Rehearsing Freedom

Bad Architecture: Canada Keeps Building a House That Hurts People

Before we talk about solutions, we have to talk about design flaws. This episode breaks down how Canadian housing, welfare, healthcare, and municipal policies are built like a house with crooked foundations. From “choice” myths to jurisdictional buck-passing, we explore why people fall through cracks that were never accidental—they were structural. Built in. Featuring insights from In the Box about stigma, survival, and what the inside of the storm really feels like.

Pilot

Welcome to Kitchen Party Rebel, the show where politics gets pulled off the podium and brought back to the kitchen table — the real one. The messy one. The one where the kettle’s always on, the conversation gets a little spicy, and nobody’s afraid to ask the big questions. Hosted by a non-binary East Coast Canadian studying politics (and trying to make sense of the chaos), Kitchen Party Rebel blends storytelling, scholarship, and a little maritime mischief to explore how power actually works — in our bodies, our communities, and our relationships with the land. Here, we talk about the stuff that usually gets buried under jargon: colonialism, health justice, belonging, liberation, and how everyday people rehearse freedom in a country still learning how to tell the truth. If you’re hungry for conversations that are warm, sharp, grounded in community, and unafraid to challenge the “official story,” you’ve found your people. Pull up a chair — there’s always room for one more rebel at this kitchen party.

Rehearsing Freedom

Abolition isn’t about tearing things down — it’s about building something better. In the season’s closing episode, we explore the radical discipline of hope, the ecological roots of justice, and what it means to “live otherwise.” Through the lens of Black and Indigenous solidarity, environmental stewardship, and daily acts of mutual care, we imagine a world where no one is disposable. This is a hopeful, grounded, rebellious invitation to practice freedom together. This episode draws on ideas and analysis from: * Anne Bishop, Becoming an Ally * Robyn Maynard & Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Rehearsals for Living * Elizabeth A. McGibbon, Oppression: A Social Determinant of Health * Jody Wilson-Raybould, From Where I Stand * Additional material from my POLS3703 mid-term paper: Healing the Body Politic

Healing is a Form of Rebellion

What if healing isn’t a private journey, but a political act? In this episode, we explore how breaking silence, telling the truth, and reclaiming power-with (instead of power-over) become forms of resistance. Drawing on Indigenous governance, community care, and abolitionist thought, we examine how personal and collective healing disrupt the very foundations of oppressive systems. This is an episode for anyone who’s ever felt the weight of trauma — and the spark of liberation. This episode draws on ideas and analysis from: * Anne Bishop, Becoming an Ally * Robyn Maynard & Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Rehearsals for Living * Elizabeth A. McGibbon, Oppression: A Social Determinant of Health * Jody Wilson-Raybould, From Where I Stand * Additional material from my POLS3703 mid-term paper: Healing the Body Politic

Who lives the longest in Canada?

Health in Canada isn’t just about medicine — it’s about power. This episode unpacks how racism, colonialism, and class inequality literally get under the skin, shaping life expectancy and chronic illness across the country. We look at “organized abandonment,” jurisdictional nightmares, and the myth of scarcity that keeps entire communities unwell. If you’ve ever wondered why certain bodies are protected and others are left waiting, this is your deep dive into the politics of survival. This episode draws on ideas and analysis from: * Anne Bishop, Becoming an Ally * Robyn Maynard & Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Rehearsals for Living * Elizabeth A. McGibbon, Oppression: A Social Determinant of Health * Jody Wilson-Raybould, From Where I Stand * Additional material from my POLS3703 mid-term paper: Healing the Body Politic