When you think of diamonds, you might think: romance, marriage proposals and maybe even Marylyn Monroe’s 1953 rendition of, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” It’s no accident we think this way, a century of marketing has convinced us that diamonds symbolize love.

Since the first diamond mine opened here in 1998, Canada has become the third-largest diamond producer in the world. Glossy magazine ads celebrate the “purity” of northern Canadian diamonds as an ethical alternative to conflict diamonds.

But according to our two guests on today’s episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, Rebecca Hall from Queen’s University and Della Green, former Victim Services Coordinator, at The Native Women’s Association of the Northwest Territories, this marketing strategy hides enormous social problems. Including some of Canada’s highest rates of violence against women.

The story our guests tell is not one of numbers. Instead, they’re sharing narratives gathered and collected through interviews and sharing circles about how lives have changed after the mines opened.

Also today:

• Depp v. Heard: Verdict promising for male victims of abuse and not detrimental to #MeToo or women who experience abuse
• Other frontlines: Third-country nationals fleeing the war in Ukraine are not welcome in EU
• Challenging the whiteness of queer organizations
• Small green spaces can help keep cities cool during heat waves
• The treatment of Haitian migrants shows the ties between racism and refugee policy

All the best.