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In July 2017 members of the DTES community started meeting as a collective at the Hives for Humanity Bee Space to have conversation about how to ensure that community ethics are a respected part of the process of cultural production. We define cultural production as being: any time an entity comes into a community to make a product from its culture. ie. individuals and/or organisations of journalists, film makers, photographers, students, researchers, tourists or volunteers. We define community ethics as being: a set of principles to guide behaviour, based in lived experience, acknowledging the interconnectedness of our humanity, fostering relationships of respect, responsibility, reciprocity and return. We have produced a resource card and a manifesto out of these meetings which we are launching at our event on March 7th 2019, 7pm-9pm at SFU Woodwards. Copies of the card and manifesto will be available for all to take out into the community, and will be open sourced after the event. The evening included a short panel discussion with members of the collective sharing their experiences of cultural production – the good, the bad and the ugly! For more info visit: hivesforhumanity.com/communityethics/

Critical theorist Alberto Toscano joins Am Johal in conversation about his work and writings, as he joins SFU as a visiting faculty member with the Digital Democracies Institute in SFU’s School of Communication. In this episode, they discuss Alberto’s writing on the philosophy of fanaticism, and conflicting discourse and counter-histories around the figure of the fanatic, which historically takes many forms, from abolitionist leaders to peasant revolutionaries. Alberto and Am also dive into global and historical trends of authoritarianism, racial capitalism and the notion of ‘late fascism.’ Alberto speaks to expanding our concept of fascism, to recognize iterations outside of what could be thought of as European fascism. They also talk about neoliberal tendencies in post-secondary administration, and the workings of mechanisms that maintain or fortify power structures within institutions.

Co-presented by Indian Summer Festival and SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Lucy Hyslop, Charles Montgomery, John Helliwell and Victor Chan discuss the 'Happy City' at Indian Summer Festival.

On this episode of Below the Radar, our host Am Johal is joined by Scott Bernstein, the Director of Policy at Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, a project based at the Faculty of Health Sciences at SFU. He has also done work with Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver and internationally with Open Society Foundations in New York. Together, Am and Scott talk about his work involving harm reduction, decriminalization and drug regulation policies, and discuss potential regulation models with studies such as North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) and Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness (SALOME).

SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement in partnership with the BC Civil Liberties Association and Pivot Legal Society present a talk and panel discussion: The Independent Investigations Office (IIO or Office) was established to conduct criminal investigations into incidents that involve B.C. police officers and result in death or serious harm. It is a civilian-led Office that has been established in accordance with the recommendations made by the Braidwood and the Davies Inquiries. The long term goal is to set a new standard for civilian-led investigation and accountability that will enhance the public’s faith in the dedicated officers working to keep them safe. The Chief Civilian Director Richard Rosenthal has stated that the public can expect an investigative approach that will be transparent, accountable and fair to citizens and to those who may be subject to an IIO investigation.

Glen Coulthard is Yellowknives Dene and is an associate professor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program and the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. He is also the author of the acclaimed book Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition from University of Minnesota Press. On this special episode live from the Vancouver Podcast Festival, host Am Johal sits down with Glen to talk about who and what influences his work and research, the different projects he’s been involved in over the years, and what continues to inspire him to do the work he does.

The first story, Small Number Counts to 100 was inspired by narration from Ms. Rina Sinclair of the Siksika Nation. The story can be shown to elementary school students as a counting practice/puzzle or as a pattern recognition problem. For high school students it can be a way to introduce arithmetic progressions, modular addition, or an idea of number systems with a base different than 10.

This video clip comprises the three presentations of Panel Session 1, “Defining the Issues: Climate Science, Health and Gerontological Perspectives” held at the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference, "Growing Old in a Changing Climate: Exploring the Interface Between Population Aging and Global Warming," MAY 25-26, 2011, Vancouver, BC. Dr. Gloria Gutman " Global aging: Key elements of the demographic transition" - Population aging is happening worldwide, and at unprecedented speed in the developing world. It occurs when there are two simultaneous trends: increasing life expectancy and declining fertility. But older people are not a homogeneous group. Gerontologists distinguish between the young-old (age 65-74), middle-old (75-84), older-old (85-99) and very-old (100+). While age is only a rough predictor of health, functional status and life-style, there are between age group differences that have implications for physiological and psychological reaction to climate change and ability to cope with it. This presentation will include a description of the sex distribution, housing and living arrangements, education, socio-economic status, social support, mobility, functional status and “techno-savvy” of today’s and tomorrow’s 65+ population – key variables to consider when discussing mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Also key to consider are other global trends occurring simultaneously with population ageing such as migration, urbanization and the recent economic downturn. We also gratefully acknowledge a grant from the SFU Library's Scholarly Digitization Fund for videography and post-production editing. See webpage for more information on the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference: http://www.sfu.ca/grc/friesen/friesen2011/

Squamish Nation Councillor and community leader Khelsilem joins Am Johal on this first episode of Below the Radar’s Climate Justice & Inequality series. In this episode, they discuss the climate crisis as a result of the colonial project, how climate change hits hardest for those already at a disadvantage, and the spaces where colonialism has existed within climate movements. Khelsilem speaks to his critique of fossil fuel infrastructure, the false narrative of individual responsibility, and the role governments play in worsening the crisis through policy decisions that favour oil and gas. We also hear about innovative affordable housing projects, such as Squamish Nation’s Sen̓áḵw Development, and how to build climate-friendly design into new housing models.