CHRW News and Spoken Word

News in Review August 23.

2011-08-24T13:11:00.005-04:00

News in Review for August 23, 2011.

On this episode of News in Review, we review NDP leader Jack Layton's last days.

Gauge local reaction to PC Leader's admitted former marijuana use.

And we talk about why tornadoes kill more in the United States than in Canada.

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News in Review: July 5, 2011

2011-07-05T18:40:00.005-04:00

Rotterdam Convention Shame, Feds Funding Liberation Therapy, and First Hand Account of the Greek Boarding of the Tahrir

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Contributors:
Ed von Aderkas
Michael Lapointe

CHRW News in Review, April 19th

2011-04-21T13:01:00.003-04:00

Record Store Day, The Upside of Downs Syndrome, Election Analysis with Professor Bob Young...

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Thank you to CJSW, in Calgary for Today In Canadian History.
Contributors:
Richard Goodine
Gian Verano
Alex Ballingall
Ashley Bushfield

CHRW News in Review April 5, 2011

2011-04-08T15:20:00.006-04:00

Sluts, Nudists and Trespassers: London's not so seedy underbelly...

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Contributors:
Ashley Bushfield
Gian Verano
Sumbal Sabah

CHRW News in Review - March 15th, 2011

2011-03-16T14:35:00.004-04:00

Ralph Nader on Canada and Canadian Politics

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On March 12, 2011, prior to his visit at Western as a guest of the Canada/US Institute, CHRW's Ashley Bushfield conducted a 20 minute interview with Ralph Nader. This episode of NiR features this interivew, clips from Nader's career, and Ashley's thoughts on Mr. Nader's sentiments.

CHRW News in Review - February 8, 2011

2011-02-09T15:28:00.005-05:00

Minute To Win It!, Get Real, Policing & Social Media, Feature on Egypt...

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Contributors:
Ed von Aderkas
Gian Verano
Ashley Bushfield

CHRW News in Review - November 30, 2010

2010-12-03T11:48:00.002-05:00

Bill C-311, Environmental Demonstration, Deported from Isreal, Women & AIDS...

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Contributors:
Ed von Aderkas
Gian Verano
Ashley Bushfield

On this week's CHRW NiR, the features were played in some sort of narrative. To start, Ed von Aderkas brings us information about Bill C-311 , or the Climate Change Accountability Act,along with a reaction from Candian Liberal Senator John Cowan. After the stunning defeat of the Bill in the Senate, the newsroom conversations largely centred around the state of Canada's democratic system. Usual discussions about the Senate - do we need it? should it be elected? - were accompanied by questions about our constitution and whether or not it is a sufficient and well-functioning document. Senator Cowan highlights these areas in his responses to Ed as well.

Following this was Kira Lamont's account of her experience the day the Bill was defeated. She, along with 5 other Canadian women, spent some of that day in a backroom of the Canadian Parliament awaiting Ottawa police who fined them for trespassing and banned them from Parliament property for one year. All for staging a peacful sit-in in the Rotunda of Parliament demanding environmental accountability from the government. This story also had folks around here pondering the state of Canada's democratic system.

Next was Stefan Christoff offering an account of being denied entry to Israel and his subsequent deportation to Jordan. Christoff was told that he wasn't allowed to enter the country because of his activities with certain protest groups. I asked if the fact that Isreali border agents knew about his activities in Canada surprised him. His response was to state concern over the state of democracy in Israel. (He also offers an account of the state of Palestinian refugees in Jordan in the podcast. This angle of the Palestinian story is one I feel could use more attention)

Finally, Gian Verano brought us an interview with Daniel Pugh of the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (formerly AIDS Committee of London). Leading up to World AIDS day there was a lot of coverage and press given to alleviating the impact of AIDS in Africa. Gian's interview, I think, allows us to remember that AIDS is a problem here in Canada too. All too often we look beyond our borders to focus on problems that often times we make worse, or at least not better, by not acknowledging our particular cultural standpoint. Not that we should give up international aid and causes. Just that we should start taking greater ownership of the problems we have here - like the state of our democratic system.

For the next NiR: aboriginal mental health, WikiLeaks, & more...

CHRW News In Review - November 16th, 2010

2010-11-18T17:56:00.011-05:00

Originally broadcast Tuesday November 16th, 2010

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Local G20-Resistance Solidarity Rally
The Defeat of Bill C-300
Mapping Medievalism at The Canadian Frontier

Local G20-Resistance Solidarity Rally
Local G20-resistance solidarity rally organizer, Mike Roy, spoke with CHRW's Sumbal Sabah about why people resist the G20 and the economic and social policies advanced by participating nations. At the end of the peice, Sabah asks "where was Western?" referring to the sparsely attended rally in Victoria Park, held the Saturday of the G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. A CHRW reporter at the scene says there were fewer than 20 people in attendance. One does wonder where the anti-G20 passion, so evident when the summit took place in Toronto, has gone. Still, I believe when individuals publicly display dissent, it is important to recognize the content of the voice speaking out as opposed to counting the number of dissenters.

The Defeat of Bill C-300
CHRW's Ed von Aderkas had the opportunity to speak to Catherine Coumans from miningwatch.ca about Bill C-300 - a bill intended to regulate the actions of Canadian mining companies on foreign soil. Rather than hands being thrown up at its narrow defeat in the House in late October of this year, Coumans takes the view that it is a sign of good things to come. The actions of Canadian mining companies abroad has come up on NiR more than once and encompasses overlapping issues of the environment, indigenous rights, human rights,property rights, big business, free trade agreements and the balancing of state (economic) interests with the health and safety of individual citizens. Earlier this year, students from UWO visited a community in Ecuador that has succesfully resisted Canadian mining interests. You can download the story Ed did on this topic here or have a listen:

Mapping Medievalism at The Canadian Frontier
I had the opportunity to attend a guided talk at the McIntosh Gallery exhibition and conduct the interviews that Gian Verano used to compile this story. It's wonderful to have Arts & Entertainment features on NiR generally but in particular I very much enjoyed Mapping Medievalism at the Canadian Frontier. It is one of the most provocative exhibitions I have seen and it helped me situate my home town (London) into the story that is the foraging of Canada. The good and the bad. Luckily, the exhibitions at the McIntosh Gallery (until December 11th) and Museum London (until January 16th) are still running so you have time to see it all for yourself. A book of the project is also imminent with publication scheduled for December.

As always, a large thank you to CJSW for Today in Canadian History. I would also like to thank Connor Immonen who has been contributing Headlines Without Borders to NiR since the spring. Connor has to concentrate on other things now but with any luck will be returning with Hw/oB in the future.

On the next NiR:Stefan Christoff from Jordan speaking about his experience being deported from Isreal when he attempted to enter Palestine for the World Education Forum - Londoner Kira Lamont from Climate Justice Ottawa speaking about her experience being fined and banned from Parliament property for one year for a peaceful climate demonstration - Bill C-311: what happened?, featuring interviews with Canadian Senators & more!

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