Hill reporter Glen McGregor about the effect that social media like Twitter and Facebook are having on the news cycle, for readers and consumers, reporters, and politicians alike — but why social media is still no way to attract younger audiences. Nick and Glen talk about why McGregor likes using Twitter as a breaking-news platform and the epiphany he had about how the Citizen could use it. But most importantly, instead of talking in grand abstract terms about How Twitter Is Changing Everything, they discuss how McGregor actually uses the web to do more reporting, faster. For instance, he employs a small army of robotic Twitter accounts such as Lobby Watcher, an automated Twitter account that sends out an alert every time a lobbyist meets with an MP or minister, or Restowatch, another robot that Tweets whenever an Ottawa restaurant is written up for food safety violations.

Tomee Sojourner. Photo by Anne de Haas. In today’s podcast I talked with Tomee Sojourner, a Montreal-based activist, educator, and consultant who concentrates mostly on workplace diversity. Tomee is also the founder of the Embracing Intersectional Diversity Project, a group that aims to connect people from different backgrounds and experiences so that they can talk openly and honestly about their differences and similarities, and generally fulfill the multicultural ambitions that Canada publicly aspires to but still, to put it politely, could use improvement. Tomee recently made a contribution to the It Gets Better project, the series of YouTube videos begun by American advice columnist Dan Savage, which aims to reduce suicide among gay teenagers by providing some reassurance that life as a gay grownup gets better. The campaign has come in for some critique that calls it glib and unrepresentative, skewing white, male, and middle-class. In this interview, Sojourner talks about what exactly “intersectional diversity” means, the It Gets Better project, and how people can begin the conversation among themselves about what diversity means to them in contemporary Canada.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami leader Mary Simon In today’s episode of Listen to This, associate editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey brings us the second in his three part series of interviews with Canada’s top aboriginal leaders. In Podcast #017, Nick talked with Clément Chartier, president of the Metis National Council. Today, Nick talks — by a crackly phone connection — with Mary Simon, leader of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization of Inuit people, about the issues that are most pressing for the approximately 55,000 Inuit people that ITK represents, including education, mental health, the massive threat of climate change, a landmark lawsuit against the European Union’s ban on seal products, and more.

Metis National Council president Clément Chartier In this edition of Listen to This, associate editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey brings us the first in a three part series we’ll be running throughout this fall, talking with the leaders of Canada’s First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples about the current political environment and their relationship with the government. With a new Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, John Duncan, taking over the portfolio over the summer, we thought it was time to look at where Canada’s aboriginal people stand, and the path forward from here. Today, Nick talks with Clément Chartier, president of the Metis National Council, about the MNC’s relationship with the federal government, the legislative successes it has forged, what still needs to be done, and how the Metis nation’s interests coincide with First Nations and Inuit constitutencies.

In this edition of Listen to This — the premiere of our second season of original interviews with Canada’s most fascinating activists, politicos, and artists! — we talk with Heather Leson and Brian Chick, two of the more senior Canadian coordinators of Crisis Commons, an international online community of people who use their technology skills to assist with disaster relief, crisis management, and humanitarian efforts around the world. Crisis commons was founded in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 2009, but has quickly spread to more than a dozen cities around the world, including hubs in Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary. We talked about the role technology can play in disaster relief scenarios, the group’s shifting identity as it assumes a more prominent role in the aid community, and the limits of online activism. Crisis Commons is holding a global CrisisCamp day on September 25, with events happening in London (UK), Washington, D.C., Toronto, and Calgary. The events are free and open to all. If you’re not in Toronto or Calgary, it’s still possible to participate online. You can sign up through EventBrite for Toronto and Calgary.

Eternia. T-shirt reads: "My Favourite Rapper Wears a Skirt" In this edition of Listen to This, Associate Editor Natalie Samson talks with Eternia, the Canadian rapper whose music and volunteer work aim to challenge gender-based stereotypes and injustices such as sexism in the music industry, violence against women, and rape. Eternia was in Toronto two weeks ago for the People’s Summit, the alternative gathering to the G20 leaders’ conference, where she performed for a rapturous crowd. Be sure to stay for the end of the podcast, where you can hear a song off of Eternia’s 2005 album, It’s Called Life. Be sure to keep an eye out for Eternia’s newest album, At Last. The album is a collaboration with Canadian producer MoSS and it’s set to release on June 29, 2010. Included in the podcast is this 2005 Eternia track, Love, which was used to promote Amnesty International’s “Stop Violence Against Women” campaign.

Mike Leitold In this episode of Listen to This, This Magazine editor Graham F. Scott talks with Mike Leitold of the Summit Legal Support Project, part of the Movement Defence Committee of the Law Union of Ontario. Leitold talks about what activists need to know before taking to the streets to protest the G20 summit, as well as some of the other legal issues brought up by the presence of so many law enforcement officials on Canadian streets. Please note that none of this conversation should be construed as “legal advice”; everything we discuss here falls under the category of “legal information,” i.e., you should know it but don’t sue anyone because you listened to the stuff we say here. If you are a protester or other individual in need of the services the Summit Legal Defence Project provides—listen to the interview to determine if that is the case—then you can get in touch with the project at this number: 416-273-6761.

In this episode of Listen to This, associate editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey interviews Carleton University professor Barbara Freeman about her research into the Abortion Caravan Campaign of 1970, one of the most important pro-choice movements in Canadian history. The campaign was literally a caravan that travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa in the spring of 1970, culminating in a historic protest of parliament on May 11 of that year, the first time that a parliamentary protest had forced the end of a parliamentary session. Here, Freeman discusses the remarkably successful media strategy that the Abortion Caravan pioneered, the presence of women in Canadian newsrooms, and the research that she is presenting to the Congress of the Humanities & Social Sciences in Montreal.

In today’s edition of Listen to This, contributor Andrew Wallace talks with Sophie Langlois, Director of Human Rights Docfest 2010, and Selena Lucien, one of the documentary festival’s Community Partnership Coordinators. Human Rights Docfest is a national film festival on international human rights issues, and a partnership between Journalists for Human Rights, the National Film Board of Canada, and CitizenShift. The festival aims to showcase the work of young and emerging filmmakers and documentarians as well as more established players — which is why it has two submission categories, one for films that cost less than $5,000 to make and those that cost more. Here, Andrew talks with Sophie and Selena about why the there is a need for a film festival of this type and how it aims to put human rights issues before a bigger audience. The deadline for submissions to the film festival is June 1, 2010—so there are still two weeks left to enter. Aspiring documentarians should visit hrdocfest.com for more details.

Duff Conacher, coordinator of Democracy Watch. In this edition of Listen to This, Nick Taylor-Vaisey interviews Duff Conacher, coordinator of Democracy Watch, a non-partisan advocacy group that lobbies for greater government transparency, accountability, and democratic reform. Conacher is one of the best-known media personalities in the field, constantly called on by media outlets to talk about what really goes on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill. With their slogan “the system is the scandal,” Democracy Watch aims to identify, publicize, and pressure for the closure of legislative loopholes that allow waste, corruption, and abuse of power by elected officials and civil servants. He talks about the dynamics of the cozy relationship between lobbyists and politicians, Democracy Watch’s aggressive media strategy, the key role that Ralph Nader played in the founding of the group, and why he’s not a political junkie. [Note: we're posting this podcast a week earlier than scheduled because the issues that Conacher addresses are so much in the news at the moment, with the Guergis/Jaffer affair making daily headlines. Because of that change, the next podcast will be up in three weeks, not two.]