Conversations That Matter

Everything you wanted to know about Men's Health but were afraid to ask

Episode 94

Dr. John Oliffe - Everything you wanted to know about Men’s Health but were afraid to ask

Conversations That Matter features Dr. John Oliffe the driving force behind a UBC research project looking into why men die almost five years earlier than women. Oliffe says it comes down to five things, diet, alcohol consumption, exercise, depression and heart disease. In other words what you put in your mouth, how much you move and your state of mind.

Key to state of mind is the rate at which men turn to suicide.  Oliffe says, “ it's not the case for every man, but the fact is, men are suiciding at four times the rate of women.” Underlying factors are a loss of purpose, psychological injuries that are left unattended and physical injuries that lead to chronic pain and reduced mobility. According to Oliffe men run away from addressing these issues through self medication. That’s a euphemism for alcohol and drugs.

Oliffe says there are a variety of strategies you can employ that all have the same denominator, ask for and get help.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

How to be old, happy and healthy with Dr. Gifford Jones

Episode 93

Dr. Gifford-Jones - How to be old, happy and healthy!

Conversations That Matter features Dr. Gifford-Jones who has been writing health columns for more than 25 years. He says the secret to getting old and being happy and healthy is relatively simple. He has a list of do’s and don'ts which are pretty easy to follow.

His list includes but is not limited to drink wine responsibly, have sex, walk, lift some light weights, enjoy life, cut out refined sugar. Here’s a big one, look after your teeth they’re really important because they help you eat better calories and while of the topic of calories watch how many you consume.  He goes onto say, “weigh yourself everyday because that way you know instantly if something has changed. There’s no value in waiting to find out.”

While it’s obvious it’s worth repeating, if you want to live to 90 and be happy and healthy don’t smoke.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

How on earth can we get along?

Episode 92

Mafalda Arias - How on earth can we get along?

Conversations That Matter features Malfalda Arias a cultural integration specialist who addresses why we have so much trouble integrating. Arias says at the core of the problem is our inability to define what Canadian culture is, “because we don't know who we are, or what is our culture, then we go to another place or criticize the culture of the different others. As a result we don’t know what to think or what to question. Why do I do this this way? Why do you do it that way? We're not aware.”

According to Arias we need to understand not just what we do but why we do, what drives our behaviour. Then we need to be willing to ask the same questions of others. It’s challenging because the dominate culture wants to stay the same and requests that newcomers adjust.  What slows down the process of integration is a dizzying array of ingredients that frequently start with us expecting others to know what the dominate culture is and how to automatically adjust to it. Arias points out that if we can’t define what we are then we need to have open conversations that help one another find a common understanding and way of being.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Take the TRC Challenge

Episode 91

TRC Reading Challenge

Conversations That Matter features Jennifer Manuel who is throwing down a challenge to all of us to read the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions report, “because there's not enough engagement in our public discourse, there's not enough people actually participating in a dialogue about the relationship between First Nations and non-First Nations in our country and I do not think that you can rightfully participate in that dialogue unless you first listen to the truth that First Nations people have expressed which are contained in that commission report.”

Reconciliation between First Nations and non-indigenous people is rapidly becoming the most important issue facing Canada. The rights of First Nations established in the courts means future development of all kinds in Canada can only happen with the active partnership and participation of First Nations communities. As Bill Gallagher, the author of Resource Rulers points out, “the good news is First Nations want to do business with the rest of the country”

Manuel echoes the sentiment of Buffy Sainte Maire who says, “we can live in harmony if we understand one another’s journey and heal together”.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Are Brexit and Trump the same thing?

Episode 90

Professor Lord Blunkett

What do Donald Trump and BREXIT have in common?

Conversations That Matter features Professor Lord David Blunkett who says the Donald Trump and BREXIT campaigns are filled with mis-information that is playing on the breakdown of voter trust in traditional politics. Blunkett says, “the world should be mindful of how the current mood can lead voters to consider wacky proposals and destabilizing opt-out mechanisms.”

He points to Trump’s “crazy wall between Mexico and the U.S. to keep out illegal immigrants” and the British Out-Campaign’s comparison of the EU to a Hitler-like “European State” as examples.

Blunkett was originally opposed to the UK joining the EU but says he has come to realize it is a, “marriage of economic, social and international survival.  The EU is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries.” He goes on to say, “Britain’s exodus from the Union would be catastrophic. It would erode Britain’s substantial role in helping Europe deal with Islamic State terrorism, organized crime and mass migration.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Generation Squeeze - Ep 89 - Conversations That Matter

Episode 89

Paul Kershaw - Generation Squeeze

Conversations That Matter features Paul Kershaw of Generation Squeeze says Vancouver is on the cusp of becoming a generational ghost town. “By that I mean the ability for a young adult to make their way in this region in any way that approximates what we thought was becoming the norm just a few decades ago is now further out of reach.” Kershaw says many are opting to leave and that he points out introduces a host of other problems, “ how over a few decades do you sustain the vibrancy of our economy and how do you keep an inter-generational space where you have young adults caring for their aging parents, you have aging parents caring for their grandchildren? These kinds of things are being squeezed.”“

Kershaw says the pressure on the housing market is complex, it includes a move from rural to urban and immigration, “That creates some pretty straightforward supply and demand factors.” And no where is it more expense in Canada than Vancouver, the average number of work years required to buy a house nationally is 12 years, in Toronto it’s 15, in BC it’s 16 and in Vancouver it’s 23 years of saving to afford a 20% downpayment on a home.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Conversations That Matter - Ep 88 - Sexual Assault and the Courts

Episode 88

Carol Baird Ellan - Sexual Assault and the Courts

Conversations That Matter features former Chief Judge of the BC Provincial Court says, “I don't see the Jian Ghomeshi case as a poster case for needs to change the system. Having said that, I don't think survivors are well-served by our current system for a number of reasons.”

Baird Ellan appreciates the outcry following the verdict in the first Ghomeshi case. She says “part of the reaction was because so many complainants are telling the truth. They need to be believed when they come in with the complaint, and when it's investigated, and when it's presented by the Crown. That all needs to be accepted and they need to be facilitated in presenting their evidence in the best way possible. The point where that doesn't function is in court. There's no presumption of guilt. There's no presumption of believability on the part of the complainant. She, usually she, but the complainant and the defendant come to the court with the same degree of credit; that's the requirement of the criminal law.”

Due to the adversarial nature of our courts it frequently comes down to the fact the best legal teams work for defendants with deep financial resources.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Conversations That Matter - Ep 87 - Brian Riddell - Where have the Coho and Chinook gone?

Episode 87

Brian Riddell - What happen to the Chinook and Coho Salmon?

Conversations That Matter features Brian Riddell on the mass disappearance of Chinook and Coho in the Salish Sea. Riddell says the number of fish that have vanished is extraordinary and he along with a host of other agencies on both sides of the Canada US Border are working to understand what is happening.

Riddell says it’s an environmental disaster with huge financial impacts, “when we talk about losing production from chinook and coho salmon, what we really lost was 90% of the catch and we lost about $750 million a year to local communities.”

The Salish Sea Marine Survival Project is identifying and cataloguing the issues and over the next five years will work with governments and NGOs to develop and enhance effective strategies to help revive these precious species.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Conversations That Matter - Ep 86 - Jeff Schulz - Immune System Reboot

Episode 86

Jeff Schulz - Immune Cell Reboot

Conversations That Matter features Jeff Schulz who is spearheading a Vancouver based company that wants to capture your healthy immune cells, freeze them and then give them back to you later if you get cancer or some other life threatening disease.

Schulz says their process utilize approved scientific therapies and treatments which will shorten the time from concept to delivery of immune cell treatment, “For the first time in cancer research, they're finding a way that they can really go after the cancer. So, it's not just something that kind of kills it. It's actually something that eradicates it from your system and takes your own t-cells, so t-cells are a part of your immune system and they're an active cell that basically identifies any foreign object in your body.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Conversations That Matter - Ep 85 - Craig Ryan - B Corp

Episode 85

Craig Ryan - B Corp

Conversations That Matter features Craig Ryan on the B Corp movement. What is a B Corp you ask, according to Ryan, a B Corp is to corporations what LEED is to building design. It’s about ethics, sustainability and “And if your company is a certified B Corp that tells people your company has a purpose that is social and environmental as well as financial and that your company is more transparent, has stricter governance rules and is more accountable than the average company.”

Ryan points out the next generation of shoppers, workers and investors are saying they put purpose ahead of profits, “Millennials are a great example. Polls consistently show that a huge majority of them are looking for something in their job that is more meaningful than money to pay the rent. If you ask millennials what the role of business in society is, they'll answer, to create good for society.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv