Thinking Outside the Crisis: Throwing Off Our (Food) Chains
The supply chain is not a series of equal links dependent on the ‘weakest link’ to operate. Rather, the middle is a choke point over the food supply. Keep Reading
My Skin Colour is Not a Threat
It’s easy for white people to deny that racism exists in Newfoundland & Labrador. Black people in this province can’t afford to think like that. Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: Housing as Healthcare in the North
Housing is more than a matter of shelter—housing is healthcare. It's time for a northern housing strategy that recognizes this critical connection. Keep Reading
Notes From the Rafters: Pandora’s Big Yellow Box
Get your most outraged social media warrior face on: you have TWO WEEKS to ALL CAPS your way into Council inboxes to explain why you are pro or con the BYB. Keep Reading
Why NL Fishers are Protesting in a Pandemic: An Explainer
The fight over the 2020 fishing season has exposed many deeply rooted problems in a crucial but troubled industry in Newfoundland and Labrador. Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: Inequity and Triage
Far from being a "great equalizer," Covid-19 is exposing the deeper inequities in our healthcare systems and the populations they serve. Keep Reading
How We’re Leading a Climate Justice Movement in NL
As we organize and educate, we must also stand with those who are putting their bodies on the line to struggle against colonialism and capitalism. Keep Reading
Indy Inks (30 April 2020)
[bass solo] Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: Where We Go & How We Get There
Hard though it is, we have to shift our economies away from fossil fuels. We are perilously near collapse. Keep Reading
Notes From the Rafters: 27 April 2020
Getting as much grinding done as possible before patching turns out to be the most financially efficient—unless referring to household strut-fixing budgets. Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: A Tutorial Level in Apocalypse(s)
If the pandemic has done anything, it has forced us to think about how societies face a crisis of collapse. We need to escape the Holocene delusion. Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: The Pandemic & Social Unrest
Even before the pandemic, we were living in a revolutionary age. Now, long-standing injustices and inequalities are amplified by COVID-19. Keep Reading
Report: FLR Complied with Disclosure Rules in Salmon Die-off
A mass die-off of salmon in fish pens on the south coast of Newfoundland made waves in news headlines last October. But yesterday, a report into public disclosure of information by the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources released by the province’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner clearing the Department of any wrong-doing, scarcely created a ripple. Gerry Byrne, the Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources summarized the report’s main finding yesterday in a series of tweets. “Appreciate having an Independent Officer of the Legislature confirm no basis for mandatory disclosure due to no evidence of health or environmental risk,” the Minister posted. He added: “In my own history as a parliamentarian, I have never experienced an oversight Office conclude an investigation by saying ‘no recommendations’ to offer or required as the situation was well handled.” Commissioner Michael Harvey’s report concludes “I do not have any recommendations to make… Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: Imagining Communities Through Data
The way digital information is mobilized during this pandemic highlights the politics of data—even if we often couldn’t see the data itself. Keep Reading
In memory of James G. Learning (1938-2020)
Labrador flags are flying at half-mast all across the Big Land to mark the passing of Jim Learning, which is only right for a man who did so much to have those flags flying high in the first place. To the people of Labrador, Jim was something like a folk hero. To the people of Newfoundland, he was an enigma, calling for the independence of a territory that few imagined could be other than an appendage of the island. To the province’s politicians, he was a subversive, a source of constant irritation, a man of the people calling out injustice with a crystal-clear voice and putting them to shame. To the province’s activists and progressives, he had a stature and “cred” that few can aspire to. It was as an activist I first knew Jim. He played no small part in activating me. In 2011 and 2012, as the Muskrat… Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: Decarbonized or Destitute?
We can *heart* oil and gas all we want—it doesn’t *heart* us back. Keep Reading
Thinking Outside the Crisis: Introducing a New Series
This column introduces a series of commentaries that create space for positive futures by thinking against the grain of the pandemic. Keep Reading
NL’s Last Great Pandemic: Lessons from the 1918 Flu
While we may never have encountered a health crisis like this in our lifetimes, our ancestors did. Keep Reading
Letter to the CBC Ombudsman, 15 April 2020
The following letter was sent by Independent Editor Drew Brown to the CBC Ombudsman on Wednesday, 15 April 2020. Hello, I hope this message finds you well. My name is Drew Brown, and I am the Editor-in-Chief of the Newfoundland and Labrador Independent. I am writing today to express my concerns about the way a story on food security in the province has been handled by the local CBC affiliate. On Monday, David Cochrane with the CBC published a story about Oceanex, a marine shipping company, seeking federal subsidies to keep it afloat through the pandemic. In the original story, it was reported: “If Oceanex shuts down, it would create an immediate food security and public health crisis in the province.” As it turns out, this was not true; Oceanex actually delivers far fewer food supplies than initially suggested in the article, and according to the company’s own website it… Keep Reading
Notes from the Rafters: 13 April 2020
They have added video. Each councillor now comes to the meeting framed by a hastily curated slice of their natural environment. Keep Reading