Sfu's Vancity Office Of Community Engagement

This episode of Below the Radar is a special live recording from SFU School for the Contemporary Art’s Re-orientation day 2022: Contemporary Arts + Climate Change on September 8th, 2022. It’s also the first episode of our new series: The Climate Imaginary. Stephen Collis is an award winning writer and a professor in the English department at SFU. Stephen joins our host Am Johal for a discussion on the relationship between art and environmental activism; They look at what art and writing can offer, but also the moments when you need to put down the pen and engage and take action in other ways. They also cover some of the collaborative artistic projects that Stephen is involved in such as the Refugee Tales Project, and additionally Stephen reads a few of his poems throughout the episode! Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/the-climate-imaginary/192-stephen-collis.html. Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-eng

This week, our host Am Johal is joined by Dr. Kora DeBeck, Erica McAdam, Kali Sedgemore, and Dean Wilson; four guests who all do important work in research and advocacy for drug users in Vancouver. They discuss the recent research that they’ve been involved in as well as the past and present models of drug policy in the city, looking at various decriminalisation policies and the current pressing issues of toxic drug supplies and community relationships with the law. Together they consider the future of provincial and federal drug policies, looking towards regulated supply, safety, and support. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/191-drug-policy.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/191-drug-policy.html Resources: Harm reduction calls to action from youth: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35505320/ Increased toxicity of Vancouver’s illicit drug supply duri

Leela Gandhi is a professor and writer of the book, Affective Communities: Anticolonial Thought, Fin-de-Siècle Radicalism, and the Politics of Friendship. This episode goes into different forms of friendship in the contexts of democracy, post-colonialism, and climate change; and how friendship can change depending on different circumstances. It is fitting that this episode is hosted by Am Johal and Matt Hern, two close friends writing a book together about friendship and community. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/190-leela-gandhi.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/190-leela-gandhi.html Resources: Leela Gandhi: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/lgandhi Towards Democracy by Edward Carpenter: https://www.routledge.com/Towards-Democracy/Carpenter/p/book/9781138184121 The Common Cause: Postcolonial Ethics and the Practice of Democracy, 1900-1955 by Leela Ga

Philosophy scholar and author Willow Verkerk sits down with Am Johal to discuss Nietzsche and his ideas of friendship, as well as her current work on the Gendered Mimesis project at KU Leuven. Willow compares Nietzsche’s more agonistic notion of friendship with other philosophers like Aristotle, Kant, Derrida – and draws from Luce Irigaray to consider friendship from a more gendered lens. Willow also speaks about her creative writing in the past as a form of expression, and discusses her current work on Gendered Mimesis Project, from which she is looking to trace the genealogies of gendered-being by drawing from Adriana Cavarero, Judith Butler, and Catherine Malabou. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/189-willow-verkerk.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/189-willow-verkerk.html Resources: Willow Verkerk: https://philosophy.ubc.ca/profile/willow-verker

Bob Williams is the writer of the book Using Power Well: Bob Williams and the Making of British Columbia, which describes his many political contributions to British Columbia. In this episode, our host Am Johal sits down with Bob to discuss his public life and the political impacts that his decisions continue to have. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/188-bob-williams.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/188-bob-williams.html Resources: Using Power Well: Bob Williams and the Making of British Columbia: https://harbourpublishing.com/products/9780889714243 Zombie Conscripts: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/zombies-world-war-two-poem-reveals-1.5212415 Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF): https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP13CH3PA1LE.html Bio: Bob Williams was a politician representing Vancouver East (1966-1976 and 1984-1991) as

Khari Wendell McClelland—a diversely talented musician, writer, and community facilitator—joins Am Johal to discuss music as a tool for community healing. Khari explores music as an interactive process, and sees music as an opportunity to connect with the surrounding community. As an artist, he speaks about the importance of one's presence and the ability to connect with the audience. He says his willingness to interact with the community gave birth to so many of his collaborations. Khari also discussed the importance of his Freedom Singer Project as a means of connecting with his great great grandmother who was enslaved in the mid 1800’s, and he talks about his other projects like the CCB (Community Capacity Building). As a new father, he also shares how he balances his work with his parental life. This episode contains excerpts of Khari Wendell McClelland's song "Feels Real Good," courtesy of the artist. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podc

Erika Lewis is a singer and musician of Tuba Skinny, a blues and ragtime band from New Orleans. Erika is also a solo artist, with the albums, “Waiting for Stars” (2016) and “A Walk Around the Sun” (2022). This episode goes into the different musical influences of New Orleans, Erika’s move from blues to country, and her overall experiences of street busking and touring internationally. There is also a discussion of her health scare and how it pushed the release of her latest album. This episode contains excerpts from songs from Erika's album A Walk Around the Sun, courtesy of the artist. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/186-erika-lewis.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/186-erika-lewis.html Resources: Erika Lewis: https://www.erikalewismusic.com/full-bio Tuba Skinny: http://tubaskinny.com/ A Walk Around The Sun: https://lnk.to/aroundthesun The Bomb S

Situated within the current context of police brutality, for-profit prisons, and excessive incarceration rates, Am Johal sits down with educator, writer, and public scholar, Walidah Imarisha. Walidah describes her creative works involving ideas and futures of police and prison abolition, including her book Angels with Dirty Faces, and her current work developing Space to Breathe – a film that looks back on our present moment of the abolitionist movement from a future where police and prisons have been abolished. She also shares her collaboration with adrienne maree brown in the creating the Octavia's Brood, an anthology inspired out of their desire to push movement organizers beyond ideas if “realistic” change. Throughout the interview Walidah also speaks about science fiction as an avenue to inspire greater imaginings for social change, and discusses white supremacy, imperial colonialism, and white “progressiveness” within the past and present histories of Oregon and The United States. Full episode detail

On this episode of Below the Radar, host Am Johal is joined by Lizzie Borden, an independent filmmaker who's been directing & creating since the 1970s. Lizzie describes her unique creative journey, as a filmmaker who never went to film school and instead came into filmmaking after studying visual arts. She discusses her inspirations, which vary from gallery art, to second-wave feminism, to women in Marxism. She also dives into her colourful filmography: Regrouping, her 1976 experimental documentary, Born in Flames, her 1983 documentary-style fiction film, and Working Girls, her 1986 drama film looking at the lives of sex workers. Touching on both past and present, Lizzie speaks on her creative process, with intentional editing and aesthetics and the search for intersectionality in her work--even before "intersectionality" was a commonly-used term. She talks about independent filmmaking, and how trying out alternatives only solidified it as her practice of choice. She also looks at the conversations still be

Leanne Prain is the writer of The Creative Instigator's Handbook: A DIY Guide to Making Social Change and Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet & Knit Graffiti. In this episode, Melissa Roach and Leanne discuss the inspiration for The Creative Instigator's Handbook, the different range of projects and artists described in the book, the impact of the pandemic, and the creativity of “Do It Yourself” art projects. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/183-leanne-prain.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/183-leanne-prain.html Resources: Leanne Prain: https://www.leanneprain.com/about The Creative Instigator’s Handbook: A DIY Guide to Making Social Change through Art: https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/T/The-Creative-Instigator-s-Handbook Godfrey Stephens and the Weeping Cedar Woman of Clayoquot Sound: https://www.godfreysart.com/weeping-cedar-woman Morris and Helen Bel

This week we’re highlighting an episode created by our friends at Urbanarium City Talks, from their Should I Stay Or Should I Go? podcast. This series follows Jenny Tan on her mission to figure out how to keep on living in Vancouver, as she explores the housing crisis from her trailer home in the Westend. Throughout the series, Jenny asks Sonja Trauss, president of YIMBY, journalist/writer Sam Cooper, developers Heather Tremain, Tony Pappajohn and Leslie Shieh, Andy Yan, director of SFU's City Program and her mom, should she stay or should she go? She is asking you too. If you like the episode, make sure to listen to the rest of the series at https://urbanarium.org/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go

On the fourth and final episode of The Trip Diary, Steve Tornes speaks with Bowinn Ma and Uytae Lee about their public engagement work involving transit systems, as well as the possible futures of transportation in the Lower Mainland. Bowinn and Steve have a conversation about INSTPP and B-Line/rapid bus initiative in West Vancouver, while Uytae described how his series, “Uytae Lee's Stories About Here,” brings awareness to urban planning concepts to a larger audience. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/the-trip-diary/182-b-line-to-the-future.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/182-b-line-to-the-future.html Resources: Bowinn Ma’s website: https://bowinnmamla.ca/ Uytae Lee with CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/news/author/uytae-lee-1.5094424 Integrated North Shore Transportation Planning Project: http://www.instpp.ca/ Uytae Lee's Stories About Here: https://gem.cbc

On this third episode of The Trip Diary, Steve Tornes speaks with Councillor Tony Valente and Dr. Meghan Winters talks about cycling, advocacy, and street allocations. Tony describes his advocacy work before being elected to council, and what steps transportation advocates can take in other cities, as well as the development of Esplanade Street as a complete street. Meghan talked about her different research looking at cycling and street reallocations across different North American cities, and making the data available for city planners and members of the public. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/the-trip-diary/181-cycling-in-numbers.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/181-cycling-in-numbers.html Resources: Councillor Tony Valente: https://www.tonyvalente.ca/about-tony/ Dr. Meghan Winters: https://www.sfu.ca/fhs/about/people/profiles/meghan-winters.htm

On this second episode of The Trip Diary, Steve Tornes speaks with Dr. Peter V. Hall about the Employer Transit Subsidy Study, a research project which examined the factors that encourage people to switch from driving to public transit and who, even if you made transit free, would still not use public transit. Compared to our last episode on equity, this research is quantitative and numbers based, and yet, even though it involved big data, it still cares deeply about equity. Peter further discusses how the study was used to inform collective bargaining questions and was designed with a social purpose in mind. This SFU study was done in partnership with the union and management of seven hotels, TransLink, and the City of Vancouver. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/the-trip-diary/180-a-city-in-transit.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/180-a-city-in-tran

On this first episode of The Trip Diary, Steve Tornes speaks with Lori Macdonald and Sadia Tabassum about their research on transit-based mobility through an equitable lens. Lori discusses how recent migrants to the City of Vancouver learn and familiarize themselves to a new public transportation network, while Sadia describes how transit spaces affect women of colour in different ways, pushing back against the concept of the “universal transit user”. Both Lori and Sadia discuss their research methods and how they approach the study of personalized experiences. The episode ends with a series of policy recommendations. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/the-trip-diary/179-geographies-of-identity.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/179-geographies-of-identity.html Resources: Meet Steve Tornes: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/about/up

Genevieve LeBaron is a new Professor and Director of the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University, and the Principle Investigator of the ReStructure Lab. In this episode, Am and Genevieve discuss her research work on forced labour and the global market forces which incentivize those practices. They also discuss the new role for public policy in solving real-world solutions as well as the unique context of the School of Public Policy at SFU and its broader impact. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/178-genevieve-lebaron.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/178-genevieve-lebaron.html Resources: Meet Genevieve LeBaron, School of Public Policy’s New Director: https://www.sfu.ca/mpp/news-events/news/welcome-genevieve-lebaron.html Genevieve LeBaron: https://www.genevievelebaron.com/about ReStructure Lab: https://www.restructurelab.org/ Confronting t

William Lindsay worked as an educator at Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and Concordia University. In this episode, Am and William discuss the writing process for his latest book, “Rez Dog Blues & The Haiku: A Savage Life in Bits and Pieces,” and its focus on music and movies, horror and hope, and the honest depiction of Indigneous life, in the 60s and 70s, on reserve and then in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Content Warning: The stories in this series deal with difficult and sometimes traumatic topics. Please practice self care, stop listening and seek support if you need to. Help is available! Mental Health Support: Crisis Centre BC: crisiscentre.bc.ca/ Indian Residential School Survivors Society: www.irsss.ca/services KUU-US Crisis Line: www.kuu-uscrisisline.com/ WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre: www.wavaw.ca/ BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services: www.bcmhsus.ca/ Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes

David Lester is the author and graphic designer of Prophet Against Slavery, Benjamin Lay: A Graphic Novel and he is the illustrator of 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike. David is also the guitarist for the bands, Mecca Normal and Horde of Two. This episode explores the subject of the book, Benjamin Lay, the radical Quaker who used guerrilla theatre to shame slave owners and traders, as well as the intersection of political activism and art in David’s personal and professional history. This episode features the song “Malachi” by the band Mecca Normal. The episode ends with a look at David’s future projects and the legacy of racism and how it continues to haunt contemporary America. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/176-david-lester.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/176-david-lester.html Bio: David Lester is a musician, graphic d

Shauna Sylvester is the former Executive Director of the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue and is moving on to be the Executive Director of the Urban Sustainability Directors’ Network. Shauna has also been involved in various organizations, such as the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C., the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society, Canada’s World, among others. This episode explores the impacts and changes made through these organizations, as well as how Shauna developed an interest for promoting community dialogue. Am and Shauna also discuss Shauna’s concerns with Canada’s changing place in the world, her focus on getting cities to 100% renewable energy, and her 2018 mayoral run in the City of Vancouver. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/175-shauna-sylvester.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/175-shauna-sylvester.html Resources:

In community engagement, values of relationship-building, trust, understanding, and care are paramount—which means listening and learning on both sides. In this episode of Below the Radar, host Am Johal is joined by Magda Goemans, manager of Community Campus Engage Canada. Together, they discuss her almost decade-long journey in the field of community engagement, the priorities of their practice, and plans they hold for the future. Magda describes Community Campus Engage Canada as a network or "community of practice" for individuals and organizations interested in campus-community partnership, that prioritizes community-driven work, such as making space and uplifting the voices of their community partners. Magda also discusses some of the key issues in community engagement today, such as the current societal polarizations brought forth by the pandemic, as well as the specifics of community engagement in Canada—its history, the definitions it's had over the years, and priorities around language and active