266 episodes
COMMONS Canadaland Beyond
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- Society & Culture
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4.3 • 1.6K Ratings
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COMMONS is a documentary podcast that proves Canada is anything but boring. Each season, host Arshy Mann guides you through the country’s dark underbelly, bringing you stories about crime, corruption and all manner of misdeeds.
This season will unmask the ever-present war on workers. And the many, many ways that workers have banded together to fight back against it.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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WORK 8 - Make and Break Harbour
In Newfoundland and Labrador, fishing is more than just an industry or a job. It truly is a way of life. It’s at the core of what has made this place what it is.
Today, as fishers leave the industry in droves, all of that is at risk of dying.
But is it even worth it to try to keep all of that alive? After all, there’s plenty of ways to make a living. And what kind of future is in store for the people who refuse to let go?
Featured in this episode: Kimberly Orren, Leo Hearn, Jenn Thornhill Verma, Ryan Cleary
To learn more:
“Could smaller, more sustainable cod fishing make a comeback? Newfoundlanders look cautiously for ways to rebuild” by Jenn Thornhill Verma in The Globe and Mail
“Fishing school takes students out of the classroom and out on the water” by Amanda Gear in CBC News
“The Fishing Revolution and the Origins of Capitalism” by Ian Angus in Monthly Review
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
Additional music from Audio Network
Sponsors: Rotman, AG1
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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
WORK 9 - Working Behind Bars
All labour exists on a spectrum, ranging from enslavement at one pole, to fully, freely given on the other.
And, in Canada, at the most extreme end of that spectrum are prison labourers. Incarcerated people have few rights and fewer options when it comes to their working lives.
If we want to truly understand our criminal justice system and Canadian labour, we need to examine how prisoners work.
Featured in this episode: Jordan House, Asaf Rashid
To learn more:
Solidarity Beyond Bars: Unionizing Prison Labour by Jordan House & Asaf Rashid
“Prison breaking-point: Canada’s jail system is in crisis, and that affects all of us” by Justin Ling in The Globe and Mail
“The case for a prisoners’ union” in Briarpatch by Jordan House & Asaf Rashid
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
Additional music from Audio Network -
WORK 7 - Merchants of the Rock
The cod collapse is a harbinger of the many environmental disasters we’re about to face. But what happens to workers in the aftermath of that kind of catastrophe? In Newfoundland and Labrador, monopolistic corporations took advantage.
The history of the Atlantic fishery can be understood as a power struggle between fishermen and merchants.
And the merchants are winning.
Featured in this episode: Glen Winslow, Ryan Cleary, Jenn Thornhill-Verma
To learn more:
“Who Controls Fish Processing in Newfoundland & Labrador?” by Jenn Thornhill-Verma & Jack Daly in The Independent
“Why are fish harvesters protesting in Newfoundland?” in CTV News
“Danish company Royal Greenland buying 4 more N.L. fish plants” in CBC News
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
Additional music from Audio Network
Sponsors: Douglas, AGI
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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
WORK 8 - Make and Break Harbour
In Newfoundland and Labrador, fishing is more than just an industry or a job. It truly is a way of life. It’s at the core of what has made this place what it is.
Today, as fishers leave the industry in droves, all of that is at risk of dying.
But is it even worth it to try to keep all of that alive? After all, there’s plenty of ways to make a living. And what kind of future is in store for the people who refuse to let go?
Featured in this episode: Kimberly Orren, Leo Hearn, Jenn Thornhill Verma, Ryan Cleary
To learn more:
“Could smaller, more sustainable cod fishing make a comeback? Newfoundlanders look cautiously for ways to rebuild” by Jenn Thornhill Verma in The Globe and Mail
“Fishing school takes students out of the classroom and out on the water” by Amanda Gear in CBC News
“The Fishing Revolution and the Origins of Capitalism” by Ian Angus in Monthly Review
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
Additional music from Audio Network -
WORK 6 - Emptying an Ocean
The closure of the cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador was the most devastating mass layoff in Canadian history. And its impacts are still being felt to this day.
The collapse of Newfoundland cod is a story of man-made environmental calamity that turned into economic devastation. It’s a story of a government ignoring the knowledge of working people, in favour of the so-called expertise of industry, to disastrous effect.
But this isn’t just history. It’s prophecy. It’s a vision of what may come if we continue to ignore the ecological limits of this planet in the pursuit of profit.
Featured in this episode: Bernard Martin, Jenn Thornhill-Verma, Ryan Cleary, Glen Winslow
To learn more:
Cod Collapse: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland’s Saltwater Cowboys by Jenn Thornhill-Verma
Lament for an Ocean: The Collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery by Michael Harris
Managed Annihilation: An Unnatural History of the Newfoundland Cod Collapse by Dean Bavington
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
Additional music from Audio Network
Sponsors: Rotman, Douglas
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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
WORK 7 - Merchants of the Rock
The cod collapse is a harbinger of the many environmental disasters we’re about to face. But what happens to workers in the aftermath of that kind of catastrophe? In Newfoundland and Labrador, monopolistic corporations took advantage.
The history of the Atlantic fishery can be understood as a power struggle between fishermen and merchants.
And the merchants are winning.
Featured in this episode: Glen Winslow, Ryan Cleary, Jenn Thornhill-Verma
To learn more:
“Who Controls Fish Processing in Newfoundland & Labrador?” by Jenn Thornhill-Verma & Jack Daly in The Independent
“Why are fish harvesters protesting in Newfoundland?” in CTV News
“Danish company Royal Greenland buying 4 more N.L. fish plants” in CBC News
Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), André Proulx (Production Coordinator), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)
Additional music from Audio Network
Customer Reviews
Commons
I don’t listen to every season because the topics don’t always appeal to me, but the new season about Work is excellent. The experience of workers in our economy is something journalists haven’t paid enough attention to. This podcast does!
You can’t have it both ways
This comment is in regards specifically to the episode of WORK that addresses the fishery in NL. I’m sorry but you do not get to have it both ways. You cannot bemoan a price fixing system in times of high inflation and low exchange rate (CND dollar vs USD) and vice versa bemoan a few market system (Canadian dollar trending high, low inflation like the early 2000s). This is what had been going on with crab fishermen in NL. This podcast is so biased toward the “workers” that it does not stop to ask ANY critical thinking questions about ANYTHING. Like. Ok. Crab fisherman are getting screwed. But today they are blaming the fixed market pricing system that they FOUGHT FOR in the mid 1990s. But now that that’s not offering them the prices they need to pay the mortgages on their McMansions in Holyrood and the southern shore they are holding a whole province’s government hostage. Honestly this reporting is shamefully uninformed. There’s no poor fisherman. They want the system that gives them the highest price in the moment. Today that’s free market capitalism. Yesterday it was state sanctioned price fixing. Tomorrow. Who knows? Gas up the f-150 and get all the family their stamps.
Emergency Rooms
My daughter is about to graduate as a nurse. We have both become involved in the Ontario Health Coalition recently. This was an excellent piece on some of the difficulties in health care. I am going to subscribe. You’re doing good work!