Note: Transcripts may contain errors. If you wish to re-use all, or part of, a transcript, please contact CBC for permission. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. Copyright © CBC 2019

The AIH Transcript for January 4, 2019

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

Prologue

HELEN MANN: Hello I'm Helen Mann.

JEFF DOUGLAS: Good evening. I'm Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight...

HM: Public disservice. A huge hack puts the personal information of hundreds of German politicians online including our guest who details the details that were revealed.

JD: Boarding pass. Ottawa is putting pressure on Beijing to release two detained Canadians -- but a senator says that won't stop his parliamentary group from getting on a plane to China.

HM: Game theory. Russia charges a Canadian national and former U.S. Marine with espionage, but a former CIA station chief in Moscow says that's more a strategic move than a security measure.

JD: Stories in a minor key. The night is young or at least the part of the night where we air stories from our archives about kids who are smart and surprisingly tough despite their tender years.

HM: A match made in heaven. 18-year-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu went into a New Zealand tennis tournament ranked 150 second in the world -- and today she beat the great Venus Williams.

JD: And usually a hidden gem is a good thing. But in this case it's a nightmare because it was 50,000 bucks worth of gems hidden in a bag of clothes that their owner unwittingly donated to charity. As It Happens. The Friday Edition. Radio that thinks that sounds like a bad asset trip.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Massive German data hack 'a scary moment for our democracy,' says affected MP

Germany hack

Guest: Franziska Brantner

JD: It is dawning on hundreds of German politicians today that details of their private lives are now up for public consumption. In a massive hack a Twitter account has published personal information, documents, and private chats, from lawmakers including some letters to and from Chancellor Angela Merkel. The leak also targeted some journalists and celebrities. The only party that wasn't hacked was the far-right Alternative for Germany. Franziska Brantner is a German Green Party MP. We reached her in Heidelberg.

HM: Ms. Brantner have you found out if these hackers managed to get any of your personal information?

FRANZISKA BRANTNER: Yes the hackers they got my personal mobile phone number, my home address, and another landline number so yes. I was one of those hacked too. But you know compared to what others got stolen in terms of data I'm on the lucky side.

HM: How did it feel for you when he looked online and realized that this information had been released to the public and anyone could see it?

FB: It's very scary and it's really frightening in terms of knowing that somebody or you know it must be several people are out there getting all of this information from so many of my colleagues. And it's scary because you wonder what else do they know and what do they want to know with the data? Who are they going to blackmail? What are they going to do with it? It's a scary moment for our democracy.

HM: Do you have any children?

FB: Yes I have one daughter.

HM: Right. So does this create concern for you about your family at all?

FB: Yeah I find it worrying that people now know my private home address and can find not just me but also my daughter. And yeah that's my private life you know it should be protected. It is scary because we have a lot of haters and people writing us and contacting us and hating us for defending an open society and you never know what they will do next.

HM: Now compared to some of your colleagues it sounds as if you got off fairly easily so far. Can you give us an idea of the kinds of information that has been released from some of the other German politicians?

FB: Yes. Those who have been worst hit they had their IDs -- their entire IDs online. They have their entire bank records for the last two years online. Their Visa card -- last year of what they bought online. They have communication via Twitter and Facebook online. So they have so much more online -- that's really really scary.

HM: Yeah one reporter said that some of the documents have things that are personal especially painful personal chats related to family life is the quote. So what could it mean to some of the people who have had these you know very personal messages put in the public domain?

FB: You know we're all human beings as politicians and we of course are public figures but we still have a private life -- and if that idea that you can't even you know talk about difficulties in your family or somebody who died and you talk about it and then that will be online and everybody's able to read it, it's just you know -- it's just terrifying. It's just horrible. And I don't know how anybody can do that. You know it's so painful those moments when you live them through it's painful but then you have what you have thought and felt in these moments to be put online to everybody that you know it's just horrible.

HM: What do you know about how the hackers actually got the information? Is it known how they broke in?

FB: They broke in through very different accounts either personal emails, credit cards, Twitter, Facebook -- so they've used very different methods and must have done this apparently over the years like they have been connecting that information for a very long time.

HM: So the information has been coming out gradually over the course of the last month or so on a Twitter account. Why didn't somebody notice it because it took some weeks before that happened and it's just now been stopped?

FB: These are questions we're raising to our security services. We were made aware of it by members of our party who came across a Twitter account and contacted us and said look that's weird what they are writing about you -- that doesn't look legal. And then we contacted the security services but that shouldn't be the way around -- it should be that security services are you know seeing it and then warning us.

HM: The hack seems to have affected people across party lines and in fact the only party not affected is the Alternative for Germany party which is the far-right party in your country. Does that give you some clue as to the political leanings of who's behind this?

FB: You know the first thought of course everybody's like oh okay then it comes from their side but on the other side it's so obvious and almost you can't believe it that anybody would be so silly to do it and to make it that obvious. So we are not yet drawing any conclusion on where it comes from -- from the fact that the AfD, the right-wing nationalist populist party was you know sort of has been excluded. But yeah it is one of the questions we also have, why is nobody of their politicians under attack?

HM: It's pretty hard when you see a situation like this not to have the US presidential election of 2016 come to mind with the Russian hacking. Do you think it's possible Russia could be behind this?

FB: You know there are many possibilities and of course that's one that comes to mind also, but we have been really determined not to yet label anybody as the responsible one but to really make a thorough assessment to make clear where it comes from and then be really harsh. But yes of course you know those kind of things what comes out of personal communication I'm like -- and my party leader has been hit very hard and we have been very strong in polls recently we've been really successful -- he himself personally too. So of course you wonder why there is now so much horrible personally for me like it's so horrible what they put on personal information about him. Of course you have those thought -- now he is successful they put it out -- they just don't want us to win the European elections. Yeah but you know we are not going to make any error in labeling anybody the responsible one and then we will have to back down. So we ask for our security services intelligence services to make the utmost to find those who are responsible for that.

HM: Ms. Brantner thank you for taking time to talk with us.

FB: It's my pleasure. Thank you.

HM: Bye bye.

JD: Franziska Brantner is a German Green Party MP. We reached her in Heidelberg. You can find more on this story on our website cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Paul Whelan charged

Guest: John Sipher

JD: Today the U.K.'s Foreign Secretary warned Russia that people should not be used as pawns in what he called "diplomatic chess games." The Foreign Secretary was responding to questions about Paul Whelan -- the British, Canadian, and American national whom Moscow has detained for espionage. Mr. Whelan's family insists he was just in Moscow for a wedding. And now a former CIA Moscow station chief is raising questions about the real motives for the former U.S. marine's detention. We reached John Sipher outside Washington D.C.

HM: Mr. Sipher is Paul Whelan the kind of guy that you would have put to work in Moscow as a spy?

JOHN SIPHER: No he's not for a number of reasons. I mean just based on his background someone who was court martialed from the Marines without a university background as far as I can tell is not the kind of people that are hired to work for the intelligence community in the United States. But more importantly having worked in Moscow and overseen our operations in Moscow to us that's one of the hardest most hostile environments for us and so therefore we treat it very very seriously. We only handle the most critical and important sources. We handle them with great care. We're very careful not to make sure that we put someone in harm's way -- maybe somebody without diplomatic immunity they could be arrested, thrown in jail, and then be used for some sort of spy swap for something like this. And so when we do our business there it's very meticulous very careful. You know the Russians are following us all the time, they have bugs in our houses, they're videoing our houses, they question everybody we meet. So something like this where a guy is just sort of openly going around you know asking for information, maybe accepting things that people are handing to him, it's just not how we do business.

HM: Right. Well these conversations he's having with Russians don't appear to be new -- he's maintained relationships for some time including on Russian social media we're told, some of those contacts seemed to have defense industry or defense think tank connections that sort of thing. What makes you so certain that he wasn't doing a little undercover work on the side?

JS: If he was doing undercover work it wasn't on behalf of the U.S. or western intelligence. It could be for his own purposes or he wanted to get something that he thought could make him attractive to come to western intelligence services and maybe take him seriously. But these things play into the Russian hands -- they can set somebody up like this, and they might choose somebody like this because they looked to be the kind of person that people on the outside and journalists might say well this looks like spying to us -- but to professional spies that's not the way it's done.

HM: Would any professional spy admitted if he was a spy?

JS: I was a professional spy and I admit it.

HM: If we are talking about a swap it would look like Maria Butina maybe the Russian objective here -- she has recently pled guilty to working as an unregistered Russian agent trying to manipulate U.S. politics. Tell us what that timing of all this -- the kind of questions that might raise for you?

JS: Yeah I think it's too early to talk about a spy swap for one reason because I don't think Mr. Whelan's a spy. But if this is a setup like I believe it is, some of the questions are why him and why now. And one of the reasons 'why now' might be you know to put pressure on the Trump administration to maybe engage in negotiations or get Ms. Butina out of jail. And to me that suggests that maybe Ms. Butina is more important than a lot of us believes that she was. Maybe the Russians are more scared that she has information that she might pass on and therefore want to pressure the administration to try to get her out.

HM: Let's just be clear here if there was to be a swap it wouldn't necessarily have to be spy for spy, right? Just citizen for citizen?

JS: Yeah I think it's too early to do that. I think it would be unwise because essentially in this case you can be giving a gift to the Russians for just setting somebody up and arresting someone. And they can do that any time they want. I think they need to treat this as an illegitimate arrest -- that's what it is, and put pressure on the Russians to let him out. But the thing to look at here is President Trump, he is the wildcard, in any normal sort of administration we would see this for what it is and understand how the Russians play these spy games they have been doing it for decades and decades but with President Trump you just don't know he sees himself as a negotiator, he doesn't understand the sort of history of these kinds of things, he sometimes doesn't distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys -- he thinks we do as much bad stuff as they do which is not true. So therefore this could be a play by Putin to try to get reengage with President Trump to his benefit.

HM: Jeremy Hunt the British Foreign Secretary is saying that he is worried about Paul Whelan. So what's he worrying about? Where does all of this leave Mr. Whelan?

JS: I don't know. I don't think we have enough information to understand why the Russians did this or why he got himself caught up in this. But you know I worry about him because the Russian espionage law is incredibly vague and incredibly lax. In 2012 they changed their law to essentially allow them to arrest anybody who they say is interfering in Russian society or politics. And so I think if he is worried it is because essentially they can jail anybody with a 20 year sentence and then put pressure on the rest of us to try to deal with it.

HM: Mr. Whelan has a Russian lawyer. Does he have reason to be confident that he'll be getting good representation?

JS: You know 99.9 percent of Russians who are arrested and go to trial are found guilty. Any Russian lawyer especially for a foreigner would be vetted and provided by the Russian internal service -- the FSB, the successor to the KGB. So anything that you're getting through the Russian lawyer is essentially through the Russian state.

HM: So if Mr. Whelan does turn out to be being held as some sort of pawn what should his family and friends expect?

JS: Well I mean I think they should work with the U.S. government -- and I take it that he also might be a British and Canadian citizen or maybe even [inaudible] which is I don't understand -- maybe that's one of the reasons why the Russians chose him. They should treat this like almost like a hostage situation -- they should work with the various governments to put pressure on the Russians. And so I think that's the way it'll go. Again like I said the wildcard is President Trump who has a different view of the world and may you know cut through some of this and do it in a different way.

HM: Does that concern you more?

JS: Absolutely. I mean I think President Putin you know he grew up through the Cold War KGB -- he was the head of the Russian internal service, he knows very well that this is not how we do business because he has seen it from the inside. So he's very good and very cagey at these kind of games. President Trump is less so -- and so if President Trump thinks that his negotiating skills are such that he can do some kind of swap here and therefore reengage with the Russians which is something he seems to want to do, I think that's a real loss for us.

HM: Mr. Sipher thank you for sharing your thoughts on all of this with us. We appreciate your expertise.

JS: Appreciate it. Thank you.

HM: Bye bye.

JD: John Sipher is a former CIA Moscow station chief. We reached him outside Washington D.C. And we have posted more on the Paul Whelan story on our website cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Andreescu win

Guest: Nicu Andreescu

SOUNDCLIP

[Tennis match sounds]

COMMENTATOR: Another magical for Bianca Andreescu!

JD: That is the sound of Canada's Bianca Andreescu beating American tennis star Venus Williams this morning in New Zealand. Ms. Andreescu, from Mississauga, Ontario, went into the ASB Classic in Auckland ranked 152nd in the world and she has been bucking the odds ever since she got there.

SOUNDCLIP

[Applause]

INTERVIEWER: Bianca you obviously didn't read the script. You're a qualifier. You were not meant to last this long. You played the world number three. You were not meant to beat her. You've just played an all-time legend of the sport. You were not meant to do this. You have. How do you feel?

BIANCA ANDREESCU: Thank you. Well I believe that anything is possible and tonight I think I did the impossible. So I don't even know what to say. It's just such an amazing feeling. [Applause]

JD: 18-year-old Bianca Andreescu speaking right after her match against Venus Williams very early this morning. Bianca's father, Nicu, watched that match live -- which was in the middle of the night in Ontario. We reached Nicu Andreescu in Vaughan.

HM: Mr. Andreescu what kind of day are you having?

NICU ANDREESCU: [Chuckles] You know overwhelmed -- the last few days have been unbelievable.

HM: Are you still processing what you watched early this morning with your daughter beating Venus Williams?

NA: For sure. For sure. I'm still digesting that [chuckles]. It was unbelievable -- she went on that court, fight to win the match, and she pulled it off. She made it.

JD: What was going through your head as you watched that game?

NA: Oh lots of things, can she make it? Like you watch every shot she does -- but it was a difficult match and she lost the first set in the tiebreaker. And to be honest I didn't think after the first set that she will have the power to pull it off.

HM: So the fact she turned it around even came as a surprise to you?

NA: Yes. Yes. She's good at that but playing Venus to be honest I didn't believe that she will.

HM: Were you able to sit still watching your TV or do you run around and yell at the set?

NA: Well you know how tennis is you have good moments for 10-15 minutes so when she had good moments I was able to relax but when she starting to make mistakes and Venus came back 5-3 and those are the moments that you think, can she make it? Can she make one more game?

HM: I understand your wife Maria couldn't even bear to watch.

NA: [Chuckles] She usually doesn't watch her matches live but after that she does watch them.

HM: Wow. Now Bianca is only 18 years old. She's ranked 152nd in the world. And this has been really the best week of her life professionally anyway. When she went into this tournament how did you all think that she would do?

NA: We didn't think she'll make it this far. She had to play three matches of qualifier to go in the main draw right. So she did that very well. But knowing playing Caroline Wozniacki the next day was unbelievable.

HM: She's the number three seed right in the world?

NA: Yeah number three in the world.

HM: How is it do you think that she managed to beat Caroline Wozniacki? I mean what was it about the way she played that was so strong?

NA: Well she plays an aggressive game, right -- all over the court, she more her left to right, and coming to the net, and volleys, and few drop shots in the critical moment, staying confident, and in the present.

HM: Who was it who first encouraged Bianca to play tennis?

NA: I did. I did. She was 6 years old -- she was an active kid -- running around and all of that. And we took her different sports -- gymnastics, skating, and tennis was one of them but you know at 6 year old having fun on the court you don't know what's going to happen later on, right. She had the skills -- she you know the eye hand coordination that is innate for tennis.

HM: Does it feel sometimes like you're there on the court with her when she's playing?

NA: [Chuckles] Yeah yeah yeah. For sure. For sure.

HM: So going forward, I mean you know her very well, what advice would you like to give her?

NA: To be humble. I know she's a dedicated person. This is what she wants to do. Tennis is her life. She breathes tennis. Do whatever you did so far because you are doing very well. And...keep going. Keep the momentum.

HM: Did you speak to her before the Venus Williams match?

NA: Usually we don't speak before, only after [chuckles].

HM: So you have spoken with her since?

NA: Yeah. We spoke just after the match -- after she finished the match. Yes we Facetime her. She was in the, how you say it, 9 heaven? I don't know how you say it.

HM: Seventh heaven -- I think sometimes.

NA: Yeah. So happy. So excited. She couldn't believe what she just did. And I told her, listen this is not a dream -- this is reality.

HM: You must be so proud. That must mean so much to her to hear you speak to her at that moment.

NA: Oh yeah. Oh yeah for sure. We are a big supporter of her and she knows that.

HM: So what's next for her? What's the next step?

NA: She has to finish this tournament hopefully she can go all the way and then it is Australian Open.

HM: Australian Open. That's a big deal.

NA: Yeah, that's a big deal.

HM: What are you hearing from other people right now -- I mean you must be hearing from a lot of Canadian tennis lovers?

NA: Lots of messages, so happy for Bianca. And Bianca overwhelmed with social media too. And at one point she said, I don't know what to do -- I don't know what to do there are so many people, how can I thank everyone? It's tough.

HM: I guess she must know that Canadians are with her right now as she's doing this.

NA: Yeah. But I know she's well-grounded -- is that the correct way to say it? .

HM: [Agrees]

NA: I know it is in her head but she doesn't make a big deal of this.

HM: So how are you going to celebrate when she gets home?

NA: [Chuckles] I didn't think about that yet.

HM: I hear she has a favourite dish that you make.

NA: There's some Romanian dishes -- Romaine cabbage -- cabbage rolls.

HM: Cabbage rolls. I love cabbage rolls.

NA: Yeah.

HM: So you are going to make her that?

NA: [Chuckles] For sure. For sure.

HM: I'm so proud for you and as a Canadian I think we're all just pulling for her all the way. Thank you for talking with us.

NA: Thank you. Thank you.

HM: Bye bye.

NA: Bye.

JD: Nicu Andreescu is the father of Bianca Andreescu -- the 18-year-old Canadian tennis player who beat Venus Williams this morning in New Zealand. We reached Mr. Andreescu in Vaughan, Ontario. Now for more on this story go to our website.

[Music]

Angry Bob

JD: "I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling." The last line of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale: the joyous words of a bird realizing that he's not a grotesque baby duck at all, but a gorgeous young swan. And he lived happily ever after. Alas there is an alternative ending to that story. An ending in which that young swan looks back at the cruelty he suffered and swears revenge on everyone who wronged him. And everyone else. That is the possible origin story of the beautiful terrible swan known as "Angry Bob." Yesterday at the historic Hestercombe House in Somerset, England, people gathered to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Angry Bob. The 20-something recently died as he did not live: peacefully. Fans bowed their heads and remembered a bird who made headlines in Britain in 2010 after he apparently killed his first mate. After which he violently drove away two others. He would never have another mate -- choosing instead to paddle around amongst the ducks, furious and alone. Also he attacked people. As one frequent visitor wrote on Hestercombe House's Facebook page quote "Fond(ish) memories of him pecking our toes on warm summer afternoons. You couldn't stand still for long! He'll be missed." Apparently staff at Hestercombe were little surprised by their response to Angry Bob's death. "We just imagined visitors avoided him," one volunteer told the BBC. So in Angry Bob's case the ugly duckling grew up to become a fairly hideous swan, but maybe his temper made him more interesting. Maybe even more beautiful and that is the ugly truth.

[Music]

Part 2: Researcher plans to shed new light on women writers overlooked for centuries

China delegation

Guest: Joseph Day

JD: Michael Kovrig and to Michael Spavor are still locked up in China. The Trudeau government has demanded their immediate release. Beijing has been accused of using the Canadians as leverage as it seeks the release of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou -- who was arrested in Canada at the request of the United States. Among other things it is a major diplomatic headache, but it's not stopping a group of Senators and MPs from heading off for a trade trip to China. The Liberal-appointed Senator Joseph Day is leading the two party parliamentary delegation. We reached Senator Day at the Montreal airport as his flight was preparing to board -- so you may hear some background noise.

HM: Senator Day what kind of signal are you sending to China by going ahead with this trip?

JOSEPH DAY: A positive signal I hope. We first of all looked at this trip from the point of view of security of my delegation and there is no concerns expressed from that point of view -- so then we look at it, do we want to make a political statement one way or the other? And I think the best statement is the one that we're carrying on with the meeting that we had planned for some considerable period of time.

HM: But with Canada demanding the release of these two Canadians isn't it potential here that President Xi and the Chinese government will see Canada as willing to let these people be treated as political pawns?

JOSEPH DAY: I don't get that impression at all. I think quite the contrary -- we're carrying on with the law making level of contact that I think is an important part of our relationship with the Chinese.

HM: Yesterday the Conservative MP Michael Cooper who's part of your delegation said that global affairs was advising you all that it might be worse not to go -- at the same time Chrystia Freeland is apparently saying it was up to the delegation to make the decision, so what kind of advice were you getting from Global Affairs?

JOSEPH DAY: Well it is the parliamentarians group decision but I did ask for Global Affairs to provide us with a briefing so we could make an informed decision as to whether we should go or not and as a result of that extensive discussion yesterday with Global Affairs, we didn't change our mind that we think that the advantages of proceeding with this meeting outweigh the disadvantages that might occur if we cancel the meeting.

HM: Do you intend to raise the issue of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor's detention with the Chinese?

JOSEPH DAY: We won't avoid it. It's not on our list of items to talk about -- we are talking about trade, education, visas, that type of thing we'll be talking about -- but if we get involved, if it comes up from our discussions, we'll discuss it and explain the Canadian position as best we know it.

HM: Given how tense this situation is and how seriously it would appear the government is taking it, why would you not be raising the issue?

JOSEPH DAY: Well we don't want to do anything that would jeopardise the work of Ambassador McCallum who is in Beijing. This is primarily a diplomatic and executive level discussion. And we're a parliamentarian group -- we will discuss the rule of law issues and the extradition treaty issues -- we can talk about that, but the other finer points with respect to incarceration and the type of attention that they're entitled to, will be up to the executive branch and foreign affairs.

HM: Have you been warned that you might somehow put these two Canadians in any greater danger?

JOSEPH DAY: If we had received any indication in that regard we wouldn't be going. I'm hoping the contrary will be the situation that we've indirectly may help with the work of Global Affairs and the diplomatic negotiations that are going on.

HM: Has your agenda, have your objective been altered in any way by these tensions?

JOSEPH DAY: No they have not. The objective remains the same. This is a pre-meeting with our Chinese counterparts before we go to the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum in Cambodia -- and there will be a full Chinese delegation there with whom we will meet and cooperate on a number of different issues.

HM: How will you assess whether this has been a successful trip?

JOSEPH DAY: That's always difficult in these types of meetings, but the fact that we continue to build a good relationship with the National People's Congress, that's the equivalent of our parliament, and the various committees of the National People's Congress is an indication that we're doing the right thing by meeting with them, exchanging views -- not always views that we share with one another, we share the views but it may not be the same. All of that is important for the fundamental relationship between Canada and China -- and if we can contribute to that then that's a success.

HM: Finally, weighing whether to go on this trip, did you consult with representatives or the families of Michael Kovrig or Michael Spavor?

JOSEPH DAY: No we didn't. No we didn't. We didn't think that would be appropriate for us. Again, we don't want to do anything that might jeopardize the work that's being done by cabinet ministers, executive branch, and foreign affairs.

HM: All right Senator Day I really appreciate you taking the time as you're heading off. Thanks so much.

JOSEPH DAY: Okay. Thank you.

HM: Bye bye.

JD: Joseph Day is the Liberal-appointed Senator who is leading a parliamentary trade delegation to China. We reached the senator as his flight to China was boarding at the Montreal airport.

[Music]

Early women's writing

Guest: Carme Font

JD: They wrote about philosophy. They wrote about religion and politics. And about their own lives. But they were women -- and so hundreds of years ago, their work was dismissed. Now, thanks to a 2-million-dollar grant from the European Research Council, a team of researchers will be scouring libraries and archives across Europe -- looking for the letters, poems, and other texts, written by women of centuries past. Carme Font is the lead investigator on this project, and a lecturer in English literature at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. We reached her in Barcelona.

HM: Ms. Font, what does it mean to you to have this funding that will allow you to search for this forgotten writing by women?

CARME FONT: Well it's like a dream come true really because I have been researching on this texts for a number of years with colleagues around several countries -- and I have always felt it was the right time to put together as many tests as possible and study them collectively and see what they tell us as a group.

HM: How much do you know about the women who were doing this writing?

CF: We know a bit of them on some of them, but we know very little about most of these women. Most of these women we only know their name. We might know their religious affiliation or maybe some particular episode in their lives or who they were married to.

HM: So then what do you glean from the writing in terms of their thoughts, their lifestyles, and who they might have been?

CF: Well we know that a section of the women that we are studying belong to what we can name, popular class, or middle, lower class. These women were not enjoying a full education -- they had a very basic education, and so they were concerned about issues such as death, love, for example -- caring for the soul. But also they were able to ask bigger questions about the meaning of life for example.

HM: What compelled you to begin this work? What is it that you were looking for?

CF: I was concerned with the idea that women's writing had always been put in a box so to speak -- in a box that I call "Early Modern Women's Writing" and we have looked at this text very generally but not really in depth and so I was concerned and I was interested in reading those texts individually -- paying attention to the style they were written in, and being able to extract from them what I call intellectual value because most of these texts contribute ideas which have original and warrant some examination. Some of them have to be included in our own history of ideas. So instead of having a separate canon, a separate box for women's writing, we should be able to retrieve some of these writings by women and insert them into the general canon written both by men and women.

HM: We understand historically that women's writings and women's thoughts I guess would have been considered subordinate, but more recently why has this writing been overlooked? I would think other historians, other people, interested in literature even would be pursuing the kind of work you're doing and yet you're I guess the first person to be really looking at some of this material.

CF: Well I'm actually not the first person to look into this material. In the last 20 years there has been an interest in retrieving early modern women's writing. But the originality of this project lays not so much in the fact of retrieving lost materials but in reading them in a new light -- that's the original part of this project. Of course in our own reading of these texts we will be retrieving new ones, but so far there hasn't been a full examination of these text in a way which is consistent and in a way which takes into account the intellectual contributions of these women because most of these intellectual contributions have been neglected.

HM: Of the writings that you have examined so far, is there one, possibly two, things that have stood out for you? Things that are particularly memorable or surprising in some of the writing.

CF: Well some of these writings are keen on talking about the abuse for example -- martial abuse. So others demonstrate a very keen understanding and search for spiritual meaning in life such as you know, why we are here? And what is our relationship with divinity? And so what struck me as original is that many of these women were convinced that the connection between their lives and a spiritual of life was very much life for them. And so they had an understanding of spirituality which is very intimate.

HM: Do you have a dream find?

CF: Well I have been following this several leads from what I call collaborators that means women who were collaborating with household male figures and I think that's something that will lead us to some surprise findings because many women were helping famous male figures in their own research even in their own writing.

HM: Well Ms. Font I wish you the best of luck with this work. It sounds like you've got a lot to do in the coming year with this grant money and we'll be interested in seeing what you uncover.

CF: Thank you. Thank you so much Helen.

HM: Bye bye.

CF: Bye bye.

JD: Carme Font is a lecturer in English literature at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. We reached her in Barcelona. And you can find more on this story, and on the project, by visiting the As It Happens website cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Jewellery mix-up

Guest: Jane Lowe

JD: Jane Lowe has lots of jewelry, accumulated over the years. Fifty thousand dollars’ worth. Or rather Jane Lowe had lots of jewelry until she accidentally gave it all away. Now Ms. Lowe is trying to recover the valuables she put out at the curb -- not realizing they were all tucked into an old bag of clothes. We reached Jane Lowe in Halifax.

HM: Jane first of all I'm so sorry for what happened.

JANE LOWE: Oh thank you. [Chuckles]

HM: Let's start at the beginning of all of this. Explain how it is that your jewelry wound up in a bag of old clothing that you were donating.

JL: Now my husband and I were traveling and we originally did have a safety deposit box but our bank branch closed down and they got rid of the safety deposit boxes so we had everything at home. So we thought we'd better hide it. I gave my jewellery to my husband and I said can you hide this for me? Unbeknownst to me he took it up to our attic and I forded clothes to go for donation and he put it in one of those bags and it was like a Ziploc -- a large freezer bag full of all of my jewelry.

HM: What kind of jewelry are we talking about?

JL: All of my jewelry that I've collected pretty much all of my life. So it has substantial value I mean it's -- the appraised value is probably around 50,000 dollars. But if someone were to go and sell it you know they get only a fraction of that. Yeah there was an emerald and diamond pendant. There was pearls that my father gave to me when I was 13. One of the pieces that is of really virtually the least amount of value but probably most important to me is a bracelet of my grandmother's -- so I wore that bracelet on my wedding day, and my daughter wore it on her wedding day.

HM: So your husband wrapped up the jewelry, stuck it in a bag, what did you do with the bag?

JL: It probably stayed in the attic for probably I would say about a month and then I got all the bags organized on December 1st for the diabetes association to pick them up on our front door.

HM: And when did you realize that the jewelry was missing?

JL: We are getting ready to go to a Christmas party. And I went to where you know -- I went to look for my jewelry and then said where is it? And my husband went up to the attic and said, where are the bags? And I said, well they've all gone -- all six of them. And he knew you know there was no mistaking the fact that he had put them in one of the bags.

HM: What happened in that moment? What was that feeling like?

JL: It was awful -- it really was. Disbelief I think largely. You know I just thought, no -- it's got to be there -- we couldn't possibly have done that. So then you know we went back up to the attic thinking, okay maybe we didn't get all the bags so maybe it was a different bag that he put it in. But there were no other green bags, you know garbage bags in the attic.

HM: So when reality set in how did your husband take it?

JL: He has had a hard time with this. I don't believe it's his fault because I didn't ask him about where the jewelry was and -- it was just you know we just got too busy and didn't think of it. But he certainly has blamed himself and has been upset about it. And I think to be truthful it's tough on him with me doing these interviews because I think he feels really badly about it. But one of the things that when I filed the police report the sergeant said to me you know if you get it out on the media you have a much better chance of trying to get the jewelry back.

HM: Right. Now when you reached out to Diabetes Canada, what did they tell you where the bags went?

JL: They told me they believe they went to P.E.I -- to the Charlottetown Value Village. And my sister actually has been calling as well and learned that when you know jewelry like that is found you know in a donation bag it's brought to the attention of the manager of Value Village and that it has to be appraised and usually put under lock and key and recorded. And so the manager in Charlottetown hasn't seen anything like that. And one of the things that he told me is that if the item was with summer clothing they have a section for summer clothing that they just [inaudible] up and they send them to Africa.

HM: So do you think it's possible your jewelry is either on its way or has arrived somewhere in Africa?

JL: You know I find it hard to believe because it was, you know as I mentioned, a large freezer Ziploc bag and it had some weight to it -- you know it had a heavy gold necklace. The gold bracelets would have had weight to them, you know? It would have made some noise I would think at least...

HM: I guess you don't know how much attention the people were paying though do you?

JL: No you don't so it's hard to fathom.

HM: As you have these conversations with you know people like me about what you lost and you're naming these items, what goes through you?

JL: Well more that I can't repurchase these -- you know that there are things that I'll never be able to buy back for example like you know the pearls my father gave to me you know they have [inaudible] significant personal value. So even if I were get a new strand of pearls, which I don't intend on doing, but it just wouldn't be the same thing. When we had to go to the dinner the night that we discovered the jewelry was missing, I had a hard time keeping conversation up with people because I just in the back of my mind I was consumed, how on earth could we have done this?

HM: What has your insurance company told you?

JL: We've talked to her insurance company -- you know I guess we probably could make a claim. I don't know how much good it'll do to be honest with you -- it's not going to bring back the items and I don't know how much satisfaction I would have in just trying to go out and buy new things. You know it kind of misses the point if you know what I mean.

HM: Do you still hold out hope that you will see these items again sometime?

JL: I do. I do. I'm fortunate to have a lot of people looking for me. So I'm hoping that you know with people having an eye to this that even some of it could be returned.

HM: Well look I wish you the very best of luck and hope you do get it back and let us know if you do.

JL: Thank you very much. I will definitely -- I'll sing from the tree tops.

HM: Your dog is already singing the tree tops. [Laughter]

JL: They are. They're noisy.

HM: It's okay. All right.

JL: Thank you Helen so much.

HM: Nice to talk to you.

JL: You too.

HM: Bye Bye.

JL: Bye bye.

JD: We reached Jane Lowe in Halifax.

[Music]

Part 3: Encore: The As it Happened Archives - The Next Generation Edition

JD: The following is an encore presentation of our summer series featuring highlights from 50 years of As It Happens archives. This is As It Happened. The Archive Edition.

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight's theme: As It Happens: The Next Generation -- stories of newsmakers ahead of their prime, making news before their time. On the offbeat budding journalist-slash-dancer-slash-teacher-slash-astronaut-slash-scuba diver, Ivy Brooks, aged nine gets the scoop on reporting from an industry vet -- our own Carol Off.

SOUNDCLIP

Do you mind telling me how did you start your career?

JD: 'Heifer,' belies the kid who wears the crown. At just eight years old Philip Prantle won the mooing contest at the Wisconsin State Fair and just hearing him might have you believing in bovine providence.

SOUNDCLIP

It was fun when I did my moo.

JD: And death and taxidermy. Two certainties in the life of 12-year-old Mackenzie McCarty who determined to make a career of her passion for embalming stuffing and arranging dead rodents in thematic diorama.

SOUNDCLIP

They are kind of like pets, but they are dead.

JD: As It Happened. The Archive Edition. Radio that assumes she oft amends her best plans for laid out mice.

[Music: Theme]

Chapter 1: On the Off beat

JD: Adventurers. Philosophers. Scientists. Game changers. Social activists. Entrepreneurs. Over its 50 year run, As It Happens has had the pleasure to interview a number of young trailblazers and trendsetters -- all whip smart and wise beyond their years. Some from whom you are about to hear. Starting with Ivy Brooks who was just 9-years-old when she wrote to us in 2017. And Ivy stands out in our collective AIH memory not just because she was a recent guest but because she turned the tables on us, and more precisely Carol. It marked a first for Carol -- if not for As It Happens, because Ivy is an aspiring journalist and she decided to shoot high for her first assignment. So she wrote us a letter and followed up shortly after with a voicemail to talkback.

SOUNDCLIP

Hello my name is Ivy. I'm from Toronto. And this is a message for Carol Off. So you know my name already [chuckles]. I go to the Linden School and I have to do an interview. And I think it would be cool if I could do a interview. And my due date is November, 24th. So please let me know. I hope you got my letter. And thank you.

[Music]

JD: As Carol tweeted after being in the hot seat, "Ivy wouldn't take no for an answer. And she says she would have just kept calling until I said yes. Intrepid girl reporter after my own heart." And like Carol, Ivy was not afraid to be blunt -- revealing that Carol was in fact her second choice as interview subject. Here is some of their conversation.

SOUNDCLIP

IVY BROOKS: Do you mind telling me how did you start your career?

CAROL OFF: How did I start my career in journalism?

IB: Yeah.

CO: All right. Well, I started when I was in university, and I had no plans to be a journalist. It was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to be a famous novelist, or a poet, or something. And there's a newspaper at my university, this was at university of Western Ontario in London. And the newspaper was called The Gazette. And it was awful. It was just so bad. And I would say this isn't even worth picking up. It was free, and I didn't even want to take it — it was so bad. And so my friend said to me well, if you think it's so bad, why didn't you go and write for it and make it better. And so I said I'm going to do that. So I went in and I started working for the student paper. And I got hooked. I became a journalist.

IB: Yeah. Because something that I'm actually doing is I making a newspaper for the town that I live in.

CO: Really?

IB: Yes, I haven't quite made the copies yet.

CO: What’s your town?

IB: My town’s called The Pocket.

CO: Oh, OK. The pocket in Toronto though?

IB: Yeah.

CO: What kind of stories are you going to do?

IB: Just what's happening around. And it's called What's In Your Pocket? So, yeah so.

CO: So do you want to be a journalist?

IB: Yeah. Have you ever been scared when you were like interviewing someone?

CO: Have I ever been scared? You know, often. I'm scared right now. This is really… I'm being interviewed. You're making me very nervous. I don't know where we're going with this conversation. You could ask me anything, and I'd have to answer.

IB: Have you ever been in like a war field interviewing somebody?

CO: Yes.

IB: Where was it?

CO: Different places. What used to be called Yugoslavia, that country fell apart, and it had a lot of wars. All the countries separated and there were wars in every single one of them.

IB: Have you ever had a child in here being interviewed before?

CO: Have I ever heard someone like you interview me? Never! This is very exciting, and as I say, I'm very nervous.

IB: Yeah, it's very exciting for me too because I've never done this before.

CO: Why did you want to talk to me?

IB: Well, first we're going to try Julie Payette. But she was away meeting the queen.

CO: She was busy — uh huh, moving down the list, yeah.

IB: So we decided to do you. And I was actually listening to As It Happens at that moment.

CO: What did you think when we called you back?

IB: I was really excited.

CO: Well, you wrote this letter. Thank you.

IB: Thank you.

CO: What are your dreams?

IB: My dreams… to become a singer, or a journalist, or a teacher, or an astronaut, or a scuba diver.

CO: Wow!

IB: Yeah!

CO: All right. Ivy, you know I'm going to have to go. This is a lot of fun! But I have to go and do a show called As It Happens.

IB: Yeah.

CO: It's been good to meet you.

IB: Nice to meet you too.

JD: 9-year-old Ivy Brooks interviewing Carol Off in the As It Happens studio in November of 2017. And if you would like to hear Ivy's full interview with Carol head to our website cbc.ca/aih. Click on the As It Happened link at the top of the page. And you can also check out a related interview Carol did back in 2012 with Eli Boardman, at 11 years old, who had just published the 200th edition of the newspaper he founded, The Boardman Camera.

[Music]

Chapter 2: 'Heifer' is the kid who wears the crown

JD: When As It Happens spoke with Philip Prantle in 2008 the 8-year-old was making news for making moos. Philip had just been crowned winner of the world famous Wisconsin State Fair's mooing contest. And his on-air demonstration for As It Happens guest host Laura Lynch left no doubt as to why.

SOUNDCLIP

LAURA LYNCH: Hi Philip.

PHILIP PRANTLE: Hi.

LL: Congratulations on winning the contest.

PP: Thank you.

LL: Why did you decide to get into the contest?

PP: It sound fun.

LL: It sounded fun ah okay. How long have you been practicing?

PP: Umm...I don't really know.

LL: For a long time?

PP: Not really long.

LL: And who was helping you learn how to moo?

PP: No one.

LL: You did it all by yourself?

PP: [Agrees]

LL: How was the contest Philip?

PP: It was fun.

LL: What was fun about it?

PP: Umm...when I did my moo.

LL: Do you think Philip that you could give us a little bit of your moo? I'd love to hear how you do it.

PP: Okay. [Makes moo sound]

LL: Was that you or was that a cow?

PP: That was me.

LL: Wow [Laughs] You're pretty good. I can't believe that came out to you. Hey Philip somebody told me that you do other animals too.

PP: [Agrees]

LL: Who else can you imitate?

PP: Horses and a duck. And I can do a dog.

LL: Wow! Do you think Philip that just because I want our listeners to hear how good you are at this that you could do one more moo for us?

PP: [Agrees and makes moo sound]

LL: [Laughter] That is amazing Philip. I think you deserve to win so congratulations again -- and you can go outside and play now. Thanks for talking to us.

PP: Okay.

LL: Bye Philip.

PP: Bye.

JD: From 2008 As It Happens guest host Laura Lynch speaking with then 8-year-old Philip Prantle, winner of the Wisconsin State Fair mooing contest.

[Music]

Chapter 3: Death and taxidermy

JD: You're listening to As It Happened. The Archive Edition. Tonight's theme: The Next Generation -- featuring young newsmakers who put the awesome in blossom. Like Philip Prantle, MacKenzie McCarty's notoriety stems from her interest in animals. Not however in livestock. Unlike Philip Prantle and let's be honest pretty much any other kid, MacKenzie's particular talent lay in bringing to life, in a sense, animals that were stone cold dead. At 12-years-old MacKenzie McCarty was a dedicated student of the art of taxidermy. Her specialty, mice -- whose stuffed and groomed cadavers she carefully arranged into miniaturised iconic movie scenes. From 2015, here is some of her conversation with Carol. And just a heads up: MacKenzie describes in fine detail the somewhat macabre methods for preparing the rodent remains.

SOUNDCLIP

CO: MacKenzie what is it that you like about taxidermy?

MACKENZIE MCCARTY: I love that you can take any kind of animal that is dead and preserve them forever and ever and they will never rot away. And they kind of like pets, but they're dead.

CO: How did you get involved in this?

MM: Well my mom had like four squirrels so she took me to her taxidermist because she couldn't bury them because she too attached to them. And I went up there and I love seeing all the animals. And when I was 9-years-old for Christmas she took me to a taxidermy class and I've been doing it ever since.

CO: You went to a class to study how to be a taxidermist when you were 9?

MM: Yeah. They showed me how to taxidermy mice so I mostly do mice but I do do bigger animals.

CO: When you say that you do mice, what do you mean?

MM: I mostly taxidermy mice so I can dress them up more and do more with them.

CO: What do you mean dress them up?

MM: I dress them up in different ways like for my fourth grade teacher her favourite movie was Grease so I did like a Sandy and Danny mouse dancing at like a little diner. And I did it Daryl Dixon squirrel and a Leprechaun mouse and a bunch of other things.

CO: Okay so let me get this straight: you take dead mice, you turn them into stuffed animals, and then you dress them up and put them in little scenarios, little scenes.

MM: Yes.

CO: Where do you get the mice?

MM: You can buy them already dead at pet stores -- I mostly get them there because it's really hard to find road kill so that's why I mostly do mice.

CO: And road kill I guess is kind of squished.

MM: A little bit. But some of it you can find in pretty good shape -- it might be a little bloody or something, so I'll clean that up and then I'll taxidermy that.

CO: You have stuffed road kill then?

MM: Yeah stuffed a squirrel -- and that was road kill that was my Darryl Dixon squirrel.

CO: So you don't kill any of the animals that you stuff.

MM: No. I'm strictly no kill.

CO: You're strictly no kill. So you've never killed anything to stuff it.

MM: No.

CO: How exactly is this done? I guess I am going to have to get the details from you.

MM: So the night before I go to do them I let them defrost and then I'll spread out their arms and legs and tail, so they're like in a frog position almost -- like a dead squirrel position or something like that -- where all its arms and legs are spread out. And then I'll its cut back open from the base of the neck to the base tail. And I’ll start removing the guts from the skin. And then I'll start pouring out legs and I'll clip them. And I'll snap the neck and cut the tail. And then I will take my little brain scooper and put it in a little hole in the back of the head to get the brain out.

CO: You have a brain scooper?

MM: [Agrees]

CO: Okay. Sorry.

MM: And then I'll push on its head till its eyes pop out.

CO: Okay. And so after you've done all of this then you fill it back up again.

MM: Yeah I stuff it with cotton and sew it back up.

CO: And what do you do for eyes?

MM: I cut pins and I stick them in.

CO: Okay. You know it's unusual for 12 year old girls to be doing this.

MM: Yeah a lot of my friends get like grossed out and stuff so I only have like one or two friends and they're okay with it -- they are like, all right, it's disturbing but it's not like I have to do it or see it. But a lot more people are like eww. But I love doing it.

CO: Are you going stick with mice and squirrels or will you graduate to larger creatures?

MM: I want to do taxidermy professionally. I want to go to school for it. And my dream animal is to do a giraffe.

CO: Okay so you're going to make a career out of this then.

MM: Yes.

CO: All right well I wish you best of luck MacKenzie.

MM: Okay thank you.

CO: Nice speaking with you.

MM: Okay bye. Thank you.

JD: From 2015 some of Carol's conversation with then 12-year-old taxidermist, MacKenzie McCarty.

[Music]

Chapter 4: Kids just wanna have funds

JD: You're listening to As It Happened. The Archive Edition. Tonight's theme: The Next Generation. Coming up: Nomi Git and Allison Perluv, who -- at seven and five years old respectively, petitioned the mayor of their town to address the mosquito infestation at the local beach back in the early 90s. Around that same time, 9-year-old, Andrew Burns was generating his own buzz -- as the president of the Children's Bank of Omaha. He spoke with As It Happens guest host Christopher Thomas about how he got his start as a banker.

[Music]

SOUNDCLIP

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS: Andrew where did you get the idea for this bank?

ANDREW BURNS: Well when [inaudible] my mom started talking about some schools were starting little kids bank at their school. And I got the idea for there.

CT: How does your bank actually work?

AB: Well umm... what do you mean by that?

CT: [Chuckles] Do you have saving accounts? Do you have a safe? Do you give loans?

AB: Yes. We have loans up to 100 dollars for kids with a co-signer.

CT: You give out 100-dollar loans as long as the child has a co-signer -- what's that, his parent or something like that?

AB: Yes.

CT: What about saving accounts? And chequing accounts? Do you have all that stuff?

AB: Oh yeah we have first savings -- that's a saving account for kids. And then we have first chequing and that's a chequing account for kids.

CT: It's an awful lot to organize isn't it?

AB: Yes.

CT: How did you do it?

AB: Well we have a lot of good workers at the bank and they are really devoted to their work.

CT: Are they all children too?

AB: Well I'm the only child.

CT: [Laughs] Well you are the only child -- but you are the president too, right?

AB: I'm the only child working at a bank now out of the whole city.

CT: Yeah. Can you describe your bank for me? What does it look like?

AB: Well actually it looks kind of like a house. It has two stories. Two teller windows. Well inside the bank we have a teller window for kids that is just tall enough and we're starting to develop some stools at the regular sized teller windows so kids can look eye to eye with the teller.

CT: Why is that important?

AB: Well because they want the kids to feel comfortable and make them feel good at the bank.

CT: How did you manage to set all this up? I would have thought it would take a fair amount of money.

AB: Well my dad is the president and he had some designing [inaudible] come and think of some advertisements for the kids bank.

CT: Your dad is the president of the bigger bank that's there, right?

AB: Yeah.

CT: Now is your bank inside his bank?

AB: Yeah.

CT: Do you just take their money in and maybe give loans -- lot of bank presidents you know people go and talk to them about their financial problems, they ask for advice, do you get involved in any of that?

AB: Yes I do.

CT: Can you give me an example of perhaps somebody you helped?

AB: Well one time I helped a kid because he was spending too much money on candy. So I told him why don't you open a savings account at the bank then. So he had his parents come in and co-sign and now he comes in about once a month.

CT: How much do you think he saved now by eating less candy?

AB: About 50 dollars.

CT: That's not bad. You've saved him a lot of money. What are you going to invest your bank's money in?

AB: Improving and extending.

CT: [Laughs] Improving and extending -- boy you know the words already, don't you? Andrew good luck to you.

AB: Thanks.

CT: Thank you.

AB: You're welcome.

CT: Bye bye.

JD: From 1991 As It Happens guest host Christopher Thomas speaking with the founding president of the Children's Bank of Omaha, Andrew Burns -- at the time 9-years-old.

[Music]

Chapter 5: Bitten by the same bug

JD: Later that summer As It Happens checked in with the 7-year-old Nomi Git and 5-year-old Allison Perluv -- who were then busy collecting a number of signatures themselves. The two girls of Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba, told guest host Dale Goldhawk about the purpose of the petition they had launched which they plan to present to the town's mayor.

SOUNDCLIP

DALE GOLDHAWK: Nomi let me ask you how many mosquito bites have you got?

NOMI GIT: I don't know -- it's too much to count.

DG: Hundreds and hundreds? Or just dozens and dozens?

NG: I don't know -- too much.

DG: Too many eh? I bet they're itchy?

NG: Yes.

DG: Allison how about you, are you scratching yours too?

ALLISON PERLUV: Umm...not very much.

DG: Not too much huh. So now both of you together took up this petition, right?

[Both agree]

DG: Okay now how many names are on the petition?

NG: 68.

DG: 68 names -- and who are some of these people? Are they mainly children or are they children and adults too?

AP: 18 and under.

DG: [Laughs] Did you cut it off at 18? You didn't want anybody to sign the petition who...

AP: 18 and under.

DG: How young are the youngest?

AP: 16 months old. [Laughs] We asked the mother to sign for it. I think the baby has mosquito bites on it and I think the mother didn't want the baby to have mosquito bites on them.

DG: Well that makes sense. Now you've been to the beach and the mosquitoes there are really bad, are they?

[Both agree]

DG: Well tell me how bad -- because I'm not there so just give me an idea of just how bad they are.

AP: They are so bad that we can't go out and play sometimes.

DG: Really?

AP: Yeah -- it's so bad -- it's a swarm of mosquito bites.

DG: Now who -- is that Allison or Nomi?

NG: This is Nomi.

DG: Hi Nomi.

NG: Hi.

DG: Okay now so you've got this petition together and who did you give it to?

AP: We are going to give it to the Mayor of Winnipeg Beach.

DG: The Mayor of Winnipeg Beach?

[Both agree]

DG: Okay. And what does the petitions say? Please spray the beach?

AP: It says Dear Mayor...wait a second I'll go ask my mother to give me the petition I can't remember every word that was on there.

DG: [Laughs] Okay.

NG: I'll be right back.

NG: She's going to get it. My mother is getting it.

DG: Okay. All right. Whose idea was it to take up the petition?

NG: Well you see this is what happened -- this lady that my mother knew called up and said the mayor didn't want to spray the town. And then my mother said and Allison's mother said they thought it would be cute to make a children's petition then the mayor would think it's cute. I was thinking maybe -- I was scratching all over and I thought that was a good idea too. But before that I didn't know what a petition was so I didn't know how to make it.

DG: [Laughs] Well you know now what it is now. Do you know why the mayor doesn't want to spray?

AP: I don't know but he said he would spray in August 13th.

DG: Well I guess some people would say though that they don't like the spray too much because the spray does some damage to the environment.

AP: I have had it! I've got so many mosquito bites on me that I've had it!

DG: So you want the mayor to do something and do it now?

[Both agree]

AP: I got the petition now.

DG: Okay read me what it says.

AP: Dear Mayor, please spray the town with lots and lots of bug spray because we don't like mosquitoes. The kids in Winnipeg Beach signed this. We can't go out and play because me of the mosquitoes. Some kids are covered with mosquito bites. Please spray the town.

DG: And you'll give it to the mayor soon I guess.

[Both agree]

DG: Okay. Well good luck to you both and thank you for talking.

NG: You're welcome.

DG: Okay. Bye bye.

[Both say bye]

JD: From August 1991, that was 7-year-old Nomi Git and 5-year-old Allison Perluv speaking with As It Happens guest host Dale Goldhawk.

[Music]

JD: We are out of time for this first Friday of 2019, January 4th.

HM: As It Happens was produced this week by Jeanne Armstrong, Imogen Birchard, Sheena Goodyear, Chris Harbord, Ashley Mak...

JD: John McGill, Kevin Robertson, and Kate Swoger. Our technicians this week have been Gabbie Hagoriles, Jennifer Rowley, and Mitchell Stuart. The show director is Kevin Ball. The writer is Chris Howden.

HM: John Perry is our senior producer. And executive producer of As It Happens is Robin Smythe.

JD: And we would like to thank some other people who helped us out this week as most of them do every week. Mary-Catherine McIntosh in Halifax, Susan McKenzie in Montreal, Kristin Nelson in Ottawa, Meagan Fitzpatrick in Washington D.C., Keith Hart at Radio Archives, Rebecca Efrat in the Music Library, Varad Mehta, and Tomy Thomas and Luke Williams all here in Toronto. Suzanne Dufresne in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Michael O'Halloran in Calgary and Anne Penman in Vancouver. And finally tonight we also have to say a very very fond farewell to the great Imogen "Imo" Birchard. During her time here she has been one of the most inventive, thoughtful, persistent, fearless, and well-liked producers to work with here on As It Happens. She has helped us get stories about everything from the grinding friction of American politics to... the grinding friction of female Japanese snow monkeys who hump the backs of deer. So she covers everything with characteristic sensitivity and with intelligence. Except for bagels -- which she covers with cream cheese on the outside without cutting them. It's a bit of a flaw but we're going to look past that -- seems to be her only one after all. Imogen "Imo" we will miss you and we wish you happiness and further success on the next part of your journey.

HM: Best wishes Imogen we are going to miss you. As It Happens will be back again on Monday and so will Carol. I'm Helen Mann. Goodnight.

JD: And I'm Jeff Douglas. Have a great weekend.

Back To Top »

Provide Transcript Feedback

CBC would like to acknowledge the support of the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund.

January 4, 2019 Episode Transcript

More Stories Like This