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The AIH Transcript for June 29, 2021

Hosts: Nil Koksal and Chris Howden

Prologue

MIKE BROOKS: Hello, I’m Mike Brooks, sitting in for Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening, I'm Chris Howden. This is “As It Happens”.

[music: theme]

CH: Tonight:

CH: Fund farewell. A residential school survivor says the Catholic Church in Canada has never made compensation a priority -- paying survivors little while spending millions on a new state-of-the-art cathedral.

NK: The powers that shouldn't be. In the occupied West Bank, anti-corruption protests against the Palestinian Authority continue -- and our guest says they won't stop until President Mahmoud Abbas steps down.

CH: Neighbourhood whats?! A Massachusetts couple is shocked when the help of a friendly stranger leads them to discover that the person behind years of anonymous homophobic harassment was their neighbour.

NK: A serious faux pas. Quebec's premier says his new language law is necessary for French to thrive -- but our guest says the bill means English in the province won't survive.

CH: And the birds are flipping us. If you suspect our so-called feathered friends are actually surveillance robots, the “Birds Aren't Real” movement can confirm that the last one to believe is a rotten egg.

CH: “As It Happens”, the Tuesday edition. Radio that knows you think you saw a real bird roosting, but it was just an on-nest mistake.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: BC Heatwave, West Bank Protests, Massachutsetts Anti-Gay Harrassment

BC Heatwave

Guest: Bernie Fandrich

CH: Lytton, B.C. isn't known as "Canada's hot spot" for nothing. The tiny village in B.C.'s interior has had that tagline printed on buttons. And you only need to visit the community on a summer day to know the slogan is accurate. But for people there this week, the temperatures are altogether too hot. On Sunday, Lytton broke the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada. And 24 hours later, the village broke its own record: on Monday, it hit a scorching 47 degrees Celsius. Bernie Fandrich is trying his best to stay cool. He's a long-time resident of Lytton and the head of the local chamber of commerce.

NK: So, Bernie, how does it feel to live in the hottest place in Canada right now?

BERNIE FANDRICH: Well, it feels kind of hot, you know?

NK: [chuckling] Yeah.

BF: It's... but we're often the hot spots in Canada, never this hot, obviously, but it's something that you kind of get used to, but not totally get used to. You put up with it and learn how to sort of work around it.

NK: How are you working around it?

BF: Well, what I do is I get up early, real early when it's nice and cool. And I open all the windows and doors of the house in the morning to cool the house down. We have a... we have a heat pump as well, but sort of just cool the house down. And that's for starters. And then I go out and do my chores. I live in the country, so I've got... I've got horses to look after. I've got bees to look after. I've got a little mini orchard. So I get everything done before it gets really too hot. And then after that, I could just do whatever I want to do, like go fishing, for example.

NK: How are the horses doing?

BF: You know, it's interesting because they have been standing within spraying distance. I've got two large boomer sprinklers going, and they have been standing in and around those boomer sprinklers almost the whole time, staying cool. That's their... that's their solution. So they just hang on real close to those boomer sprinklers.

NK: Kudos to you, though, for, A, being out and about, but also doing your chores no... no matter how early it was and that it was marginally cooler. Because often, you know, if you've experienced that kind of heavy, heavy and very high heat, you really just don't want to do anything.

BF: Well, I think, you know, I think the body gets conditioned partly to the heat as well. I mean, I drink lots of... lots of water, for example. And, you know, I never go out without, you know, a hat on. And the body learns to cope with a certain degree, I think. For example, when I drive to town, I live five kilometres from town. I don't turn my air conditioning on in my car because I know I have to get out at the other end. And to avoid the shock from a nice, cool, comfortable car to to 45 degrees or whatever it is, I just keep my windows wide open and let the body sort of acclimatize that way. Maybe I shouldn't be doing that, but it seems to work for me.

NK: You've got your own personal strategies worked out. That is great. I heard, though, that breaking that record attracted some tourists yesterday. Is that true?

BF: Well, you know, I've coined a new phrase here. I happen to chair the Chamber of Commerce. And I think the new phrase that we have now is called "heat tourism". And we've had a number of parties that have arrived here because they want to be part of history. I mean, this has never happened before.

NK: The whole country is learning a lot about Lytton right now. And there's some fascinating details that our producer has been digging up. It's a community really shaped by fire, as I understand it, fires hitting your town way back to the 1850s?

BF: That's Right. Fires have been... they're a very common thing. We've had a major fire right here at our home. It was the largest fire in British Columbia here up until just a few days ago when they got it under control. And I can... as I'm sitting here, I can see the smoke at the top of the mountain, nothing close to where we live here. But there still is smoke in the air. And so, yes, the fires are not an unusual thing here.

NK: You know, we were speaking with the fire chief in Penticton yesterday. He's, you know, trying to... to keep things light but very much prepared for potential fires there because of the high temperatures. I heard, though, that you've been helping out some local fire crews recently, helping them cool down as well?

BF: [chuckling] Yes. They... we were one of their staging grounds to attack this fire. And we would have... you know, we'd have 30, 40 of the firefighters heading up from our… from our home up into the area above us where the fire was raging. And we happened to -- or I happened to build -- what we call… well, we call it, Lake Bernard, which is actually a large pond that I built. It's crystal clear water. So I suggested to these... to the crew, I said, you're welcome to get wet before you head up and get wet before you come down... or after you come down. And they are so appreciative. You could imagine climbing a mountainside at 45 or 46-degree temperatures.

NK: Yeah, I bet!

BF: They appreciate that.

NK: I bet they are! Very neighbourly of you. I can hear it in your voice. You know, you're taking things in stride, doing what you can to stay cool and help others, clearly. But are you concerned that this is more than a novelty, that these record highs, What they might signal for the future of Lytton?

BF: You know, I am. I'm very concerned about that. And I was thinking about this very thing a couple of months ago when I read the long-term forecast and some of the anomalies that were happening in this area, as well as further south in California and what not. And I... I developed a deep concern about what the long-term consequences could be here? And how extreme the temperatures could get? And, lo and behold, we're experiencing that now. And so, yes, I am. I'm very concerned. And... and I… [sigh] boy, not much we could do about it at the moment. But I think some long-term... I think some long-term serious decisions to try to turn this thing around, which may be too late. I don't know.

NK: Well, Bernie, I hope you stay safe and stay cool out there. Thanks so much for chatting with us.

BF: Thank you very much. I enjoyed it.

CH: Bernie Fandrich is the head of the Lytton, BC Chamber of Commerce. Today, authorities in British Columbia are warning people to check in on their neighbours. In Burnaby and Surrey, the RCMP report that they're responding to more sudden deaths than usual -- and that heat is believed to be a factor.

[music: indie rock]

West Bank Protests

Guest: Fadi Quran

CH: For days, the West Bank has been rocked by street protests. But they aren't about the actions of the Israeli government. People have been calling out the Palestinian Authority -- which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank -- and calling on President Mahmoud Abbas to quit. The protests were sparked by the death of Nizar Banat, an activist who had spoken out against corruption in the PA. He died after a raid of his home by Palestinian security forces. Fadi Quran is a long-time critic of the Palestinian Authority, and a West Bank community organizer, who knew Mr. Banat well. We reached him in Ramallah.

NK: Fadi, can you describe these latest protests for us?

FADI QURAN: The streets in the occupied West Bank are full of sorrow and also full of anger and frustration with the Palestinian Authority. For the last week, almost every day, hundreds and sometimes thousands of Palestinians have been flooding into the main squares. And they have been calling for Mahmoud Abbas to leave office, and for the PA to be dispersed. And the response has been brutal by Palestinian security forces.

NK: People are clearly very, very angry. So let's take a step back for a second and tell us why people felt compelled to go in the streets against the Palestinian Authority?

FQ: Well, the spark was the murder of a wonderful man and the father of five, Nizar Banat. Nizar was a well-respected activist and critic of the Palestinian Authority. And he was a famous influencer on social media. And so his murder was the hair that broke the camel's back because Palestinians have been frustrated with the Palestinian Authority after it cancelled elections and because of its continued cooperation with the Israeli military.

NK: You describe some of what's happening in the crowd. Plainclothes members of security forces, You've talked about that. Tell us a bit more of what you've been seeing?

FQ: Yes. So what the Palestinian security forces have been doing, they dress up as civilians, but they have pistols in their back pockets. They carry other weapons, such as batons. And the moment protesters get to the main squares and start marching towards the presidential compound, these plainclothes security forces attack, they start first by harassing women and throwing stones at them. They start basically catching activists. So there would be 20 or 30 of them who would run after key activists, throw them to the ground, beat them up and then arrest them.

NK: You're clearly vocal about your criticism about what is happening. Mr. Banat was was very critical, calling out the corruption that he says he saw in the Palestinian Authority. What kinds of things was he pointing out?

FQ: The Palestinian Authority has a tsunami of controversies and corruption. What he recently pointed out was a deal that the Palestinian Authority had signed with the Israeli government to to bring in basically vaccines from Israel in return for the Palestinians, giving the Israeli government a new batch of vaccines that's set to arrive from Pfizer two months from now. But it turned out that the PA signed and agreement with the Israelis and was going to receive expired vaccines. And when that became public, they pulled out. So Nizar criticized that. And Nizar finally also spoke about the need for elections. When the Palestinian Authority announced that they would have elections, Nizar was running as a legislative council member. And when elections were cancelled by President Abbas, Nizar was a key critic, and demanded that the European Union stop funding the PA forces.

NK: And he had registered as a candidate himself in the Palestinian parliamentary elections. They were set for May, until they were postponed, as you said, by Mr. Abbas. Is his resignation, is that the only thing that you will... will take, will accept, you and the other protesters at this point?

FQ: Well, there are, you know, three key askes here. The first is the resignation of the president. That's been the chant in the street. The other is justice for Nizar and his family. He has left five children behind. And last but not least, the demand is also for free and fair elections to represent Palestinians around the world.

NK: You've said a couple of times now that you believe Mr. Banat was... was murdered by security forces. We still don't have many answers. There's lots to find out still. Authorities have said, quote, his health deteriorated when he was... when they went to arrest him early Thursday. Why are you so sure that he was murdered?

FQ: It's abundantly clear that he was killed. And, of course, his family -- Nizar’s family -- was with him when he was arrested. And he was alive in good health. And they reported that the moment he was... they entered the house by barging through the door, and they were beating Nizar on the head with different forms of... of manual weapons.

NK: We've seen Palestinians in the streets protesting the Israeli government in recent months, certainly protesting settlements in East Jerusalem, then the back and forth bombardments in May. Now, with these protests, how do you feel about the internal political conflict among Palestinians themselves right now?

FQ: This is not an internal Palestinian split politically. It is the Palestinian people demanding that the... basically the the local collaborators with the occupation leave so that the Palestinians can truly govern themselves.

NK: You know, the international community, Fadi, has... has relied on the Palestinian Authority a lot. What is the answer? If not them, then what?

FQ: The answer is abundantly clear. What needs to happen is we need democratic elections instead of the international community has been funding Mahmoud Abbas's authoritarian regime, as well as the Israeli military. And what the international community needs to do is to end its complicity with these actors, to end its funding and support, its recognition of these actors, and instead allow the Palestinians to choose their own representatives and to choose their future. And that's... that's the moral thing to do.

NK: Fadi Quran, thank you for your time.

FQ: Thank you. It's a pleasure.

CH: Fadi Quran is a critic of the Palestinian Authority and a campaign organizer at the non-profit group, Avaaz. We reached him in Ramallah.

[music: jazz]

Massachutsetts Anti-Gay Harrassment

Guest: LeeMichael McLean, Bryan Furze

CH: For the past five years, picking up the mail has been anything but a routine for a Massachusetts couple. LeeMichael McLean and Bryan Furze have been on the receiving end of a steady stream of homophobic letters, and subscriptions addressed to vulgar names. For years, the sender was a mystery -- and police said there was nothing they could do without a handwriting sample. But thanks to a bit of luck and a helpful stranger-turned-sleuth, police now say they know who the culprit is. We reached LeeMichael McLean and Bryan Furze in Milton, Massachusetts.

NK: Well, LeeMichael, let me start with you. What's it like to grab your mail now knowing there won't be any more vulgar deliveries?

LEEMICHAEL MCLEAN: Well, it's a much different situation now because not only are we not worried about getting vulgar deliveries, but we're actually getting daily letters and cards that support. Bryan just received on the other day from parents of high school friends that he hasn't been in touch with for years. I've been getting them. We get them from friends near and far, in our town and across the country. And so, it has just continued this amazing, massive outpouring of support from social media and now to hitting our mailbox, which is a really nice change of pace.

NK: So, Bryan, how did these... these letters, these subscriptions and deliveries first begin?

BRYAN FURZE: Pretty suddenly and unexpectedly. We opened the mail one day and there was a letter on the top of the pile with a pejorative and homophobicly-toned name with our address on it. We hoped that it was a coincidence -- an unpleasant coincidence. But shortly thereafter, a couple of days later, we received another one and we knew that we had a problem. And for the next five years, with a brief intermission during COVID, we received probably over 30 individual pieces of mail with different names that were pejorative and again, homophobic in tone.

NK: Yeah, we're not going to repeat the language that was used. But to be clear to our audience, this was a lot more than just minor taunts.

BF: Yes, we, you know, have built a, hopefully, a movement against anti-bullying with the last name that was used, which was Michelle Friutzey, which was a attempt to feminise my partner, LeeMichael's name and add fruit to my last name. You know, we were able to take that on it and make it something playful that we could use. But most of them were far more vulgar.

NK: And you have a young son. Did he ask or understand what was going on?

BF: Luckily, our young son was unable to read until this all started again very recently. And so we were able to keep this from him largely until the positive press started recently.

NK: And LeeMichael, five years. It's a staggering amount of time to... to be facing this every time you go to the mailbox. Police, as I understand it, said to you that they couldn't do anything without a handwriting sample. So after all this time, how were you able to get to a point where there's a break in the case?

LMM: Yeah, I would say the police tried to be as supportive as possible, but there just simply weren't any leads to go on. We could never get a handwriting sample. But then about two months ago, this person I think us all emerging from our homes post-COVID, you know, we were out of sight, out of mind for a while. He saw us again and decided to sign up for another subscription, this time to The Boston Globe. But we're already Boston Globe subscribers. So the paper was unsure what to do with the subscription card. So they mailed it back to us. And suddenly, I found myself holding the handwriting of the person who had been harassing us.

NK: Jackpot! When you saw that, I'm sure, after all this time. But how did you get to the point where you were able to identify a person, a potential suspect?

LMM: So I was very carefully holding the cards, afraid that I would mess up fingerprints or something. [NK chuckles] I wasn't sure what they were going to do with it. And I rushed over to the police station. But before I took it in, I snapped a photo of it and I put the photo on our town-wide Facebook page. I went into the station, re-explained the whole dramatic story to the officer that was there that day and handed over the subscription card. And by the time I got home, I had hundreds of messages from people all across town that some we knew, some we didn't know, expressing just outrage and support and wanting to do all sorts of sleuthing about figuring out whose handwriting that was. And one of our Milton neighbours took it even further and filed a Freedom of Information Act request in the United States and was then eligible to receive all the election documents from the April election in our town. And he painstakingly went through and tried to match the handwriting that I had posted on Facebook with all the samples that he received. And he called me one day and said you don't know me. But I think I figured out who's harassing you. And they live just a few doors away.

NK: This person lived just a few doors away -- this is a neighbour?

LMM: Just like the police had told us over the years, it's usually somebody you can see from your house that does this type of harassment. And that turned out to be true. And it was... it was a horrifying realisation because this person had been friendly to our faith for over a decade. And it also unleashed, you know, five years of sort of emotions that we had been stuffing into a corner because we had no power over the situation of receiving these threats in the mail. And now that the person was identified and actually arrested that same day that the handwriting match was made, there was released, but there was anger that finally was able to come to the surface.

NK: We should tell our listeners that Milton, Massachusetts police are seeking a charge of criminal harassment against the suspect. They're still waiting for a court date. Bryan, would you like to see criminal charges in this case?

BF: I'm very torn about that, to be very honest with you. I would very much like to see this person publicly outed and come forward and show contrition and potentially join the fundraiser that we have. That being said, I think it's important that there's an acknowledgement that this is not OK. I actually just today received an email from someone in my business who's receiving hate mail at their home because they have a transgender daughter. I think it's important as a result of that for this person to understand that they did something terrible and they should be held accountable. So ultimately, yes, I think I would like to see a charge.

NK: You guys have hinted at this, but you've turned this into a bit of a movement now. Tell me a little bit more about that?

LMM: One of our select board members here in town wanted to show his solidarity. And so he just simply said, I'm standing with you guys. #IamMichelleFruitzey, using the name from the Boston Globe subscription card. And other people immediately jumped on that and said, I'm Michelle Fruitzey, too. Let's get T-shirts, let's wear them around town so this person has to see, you know, the name everywhere and let's get visible with our support. And so in amongst having all of those feelings I was talking about earlier, where the anger and, you know, the resentment is coming to the surface, Bryan said, why don't we create a fundraiser and sell those T-shirts that say #IamMichelleFruitzey, and we'll donate all the money to the Gender and Sexuality Alliance at the high school and the middle school. And so I got on board with that. Bryan designed up some T-shirts and created the fundraiser. And just a few weeks later, we have now just passed 30,000 dollars raised.

NK: Bravo! Well, that must feel great after all this?

BF: It does. It's been incredibly rewarding and surprising. I expected to raise a couple of thousand dollars to support our kids in town and make sure that they know that they're not alone, and was simply overwhelmed by the response and donations that have come from as far away as New Zealand at this point.

NK: Wow, that's fantastic! LeeMichael, Bryan, thank you so much for your time.

BF: Thank you.

LMM: Thank you very much. Have a great day.

NK: You too. Take care.

BF: Bye-bye.

CH: That was LeeMichael McLean and Bryan Furze. We reached them in Milton, Massachusetts -- which is a suburb of Boston. And you can find more on this story on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[music: (They Long to Be) Close to You” by Carpenters/pop]

KAREN CARPENTER: [singing] Why do birds suddenly appear/ Every time you are near?

Just like me/ they long to be. Close to you

Birds Aren’t Real

CH: You're right, The Carpenters. Birds do long to be close to you. How else can they gather data on your every activity? I know that sounds implausible. Birds rarely seem to know what they're doing, let alone what you're doing. But we're not talking about real birds. Decades ago, the CIA replaced birds with robot birds -- which have us under constant surveillance. Now that you think about it, it makes sense, right? I assume you're nodding. If not, at least pretend: the birds are watching. The "Birds Aren't Real" movement apparently started -- fittingly enough -- with a tweet in 2017. And ever since, people have flocked to hear founder Peter Mcindoe. Last week, they gathered in Springfield, Missouri -- where Mr. Mcindoe preached the goose-pel to the KOLR-TV.

SOUNDCLIP

PETER MCINDOE: All 12 billion birds in the United States are artificial. What makes me think that? I mean, I... I think the evidence is all around us. Birds sit on power lines. We believe they're charging on power lines. We believe that bird poop on cars is, you know, a liquid tracking apparatus.

CH: Now, some people believe this whole "Birds Aren't Real" phenomenon is a lark. A satirical take on outlandish conspiracy theories, such as QAnon. Just a joke -- one that's helping its founder gather a decent nest egg. But I salute Mr. Mcindoe for his courage in exposing the truth. It's a real feather in his cap. Not that there are real feathers... anymore.

[music: elevator music]

Part 2: Catholic Church Compensation, Bill 96 Critic

Catholic Church Compensation

Guest: Frank Badger

CH: The Catholic Church and its religious orders have signalled that they're open to releasing records about the residential schools they ran. But paying out compensation is another story. Today, CBC Saskatoon is reporting just how little the Catholic Church has paid, specifically in Saskatchewan. In 2005, the church committed to raising 25-million dollars to pay survivors across Canada. So far, it has paid only four million -- and just 34-thousand to survivors in Saskatoon. At the same time in Saskatoon, the local Roman Catholic Diocese spent 28 million dollars building a state-of-the-art cathedral. That, coupled with the recent confirmation of unmarked graves in Kamloops and Cowessess First Nation, leaves Frank Badger feeling disheartened. Mr. Badger is a residential school survivor who lives near that new cathedral in Saskatoon. And a warning that parts of this interview are disturbing.

NK: So, Frank, you live very close to this new multimillion dollar cathedral. What is it like to see it and live so close to it?

FRANK BADGER: It’s very good feeling. It's not a very good feeling because I know what's going on behind the scenes, I'll say, you know? They're willing to pay for... what is it? A 29 million dollar cathedral?

NK: Twenty-eight-and-a-half million, yeah.

FB: Twenty-eight-and-a-half million cathedral. And yet, for all the damage they’ve done from... from where I went to school in Duck Lake at Saint Michael's Residential School. It was built in 1894, and it shut down in 1996. So that's over 100 years. And all that damage they’ve done over that time, they’re reluctant to pay 25 million dollars? I don't understand that.

NK: We should let our listeners know that the Catholic Church agreed to raise 25 million dollars to pay survivors of residential schools. So far, they've only paid out four million dollars. What do you make of that ratio?

FB: It’s not right. It's just not right. They're so reluctant to let go of their money, you know, unless it benefits them. Like, I was in residential school for 10 years. And just to let you know what kind of people they were for money, they used little pictures of... little pictures of a little kid on there. And they used to call them pagan babies. That's what they called us to. They called us pigs. They called us savages, heathens and pagans. But what they used to do is when you got mail and if you got money from your parents, say if you got a quarter, they’d take five to ten cents out of there for the pagan baby. And back then, five and ten cents was a lot of money.

NK: I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Frank.

FB: No, I mean, it's... I don't know

NK: You, as I understand it, became a teacher when you grew up?

FB: Yes. Well, actually, I became an alcoholic first. I drank for about 20 years. And when I decided to sober up, my daughter was six months old. And I realized that what was happening to my... to my kids is what happened to me with my mom. I was neglected. I was abused. I was... you know? That's how I went if I don’t do something with my life now, my... my kids are going to be raised exactly the same way I was raised in residential school. And I've been sober now for 41 years.

NK: Bravo. Congratulations.

FB: I decided to go back to school. I finished my grade 12. I went straight into university and I got my degree in education. And as a matter of fact, I just retired about three or four years ago -- after 27 years as a teacher.

NK: The reason I brought up the fact that you were a teacher is because it's such an interesting decision that you made, given what you experienced. And I wondered how it informed the kind of teacher you were, what you told the classes about your experience?

FB: What I told the classes about my experiences were one incident really kept coming back to my mind, and that was a spelling class with Sister Anthony in grade three. And they had about twelve words on the board. And she said there's two words that sound the same. And that was ate like I ate something and there was eight people. But what I looked at was there's eight and snake. So that’s what I told her, I said, eight and snake sound the same. Oh my goodness. I couldn't believe, she come up and slapped me on the head, and she said, what’s the matter with you? Are you stupid? It’s obvious! Oh my goodness, you're an idiot -- just really degrading me. And, for me, all the things that happened in a residential school were lived experiences that I didn't want to do to other kids.

NK: Having lived all of that, when you learn that... that lawyers with the Catholic Church successfully argued in court that churches tried their best to raise the money promised -- that 25 million dollars for survivors -- but had no more money to give, how do you respond? How do you process that?

FB: Aww, you can't? It's so ridiculous, you know? Catholic religion is the biggest business, one of the biggest businesses in the world. It's worth about six billion dollars. And they have all these others that are bigger than Saskatchewan. Now, where in the world had they come up with 25 million dollars? Not only did their actions cause a lot of damage within families. But now, they're refusing to help these people like myself to get back on track, to get my life back. And the pope not apologizing. Why won't he apologize? I can’t understand.

NK: If you could speak to the pope directly or even closer to home, to the Roman Catholic diocese of Saskatoon, what would you say to them?

FB: Woah-ho-ho-ho-ho! I would use a few choice words that I can’t say over the phone, nor to anybody. I mean, I feel, like, I'm still angry with the nuns and the priests, you know? I to a meeting in Saskatoon here from where I work. And they had four questions on the board. The one I really remember, if you could bring a historical figure back into now, what would you say to this historical figure? And I told them I would bring Sir. John A. MacDonald here, and I ask him what the hell is going on in his mind when he decided to do this to the Native people?

NK: You've known, and so many other people have known, you know, the kinds of things that happened at these residential schools. But the stories coming out of Kelowna and Cowessess, do you think we're at a point that... that these realities will put a different level of pressure on the Catholic Church to do more this time?

FB: Huh, that's a good question. When I heard about the Kamloops, with the 215 kids, I cried. I literally broke down and cried. And I don’t know if I feel guilty or lucky that I got out of residential school alive? After seeing that, especially with Cowessess and the 751 unmarked graves they found there. Thinking about it now is very scary.

NK: I just want to make sure you're OK because you've been so generous with your time and your stories. Do you have support with you? Do you --

FB: I have my biggest support with me right here. And that's my wife. I can talk to her about anything. And she herself has been to residential school.

NK: I'm so glad you have each other, Frank. And I'm so fortunate that we got to speak. Really, thank you so much for your time.

FB: Oh, you're quite welcome.

NK: Please take care.

FB: I will. Thank you very much. You have a good day.

NK: You too.

FB: OK. Bye-bye.

CH: Frank Badger is a residential school survivor. We reached him in Saskatoon. A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support to anyone affected. That 24-hour hotline number is: 1-866-925-4419.

[music: uke!]

Captain Canada Day

CH: Erin O'Toole had been pitching himself as Captain Canada Day. But in Ottawa today, the Conservative leader said that he too will be using July 1st to contemplate the country's failures. Erin O'Toole has been doing his best to link Justin Trudeau to moves to cancel Canada Day activities in cities like Fredericton and Victoria. But this morning, Mr. O'Toole was asked to square that suggestion with the Prime Minister's words about using the day to reflect on the injustices done to Indigenous people.

SOUNDCLIP

ERIN O'TOOLE: When you cancel an event that celebrates our country, you lose the opportunity to not only celebrate the great aspects of our country, and the opportunity to challenge the citizens of your community, of your province, or the... or the country, in general, to do better in the future. I think as I said last week, our country is not perfect, but I'm inspired by our commitment to do better, our commitment to reconciliation. In one of my communities on Canada Day, we had a First Nations chief who would speak about reconciliation. If events don't take place, you can't celebrate, and you cannot rededicate your efforts for this country. It's time to build our country up, to... to address reconciliation, to address inequalities, not by cancelling celebrations or tearing Canada down, but recommitting to the... to the principles at the core of this country.

REPORTER: I'm just curious, how were you going to celebrate Canada Day, you know, given the thinking about this issue at this time?

EO: Thank you, Ian. I'll be in my riding in Durham. I talk about how proud I am to be from Bowmanville and Port Perry and represent my hometowns in parliament. With the health restrictions still tapering off in... in Canada, there's a small gathering with seniors that'll be socially distant. I'll be visiting with... with some people in the riding. The events are very subdued. But as I will do this year, as I have in the past, I will talk about our country, how we need to do better, but also how I think Canada's the best country in the world. And our commitment to it means we need to commit to reconciliation. I've talked about our veterans, including Indigenous veterans, in the past, trying to hold up people that were... were not given the respect they deserved in the past. That's, I think, how we build a great country. We hold up people from our past and celebrate them because they weren't given the credit, like Tommy Prince and other incredible Indigenous veterans. And we recommit to reconciliation and to making sure that dark chapters of our past, like the... the horrible residential school program -- that should fuel our desire to meet the calls to action that have been out for six years and provide a roadmap for us.

CH: Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole speaking to reporters in Ottawa today.

[music: horns!!!]

Bill 96 Critic

Guest: Marcus Tabachnick

CH: A group of English-speaking Quebeckers says politicians have failed to protect their language -- so they've formed a task force to do it themselves. The main target of the task force is Bill 96. The proposed new language law would add new restrictions on the use of languages other than French. It would also amend Canada's constitution to recognize that "Quebeckers form a nation" and that" French shall be the only official language of Quebec." Marcus Tabachnick is the former head of Quebec's English Language School Boards Association, and he's one of the founders of the task force. We reached him in Montreal.

NK: Mr Tabachnick, what do you think that Bill 96 might do to the English language and to English speakers in Quebec?

MARCUS TABACHNICK: Bill 96 is an attempt by the government to embrace English from visibility in Quebec. And they can call it anything they want in terms of trying to protect the French language. There's very little in that bill that actually protects the French language. It really looks to remove the English language from visibility, from usage and to discourage anyone living here from using the English language.

NK: Just give us a sense of the nuts and bolts of the bill? You say remove English entirely. Others may say restrict the use of English, but take us through the nuts and bolts of it?

MT: Well, [sigh] restrict the use of it and removing it are not that far from each other. And given that they intend to extend extraordinary powers to an unofficial appointed group, watchdog group, called the Office of the French Language, who are going to have authority to go into businesses -- really anywhere they want to check the language of usage, to check memos, to check cell phones, to check computers. It's extraordinary powers. And what they're looking for is the use of English in everyday use. That, to me, is not restricting English. That's trying to rid ourselves -- themselves -- of English.

NK: Quebec's Premier, Francois Legault, says the new powers are necessary for what he calls the Quebec Nation to thrive and for the French language to thrive. How do you respond to that?

MT: There, he said it himself. It's the Quebec Nation. And that's his goal here. His goal is to create a separate Quebec within Canada because he has learned over two referendums that he can't win that complete separation. But his goal and he has stated it very clearly since he was a party Quebec minister many years ago, his goal is to create the Nation of Quebec using Quebec laws, using the laws that he and his party want to put into place. That's the real goal of Bill 96. And it's another step on the way to gaining that sovereignty-association they used to call it when they tried to sell it to us years ago.

NK: He's been pretty clear, though, that he does not support separation or sovereignty. Are you suggesting otherwise?

MT: I'm stating that he has never lost his desire for Quebec state, a Quebec nation. And he can say that he doesn't support separation, but he's creating a separate Quebec that will be different from the rest of Canada and not just in language, but in the way, it treats its minorities, its immigration and many other aspects of life. So he may not... he may say he doesn't support separation, but the effect of Bill 96 can be akin to a form of separation.

NK: Parliament approved a motion supporting Bill 96 by a vote of 281 to two. So if Bill 96 represents, as you say, such a threat, why don't you think any of the federal parties have come to your defence?

MT: I'm not sure that I can answer for any of the federal parties. There are elections. There's a lot of elections coming. There are... there's a lot of politics involved here. They were snookered by the Bloc Québecois into voting for it because included in that motion are a lot of what you would call statements of fact. The fact is, French is the majority language in Quebec. Well, it's hard to vote against a fact. What's missing for us is people at the federal level -- and the government specifically -- from saying this is unacceptable. Canada is fundamentally... not fundamentally, it is within the DNA of Canada for the last 50 years that we are a bilingual country. We brag about being bilingual. We brag about equality and the equal treatment of people across this country. Have we accomplished it yet? No, but we... we continue to work on it. The problem with Bill 96 -- and with C 32 -- is that they can effectively put an end to Canadian bilingualism that is a threat to all Canadians.

NK: So, how does your task force plan to fight this?

MT: I think first we have to raise awareness because, you know, governments are pretty smart when it comes to controversial legislation. They like to deposit them at the end of a session when people are either going on vacation. In our case, we're not only going on vacation, but we're trying to emerge from the COVID pandemic. People's minds are elsewhere. We've got playoff hockey going on in Quebec here.

NK: And a potential federal election down the line.

MT: And so there's so much else going on. This is what political parties do when they want to put through legislation that is controversial. We have to raise awareness. Our task force, together with other groups, we're all fighting the same battle. It's to raise public awareness, not only here in Quebec but across the country, that these bills are a threat to the Nation of Canada. And... and we do that by the outreach that we have, by doing public... making public statements and... and a variety of other plans that the task force is working on. It's still very new. It's only a couple of weeks old. We've had a very, very positive reaction to it. And it's time for the minority language community in Quebec to speak up and not just to go, oh, well, this is just another thing from the government.

NK: Mr. Tabachnick, thank you for this.

MT: My pleasure.

CH: Marcus Tabachnick is the former head of Quebec's English Language School Boards Association, and he helped found a new task force that's fighting the province's new language bill. Mr. Tabachnick is in Montreal.

[music: hip-hop]

Pizza Bot

CH: If the pandemic has left you so unsociable you can't even muster small talk with your pizza delivery person, you might consider relocating to Austin, Texas. Because now when you place an order at Southside Flying Pizza, you're also getting a chance to really savour the impersonal touch -- when your meal is brought to your door by a robot. Actually, it's just brought to the curb closest to your door. Then you have to punch in a code and grab the food yourself with your inferior human hands. Which you still have to use to insert the piping hot slices into your organic nutrient hole -- fuelling what the pizza robot definitely thinks of as your strangely moist and problematically permeable human body. But don't worry: robots aren't taking over. They are just taking our jobs. But only because they're better at them. And in Austin, they're also taking over bike lanes. Because they're roughly the size of a bike. And because the local government said they could. This displeases some of the human cyclists. Because the pizza robots are kind of wide -- maybe too wide to get around in traffic. Also, they lack compassion. And also, despite assurances, they may have hidden laser cannons. The city's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird" -- and this whole initiative meets that requirement. But Austinites, don't smash into the pizza robots. Make sure you cycle with laser focus -- or you could end up the focus of their lasers.

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June 29, 2021 Episode Transcript

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