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On this episode of Below the Radar, we are joined by Janice Abbott, the CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society. Our office’s Program Assistant Paige Smith sits down with Janice to discuss how the pandemic has affected the work of Atira in combatting violence against women. Janice discusses the many diverse initiatives Atira has, including their popup refuge SisterSquare for women in the Downtown Eastside, their expansive housing support systems, and their new safety protocols. With reports indicating an increase to support lines for women experiencing violence, Janice also provides tips for what we can all do to support each other during these times.

In this first episode of our Below the Radar conversations series, we hear from Dr. Kelley Lee, Canada Research Chair in Global Health Governance at Simon Fraser University. In this conversation, she chats with Am Johal about the World Health Organization and COVID-19.

In this episode of our Below the Radar Conversations series we speak with ICU physician and writer Dr. Kevin Patterson about what he has learned working in the front lines during COVID-19. He chats with Am Johal about planning for a second wave, what we can learn from past pandemics, the relationship between this outbreak and climate change, and how we can improve our local healthcare systems here in Vancouver, Canada.

Leilani Farha has a long history of advocacy around poverty and housing, in Canada and beyond. She is in conversation with Am Johal following her tenure as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, a post that saw her travelling the world to connect with people who were struggling with inadequate and precarious housing or homelessness, and to work with governments to uphold housing as a human right. In this interview, Leilani speaks to concerning patterns in housing globally, including homelessness, evictions, unaffordability, and the financialization of housing. They discuss opportunities in Canadian housing policy, Vancouver’s housing crisis, and the incredible importance of having a safe place to call home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leilani Farha is the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. Her work is animated by the principle that housing is a social good, not a commodity. Leilani has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing, including through her topical reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements, rights-based housing strategies, and the first UN Guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing. She is the central character in the documentary PUSH regarding the financialization of housing, screening around the world. Leilani Launched The Shift in 2017 with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Cities and Local Government.

Mebrat speaks to new WISH initiatives, such as opening a new 24/7 shelter for sex workers, increasing access to bathrooms and showers, and finding new ways to accept donations of essential items. She also calls on policymakers at all levels to swiftly address access to emergency income relief for sex workers, to provide a safe supply of drugs, and to house people as quickly as possible.

In this episode we talk with Meaghan Thumath, a clinical scientist at the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity and clinical associate professor at UBC’s School of Nursing. With our host Am Johal, she discusses her previous international work studying and combatting pandemics and how this has informed her current understanding of COVID-19, both globally and locally here in Vancouver, Canada.

Alice Fleerackers is a freelance writer, a researcher at the ScholCommLab, the Communications Officer at Art the Science, and a Science in Society Editor at Science Borealis. As a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University, she is working under the supervision of Dr. Juan Pablo Alperin to explore how controversial science is communicated in the digital sphere. With degrees in psychology and publishing, Alice is passionate about bringing research into everyday life. As a professional communicator and researcher, she’s had the pleasure of interviewing psychologists, scientists, and many others on everything from the psychology of cat video addiction to the science behind astrological belief. She’s also worked as a magazine editor, a newspaper writer, and a book publicist, and has contributed to outlets such as the Globe and Mail,Nautilus, and more.

In this episode, Am Johal speaks with Paul Rogers on the impact that COVID-19 has on geopolitics and climate change, his readings on the responses of individual countries to COVID-19, and how we might find a way forward together.

In the sixth episode of our Below the Radar Conversations Series, we talk with Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director of Battered Women's Support Services here in Vancouver, Canada. With our host Am Johal, she discusses how COVID-19 is affecting gender inequality and violence within intimate relationships.

On this episode of our Below the Radar Conversations Series, our host Am Johal is joined by Ann Livingston, community organizer and drug user activist. Ann is the co-founder of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, and is currently the Executive Project Coordinator of the BC-Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors. Am and Ann discuss the two current public health emergencies: the COVID-19 pandemic and the fentanyl contamination deaths in BC.