UNCOMMONS

It’s been two years since Canada legalized cannabis and, while there is much to celebrate, we haven’t done enough to right the historical wrongs of cannabis prohibition.

Annamaria Enenajor joins Nate to discuss why this matters and what should be done about it. Annamaria is a criminal and constitutional lawyer, a powerful advocate, and the founder and executive director of Cannabis Amnesty, a not-for-profit advocacy organization that has called for the deletion of records for the simple possession of cannabis and for greater justice and equality in our legalization efforts.

You can support Cannabis Amnesty here.

And you can read Annamaria’s testimony to the public safety committee on Bill C-93 here. 

The federal government has introduced Bill C-7 to fix our assisted dying laws and address the unconstitutionality of its past legislative effort. But there remain problems with the law as drafted, and Professor Jocelyn Downie joins Nate to discuss those problems and how to fix them.

Professor Downie is an expert in the law of assisted dying in Canada. In 2004, she published a book on the subject, and she worked with a pro bono legal team in the 2015 case of Carter in which our Supreme Court unanimously recognized a constitutional right to death with dignity. Since then, Professor Downie has participated in several expert panels on physician-assisted dying, and she has been critical of the government’s legislative efforts for failing to respect the rights set out by the court in Carter.

Isha Datar is a food pioneer. She’s the CEO of New Harvest, a research institute that funds and conducts public research on cellular agriculture, and she’s co-founder of companies making milk without cows, and eggs with chickens. 

Nate and Isha discuss the potential for cell ag, how close we are to a reality of animal products without animals, and why it matters for our planet, for health, and for animals.

Senator Ratna Omidvar has dedicated her life to strengthening migration, diversity, and inclusion, through roles as president of the Maytree Foundation, the head of Ryerson’s Global Diversity Exchange, and her continued work with the World Refugee Council. 

On this episode, Ratna and Nate discuss what was missing in the throne speech, reasons to better support charities and essential migrant workers, why the Safe Third Country Agreement needs to go, her bill to support the forcibly displaced, and how Canada’s future success depends on immigration.

Professor Joe Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize winning economist, former chief economist at the World Bank, and former chairman of the US president’s Council of Economic Advisers.

He’s also a profilic author. He’s recently co-written a report that makes the case for a green recovery, he’s a leading voice for both measuring success differently and addressing inequality, and his most recent book, People, Power, and Profits, makes the case for a progressive agenda to save capitalism from itself.

In this episode, Professor Stigltiz joins Nate to discuss deficit spending, a green recovery, income and wealth inequality, and how we mismeasure our lives.

Shoshana Zuboff is a Harvard professor, philosopher, and author of the book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

Nate and Shoshana discuss the mass collection of personal information and data in our digital world, its consequences for individual autonomy and democracy, and what we can and should do about it.

Leah Gazan is the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre, and she is the sponsor of Motion 46 calling for a guaranteed livable basic income. Leah joins Nate to discuss her motion and to call for action to end poverty as a matter of human rights and dignity.

Read the full text of Motion 46 here.

Jim Balsillie is a philanthropist, businessman (former co-CEO of Blackberry’s RIM), and he has led efforts in calling for a new innovation agenda in Canada. On this episode, Jim joins Nate to discuss a report from the Council of Canadian Innovators, how Canada lags our peer countries on innovation, why Canada needs national IP and data strategies, and what an innovation agenda means in a modern and global economy. 

From our food supply, to frontline healthcare, migrant workers are often essential workers. Yet they are both undervalued and subject to systemic exploitation through our temporary immigration work programs. That migrant workers are predominantly racialized raises additional concerns about the exploitative nature of these work programs, as our federal government has committed to address systemic racism.

In this episode, Nate is joined by Professor Fay Faraday to discuss migrant worker rights in Canada. Professor Faraday is an expert on labour rights, she has been active in community organizing with migrant and marginalized workers for over 25 years, and she has published three landmark reports on migrant worker rights here in Canada. 

Dr. Jane Goodall is a world famous primatologist and anthropologist best known for her work with chimpanzees, 60 years ago in Tanzania. Her life’s work is focused on conservation and animal welfare issues. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute which does important work in nearly 100 countries around the world, including engaging young people through its Roots & Shoots program.

In this episode, Nate and Jane discuss the lessons learned through this pandemic, why we can’t continue to treat animals and our environment as we have, and how we can challenge the status quo to build a better world for our future.