In 2001, Dr. Norma Dunning applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary program, seeking legal recognition of her status as an Inuk woman. In the application process, she was faced with a question she could not answer, "What was your disc number?” Her new book Kinuavit: What’s Your Name is the result of two decades of research into the Eskimo Identification System and its impact on Inuit lives. It’s also a personal account of her search for her grandmother. We speak with Dr. Norma Dunning.

On October 4 last year, a parliamentary committee released a new report on facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence. The committee stopped short of recommending a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by police, a move that the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group says is critical to prevent mass surveillance of Canadians. We spoke last fall with Tim McSorley, national coordinator for ICLMG.

On November 1st last year, a provincial committee released their report on the toxic drug supply and overdose crisis. The report contains 37 recommendations looking at everything from BC's proposed decriminalization to treatment beds. In response, nearly 60 organizations and individuals released an open letter saying the report obscures the issue of a poisoned drug supply, and recommends nothing outside of the status quo. We speak with Caitlin Shane of Pivot Legal.

A massive electricity plant in Northeast England that has transitioned from coal to wood pellets claims it is creating green energy. But a protest movement in the UK, and environmentalists in BC say this is greenwashing. Now an investigation team has revealed that DRAX intends to supplement its use of wood waste and sawdust with whole trees, logged in primary forests. Last October, we spoke with Ben Parfitt of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

People with Indian Status cards face stigma and discrimination on a daily basis when they show their cards at stores or to officials, according to a landmark study commissioned by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. The report is titled They Sigh or They Give You the Look: Discrimination and Status Card Usage. Last December, we spoke with Harmony Johnson, sɛƛakəs, from the Tla’amin Nation, who is the lead author of the report.

Tsqelmucwilc is the story of the children who survived the Kamloops Indian Residential School. It is based on the 1988 book Resistance and Renewal, a groundbreaking history of the school - and the first book on residential schools ever published in Canada. The new book has contributions by Garry Gottfriedson, Randy Fred and the KIRS Survivors. We spoke with author Celia Haig-Brown last fall.

Flawed ideas about heroin and people who use it have shaped drug law and policy in Canada for decades. An illustrated book by Susan Boyd traces the history of Canadian heroin regulation over two centuries. Susan Boyd is a scholar/activist and distinguished professor at the University of Victoria. She joined us in May 2022 to talk about her book Heroin: An Illustrated History.

A report by Independent Jewish Voices documents in detail the reprisals, harassment and intimidation faced by Canadians who engage in scholarship and activism in the area of Palestinian human rights. The report discusses how this chilling effect blunts and shapes the discourse around Palestinian rights and criticism of Israeli policy. We spoke last fall with report co-author, Sheryl Nestel.

Judging by the constant stream of news reports of standoffs and confrontations, it’s apparent that Canada’s reconciliation project has gone off the rails. Standoff is the title of a book of essays by lawyer and historian Bruce McIvor. In it, he examines why reconciliation is failing and what needs to be done to fix it. Bruce McIvor is a member of the Manitoba Metis Federation and a partner at First People’s Law. He represents First Nations across Canada from Wet’suwet’en opposing the Coastal Gas Link pipeline to Mi’kmaw exercising their fishing rights in Nova Scotia. We spoke with him in December 2021.

A new report published last month by the office of the Representative for Children and Youth seeks to understand why hundreds of children are disappearing from the child welfare system in BC. It was written in response to the hundreds of reports coming into the Office of children missing from care, many of whom go on to experience critical injury or die. We speak with Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth is Representative for Children and Youth.