Sfu's Vancity Office Of Community Engagement

On this week’s episode, we sat down with long-time Indigenous-rights advocate Scott Clark of the Coast Salish S'Klallam nation, and discussed creating systems of change from the ground up that produce positive and evidence based results. Diving into his work with ALIVE, or Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement Society, Scott talks about his hope regarding youth-led movements while critiquing how settler governments continue to fail Indigenous people. Having decades of experience working with urban Indigenous people in the Downtown Eastside, Scott explains his misgivings around nonprofits and how, due to funding sources, they can become extensions of a colonial government at the neighbourhood level. He instead proposes Indigenous self-government and the development of more inclusive and fair policy documents. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/154-scott-clark.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-en

Am Johal sits down with the team at InterGenNS, a North Shore community project working to inspire intergenerational connections. This intergenerational trio, Rachelle Patille, Sue Carabetta, and June Maynard, speak about bridging the gap of academia and community, the impacts that COVID had on project goals and funding, and the challenges of embarking upon community-engaged research. The team also explores their personal stories that led them towards intergenerational programming, and discusses how InterGenNS has created community connectivity and collaboration among organizations, partners, and community members across different ages and social intersections. They also speak about their optimism and excitement surrounding the future of InterGenNS as we slowly emerge from the pandemic. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/153-intergenns.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-p

The climatic events of 2021 (heat, fires, floods, storms) have brought home the reality of climate change like never before — and the urgency for media to address this crisis couldn’t feel greater. But how do we talk about the climate emergency in ways that move us away from despair and disaster coverage? How can podcasts shift the conversation in ways the mainstream media cannot or refuses to do? How do we talk about climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and de-colonizing media? For this special release, tune into the live event recording from Podcasting Climate Change, a session at the 2021 Vancouver Podcast Festival. This recording features a panel discussion curated and moderated by Below the Radar host Am Johal. He is joined by Chief Patrick Michell, Julia Kidder, Eugene Kung and Grace Nosek. This Vancouver Podcast Festival event was presented in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episod

Writer and poet, Renée Sarojini Saklikar joins Am Johal on this episode of Below the Radar to talk about her latest work, Bramah and The Beggar Boy, first in a series, THOT J BAP (The Heart Of This Journey Bears All Patterns). In this episode, Renée reads passages from her new story and discusses the act of writing as a woman of colour, her creative process, and how writing can be a form of survival and resistance. Her book is an epic poem and story which was an amazing 10-year undertaking, describing a future dealing with climate change and a viral bio-contagion. Bramah, a locksmith, part human and part goddess, is part of the poet’s “life-long project of unlocking and unbinding, of challenging the primacy of borders, the formal, the political and the self-imposed.” More details about Renée’s new book and her previous books can be found in the resources below. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/151-renee-sarojini-saklikar.html Read

Below the Radar explores the transformational capacity of dialogue with apiculturist, award-winning author, and SFU Professor of Biological Sciences Mark Winston. He is in conversation with host Am Johal about SFU’s Semester in Dialogue program and the importance of providing students with opportunities to be engaged with their communities. Mark shares how part of a university’s job is to help people realize who they want to be in the world, speaking to the impact of alternative pedagogical models that embrace dialogue and art. We hear stories from his time as director of the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and the complex process of creating a non-traditional, interdisciplinary program such as the Semester in Dialogue. They speak about Mark’s journey with dialogue, which grew out of his fascination with bee communication. He also talks about the shortcomings of dialogue, what conversations need to be elevated emerging from the pandemic, and how we can translate them into building equity and compassion

Performance scholar and Associate Professor in the Dramatic Arts department at the University of Alberta Selena Couture joins Am Johal to talk about her latest book, Against the Current and Into the Light. Selena speaks about how her book explores varying historical and contemporary performances involving Stanley Park through language, relationships to land, and the unlearning of settler knowledges. She draws from colonial and counter-colonial performances such as the 1946 Jubilee show, and the public performances of Native Brotherhood of BC in the same year. Selena also explores how her doctoral dissertation and the taking of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language classes influenced the creation of her book, and speaks about the instability of archive-based “truths,” by discussing the fabricated history of Lord Stanley’s dedication of Stanley Park to “people of all colours, creeds and customs.” Selena and Am end their conversation by speaking of the absence of Indigenous women from historical archives, and the resonatin

Travis Salway, a social epidemiologist and Assistant Professor with SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences, joins Am Johal in a conversation about syndemic theory, the state of conversion therapy in Canada, and LGBTQ2S+ affirming healthcare. Going in-depth about the structural health disadvantages of LGBTQ2S+ people and the multiple epidemics concurrently affecting them, Am and Travis discuss how Canada still needs to do more to achieve an equal society. Travis also speaks to the current limitation of data collection for this vulnerable population and how he and his team are working to create visual tools to help keep people informed on the state of Canada’s LGBTQ2S+ policies. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/148-travis-salway.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/148-travis-salway.html Resources: — Travis’s Faculty Page: https://www.sfu.ca/fhs/about/people

For this final episode of Women, Work, More, host Alyha Bardi speaks with Sheila Block, a senior economist from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, and Jo-Ann Hannah, retired Director of the Pensions and Benefits at Unifor, and board member at the BC Financial Services Authority. Sheila and Jo-Ann speak in conversation about retirement incomes with a gender and racial equity lens, and explore how pay gaps and gendered life-patterns influence income security for senior women. They speak to the flaws in existing public and private pension systems, discuss the benefits and downfalls of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and explore solutions in the realms of structural changes, public services and healthcare, and pooled retirement pensions systems. Throughout the episode we hear from four senior women, as they speak about their life-work trajectories, and the resulting money struggles, worries, or “lucks” they have now — while expressing dissatisfaction with lacking assistance from government systems. Fu

The director of the SFU Labour Studies program, Kendra Strauss, joins Am Johal in a conversation about systemic challenges facing workers, and the ways in which workers shape economies and exercise power in the workplace. Honing in on issues of precarious work, low wages, technological change, contracting out, and the devaluing of feminized work like care work, Am and Kendra discuss trends in labour studies and how they impact migrant and racialized workers. Kendra also speaks to how labour studies as a discipline can work in-step with labour organizers and workers to strive towards a just transition, to create better, more secure jobs, and to address social issues that affect all workers. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/146-kendra-strauss.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/146-kendra-strauss.html Resources: — SFU Labour Studies: http://www.sfu.ca/

A transnational labour scholar, co-founder of Justicia for Migrant Workers, and assistant professor from SFU's Labour Studies Program, Evelyn Encalada Grez joins this episode of Women, Work, More to speak about migrant women and their experiences of transnational loving. Evelyn explores the pains that accompany migration, from separating families to the often temporary loves that migrant women find while working within Canada. Despite these pains, Evelyn speaks about the forms of agency that migrant women enact throughout their migration — that often revolves around reasserting their power over their bodies and sexualities. As the episode continues, Evelyns speaks about her past projects that have aided in re-empowering migrant workers and migrant women within their migration. She also shares the changes that need to be made to undo the exploitation inherent within temporary labour migration programs. Throughout the episode we hear quotes from migrant women whom Evelyn has encountered and interviewed as pa

Ken Lyotier tells stories from his early days in the Downtown Eastside and how he came to found United We Can, an initiative by binners, for binners. United We Can creates economic opportunities for those who rely on collecting and returning recyclables for their income. In this episode of Below the Radar, Ken is in conversation with host Am Johal about building community in the neighbourhood, advocating for policies and resources to benefit binners, and reaching across difference to support our neighbours and make progressive change. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/144-ken-lyotier.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/144-ken-lyotier.html Resources: — United We Can: http://www.unitedwecan.ca/ — Binners’ Project: https://www.binnersproject.org/ — CBC IDEAS documentary on Ken Lyotier: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/meet-ken-lyotier-an-unforgettable-en

SFU Sociology and Anthropology Professor Amanda Watson, joins Alyha Bardi to speak about her recent book, 'The Juggling Mother: Coming Undone in an Age of Anxiety.' Amanda speaks about our cultural fascination with the figure of the juggling mother, explores the ableism and racism behind this depiction, and scrutinizes the immense pressures of motherhood that are often ignored — from juggling work and home life, to breastfeeding, to acting unencumbered at work. Amanda also discusses depictions of mothers as the “gender neutral CEO” — and explores how misogyny, white liberal feminism, and gender socialization, have led us to accept these very ideas involving motherhood that do more harm than good. The episode ends with Amanda and four working mothers sharing some advice with working mothers, present and future. They speak to their visions for making work better serve parents, reshaping cultural ideas of motherhood to alleviate pressure, and placing greater value on the labour of mothers. About the Women,

Nick Montgomery joins Below the Radar to talk solutions to what he calls ‘structural precarity’ in housing. He is in conversation with host Melissa Roach about a newly launched project he has co-founded, Solidarity Housing, a new model that supports homeowners in transitioning their homes to become permanently affordable housing. A writer, theorist, and permaculturist, Nick is deeply interested in housing alternatives, collective living, and finding more sustainable ways to live a thriving life in community with others. He and Melissa speak about the legal framework and model that Solidarity Housing seeks to provide, and how to encourage solidarity across the homeowner-tenant divide through engagement in mutual aid. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/142-nick-montgomery.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/142-nick-montgomery.html Resources: — Solidarit

Women, Work, More kicks off with an investigation into the experiences of young women in the workplace. Host Alyha Bardi speaks with Kaitlyn Matulewicz, a labour organizer with a background in labour law, who is also the Executive Director of the Worker Solidarity Network. They speak about the unique barriers and harassment experienced by young women working front-of-house positions in the food service and hospitality industry. Kaitlyn speaks to gendered power dynamics in restaurants, issues around shift scheduling and tip-out practices, and how women workers are pushing back and finding ways to resist the culture of harassment. She also points to examples that set legal precedent for harassment in the workplace, and shouts out the organizing movements working to protect workers and shift power dynamics within the industry. Woven throughout this episode, we hear stories from anonymized young women currently working in front-of-house positions, as they share their experiences sexual harassment and resistance

“What I see that's hopeful coming out of this pandemic is that I think we've revitalized our ability to work in solidarity.” Lama Mugabo joins Below the Radar to speak to building community and solidarity, from Rwanda to Hogan’s Alley. Lama is a Rwandan-born community organizer and planner with deep roots in the Downtown Eastside and the Black community in Vancouver. In this episode, Lama joins host Am Johal to speak to his work around reconstruction and community building Rwanda, following the genocide of 1994. A co-founder of Building Bridges with Rwanda, Lama talks about fostering awareness and international solidarity with Rwandans, Canadians, and the diaspora community. Having worked for decades in the Downtown Eastside community, Lama draws connections between his work internationally and locally. He shares his experiences of engaging community with Hogan’s Alley Society around housing, discriminatory street checks, and rebuilding the once-thriving Black community that was displaced for the construc

An artist, community organizer, and a former staff member and longtime friend of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, Andrea Creamer joins Below the Radar to catch up with your host, Am Johal. They talk grassroots arts organizing, her experiences as a fine arts student in SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts and at the University of Toronto, and taking a community-centred approach to healthcare and wellness. Andrea has a long history of working in community and bringing arts programming to the public. They chat about her involvement in the artist-run Toast Collective in East Van, as well as Super Cool Tuesdays, a community arts program Andrea facilitated for many years out of the Interurban Gallery in the Downtown Eastside. Bringing a lens of centring community care and access to arts and culture, Andrea is deeply interested in how community connection and social prescribing can promote community health and wellbeing. She and Am talk about her work with the Burnaby Primary Care Networks, which b

Philosopher, cultural theorist, and author of The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence, Dr. Isabel Millar joins Am Johal to speak about the psychoanalytical questions of AI and subjectivity. They talk about how Isabel’s work draws from Jacques Lacan, the importance of considering sexuality and the body in conversations about AI, and acknowledging how intelligence is a dynamic concept that changes throughout history. Isabel draws from the film Ex Machina to consider the positioning of sexuality; and Blade Runner 2049 to pose deeply psychoanalytic questions revolving around the query ‘can AI be human?’ She also criticizes the development of AI for its disclusion of the Humanities disciplines, and speaks about her concept of patipolitics and how it relates to sexbots and the ethics of enjoyment and suffering. Episode page: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/138-isabel-millar.html Transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-

Host Am Johal is joined by Julietta Singh, an author and Associate Professor of English and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Richmond. In this episode, they talk about the feminist, queer, ecological, and decolonial lens Julietta brings to her work, as well as her newly-released book, The Breaks, which “takes the form of a letter to her young daughter about race, inheritance, and mothering at the end of the world.” Episode page: https://www.sfu.ca/sfuwoodwards/community-engagement/Below-the-Radar/episodes/episodes1/ep137-julietta-singh.html Transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/sfuwoodwards/community-engagement/Below-the-Radar/transcripts/ep137-julietta-singh.html Resources: — Julietta’s website: https://www.juliettasingh.com/ — Unthinking Mastery: https://www.dukeupress.edu/unthinking-mastery — No Archive Will Restore You: https://punctumbooks.com/titles/no-archive-will-restore-you/ — The Breaks: https://chbooks.com/Books/T/The-Breaks

Award-winning artist, filmmaker, and activist Andrea Luka Zimmerman joins Below the Radar from the UK to speak to us about her approach to making art and films — in deep collaboration, over long periods of time, and always cultivating community. Host Am Johal speaks to Andrea about how her work explores counter-memories to structural violence and how we dream together to build new worlds. They discuss Andrea’s past and recent works, including Estate, A Reverie, Here for Life, and others, delving into the aesthetics and experimental nature of her work, as well as the political orientation around themes of displacement, gentrification, human rights, and social connection that run through her practice. Transcript: Register for the free screening of ‘Here for Life’ on October 15 at 5pm: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/here-for-life-film-screening-tickets-170500399284 Resources: — Fugitive Images https://fugitiveimages.org.uk/about/ — Taskafa, Stories of the Street https://lux.org.uk/work/taskafa-stories-of-the-st

Wrapping up our series on Climate Justice and Inequality, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip joins Below the Radar to talk about his history of activism as a lifelong advocate for Indigenous Peoples’ Title and Rights. He and Am speak about his role in historical battles for Indigenous land rights over the decades, and the future of land defense. In the midst of overlapping crises of the global pandemic and the contamination of the drug supply, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip addresses the need for a stronger response from the government that focuses on the people rather than corporations. He digs into government shortcomings when it comes to respecting Indigenous jurisdiction over Indigenous lands, landmark victories, and the ongoing fight to protect Indigenous territories. He also addresses his unconditional love for the land and for the people as his motivation to continue the fight for justice, and the sense of hope he feels about passing the torch to this new generation of land defenders. Resources: — Union of