COMMONS – Details, episodes & analysis

After months of trading voice memos and messages, Caroline meets Marwa in person in Germany. They talk about the choices they have made, the lessons they have learned, and long for a reunion with Raha.  

By Caroline Gillet with Marwa and Raha. The original podcast broadcast on France INTER / RADIO FRANCE © RADIO FRANCE. Canadaland is proud to premiere the English-language adaptation of this urgent and intimate podcast, building on Commons' crucial season that told the story of Canada’s role in the War in Afghanistan.

COMMONS is brought to you by: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Max Collins (Production Manager), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Shows like this cannot get made without you. Become a supporter and binge the entire season now, ad-free.

Additional music from Audio Network

Sponsors: 

Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today at Douglas.ca/Canadaland. 

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It has been ten months since the arrival of the Taliban. Marwa takes the steps to settle in Germany and takes a step back from her country, its traditions and its history. It is the first time she has been in Europe, and everything in Germany surprises her.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban impose full veils on women. Raha is more and more desperate, and plots her escape.

By Caroline Gillet with Marwa and Raha. The original podcast broadcast on France INTER / RADIO FRANCE © RADIO FRANCE. Canadaland is proud to premiere the English-language adaptation of this urgent and intimate podcast, building on Commons' crucial season that told the story of Canada’s role in the War in Afghanistan.

COMMONS is brought to you by: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Max Collins (Production Manager), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Shows like this cannot get made without you. Become a supporter and binge the entire season now, ad-free.

Additional music from Audio Network

Sponsors: 

Douglas: Douglas is giving our listeners a FREE Sleep Bundle with each mattress purchase. Get the sheets, pillows, mattress and pillow protectors FREE with your Douglas purchase today at Douglas.ca/Canadaland. 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The huge rise in international students in Canada — most of them from Punjab, India — has become one of the biggest stories in the country. But most media outlets and political parties have framed it entirely as a housing issue. 

They’re missing the point. 

This is a story about the creation of a new, racialized underclass to do all of the work we don’t want to do. And it’s about the human wreckage that’s left in the wake after we’re done squeezing those people of every penny and every drop of sweat that we can.

Featured in this episode: Jaspreet Singh, Rupa Banerjee

To learn more:

“The International Student Boom Might Be Over” by Kuwarjeet Singh Arora in Baaz News

“How recruiters in India use false promises to lure students to Canada” by CBC’s Fifth Estate

“Canada’s open secret: International students are here to be exploited” by Kunal Chaudry in The Breach

Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Sponsors: Douglas, Article 

Additional music from Audio Network

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

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Stories about Canada's real estate obsession. 

The first episode drops on April 28, 2021.

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Almost a year after the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history, Nova Scotians are still in the dark about what exactly happened. A gunman, dressed in an RCMP uniform, driving an RCMP cruiser killed 22 people.

In the months since, the Mounties have been short on answers. And it's left people wondering whether they have something to hide.

Featured in this episode: Stephen Maher, Paul Palango, Sandra McCulloch

To learn more:

“13 deadly hours” from The Fifth Estate by CBC News

“How the Nova Scotia shooting victims' families won a public inquiry into the tragedy,” by Stephen Maher in Maclean's

“The Nova Scotia shooter case has hallmarks of an undercover operation” by Paul Palango, Stephen Maher, Shannon Gormley in Maclean's

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is sponsored by Rotman, Cullen's Foods, and Hello Fresh.

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For three decades, much of Northern Ontario has been engaged in an unprecedented experiment in policing. It's called the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service. And the idea is simple: the old, colonial cops shouldn't be policing Indigenous territory. Instead, Indigenous people should police themselves.

Featured in this episode: Kyle Edwards, Christian Leuprecht

To learn more:

“Inside the impossible work of Canada's biggest Indigenous police force” by Kyle Edwards in Maclean's

“Force 2.0: Fixing the Governance, Leadership, and Structure of the RCMP” by Christian Leuprecht

“Memories of a fire” by Mark Blackburn in APTN News

Additional music from Audio Network

This episode is sponsored by Dispatch Coffee, Rotman, Cullen's Foods, and Manscaped.

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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When John and Susan Pruyn came to Toronto, they were hoping to protest against the G20 and then spend some time with their daughter. Instead, they would be caught up in a whirlwind of police misconduct with few precedents in Canadian history.

Featured in this episode: Jesse Rosenfeld, John Pruyn, Susan Pruyn, Sarah Pruyn.

Jesse Rosenfeld is a Toronto born journalist who has covered the Middle East since 2007. Based in Ramallah, Tel Aviv, Gaza City, Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul, and Athens over the years, he has also reported from Iraq and the Balkans, contributing to The Nation Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Intercept, and Al Jazeera, among others. His work in the region is the basis of the National Film Board of Canada documentary Freelancer on the Front Lines.

To learn more:

“‘'I will not forget what they have done to me'” in The Toronto Star

You Should Have Stayed At Home by CBC's The Fifth Estate

“Rejecting G20's consensus of the few” by Jesse Rosenfeld in The Guardian

Additional music from Audio Network

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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In the first of a two-part series on the G20, two mysterious strangers start volunteering with activist networks in southern Ontario. It's all part of one of the biggest undercover police operations in Canadian history.

To learn more:

“Unmasked: Searching for lessons in Toronto's 2010 G20 debacle” by Andrea Bennett in Maisonneuve

“How police infiltrated groups planning G20 protests” by Adrian Morrow and Kim Mackrael in The Globe and Mail

Additional music from Audio Network

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Myles Gray was an unarmed man who died after seven Vancouver police officers beat him mercilessly. Half a decade after he died, not only does his family not have justice, they don't even know the names of the people who killed him.

Featured in this episode: Bethany Lindsay (CBC Vancouver), Harsha Walia (B.C. Civil Liberties Association), Ronald MacDonald (Independent Investigations Office of B.C.) 

To learn more:

“The day Myles Gray died” by Cassidy Olivier in The Vancouver Sun

“Vancouver police officers won't be charged over unarmed man's 2015 death” by Bethany Lindsay in CBC Vancouver

“No charges against officers in case of Myles Gray who died during encounter with Vancouver police” by Amy Judd and Sarah MacDonald in Global News

Additional music from Audio Network

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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A Toronto police officer shoots and kills two Black men and is accused of beating another, all within a five-year span. He's never found guilty of committing a crime. And he continues to rise through the ranks.   

Featured in this episode: Bruce Livesey, Howard Morton, André Marin, Leora Shemesh 

To learn more:

“Above The Law” by Bruce Livesey in BuzzFeed News

“Defence lawyer alleges Toronto officers diverted 7 kilos of meth into her client's car” by Betsy Powell in The Toronto Star

“Shank not guilty of manslaughter” in CBC News

Additional music from Audio Network

Support COMMONS: http://commonspodcast.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.