A local government initiative to protect Vancouver Island’s old growth forests may have been checked by aboriginal title issues.
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QAnon, Cults, & Conspirituality
For many people, their first awareness of a social media phenomenon called “QAnon” came with news coverage of a failed autogolpe in the US, on January 6th of this year. On that date, an organised mob invaded the US Capitol building in an attempt to derail the election process and prevent the inauguration of newly-elected President Joe Biden. Their mission was to keep the defeated incumbent Donald Trump in power.
Among the banners and signage carried by the insurgents, onlookers saw many variants on the letter Q and slogans like “Where We Go One We Go All,” “The Great Awakening,” “Trust the Plan,” “Save the Children,” etc. For those who had been observing the QAnon phenomenon during the years leading up to the insurrection, all these slogans and symbols were familiar indicators of a deeply troubling development in both US history and social media culture.
Among those worried observers were Darshan Stevens and Alex Hornby of Cortes island. When we discovered our mutual interest in the topic (cults in general and QAnon in particular), I suggested an interview for Currents. The result became a four-part special feature, airing the week of May 10th 2021.
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Tying history to present-day racism
By Aly Laube, Fraser Valley Community Radio, CIVL 101.7 FM, Local Journalism Initiative
A co-chair of the Race and Anti-Racism Network and professor at UFV, Ian Rocksborough-Smith says white supremacy in the city now looks different than it did in the 1900s. Organizations like the Heritage Society are predominantly white as well, as are most of the other influential groups in the valley. Abbotsford is also the only city in the valley that didn’t swing NDP, and stayed largely Liberal in the last provincial election, and it’s the home riding of the Christian Heritage Party, which Rocksborough-Smith describes as “a white nationalist neo-fascist party.” This reflects the ideals and beliefs of the people living there: Largely conservative and religious.
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DFO: a potentially transformative decade
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canada is in the enviable position of having the longest coastline in the world. But our trio of oceans is being battered by a storm of negative impacts, be it overexploited fish stocks, plastics pollution, degrading marine food webs, increasingly fragile coastal ecosystems or biodiversity loss accelerated by ocean warming and acidification. Yet, at the very crest of their vulnerability, Canada’s oceans may stand to benefit from a potentially transformative decade.
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Auditor General: BC is Falling short on commitment to protect fish and wildlife habitat
By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
BC is falling short on its commitment to protect fish and wildlife habitat, according to a report released by the province’s auditor general on Tuesday.
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