To discover, understand and put Canadian realities into perspective.
…
continue reading
Welcome to Diplomatic Dispatch, a new podcast series by Radio Canada International. My goal is to bring you insights into Canada’s foreign, defence and development policy. I’ll discuss Canada’s global role through interviews with policy makers, former and serving diplomats and soldiers, academics and think tank experts, humanitarian workers, civil society activists and entrepreneurs. What is Canada’s foreign policy? How should Canada conduct its foreign policy? Who should conduct that policy ...
…
continue reading
Find out more about black Canadians who contributed to the building of Canada and who are making their mark every day. From our archives Danger, hardship, heroism and tragedy. All are features of black immigration to Canada in the nineteenth century. The story of black immigration to Canada began 400 years ago with the arrival of the French at Port Royal. John Graves Simcoe, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, signed the Act Against Slavery in 1793. Many black people came to Canada by t ...
…
continue reading
Researchers at McMaster University say that the COVID-19 pandemic “has created a paradox where mental health has become both a motivator for and a barrier to physical activity.” A study was done to find out how and why mental health, physical activity and sedentary behaviour changed during the pandemic. After surveying more than 1,600 subjects, the…
…
continue reading
The Montreal General Hospital was founded in 1821 and is famous for many medical firsts including the fact that its founding doctors established Canada’s first faculty of medicine program at McGill University. The hospital treated patients through several major outbreaks of disease from the deadly flu pandemic of 1918 to the COVID-19 pandemic, and …
…
continue reading
Canadian Forces Europe (CFE) ends On this date the last of Canada’ s military forces said goodbye to their home away home in southern Germany. CFB Baden-Soellingen, and CFB Lahr had been the site of Canada’s NATO forces for some four decades. Perhaps 350,000 Canadian soldiers occasionally with families saw service in Germany starting in the 1950’s …
…
continue reading
Joseph Tokwiroh Norton, a straight-talking, no-nonsense, down-to earth man who spent much of his life fighting for the rights of members of the Mohawk Nation and other Indigenious people in Canada, has died.Norton, who served for nearly 30 years as the Grand Chief of Kahnawake, across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, was 70.The Mohawk Council …
…
continue reading
A coalition of over 20 community groups in Montreal have released an outline of 10 demands to slice the budget of Montreal’s police force in half and reinvest that money into community programs, during a news conference yesterday.The Defund the Police Coalition other demands includes to disarming and demilitarizing the Service de Police de la Ville…
…
continue reading
Turkey has said it can no longer support the mass influx of migrants from Syria and elsewhere.It says it will no longer keep them from attempting to cross into Greece and Bulgaria as they seek to head into European Union countries.Paul Heinbecker is the Deputy Chair of the The World Refugee Council, and a former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and G…
…
continue reading
Slavery Remembered The abolition of slavery was commemorated in 2004. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/27-Slavery-Remembered.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Black History Month Every February Canadians celebrate the history of Blacks in Canada. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/26-Black-History-Month.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Donovan Bailey The athlete’s meteoric rise to fame is one of Canada’s remarkable success stories. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/25-Donovan-Bailey.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Suzette Mayr The author spotlights issues involving race and ethnicity interethnic people. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/24-Suzette-Mayr.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
In Canada where the often bitterly heated debate about firearms has been raging on and off for decades, a federal politician decided he needed to be informed by fact, not opinion.Tako Van Popta is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Langley-Aldergrove in British ColumbiaListenEN_Interview_1-20200303-WIE10Van Popta says he had ne…
…
continue reading
Maka Kotto Poet, actor, stage director, and first black Afrcan elected to the Canadian Parliament. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/23-Maka-Kotto.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
George Elliott Clarke The author describes the rich oral narratives and cultural traditions of Blacks in Nova Scotia. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/22-George-Elliott-Clarke.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Michaëlle Jean Canada’s first black Governor General. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/03/21-Michaelle-Jean.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Dany Laferrière The author became a huge success by poking fun at racial stereotypes. https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/20-Dany-Laferriere.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Dr. Hervé Blanchard Dr. Blanchard has cared for 30 years (1970-2000) for many children in Quebec, notably at the Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, where he saved the lives of newborn babies with congenital anomalies. He is recognized as the pioneer in Quebec of pediatric kidney transplantation (performed for the first time in 1974), and liver tr…
…
continue reading
Charlie Biddle Remembered as the father of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Charles Biddle lent his name to the club that kept the groove going year-round. Biddles, now known as The House of Jazz, was a draw for jazz stars and fans, from around the world. Charles Biddle was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2003. The Saint Jean Bapti…
…
continue reading
Oscar PetersonThere’s Oscar Peterson Boulevard and Oscar Peterson Public School in Mississauga, Ontario; Oscar Peterson Square in downtown Toronto; and, in his hometown of Montreal there’s the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. And, that’s not to mention the 16 honourary degrees between Canada and the United States. The man who wrote the Canadiana Suite …
…
continue reading
Portia WhiteThe classical concert signer from Nova Scotia achieved international fame World War Second.In Portia White’s hometown of Truro, Nova Scotia there is a monument in her memory. Following her international career she settled in Toronto and taught voice until she died in 1968. In 2007 she was posthumously awarded the Helen Creighton Lifetim…
…
continue reading
Lou HooperOnce Oscar Peterson’s piano teacher, Lou Hooper wrote ragtime classics like The Cakewalk, Black Cat Blues, South Sea Strut and Uncle Remus Stomp. Born in 1894, in North Buxton, Ontario, Hooper died in Charlottetown, PEI in 1977 not long after the debut of the ballet he wrote, called Congo.Duration: 2:33https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/…
…
continue reading
George Frederick JohnsonGeorge Frederick Johnson enlisted in the Canadian military when he was just 16 years old. Cpl. Johnson served with the 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment and later took part in the D-Day landing in Normandy on June 5, 1944.Duration: 3:04https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/14-George_Frederick_Johnson.mp3…
…
continue reading
Sam LangfordSamuel Edgar Langford, known as the Boston Terror, is considered by many boxing historians to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. Duration: 2:27https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/13-Sam_Langford.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
William HallPetty Officer William Hall was the first black Canadian man to win the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Relief of Lucknow in 1857.Duration: 2:40https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/12/12-William_Hall.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Mary Ann Shadd CaryToday, we bring you the story of Mary Ann Shadd Cary. She moved to Canada from the United States in 1851 and eventually began editing The Provincial Freeman, a weekly newspaper first printed on March 24, 1853. This made Shadd the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper, and one of the first female journalists in…
…
continue reading
The Press and the Anti-Slavery MovementToday we bring you the story of 19th century Canadian publications such as Voice of the Fugitive and The Globe advocating for freedom from bondage.Duration 3:13https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/10-The_Press_and_the_Anti-Slavery_Movement.mp3…
…
continue reading
Anti-slavery movement in CanadaThe Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was formed in Canada West (now Ontario) in 1851 to promote the global abolition of slavery and provide relief to African American refugees seeking freedom in Canada.Duration 2:40https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/9-Anti-slavery_movement_in_Canada.mp3…
…
continue reading
Harriet TubmanToday we bring you the story of Harriet Tubman. She was a courageous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, who led hundreds of American slaves to freedom in Canada.Duration 2:59https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/12/8-Harriet_Tubman.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Josiah HensonToday, we bring you the story of Josiah Henson. His remarkable life story inspired American author Harriet Beecher Stowe to write her famous anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.Duration: 2:59https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/7-Josiah_Henson.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Burkina Faso is facing one of the world’s fastest growing displacement crises threatening to engulf the entire West African country and spill over into neighbouring Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire, warns a report by the U.S.-based NGO Refugees International.Burkina Faso has emerged as the latest epicentre of a conflict that has already consum…
…
continue reading
AfricvilleToday, we bring you the story of Africville, the beating heart of the African Canadian community in Nova Scotia until it was bulldozed over in the 1960s to make way for other projects, including private housing, ramps for the A. Murray MacKay Bridge, and the Fairview Container Terminal. The central area was turned into a dog park called S…
…
continue reading
Slave rebellionsSlaves in North America and the Caribbean staged several rebellions and engaged in other forms of resistance against their masters.Duration: 3:02https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/5-Slave_rebellions.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Slavery lawsA number of slavery laws, in addition to Indigenous slavery customs, existed in Canada both under the French rule and British rule until slavery was officially abolished in 1833.Duration: 2:49https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/12/4-Slavery_laws.mp3Di Radio Canada International
…
continue reading
Olivier Le JeuneOlivier Le Jeune is the first black person known to have lived and died in Canada. He was also Canada’s first recorded African slave. Le Jeune was about seven years old when he was brought to Canada from Madagascar during the British invasion of what was known then as New France in 1628.Duration: 2:09https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-cont…
…
continue reading
Mathieu Da CostaMathieu Da Costa, the first black man to arrive in Canada, is said to have been born in the Azores. Da Costa was a free black man who in the early 1600s was employed as a translator by French and Dutch traders and explorers. He spoke several languages including French, Dutch and Portuguese, as well as "pidgin" Basque, a language use…
…
continue reading
We begin the first episode of our podcast series Portraits of Black Canadians with a short introduction into the history of slavery in the Americas.Slavery TriangleThe transatlantic slave trade forced millions of black Africans into bondage.Duration 3:01https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/12/1-Slavery_Triangle.mp3…
…
continue reading
Climate action has to become the cornerstone of not only Canada’s domestic policy but also of Ottawa’s foreign policy, says Dominique Souris, co-founder and executive director of Youth Climate Lab. “As far as I’m concerned, foreign policy is climate policy,” Souris says. “We’re talking about a global climate problem, a global climate emergency.” Sh…
…
continue reading
Canada needs a “revolution” in its foreign policy thinking to deal with the tectonic geopolitical changes going on in the world, says Leonard Edwards, a former Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. “The issue is how do we manage within an international frame where there is tension between the United States and China and where we will be caug…
…
continue reading
Canada has plenty of opportunities to show leadership on the international stage, says Peggy Mason, president of the Rideau Institute, an independent foreign policy and defence think tank. These include taking on a greater role – and not necessarily a military one – in UN peacekeeping operations, working on defending and strengthening international…
…
continue reading
Canada needs to think very seriously about ‘greening’ its foreign and development policy, says Stephen Cornish, CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation, a leading Canadian environmental group. He spoke to Diplomatic Dispatch about the challenges facing Canada’s foreign policy in the age of climate crisis at the Summit on Canada’s Global Leadership in Ot…
…
continue reading
The event was organized by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID), the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH) and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI). There I met with Robert Greenhill, executive chair of Global Canada a…
…
continue reading
I met with Allan Rock at the Summit on Canada’s Global Leadership in late November of 2019. He is a former Liberal cabinet minister and also served as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations after leaving federal politics, as well as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Ottawa. He says the possible re-election of President Donald Tr…
…
continue reading
In June of 2017, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled its feminist foreign and development policy. But what is at the core of that policy? And has Canada put its money where its mouth is when it comes to upholding the principles unveiled in that policy? Does that policy need to change and if yes, how? What should be Cana…
…
continue reading
Does Canada need its own foreign intelligence service? The world is undergoing fundamental change and Canada cannot rest on its laurels at a time of rising global threats, including the increasingly isolationist United States, dysfunctional Western allies and the emergence of China and Russia, cyber threats and terrorism, says Richard Fadden, forme…
…
continue reading
My search for the answers began in Ottawa, at the Summit on Canada’s Global Leadership in late November of 2019. The event was organized by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID), the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH) and th…
…
continue reading
Ukraine's foreign minister says 63 Canadians were among the 176 people killed when a Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane crashed just minutes after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday.Flight PS752 was en route to Kyiv when it went down.Ukrainian authorities initially said it appeared mechanical failu…
…
continue reading
Mali is on a perilous course, says Alexandra Lamarche.Nearly eight years after the onset of crisis in the West African country, the international community remains heavily focused on stabilization and counterterrorism, with little to show for its efforts, says the Canadian humanitarian worker.In fact, the humanitarian situation in parts of the coun…
…
continue reading
Janine and Ian Maxwell want your money.Not all of it… But as much as you can spare to help them care for more than 250 orphans and abandoned babies at their orphanage in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) and the 2,500-acre farm that produces food for a network of 30 churches and schools in the tiny Southern African kingdom.In their quest to fe…
…
continue reading
A Canadian ocean conservation group is renewing its calls on the federal government to clamp down on seafood mislabelling, saying its latest investigation provides mounting evidence of a widespread and unchecked seafood fraud problem in Canada.Oceana Canada says DNA testing of seafood samples from retailers across Montreal revealed that Canada’s se…
…
continue reading
As the federal election campaign picks up steam, federal officials should be ready to counter possible Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Canadians, says a Russian expert.Sergey Sukhankin, a senior fellow with the Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. think-tank, who is teaching at the Concordia University of Edmonton, says Russian and Canadian inte…
…
continue reading
In 1986, Jennie Carignan was a bored teenager looking to do something challenging with her life.So she decided to join the Canadian Armed Forces and enroll at the Royal Military College of Canada. She was among the first women to enter the Combat Engineer trade after all military occupations were opened to women in 1989.Today, Maj.-Gen. Carignan is…
…
continue reading