John Sylliboy is Mi’kmaq and he grew up as part of Esaksoni and Millbrook First Nations in Nova Scotia. He is also the acting executive director of the Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance, an organization of Two-Spirit people on the east coast that has been making space, reclaiming culture, producing knowledge, and speaking up for more …
Thanks to Leela, Laura, and Muna of Ontario Education Workers United for the interview just now about their organizing as grassroots education workers in Ontario, in the face of Tory cuts and the huge safety issues of the pandemic. Listen for it on Talking Radical Radio in a couple of weeks!
Literary fiction. The young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer protagonist is living in Winnipeg, supporting himself as a cybersex worker, and needs to raise enough money to get back to the reserve community where he grew up, for his stepfather’s funeral. The narrative wanders across the days he has in which to do this, and across his whole life. …
Many years ago, I was walking in downtown Hamilton with a friend. As often happens in downtown Hamilton, a woman we walked by asked us for spare change. I no longer remember exactly how the interaction played out – then as now, I often give change if I have it, but not always (particularly after …
Scholarly collection. Earlier this year, I read and reviewed *The Racial Contract* by philosopher Charles Mills, which inserts the realities of global white supremacy into the social contract tradition within political philosophy. As I said then, I’m not super interested in the social contract as a way of understanding the world, but one of the …
The following is a rebroadcast of an episode of Talking Radical Radio that was originally broadcast in the first week of March 2021. Samir Shaheen-Hussain is a pediatric emergency physician who practices in Montreal and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. He also played a central role in the #aHand2Hold …
YA contemporary. Canadian. Two teen cousins who live on opposite coasts are brought together in Ontario by the death of their grandfather. After the funeral, they find themselves together at the family cottage that neither has been to since they were kids. Both are queer and Toronto Pride weekend is fast approaching, and they (plus …
Kevin Skerrett and Nancy Parker are active in Make Revera Public, a campaign pushing the federal government to transform Revera, which is a major provider of long-term care in Canada, from a for-profit corporation into a public sector entity and a fully integrated element of our public health care system. This campaign is happening in …
Science fiction. Set in Nigeria with the main timeline in 2066 and flashbacks to earlier moments. Alien life arrived on earth at least 50 years prior, but just *life*, most readily observably fungal life, and not little green people or slender grey entities in space ships or anything like that. Other than North America sealing …
Thanks to Peter of the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry for the interview just now! Listen for our conversation about their long years of work for economic and social justice in Saskatchewan on Talking Radical Radio in a few weeks.