How affordable housing, climate action and Indigenous rights can fit together We were pleased to welcome language teacher, elected councillor and Squamish Nation spokesperson Khelsilem for an hour-long chat with Kai Nagata and Dogwood supporters. Topics included: Sen̓áḵw, the Squamish Nation’s ambitious new 6,000-unit rental housing project in Kitsilano How Indigenous values can inform the […]
With a weak federal government and hostile neighbours, B.C. needs to stand up for itself B.C. is the front line of the overdose crisis and the housing crisis. We have the most crushing ratio of household debt in Canada. Our primary industries are collapsing because of climate change, automation and corporate greed. And yet British […]
Calls to ‘focus on climate’ above justice or equity are misguided, even dangerous I know what Mike Le Couteur was thinking. When NDP leader Jagmeet Singh stood in Grassy Narrows and vowed to fix the drinking water in Indigenous communities, the Global reporter was following his news instincts. “Are you just writing a blank cheque,” […]
16-year-olds could boost turnout, revive democracy and keep climate top of the political agenda. A century ago, the people in power came up with some truly ridiculous reasons why women shouldn’t vote. Women’s brains were insufficiently developed, anti-suffragists argued. They lacked life experience outside the home. They would simply vote the way their husbands voted. […]
Federal Court of Appeal tosses out cases on climate, orcas and Charter rights of youth In a rare public decision, the Federal Court of Appeal announced that six Indigenous groups can challenge Ottawa’s second approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline and oil tanker expansion. At the same time, it dismissed applications from two First Nations, […]
Canada’s Senate is unelected, unaccountable – and easily swayed by Big Oil Unelected senators in Ottawa are poised to open B.C.’s North Coast to supertankers full of diluted bitumen. By the time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls the next election, it’s possible Bill C-48, the crude oil tanker moratorium, will be dead. It’s a chilling […]
First, stop giving public money to oil and gas companies This week, groups across Canada launched a bold plan to fight the climate crisis. The Green New Deal would cut carbon pollution in half and create a million good-paying jobs. All in the next ten years. Some armchair critics rolled their eyes. “Impossible,” they said. […]
Jason Kenney is building a “war room”. B.C. needs a wartime mindset of its own During World War II motor fuels were strictly rationed across North America. Everyone pitched in to save precious gasoline and diesel for the fight against fascism. Governments lowered speed limits. Local businesses delivered by bicycle. Citizens took to public transit […]