These days, humans are interacting with chatbots powered by artificial intelligence more and more, including for companionship. Can these new tools help a society experiencing a loneliness epidemic, or do they risk deepening isolation? And do they give tech companies even more power? This episode we’re joined by Dr. Jill Fellows, a faculty member in the philosophy department at Douglas College and host of the feminist tech podcast Cyborg Goddess. Jill explains the history of AI, and introduces philosophical questions about trust, bias, and the reliability of modern AI systems. We discuss the impact of AI on human creativity, whether AI could ever be considered “conscious”, and how AI is affecting our social relationships.

Rates of anxiety, depression, and chronic illnesses like heart disease are on the rise, and more doctors are looking beyond the medicine cabinet for solutions. Could our healthcare system be missing a simple remedy that’s been right outside our door? In this episode we talk to Dr. Stacy Beller Stryer, a paediatrician and Associate Medical Director for Park RxAmerica. Dr. Stryer does public health work for the US federal government and natureprescribed.org, and she helps to develop programs that educate providers, schools, and park agencies on the benefits of nature and nature prescriptions. Dr. Stryer explains what nature prescriptions are, what they look like in practice, and why doctors are turning to nature to address their patient’s health concerns. We dig into some of the barriers people face in accessing nature, how nature prescriptions intersect with environmental justice and climate resilience, and the role of healthcare providers and community members in advocating for healthier environments.

Universities have faced steep and sustained public funding cutbacks and have adapted by changing the way that they operate. What are the consequences of the de facto privatization of universities for students, researchers, and society? In this episode, we talk to Randy Robinson, Ontario Director for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and co-author of Back from the Brink, a report that explores public funding cuts in Ontario universities. Randy describes the deep provincial funding cuts that have led Ontario universities to hike tuition, especially for international students, while making university jobs more precarious and less permanent. We discuss how this is changing the student experience, reducing research capacity, and hollowing out communities.

With Loblaws facing criticism for soaring grocery prices and record-high profits during a cost-of-living crisis, can a boycott drive real change? We talk to Emily Johnson, the lead organizer for the Loblaws boycott, and Eric Wickham, a Toronto-based journalist and host of Big Shiny Takes. Emily is a mental health and addictions worker and single mother of two living in the suburbs west of Toronto, and Eric has been working on a year-long investigation on the price of groceries for The Hosier, an independent digital media outlet based in the Greater Toronto Area. We are also joined by Robert Miller, climate activist, organizer, and “spooookiest” friend of the pod, to discuss more solutions to reduce the price of groceries and save Halloween for children nationwide.

You’ve heard of speculative investors pushing up the price of housing, but did you know it’s happening on farms too? With fewer collective protections for farmers, and pressures to sell land and consolidate farms, is the family farm becoming a thing of the past? And is a new form of feudal tenant farming the future? On today’s episode we talk to the Parkland Institute’s Katherine Aske, author of Finance in the Fields: Investors, Lenders, Farmers, and the Future of Farmland in Alberta. We discuss who owns the farmland on the prairies, why ownership models are changing, and what that means for the future of farming – and our food. Farmers are facing immense pressure in a world with fewer collective protections and more unpredictable weather. For small family farms, this can mean going into debt or renting at the whims of the market. And, as Katherine explains, that has big implications for the future of our food.

With home ownership out of reach for millions of Canadians and no relief in sight, could co-ops be the key to providing affordable, community-driven housing solutions? On today’s episode we talk to Diana Yoon, the Program Manager of Government Relations and Policy at the Co-op Housing Federation of Canada, which represents 2200 co-ops nationwide. In this conversation, Diana explains how housing co-ops work, their history in Canada, and what it would take for co-ops to take on a bigger role in our housing stock. We also discuss the unique benefits of co-ops, including democracy, community ownership, affordability, and long-term stability for residents. We also discuss the report The Impact of Community Housing on Productivity.

With climate action stalled by political gridlock, could citizens' assemblies be the bold democratic solution we need to break through barriers and finally make progress? When it comes to climate change, most of us want to see action but feel that we don’t have power and politicians aren’t listening. Deliberative democracy and citizen empowerment have been proposed as solutions to that widespread sense of disempowerment. In this episode, Kristen chats with Dimitry Courant, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, who explains what citizens assemblies are and how they have been used around the world to address climate change. He also shares insights about the best ways to design citizens assemblies so they work well and drive real change.

You’ve heard about land back, but what about cash back? Resource and land wealth linked to dispossession has enriched Canada and corporations, so does reconciliation require financial restitution too? And what do Indigenous economies look like? This week’s guest is Shady Hafez, Policy and Research Manager to the National Association of Friendship Centres. Shady is an Algonquin Anishinabe and Syrian member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg and is pursuing his PhD in Sociology at the University of Toronto. Shady explains why land back and cash back are needed for the restitution of Indigenous economies, sharing some examples of cash back in practice, and discussing the principles at play in Indigenous economic development.

Canada relies on migrant workers to fill labour gaps, but the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is rife with problems, with a recent United Nations report calling the program a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”. Can this controversial program be fixed, or should it be scrapped altogether? Should all migrant workers be granted permanent residency status when they arrive here? 

Kyla spoke with the Cooper Institute’s Eliza MacLauchlan and Ryan MacRae. Eliza and Ryan are the lead authors of Permanent Jobs, Temporary People, a report that examines how the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is operating on Prince Edward Island. 

We often shrug off the brutality of prisons as regrettable, yet ultimately inevitable. But the recent rise of prison abolitionist movements prompts a question: are prisons obsolete? Can we imagine more humane solutions that address the root causes of crime and promote true rehabilitation? Dr. Jessica Evans is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University, who researches the causes, conditions, and consequences of incarceration in Canada. She is also active in the prison abolition movement as a co-founder of the Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project. In this conversation, Jessica explains the history and current landscape of incarceration in Canada and presents the case for prison abolition.