Black bears are common throughout much of Canada and, despite their gentleness and general lack of interest in people, end up the accused source of conflict with people regularly. Unfortunately, that also means that law enforcement agencies are the ones responding to, and frequently killing bears. These agencies can lack training, funding and/or third-party oversight of officer discretion in the field.

Bears pay for the mistakes made by people. And that’s why organizations like The Fur-Bearers and North Shore Black Bear Society work so hard to educate residents on how we can prevent conflict.

At North Shore Black Bear Society, education coordinator Luci Cadman speaks regularly about residential and commercial attractants, advocates for the bears who are victims of human behaviour, and, in a recent online presentation, how to be safe while recreating in BC’s bear country.

Luci joined the Defender Radio podcast in the first week of June for this interview.

North Shore Black Bear Society: www.NorthShoreBears.com

Defender Radio Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DefenderRadio

Defender Radio Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DefenderRadio

Defender Radio Instagram: www.Instagram.com/HowieMichael

Defender Radio Patreon: www.Patreon.com/DefenderRadio

Email updates: https://thefurbearers.com/sign-save-animals

Stash Your Trash Music Video: https://youtu.be/rsD982wJ7_0

I have no words this week.

There is nothing I can say that will soften the hurt facing people in North America, and particularly Indigenous peoples and people of colour. This is not the time for my voice.

Now is the time for the voice of those who must be heard. This week, instead of Defender Radio, which will return next week with two new interviews, I hope you will join me in listening to podcasts created by Indigenous peoples and people of colour. A few that I’ve enjoyed include:

MediaIndigena, an Indigenous hosted podcast about Indigenous current affairs

Yo, Is This Racist, a Q&A show, hosted by Andrew Ti and Tawny Newsome

and

Code Switch by NPR, featuring journalists of colour Demby and co-host Shereen Marisol Meraji

This is by no means a complete list, or even the ones you should listen to. By searching “podcasts by people of colour” or “podcasts by indigenous people” you’ll start seeing lists pop up. In this week’s show notes I’m also including a list of POC-created audio fiction podcasts.

Defender Radio will return. For now please stay safe.

MediaIndigena: https://mediaindigena.com/

Short, curated list of POC-created podcasts by Christian Burro, arts reporter for WBUR in Boston: https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/06/05/podcasts-to-listen-to-about-race-america

List of fiction podcasts (audio fiction): https://www.podchaser.com/lists/fiction-podcasts-created-by-poc-107a4WZHfN