Canadaland

In 1972, the government funded an absurd study to measure the impact of cannabis on productivity.Show Notes: Young women were sequestered in a hospital ward for 98 days and administered daily doses of super-potent, government-grown marijuana. They smoked 2 joints a day while weaving macrame belts for money. Their story is the subject of a new indie film, The Marijuana ConspiracyTrailerBut it was first told to reporter Diana Zlomislic by Doreen Brown, who now bring it to us.  This episode brought to you by Our Darkest Day, Squarespace, Freshbooks, ArticleSupport CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Media reacts to a perplexing Court decision on Bill 21, Quebec's law banning some public servants from wearing religious symbols. And Rebel News is facing new scrutiny. CANADALAND's French language media correspondent Emilie Nicolas co-hosts. Further reading:See The New York Times piece on Caolan Robertson speaking about Rebel News hereSee The Canadian Anti-Hate Network's statement about Rebel News' suit hereSee Rebel News' statement about the Canadian Anti-Hate Network hereThis episode is supported by Hover, Dispatch Coffee, and Magic Spoon.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever since the Canadian government announced recommendations that adults from Indigenous and racialized communities should be given priority for a COVID-19 vaccination, accusations of reverse racism have filled comment sections and social media posts.Now, racial minorities with vaccine priority are facing racism and other structural barriers to getting the jab.Our new reporter, Cherise Seucharan, has been trying to find out exactly why these policies are needed, how they're working out —  and whether the Canadian public is willing to back them.This episode is brought to you by Kilne and Dispatch Coffee.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As provinces fail spectacularly to control the third wave of the pandemic, is the press adequately holding them to account, or making things worse? And what are the ethics of publishing a a picture of a nude MP accidentally caught on Zoom?Freelance journalist Justin Ling co-hosts. This episode is supported by Our Darkest Day, Squarespace, and Freshbooks.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Filmmaker Daniel Lombroso spent four years following Lauren Southern, Richard Spencer, and Mike Cernovich with a camera, as their stars rose and the bigotry and xenophobia they championed went mainstream.The result is White Noise, a feature-length documentary produced by The Atlantic.And though they're less prominent these days, and we might be eager to forget about Southern, Spencer, Cernovich and their alt-right acolytes, Lombroso warns us that we do so at our peril.This episode is brought to you by Dispatch, Our Darkest Day, and Article. Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

GraceLife Church and Montreal riots against public health directives had us wondering why mainstream narratives about vaccine hesitancy focus so much on racialized communities. And journalists are officially hella tired. Freelance journalist Fatima Syed and Torstar Editor Evy Kwong co-host.Further reading:Evy's piece to combat vaccine hesitancy hereStatCan's report on Canadian populations' vaccine willingness hereTorstar's Investigation on more mining contracts in Grassy Narrows hereMore on the Canadian government tracking UFOs hereErica Lenti's Maclean's piece on pandemic burnout here (The Reuters Institute study is here)Darren Calabrese's full Instagram Live here This episode is supported by Kilne, Squarespace, Dispatch Coffee and HelloFresh.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Landlord Credit Bureau lets landlords review their tenants and report their payment habits. The information is shared with other landlords, and it can damage a tenant's credit rating.But is that legal?In the midst of the pandemic, Hamilton resident Joey Nicol and her partner found they'd been signed up for the Landlord Credit Bureau by their landlord. Fearing eviction, they started to investigate.Jesse speaks with Nicol about her family's experience. Then he talks to MPP Jessica Bell, housing critic for the Ontario NDP, and to privacy lawyer David Fraser.This episode is brought to you by the Rotman School of Management, Dispatch, and Magic Spoon.Additional music by Audio Network.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An uprising of frontline workers forces change to COVID policies. And with a major merger in the works, a telecom giant makes the case that less competition is good for Canada. Freelance journalist Nora Loreto co-hosts.This episode is brought to you by Dispatch Coffee, Kilne, and Squarespace.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Restaurants have struggled badly during the pandemic.But food writer Suresh Doss takes us to a parking lot, a subway stop, and a home cook's kitchen to show us a thriving underground food scene.This episode first aired on September 20,  2020.It is brought to you by Our Darkest Day, Pandemic University and Article.Additional music by Audio Network.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CBC puts an end to Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap after just 16 years of self-indulgent, uninspiring radio. What will take its place? And it turns out one of the reporters who's most friendly to Doug Ford is in a relationship with the Premier's director of media relations.Fucked Up singer and Turned Out A Punk host Damian Abraham co-hosts.Read Jonathan Goldsbie's piece about Brian Lilley and Ivana Yelich here.CORRECTION: In the episode, we refer to Ivana Yelich as Premier Doug Ford's press secretary. That was her former title. She is currently Ford's director of media relations.This episode is brought to you by the Rotman School of Management, Squarespace, Kilne and Magic Spoon.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A site called SeaWestNews describes Alexandra Morton as “BC's loudest anti-salmon farming activist,” and her writing as “rambling” and “conspiracy-laden.”Originally a whale biologist from California, Morton was shocked into activism when her research revealed the devastating results of industrialized salmon farming.Since then, she's been subject to attack campaigns meant to discredit her, intimidated by sea Mounties, and surveilled by armed operatives in boats with tinted windows. And she's exposed the salmon industry's influence on the government department meant to protect the oceans.It's all documented in her book, Not on My Watch: How a renegade whale biologist took on governments and industry to save wild salmon.This episode is brought to you by the Rotman School of Management, Kilne and FreshBooks.Additional music by Audio Network.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Are stories about vaccine efficacy doing more harm than good? And Canadian politicians are following a road paved by Trump, singling out critics for scorn. Montreal Gazette health reporter Aaron Derfel co-hosts.This episode was brought to you by Dispatch Coffee, Pandemic University, Squarespace, and HelloFresh.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The culture war icon is back with a new bestseller. We revisit our examination of Jordan Peterson the media phenomenon, which asks how an obscure Canadian psychology professor rose to international stardom.This episode is brought to you by Pandemic University, Cullen's Foods, and FreshBooks.It first aired on February 5, 2018.Additional music by Audio Network.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the best way to cover allegations of sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces - or just generally, really? And the Alberta government has some harsh words for an animated Bigfoot movie.  Freelance journalists Fatima Syed and Maggie Rahr co-host.This episode is brought to you by the Rotman School of Management, Squarespace, Athletic Brewing, and Kilne.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ari Ben-Menashe has been an Israeli spy, sold weapons to Iran, survived a firebombing, and been the target of at least one RCMP investigation. He crossed paths with Jeffrey Epstein. And he's worked for Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Libya's Khalifa Haftar, and Sudan's Transitional Military Council.Ben-Menashe runs the lobbying firm Dickens & Madson (Canada), based Montreal.And on March 5th, it was reported that he'd been awarded a US$2 million contract to lobby the U.S. and other governments on behalf of the military generals in Myanmar who seized power in a coup on February 1st.Julian Pecquet broke that story for his site ForeignLobby.com, and he tells Jesse what he knows about Ben-Menashe, his source.Then Jesse talks to Ari Ben-Menashe himself.This episode is brought to you by Hover, CFUV 101.9, and Article.Additional music by Audio Network.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

HuffPost Canada is dead. The Ryerson School of Journalism faces a crisis. And a very serious, important conversation about Dr. Seuss.The Nation's national affairs correspondent Jeet Heer co-hosts.This episode is brought to you by the Rotman School of Management, CFUV, Squarespace, Theatre Passe Muraille and HelloFresh.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Haitian senator's wife paid $4.25 million—all money down—for a house in Laval, Quebec. Meanwhile in Haiti, people have been protesting against corruption, kidnapping, and a president who they say is over-staying his term in office. How do we talk about Haiti without reproducing unhelpful tropes and stereotypes?Vélina Elysée Charlier, an activist with Nou Pap Dòmi, joins us from Port-au-Prince to explain why Haitians are taking to the streets.Canadaland's French-language media correspondent Emilie Nicolas breaks down how these events are resonating in Montreal's Haitian community, and discusses how Canadian media should report on Haiti to avoid facile and racist clichés.Then Ottawa-based activist Jean Jafrikayiti Saint-Vil makes the case for why doing that work is so vital.This episode was brought to you by Dispatch and Kilne.Additional music by Audio Network.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on A

Torstar gets into the gambling business. Americans get caught up on the WE scandal. And documents suggest Canada's two major newspaper chains traded notes on shutting down each others' papers before they swapped them. The Tyee's tech and privacy reporter Bryan Carney co-hosts.Further reading:Read Bryan's full story here on the Torstar Postmedia correspondence here.This episode is brought to you by Rotman School of Management, Squarespace, Athletic Brewing, and Manscaped.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In February, as the Australian government prepared to introduce a link tax, Facebook blocked all news from its Australian platform.  The new legislation, lobbied for by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and other big media organizations, would have forced Facebook and Google to pay them each time their content is shared online. Facebook's strong-arm tactic forced the government to amend the legislation, potentially exempting Facebook altogether if it cuts its own deals with news organizations.  In return, Facebook reversed the news ban. Everyone seems happy now…except for smaller independent publishers who are still not sure exactly how they fit into this picture.The Canadian government is also talking about imposing a link tax, as well as other plans to regulate online media that go well beyond Australia's contentious legislation.Worried about what the future has in store, Jesse talks to Susannah George. She's the founder and CEO of Urban List, a lifestyle site and Australia's biggest independent d

Canada's vote to call China's treatment of Uyghurs a genocide exposes an online wave of China apologists on the far left. And the New York Times brings back Cortland Cronk in an attempt to prove that Canadians are actually not very nice.Author and retired journalist Jan Wong co-hosts.This episode is brought to you by The Rotman School of Management , Athletic Brewing, HelloFresh and SquareSpace.Support CANADALAND: https://canadaland.com/joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.