Category: News

Canada is ranked *last* according to a non-partisan study assessing the legitimacy of whistleblower laws globally. What?

On this episode of @Risk, host Jodi Butts is joined by Dr. John O’Connor, the winner of the inaugural Peter Bryce Prize honouring individuals whose courage in speaking up about wrongdoing has served the public interest, as well as by David Yazbeck, lawyer and Advisory Board Member to the Centre for Freedom of Expression’s Whistleblower Initiative, to discuss why we need whistleblowers and how the Canadian and provincial governments can better protect them.

To read the full transcript of this episode, click here.

We have been at…all of this for about a year now. Maybe it feels longer for you. Maybe it feels shorter. Maybe time has lost all meaning. Whatever the case, on this episode of Open to Debate, we are taking a deep breath and mixing things up as we celebrate our 40th episode and process 12 months of pandemic life.

How do we simultaneously celebrate this podcast and process what the last year has meant? Well, mostly we make jokes for about an hour. And talk about trains. How else would we proceed?

So, without further delay: How are you doing?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Brittlestar — Stewart Reynolds — comedian, video-maker extraordinaire, and, according to his website, The Internet’s Favourite Dad* (*unproven).

Each generation carries its unique burdens forward in the face of their own particular headwinds.

On this episode of @Risk, Jodi Butts is joined by Dr. Samir Sinha, geriatrician and Health Policy Research Director for the National Institute on Ageing, and Vass Bednar, Executive Director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy Program, to discuss the policy opportunities for improving the risk profiles of older Canadians and Millennials.

To read the full transcript of this episode, click here

Throughout the pandemic, the quality and success of communications from government, public health officials, elected representatives, and others tasked with keeping us in the loop have been, let’s say, inconsistent. There have been highs and there have been lows. Quality has varied across jurisdictions. And it shows.

While approaches to good communication work may vary, there are some strategies and tactics that ought to be more common. For instance, meeting people where they are, rather than expecting them to come to you. That is precisely what this week’s guest does. He answers the question: How should we talk about public health during a pandemic?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Dr. Naheed Dosani, palliative care physician, Lecturer in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the University of Toronto, Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University and health justice activist.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have a rare and historic opportunity to make generational progress in the fight against climate change.

Listen to a conversation between John Podesta, Founder, Center for American Progress and Former Chief of Staff to the President of the United States, and Gerald Butts, Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor, Eurasia Group and Former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they discuss the ways policy makers, business leaders and citizens on both sides of the border can work together to seize this moment.

The secondary effects of public health interventions against COVID-19 continue to impact the health and wellbeing of Canadians, and must not be ignored.

Listen to a conversation between Dr. Vera Etches, Medical Officer of Health, Ottawa Public Health, Dr. Vivek Goel, Professor, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Dr. Gail Beck, Clinical Director, Youth Psychiatry Program, The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, moderated by Nadine Yousif, Mental Health Reporter, Toronto Star.

Dissatisfied with the amount of progress being made towards freedom and equity for all?

On this episode of @Risk, host Jodi Butts is joined by University of Toronto professor and author of On Property, Rinaldo Walcott, to discuss his radically optimistic prescription for a different kind of freedom that goes daringly beyond greater representation of Black and Indigenous people in positions of authority.

To read the full transcript of this episode, click here.

In late January, the House of Commons unanimously voted on a resolution, proposed by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, to call on the government to “use all available tools to address the proliferation of white supremacists and hate groups.” The motion included a specific focus on designating the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization. .

The rise of white supremacist and hate organisations poses a threat to Canadaians. These groups and their members must face consequences for their actions. They ought to be resisted and, ultimately, dismantled. But how should that be done? What risks attend to the expansion or further entrenchment of the national security state? Should white supremacist groups be designated as terrorist organizations?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Harsha Walia, director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and author of the forthcoming book Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism.

Since cyber security risk scales as quickly as fortunes are made by network effects, is it time to adopt new approaches to how we protect and sustain cyber security?

On this episode of @Risk, Jodi Butts speaks with F5 Networks’ Global Head of AI, Stanford lecturer and former Googler, Shuman Ghosemajumder to find out if cyber security can keep pace with the evolving threats.

To read the full transcript of this episode, click here.