People First Radio

Puppeteer, actor and comedian DerRic Starlight has shared the story of long stretches spent living on the streets of Calgary and Edmonton around a decade ago. Back in 2014, Starlight was visiting Calgary for the Stampede. As described in his book, See Me Street: My Homeless Indigenous Journey, he had a brush with the city’s […]

Psychologist and Simon Fraser University Professor Grace Iarocci has been looking at how people with ADHD may be working extra hard to try and blend in. “Masking is this concept that was first talked about in relation with autistic people. So in the literature on autism we came to recognize that many individuals, mainly women […]

Kelly McKowen spent years talking with people who were unemployed in Norway. In his book Down and Out in Utopia, the assistant professor of Anthropology at the College of William And Mary provides a look at what can happen if you lose your job in one of the world’s wealthiest and most egalitarian countries. McKowen […]

Community came together in Qualicum Beach Wednesday, September 30, to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day begin with a gathering at ts’xwelikwshenawtxw, “the house at the foot of Mount Arrowsmith.” As people spoke over coffee, crafting, and knowledge sharing activities, People First Radio producer Joe Pugh spoke with Kim Recalma-Clutesi, Ogwi’low’gwa, […]

The Gold Coat Program at the California Men’s Colony State Prison sees long term inmates serve as caregivers for inmates with dementia. Filmmaker Petra Volpe first learned about the program 12 years ago, which prompted a visit, and led to the development of a feature film inspired by the program, called Frank & Louis, which […]

Justin Ducharme says his debut feature film Seventeen was inspired by his own experiences living in Vancouver. “ Something that I’ve always been really interested in as a filmmaker, and a lot of my work explores is this contemporary urban Indigenous queer experience,” he said. Seventeen is set in and around Vancouver, and follows 3 Indigenous sex […]

In 2013, walking a Winnipeg labyrinth helped Corey Bialek consider a contemplative question: what would it mean to not be depressed? The labyrinth was not curative, but it was therapeutic. “There’s no real magic to it, but the idea is you sort of like sift the central thought as you walk through, opine on what […]

Speakers in Parksville and Courtenay joined a chorus of voices all over the world coming together in their communities to mark International Overdose Awareness Day. Observed August 31 or the days leading up to it, International Overdose Awareness Day began as a barbecue remembrance event at the Salvation Army Needle Exchange in Melbourne Australia 25 […]

Rob Csernyik is an investigative journalist who lives in Atlantic Canada and covers the gambling beat. He’s the author of A Losing Hand, a new book that takes a look at the issue of gambling related suicides in Canada. “ We have a very robust industry of legalized gambling, and yet we also have…a big preoccupation […]

The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction(CCSA) has shared a resource meant to help smaller Canadian cities address substance use harms. “The Playbook for Action has over 50 evidence-based interventions that a community could draw from,” said Chandni Sondagar, a senior knowledge broker with the organization. The playbook is a document outlining a number […]