David P. Ball

Reconciliation Week a chance for 'critical conversations' on colonialism

rabble staff — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 20:45:30 +0000

Friday, September 20, 2013

Vancouver's week of events surrounding residential school hearings culminates Sunday with a Walk for Reconciliation.

As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission wraps up its Vancouver hearings into residential school abuses Saturday, organizers of a week of public events are renewing their call for 50,000 people to take to the streets Sunday as a symbol of reconciliation.

The four days of testimony are the latest national event gathering painful stories from those who survived the church-run schools, the last of which closed in 1996 amidst revelations of widespread sexual and physical abuse across the country.

Ottawapiskat: Amidst raft of scandals, are Canadians really ready for self-government?

rabble staff — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:42:00 +0000

Friday, June 21, 2013

With Ottawa embroiled in a mushrooming number of financial embarrassments, observers are raising their collective eyebrows over the Conservatives' focus on alleged First Nations improprieties.

Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a supporting member of rabble.ca.

Greek opponents of Eldorado mine take message to company's Canadian HQ: 'Leave us alone'

derrick — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 19:29:14 +0000

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Villagers in Greece sent delegates to visit Canada last week, ratcheting up their fight against a Vancouver-based firm they say is destroying their region.

Please support our coverage of democratic movements and become a supporting member of rabble.ca.

Greek villagers brought their region's fierce battle against Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold to the firm's headquarters Friday, marking the end of the activists' cross-Canada tour opposing open-pit gold mining in their homeland.

Judy Rebick: Henry Morgentaler was a 'lightning-rod for the women's movement'

David P Ball — Thu, 30 May 2013 19:43:30 +0000

Yesterday, Dr. Henry Morgentaler died at age 90. A pioneer for Canada's reproductive rights movement, Morgentaler openly defied the country's restrictive abortion laws by opening clinics across the country, starting in Montreal in 1968.

He faced death threats, fire bombings and arrest -- until eventually Canada's abortion legislation was overturned in 1988.

Renowned author, and rabble.ca co-founder, Judy Rebick knew Morgentaler since 1982, when she became a spokesperson for his Toronto clinic. The next year, she prevented a garden shear-wielding man from attacking the physician, a clip widely broadcast at the time, and featured in the award-winning recent documentary on Canadian feminism, Status Quo.

'These two parties just don't understand': BC Green leader Jane Sterk on democracy and fossil fuels

David P Ball — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:51:31 +0000

Don't media just adore a two-horse election race. And in B.C., which heads to the polls tomorrow (May 14), the latest opinion polls bear that out with an ever-nailbiting NDP lead over the Liberals.

Though only two parties are considered contenders for a majority, on Friday, Green Party leader Jane Sterk in fact featured prominently at the top of a full-page advertizement in the Victoria Times-Colonist, under the headline: 'Who is strong enough to stand up for B.C.? ... Jane Sterk and the Greens have strong, clear views about how to protect our coast.'

B.C. Election: Greens' Jane Sterk talks fracking, vote-splitting and democracy

W2Media — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:33:20 +0000

Vote-splitting, democratic choice & electoral reform. Natural gas fracking supported by Libs & NDP. Who will defend the coast?

Read a transcript of this Media Mornings radio interview with Jane Sterk on The Left Coast Post.

Media Mornings daily election coverage on Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5fm : w2media.ca/election

B.C. Election: Sean Holman explores the 'secret world' of party discipline

W2Media — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:24:38 +0000

Investigative reporter, journalist, filmmaker talks about his new doc, “Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline."

Media Mornings daily election coverage on Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5fm: w2media.ca/election

Title: Investigative reporter, journalist, filmmaker: “Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline“
Background: Former publisher, Public Eye Online
Topics: BC election, BC MLAs, BC politics, legislature
Interview date: May 2, 2013
Interviewed by: David P. Ball

B.C. Election: Ex-mayor Sam Sullivan talks about his BC Liberal run, drug laws and BC Rail scandal

W2Media — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:06:46 +0000

Vancouver's former mayor talks about legalizing marijuana, his past conflicts with Christy Clark & the BC Liberal Party campaign

Media Mornings daily election coverage on Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5fm : w2media.ca/election

Title: Candidate, Vancouver-False Creek
Organization: BC Liberals
Background: Former Mayor of Vancouver
Topics: Legalization of marijuana, Christy Clark, BC Liberal Party, BC election
Interview date: May 9, 2013
Interviewed by: David P. Ball

B.C. Election: Vicki Huntington, province's first independent elected since 1949, on the failure of parties

W2Media — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:56:05 +0000

BC's first elected independent candidate since 1949 talks about democratic reform and representative politics.

Media Mornings daily election coverage on Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5fm : w2media.ca/election

Title: MLA, Delta South
Organization: Independent (Website)
Topics: Independent candidates, democratic reform, representative politics, and the BC election
Interview date: April 25, 2013
Interviewed by: David P. Ball

B.C. Election: Duane Nickull (BC Conservatives)

W2Media — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:19:29 +0000

BC Conservative candidate and punk rocker a.k.a. "Duane Chaos" talk about libertarianism, green energy & party discipline.

Media Mornings daily election coverage on Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5fm

w2media.ca/election

Riding: Vancouver-Point Grey
Party: BC Conservatives
Background: Musician, business owner
Topics: Fiscal conservatism and social liberalism. Debts and deficits. Climate change action. Party discipline versus representing constituents. Being in a punk band.
Interviewed by: David P. Ball

'Make this an election issue': Growth of coal exports alarms environmentalists in B.C.

derrick — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:27:17 +0000

Friday, May 3, 2013

Despite garnering little attention in the B.C. election campaign, the sudden swell of B.C.'s role in the global coal trade has become a burning issue for environmental advocates.

"We're a secure marine facility," Jeff Scott says, pulling a fluorescent safety vest over his suit jacket, "so I can't have you going out and taking a whole bunch of pictures out there."

Gaining access to the Fraser Surrey Docks terminal, the site of a controversial proposal for a new coal export facility, requires me to navigate a checkpoint, deposit my driver's license with the guardhouse as collateral, and wait for official clearance before the tall chain link gate sidles slowly open.

'We've just stripped away essential safeguards': Civil libertarians decry new 'anti-terror' law

David P Ball — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:03:09 +0000

With last night's passing of the Combating Terrorism Act (Bill S-7), Canada quietly marked the return of controversial post-9/11 anti-terrorism legislation -- granting authorities "exceptional" abilities to detain Canadians, preemptively, for three days without charge, and imprisoning anyone for up to a year who refuses to testify before new "investigative hearings."

'We can never get electoral reform unless we defeat Stephen Harper': Joyce Murray

David P Ball — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:02:32 +0000

In the federal Liberal leadership race, most eyes have so far been on Justin “Heir to Pierre's Throne” Trudeau to wear the Grits' crown into the next election.

It's a crown tarnished from a series of stunning electoral defeats that marked a nadir in the party's history.

Know your rights cards 'prioritize' sex worker safety, say advocates

rabble staff — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:09:56 +0000

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Advocates in Vancouver hope a new resource for survival sex workers will help hold police accountable -- the newest development in a simmering controversy over Canada's prostitution laws.

Sex workers in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside will soon be getting special wallet-sized cards educating about their rights with police, thanks to two advocacy groups -- Pivot Legal Society and Sex Workers United Against Violence (SWUAV).

The two groups' previous collaborations include winning a high-profile Supreme Court of Canada case which saw the country's prostitution laws declared unconstitutional, as well as convincing Vancouver police to overhaul their own enforcement of those laws.

'Dismantling two centuries of privilege and power': Glen Coulthard on #IdleNoMore

David P Ball — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:53:44 +0000

As Idle No More prepares for its next day of action on January 28, Indigenous activists and thinkers took time to reflect on the grassroots movement tonight as part of a Vancouver panel, “Idle? Know More.”

It explored "Indigenous rights and self-determination, a legacy of struggle against colonialism, and the Idle No More movement."

The Left Coast Post spoke earlier with one of the panellists, Glen Coulthard -- an assistant professor of First Nations Studies and Political Science at UBC.