People First Radio

Finland, with a population of around 5.5 million, has just over 1000 people who are considered to be experiencing long term homelessness. That number has been steadily decreasing for decades, thanks to investment in social and affordable housing. The country’s largest non profit housing provider is a group called The Y Foundation, founded in 1985. […]

Journalist Meagan Gillmore reflects on the question “why do I have to constantly prove my disability?” Gillmore explored the subject in a recent column in The Walrus. “I do remember still to this day, very much feeling like, ‘oh yeah, I have a disability and this is part of my life,’ but I’ve always kind […]

Pacifica Housing CEO Carolina Ibarra joined People First Radio to talk a number of issues related to supportive housing, including new announcements in Nanaimo, The Nanaimo Acute Response Table, difficulties with data around supportive housing, and units in need of maintenance. “The way that we view and deal with supportive housing has to change because […]

For the first time in more than a decade, child poverty rates have gone up in British Columbia, according to a report from First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society. Their 2023 BC Child Poverty Report Card offers insight on data from 2021, breaking down child poverty rates by family type, race, and region, and […]

Heather Nelson-Smith, CAO of Port Hardy, shares the details on the community’s new situation table. Situation tables are a method communities in British Columbia are using to try and connect individuals at risk of harm to services that could help them. At weekly meetings, members from different community organizations collaborate on how, when, and who […]

Dr. Alex Nataros, a family physician in Port Hardy, shares his experiences both personal and professional with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In a recent column, Nataros described ADHD as “Perhaps the most over-diagnosed and simultaneously under-diagnosed condition.” He elaborated on those comments on People First Radio. “We’ve all got our phones and devices, and […]

Campbell River’s Sue Moen wanted to better understand what things are like for those experiencing homelessness in the community. She asked a group of people she knew in that situation if she could join them for a night. They agreed, and Moen took her truck down to spend a night on the streets of Campbell […]

In conversation with Michelle Gamage of The Tyee, who shares insights into her recent reporting on a condition known anecdotally as ‘street feet’. Occurring when people are unable to wash and dry their feet, it bears some similarity to trench foot experienced by soldiers during the first world war.

In conversation with Stephen Gaetz, president and CEO of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, and a professor at Toronto’s York University. Gaetz says that in Canada and the U.S., there are more people coming into homelessness than there are exiting it. He was recently part of a webinar on homelessness prevention.  

Greg Dorval has been housed for around a year after being unhoused for around the same amount of time. He’s recently set up a tent outside the courthouse in Guelph On. as a form of civil protest in solidarity with those currently experiencing homelessness in the community.

Kathy Wagner shares her experiences finding hope and healing through her son Tristan’s addiction, recovery relapse, and death. She’s told her story in the memoir Here With You.  

The University of Toronto’s Katherine Tamminen says that we don’t know much about the mental health of young people involved in high level sport. “There is a lack of research on the mental health of elite youth athletes compared to adult athletes who are at those elite levels,” she said. Tamminen says it’s important that […]

The Best Place On Earth, that was British Columbia’s slogan for a while. It even showed up on license plates leading up to the Vancouver Olympics. Around the same time, Danya Fast was embarking on a project that would span the next fifteen years of her life. Her goal was to hear from young people […]

A Vancouver lawyer has concerns that changes to residential tenancy regulation in B.C. could erode the dignity of people living in supportive housing. The province is amending residential tenancy regulation to exempt supportive housing units from sections of the residential tenancy act that prohibit blanket guest policies and wellness checks. Danielle Sabelli is a lawyer […]

Legislation that sought to ban public drug use in a number of spaces in British Columbia is currently in limbo following a decision from B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson. The Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act was passed in the legislature late last year and if not for the court decision in […]

Nanaimo’s Unitarian Shelter is coming under new management. It was announced this week that Nanaimo Family Life Association would be taking over the Shelter on Townsite road as of this summer. Deborah Hollins is the executive director for Nanaimo Family Life Association, and she joined People First Radio to speak about the change.

“When I went to law school, when I started practicing law, nobody talked to us about trauma. We focused solely on legal issues,” said Myrna McCallum, a lawyer in North Vancouver and host of the podcast The Trauma Informed Lawyer. “I had to learn how to be a human being and be in relationships with […]

Gabrielle Wilcox, associate professor of school and applied child psychology at the University of Calgary, and a former school psychologist, speaks about the link between mental health and academic achievement in children. Wilcox recently wrote on the subject in an article appearing in The Conversation. Wilcox says that we can’t separate supporting kids’ success in […]

From a pet food bank, to crisis supplements available for people on income assistance, Sarah Pump says there are a lot of resources people in need may not be aware of. When Pump was diagnosed with a chronic illness and became too sick to work, she saw first hand what it was like to navigate […]

Malé Fofana loves languages. And he’s got some interesting perspective on them, for a few different reasons. He teaches at two different universities in Sherbrooke Quebec, one in English, one in French. Fofana’s also lived in three places that each have a distinct variety of French, growing up in Senegal, spending ten years in France, […]

Tracy Smith-Carrier, Canada Research Chair in Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, feels there a number of myths preventing society from addressing poverty. “I think they all stem from the same place. This notion that some people are deserving of our assistance and others are not,” she said. “If we actually addressed poverty head on, […]

Pamela Steen shares the details behind her December Bling-A-Thon in support of the Canadian Mental Health Association. “Don’t feel shallow or shy about dressing in a way that makes you feel good,” she said. “If it’s sweatpants with holes in it and that makes you feel good, just own it. If it’s sequins, just own […]

People First Radio pays a visit to Coco Cafe, a social enterprise in the Vancouver Island community of Cedar. Their mission is to provide employment, training, and socialization opportunities for people with developmental disabilities within their community.We hear from general manager Marc Taschereau, Coco Cafe employee Jacob Brockman, support worker Cecelia, and Deborah Cooper.   […]

Opening a recent article in The Walrus, Kevin Patterson evoked the Nanaimo of a few decades ago. What he described sounds in many ways rougher than what you might picture today. A resource economy in decline, unemployment passing twelve per cent, and jokes about Hell’s Angels and Nanaimo Bars seeming not too far from reality. […]

Catching up with Carmen Lavoie about Vancouver Island University’s end of life doula course, which made its debut this past September. Lavoie also spoke about the taboo around discussing death, and shared tips on how to have conversations about the end of life process. “Death and dying, those words can be very helpful,” she said. […]

Kelsie Kilawna shares the story behind a new kit meant to help Indigenous communities in crisis navigate interactions with the media.

Ian Bushfield and Sophie Burke join People First Radio to explore an end of life guide they’ve co-authored for humanists and non religious people.

Many people spoke emotionally about experiences with addiction and recovery at a recent public hearing in Parksville. At issue is a proposed addiction treatment centre, which would be run by Island Health, and offer a voluntary only 90 day treatment program for people aged 19 and over. There would be 19 beds at the site, […]

From overcoming challenges like experiencing homelessness as a youth in Thunder Bay, to learning about traditional plant medicines and family history from her grandfather, Chrystal Toop shares some of the journey that led her to start Blackbird Medicines, a cultural wellness program where she now supports Indigenous people training to be end of life doulas. […]

When People First Radio first took to the airwaves on November 22 2007, Jan Coleman was there. She served as co-host with Kevin Midbo through 2010, and helped guide the program through its early years. Jan passed away recently, and People First Radio took some time to remember her impact on the show. Former host […]

Death educator and Nipissing University professor Susan Srigley starts her semesters off by having students reflect on their personal experiences with death. “The majority of those assignments tell a story of students who have not been supported around death, have not been prepared for death, and largely their experience is one of isolation and silence,” […]

Health historian Matthew Smith says that relatively speaking, many governments are doing less to address mental health than they were decades ago, and until that changes, state health providers will never be able to keep up. In a recent article published in the conversation, the University of Strathclyde professor pointed to poverty and inequality as […]

When she was 32 years old, Tara Sidhoo Fraser had a stroke, and experienced the loss of most of her memories. She’s written about her recovery in the weeks, months, and years that followed in a new memoir, When My Ghost Sings. Sidhoo Fraser says sharing her story has created an outpouring of connection. “I […]

In conversation with Marla Zucht, general manager of the Whistler Housing Authority, a municipally owned corporation that aims to house at least 75 per cent of the community’s workforce.  

Victoria Maxwell shares insights on her recovery process managing bipolar, psychosis, and anxiety. Maxwell says acceptance of her diagnosis was “the greatest liberator,” but it only happened after she met a healthcare team that was willing to work with her. “Once I did meet a psychiatrist and a nurse who really inquired about the reasons […]

Paul Chapman of the Nanaimo and Area Land Trust joins People First Radio’s Joe Pugh for a walk around Cottle Lake in Nanaimo’s Linley Valley. Stephanie Merrill of the Nature Trust of New Brunswick shares the work going on related to conservation in that province.

Daniel Snyder, chair of the Langley Community Action Team, shares his story recovering from heroin addiction while working in the trades, and his reflections on the toxic drug poisoning crisis.

Journalist and writer Carlyn Zwarenstein shares some of her insights looking into a backlash against harm reduction, and some of her personal story as a user of prescribed opioids for chronic pain.

Ben Perrin spoke with dozens of people who had experienced Canada’s criminal justice system. Some had been incarcerated, others were victims of crime, many were both. The result is Indictment: The Criminal Justice System On Trial. Perrin spoke with People First Radio about the issues present in the justice system, and shared a vision for […]

In conversation with Re-Threading Madness host Bernadine Fox, who shares her experiences surviving trauma, including therapy abuse, as well as how she’s hoping to change the conversation around mental health.

When her father was sick with throat cancer, Tate Ryan-Mosley headed online. At first, the self described ‘super-googler’ was looking to learn as much as she could about the medical aspects of her dad’s diagnosis. Then when it seemed like grief was on the horizon, she tried to use the web to prepare herself. It […]

Aron Lee Rosenberg spent all of 2020 offline. The McGill University lecturer shares what that experience was like, as well as what he says most people don’t think about when it comes to internet use. He’s also chronicled the experience in the book Jacking Out, from Rock’s Mills press.  

Research from the University of British Columbia found three main categories of men in heterosexual relationships. John Oliffe, a professor at UBC and the Canada Research Chair in men’s health promotion, spoke with People First Radio about the research, masculinity, and relationships.

Spenser Smith wanted to respond to online comments denigrating people who use drugs, so the VIU creative writing grad turned to poetry. In A Brief Relief From Hunger, published by Gordon Hill Press, Smith reflects on his childhood, and his own recovery from addiction. Along the way, he weaves in poems inspired by posts from […]

UBC’s Jiaying Zhao and Foundations For Social Change’s Amber Dyce explore the results and process of a study that offered unconditional transfers of $7500 to people experiencing homelessness.

Sarah Lovegrove, outgoing chair of Nanaimo’s Community Action Team, speaks with People First Radio’s Joe Pugh at the Vault Cafe about the state of the toxic drug poisoning crisis in Nanaimo.  

In conversation with Rachel Herron, Canada Research Chair in Rural and Remote Mental Health, and a professor at Brandon University.

Speeches and stories from an Aug 31 event held in Maffeo Sutton Park to mark International Overdose Awareness Day. Featuring the voices of Amber McGrath, Sarah Lovegrove, Qui Sepulveda, Lenae Silva, Sheila Malcolmson, Aimee Chalifoux,Wanda LeBlanc (Moms Stop the Harm), Laura Lee James, Heather MacDonald, and Patrick Aleck.

Marie-Josée Houle, Canada’s first federal housing advocate, was appointed to the role in February 2022. Houle joined People First Radio to speak about housing in Canada and her work in the role thus far.

The Village, a supportive housing site in Duncan, is attracting attention from other communities looking to emulate its model. With 34 modular units, it was able to quickly go from proposal to reality, and while there was opposition to the site before it opened and in its early days, it’s operators say public opinion in […]