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The AIH Transcript for March 12, 2021

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello. I'm Carol Off.

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

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

CO: Desperate appeal. He was once a passionate critic of the government of Belarus, but since he was imprisoned, a blogger has fallen into despair and given up hope of change under Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

CH: Sharp contrast. Fly-in First Nations in Ontario have experienced a well managed vaccination rollout, but our guest says Indigenous people living in urban centres are being left behind.

CO: Guilty until proven innocent. A Black man in Alabama faces imminent execution for the murder of a police officer more than 25 years ago. But a former attorney general of the state says he is certain to Forest Johnson did not do it.

CH: Organised labour. After researching the stains on something called a mediaeval birth girdle, scientists find, they say, a lot about the ways women coped with childbirth 500 years ago.

CO: It took a while to get it that he couldn't get it. Last year at this time, our guest feared catching COVID-19 because he hadn't yet learnt that his body could produce super antibodies that can defeat the virus without even trying.

CH: And vast dafference of opinion. Everyone agrees that it's a nightmarish combination of words, but the NCAA is actually suing a Virginia urology clinic for trademarking the phrase "vasectomy mayhem." As It Happens. The Friday Edition, radio that suggests with marketing and vasectomies, you shouldn't just take a wild stab in the dark.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: What it's like being one of the few people with 'super antibodies' against COVID-19

Belarus Blogger

Guest: Franak Viacorka

CH: Ihar Losik's friends are worried the Belarussian blogger won't make it out of prison alive, Mr. Losik was arrested in the run up to last summer's election in Belarus. He was accused of using his telegram channel to, "prepare to disrupt public order." Now his lawyers say he's been charged with fresh offences while in detention. The regime won't say what those charges are. But what Mr. Losik's lawyers say they do know is that their client tried to take his own life in their presence and that he's now refusing all food and drink. Franak Viacorka is a friend of Ihar Losik, who fled Belarus and is now a senior advisor to an opposition leader. We reached Mr. Viacorka in Vilnius, Lithuania. And a warning: parts of this interview are disturbing and there is discussion of Mr. Losik's suicide attempt.

CH: Franak, what is the latest that you're hearing about your friend Ihar Losik?

FRANAK VIACORKA: I was talking yesterday to his wife, Darya Losik, and she's frustrated. She's a bit lost. She says that he's in a very very bad condition. He just cut his wrists and he basically said goodbye to her. Of course, not directly, but he passed it via lawyer.

CO: And he was with his lawyers when he did this. Is that right?

FV: Yeah. Yeah. You know, a lawyer can come to visit Ihar twice a week. And yesterday there was a discussion meeting with the prosecutor and Ihar was accompanied by a lawyer. And Ihar was given the new accusation and we don't know which one. So he just took his watch and he tried to make suicide. Luckily, he's not so badly injured. But he also announced the dry hunger strike, which means he will not be taken neither food nor water.

CO: Ihar Losik is a blogger, a journalist. The regime calls him a threat to public order. How would you describe him?

FV: Ihar is a very modest person. He's a brave journalist. I met him about 9 or 10 years ago. He was popular on Twitter. He was writing about politics. And back then it was quite brave to comment about President Lukashenko and to say what you think. So I wrote him and we met. I was impressed this thin young guy -- he is younger than me, four or five years. And we started working together and we became very good friends. And all the time, all my life, I was in touch with him. And it's very sad to know that your best friend is in jail and you cannot really help him.

CO: You say he's quite young. He's 28 years old, right?

FV: I think about 28 -- so it's about that. But still we think in a very similar way. And the most important, he was a very big advocate. He was never thinking about himself. He was always thinking about others, about his family, about his daughter. And I feel guilty that I do not enough to release him.

CO: He was writing very strongly, very passionately before he was arrested. But the state of his mind now seems to be declining. He wrote a letter, handwritten, saying, 'I have no illusion. I think it'll be about five years. And by that time I will have died. I no longer have any desire to do anything. Everything is for nothing. I doubt anything will change.' Does that sound like your friend?

FV: No, no, it's not him. It sounds not like Ihar. It means he is in a very poor condition right now. He has spent about nine months in jail and Belarusian prison is a place of torture, physical and moral torture. You're isolated. He didn't see his wife for nine months. And he basically is living in the cell, always humiliated. He's innocent, but no one listens to him. And for him, same as for many other political prisoners in Belarus, this hunger strike or suicide is the only way to protest, it is the only way to pass the message to the outside world, "Look, I'm here. I am suffering for you. Do something."

CO: He has a wife, as you mentioned. They have a child, a two year old daughter. You are the godfather of that little girl. How is his wife responding to the news?

FV: She says that if he will die, she will try to kill herself. And I tried to convince her that that's not the solution. And definitely authorities will not let him die. I am sure they're interested in keeping him weak, but not let him die. So they will potentially probably will feed him forcibly. And she is ready to come to Minsk and ask Lukashenko personally to let her see him at least once and to convince him to stop hunger strike. She's ready to organise the protest herself. She's calling on the international community to speak about Ihar and to make all possible to release him. But unfortunately, not so much can be done from outside.

CO: In his letter, Ihar Losik says that protest is futile, that he said that everyone in the opposition will end up being in jail or they will have to leave. Is he wrong?

FV: He's wrong, he's wrong. He's in jail, he is in depression, he's in the cell without information from outside, he doesn't feel the spirit of people. Yes, from outside it might look that the protests are fading out, but it's not true. People are very angry. People are very decisive. They will protest until they win -- until new elections happen. And all the prisoners, including the Ihar, will be released and rehabilitated. And he will see his family, his daughter, very soon.

CO: But is there anything at this point that you can do so that you don't lose Ihar -- so that he feels that he can go on?

FV: I talk to you, this is important. And you will broadcast to many Canadians, perhaps Americans and many people will know about Ihar's case. We talk to presidents, prime ministers, ministers about Ihar's case. I write about him all the time. And I say that even tonight people went for a protest and they brought the posters with Ihar's names. So we are doing all possible to make his calls public.

CO: Does he know you're doing that?

FV: I hope he knows. I hope the lawyer tells this to him. Las time he had the hunger strike for 40 days. He almost died. And he wrote the letter and he said, you know, yes, I'm stopping the hunger strike because I feel that only a few days left. But he says, thank you for your solidarity. You know, without the solidarity, I wouldn't stop. So this solidarity, first of all, gives him hope that his life matters and also gives the hope that all the things he's suffering for are still possible.

CO: Franak, I appreciate speaking with you tonight. Thank you.

FV: Thank you.

CH: Franak Viacorka is a friend of the imprisoned Belarusian blogger Ihar Losik. Mr. Viacorka is also a senior advisor to the exiled Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. We reached him in Vilnius, Lithuania. And if you or someone you know needs immediate mental health support, including for thoughts of suicide, you can call Crisis Services Canada: 1-833-456-4566.

[Music: Calm Music]

Covid Super Antibodies

Guest: John Hollis

CH: When it comes to protecting ourselves from COVID-19, most of us are waiting to get a vaccine. But a few people in the world are fine without it, their own blood protects them. John Hollis is one of the few. He has so-called "super antibodies" that stop the virus before it can even latch onto him. "Super" because even when researchers diluted his blood by 10,000 times, it's still beat COVID. Mr. Hollis is the communications manager at George Mason University, where he's also part of a study on COVID-19 antibodies. We reached him in Fairfax, Virginia.

CO: John, what is it like to see so many people getting sick from COVID, but knowing that you have a super immunity to it?

JOHN HOLLIS: The whole experience has been beyond surreal. I mean, like you mentioned, you can't turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper without hearing about all the misery and death over the world. And especially in the beginning, you wonder why me? Why have I been blessed beyond measure when so many other people haven't? It's been a lot to digest, really has been.

CO: But you didn't know you had the super immunity until a close association with you got very sick. Can you tell us what happened?

JH: Basically, it started out the last week of March I got congested. I remember the Monday morning I woke up heavily congested, but I had no other symptoms whatsoever. No fever, no headache, no nothing. Kept working, I felt fine other than blowing my nose like ten times a day. And by Friday it was gone. It wasn't till the following week, the first week of April, when my housemate got really really sick with the virus. And so for two weeks, I was really fearful for him, for his safety. But also I was worried that I was going to contract the virus myself. It wasn't till late July when I found out, knowing that I had the virus, but I had these super antibodies that make me immune.

CO: You were so concerned that you might have COVID, you wrote a letter to your son. Can you tell us about that?

JH: Yeah, I was scared. I mean, just not what happened to me, but just idea of not being there possibly for my son to see him hit those milestones, graduate from high school, get married, go to college, all that stuff. And that's what broke my heart. I was actually in a strange piece with whatever happened to me. But just in case I contracted the virus and if things went down, went south quickly -- I wrote a letter to my son to have just in case something happened to me. And thank God I never bad to give him that letter.

CO: How old is your son?

JH: He is 16. And we had just gotten back from Europe in early March -- on March 9th is when I found out about the virus was a guy that contracted the virus in Europe and whether he might have contracted the virus as well.

CO: How did you learn that you had this super immunity to COVID?

JH: Sure. I'm the communications manager at George Mason University and a bunch of our scientists led by Dr. Lance Liotta had begun a COVID-19 antibody study in mid-April. And as a communications manager, I was helping with media outreach and doing stuff like sending out the press release for the work they were doing. And so, of course, I was very familiar with Dr. Liotta, actually I've known him for almost about three years. We have a very good relationship anyway. But this study begun. It was for George Mason University people, faculty, staff and students who'd either been tested positive for the virus or thought they'd been exposed to it. But again, there was never any thought that I had gotten sick, so I never even joined. The study wasn't until mid-July I met with Dr. Liotta to talk about their initial results in the first three months of their study -- maybe 45 minutes or whatever. I was literally leaving. I just happened to mention to him my housemate had the virus and then I'd gotten lucky and somehow avoided it. And that is what started to get the ball rolling.

CO: So he tested you and what did he find?

JH: Well, it's funny. I got tested and of course, again, never thought for one second anything would come of the results. I went in and gave blood, gave saliva, thinking, well, it would be kind of cool to say I took part in such a cool medical study. And so you can imagine my surprise a few days later when Dr. Liotta himself calls me and tells me not only did I have the virus, but I had the super antibodies to make me immune. It was like a drink from the hire hose all of a sudden. It was crazy. It was just a lot to be thrown at you.

CO: But he told you that not only did you have antibodies against the original novel virus, but you had antibodies against the variants as well.

JH: Really amazing. I mean, it's actually amazing. A lot of that was fluid. It was learning it as it go along, I'd learn more and more information each week. They were able to break up my blood at the molecular level. They were able to tell me I had an American strain of the virus, not a European strain, which meant I was most certainly infected after I returned to the United States. My son lives in Atlanta with his mother, so he was not with me when I was infected. So I was actually relieved to hear. They were able to tell me what type of strain I had and how and where my antibodies attacked and killed the virus. And it was later that I found out that my antibodies killed all the different strains. Even most recently, I was told it kills even the newest strains as well.

CO: Dr. Liotta found that even after he diluted your blood or your antibodies by thousands and thousands of times, they still resisted the COVID virus.

JH: That's correct. That sounds crazy.

CO: How rare are you? I mean, do you have any idea how many people are like you? [Laughs]

JH: WelI [laughs] I don't think I'm the mythical white unicorn or the Easter Bunny or anything. But according to the NIH study that I've seen, five percent of the world's recovering COVID patients have super antibodies and basically only about one percent have the kind that are as powerful as mine that kill the virus outright.

CO: And now you have become very important to science, haven't you? What do they want to learn from you?

JH: Basically, the million dollar question is how and why my body does this. Of course my first question was, did I always have these antibodies in my body? Were they just dormant my whole life until basically they were needed? And the scientists responded with an emphatic no. Your body creates these antibodies in response to this virus. So the question is, how does your body do it and why does your body do it when so many others don't?

CO: Now, for them to find you, this is pretty exciting because not only do they have this kind of superhero of immunity, it's like you have kryptonite or something, but that you are Black and they have not been able to do much studying of Black communities in the United States and how they're responding to the COVID virus. So how important is it to you to take part in this study?

JH: Well, it means a lot to me because the African-American community in America at least, is the one being most adversely affected by this virus. The only way we move forward and research on finding out potential remedies, we have to have everybody of all colours, all persuasions take part of the medical research. And people don't understand that the African-American community's mistrust in the medical community is not just paranoia, it's historically rooted. But my thing is we need to move forward, so we need to be involved. We need to honour those people who came ahead of us to make sure this doesn't happen again by being involved.

CO: Is there any way that they can harvest or reproduce your super antibodies? Is it just something to know how you produce them? Or do they want to produce what you've got?

JH: Well eventually they want to mass reproduce my antibodies and learn how my body does this. So it's kind of a combination of both.

CO: Well, thank you for being part of the studies and sharing your body's knowledge of this. And thanks for speaking with us.

JH: I appreciate you having me. Thank you so much. Best of luck to everybody.

CH: John Hollis is one of the few people with super antibodies protecting him from COVID-19. He's also the communications manager at George Mason University. He was in Fairfax, Virginia.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Medieval Birth Girdle

Guest: Sarah Fiddyment

CH: For expectant mothers living hundreds of years ago in mediaeval Europe, childbirth was extremely dangerous. So women did whatever they could to increase their chances of a safe delivery and that sometimes included something called a birth girdle. Now, more than 500 years later, a team of researchers has had a chance to study the stains on one of those surviving girdles. And they've been able to identify proteins that give them a clearer idea of how exactly they were used. Sarah Fiddyment is the lead author of research published this week in the journal Royal Society Open Science. We reached her in Royston, England.

CO: Sarah, what is a birth girdle?

SARAH FIDDYMENT: So these were objects used by mediaeval women. They are sort of long, thin pieces in the case of the one we studied, parchment but they could have been made of other materials. And they were used by the women to wrap around them as a form of spiritual protection for childbirth. So these girdles have sort of prayers and pictures on them, all hoping to protect the woman giving birth.

CO: Who provided these birth girdles to the women?

SF: So these were held by the religious houses and monasteries, and they were loaned out to women sometimes for a fee.

CO: Right. And it was not within the family, they didn't keep it themselves for the women of that family or the midwives?

SF: Not usually, although I mean, that may be a possibility. But from what we know of textual evidence, it was mostly that they were held in religious houses.

CO: So you got a chance to closely study, get a close up look at one of these birthing girdles. What does it look like?

SF: So it's very long and very narrow. It's over three metres long and it's only 10 centimetres wide. So it's long enough that you could physically wrap it around yourself like a girdle. And it's made of sheepskin parchment, which we analysed. This particular birth girdle was quite interesting because it has a lot of evidence of use. So the pictures and the text has been worn away where it's been touched or possibly kissed or venerated. It also has a lot of stains and blemishes. So there was a lot of sort of visual evidence that it was actually used. And what we did was do a scientific analysis and see if we could actually have direct evidence to see whether these have been used.

CO: Right. What were the images that were on it?

SF: There are images of the crucifixion. They're all religious images that would accompany the text. And they could differ. They would have different passages around protection in general and looking after the person. But this particular girdle also has a specific passage about looking after women in childbirth.

CO: You were able to take this object into a lab to take a really close look at what was actually on it, some of these stains and markings. What did you find?

SF: We were able to extract proteins and what we found was human proteins and non-human protein. So the human proteins seem to match cervical vaginal fluid. So it seemed to indicate that this girdle would had been in very close contact with pregnant woman. And in the non-human proteins, we were able to find evidence for things like honey, milk, and various plants, including leguminous plants -- and all of these have actually been documented in mediaeval text as remedies used to help a childbirth.

CO: So it's not surprising you should find vaginal fluids because if it is related to giving birth. But what were the honey, the milk, the eggs, the plants -- how did they use them?

SF: Oh so often a combination of these ingredients would be used to make a sort of salve, a mixture that could be either inserted into the pregnant woman or rubbed on her. And they were to aid different ailments to do with either pregnancy or childbirth or if there was a difficult delivery, they were various different types.

CO: What have you learnt from this as to how women in the Middle Ages were coping with all the difficulties of giving birth?

SF: I think for us, the big take home with our study is, although these are documents that have been studied for a long time and they knew their potential use. There was no way of knowing if these were actually used or if it was just in theory, but possibly not ever used. And what we've managed to find is that these women are actually using these. They are wearing them. They are having these other remedies used on them to aid them in childbirth. And I think it just shows how scared and worried women were for their safety and the safety of their child, that they would use any form of help, be it spiritual or otherwise, to try and get them through this very potentially dangerous time.

CO: There is evidence that these birthing girdles stopped being used extensively at the beginning of the Reformation. Why is that?

SF: So with the dissolution of the monasteries, obviously all these kind of talismanic or ritualistic objects were part of the destruction of all these objects. So we even have evidence that the some of the bishops would actually make midwives swear an oath saying that they would no longer use these birthing girdles, for example. So all of the associated paraphernalia was very much curbed once the Reformation came. But there is a possibility that they could have been continued to use illicitly without the knowledge of the church.

CO: So it's quite extraordinary that you have this one to study that. I guess a lot of them were destroyed then?

SF: Exactly. Yes, many of them haven't survived. There are a few existing examples. And this one was, like I said, a particularly interesting one because of the visual aspect of it. We could see it had been used, so it was a great one to target.

CO: Sarah it's a really interesting story. Thanks for telling it to us.

SF: Thank you so much.

CH: Sarah Fiddyment is a biochemist and a research associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge. We reached her in Royston, England.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Madness

CH: Some word combinations are inherently disturbing: mustard pudding, grade two recorder concert, or four sequels to James Cameron's Avatar. And you can add a phrase that will trouble at least some listeners deeply: vasectomy mayhem. There are teenage metal bands who would reject that for being too much. And yet a urology clinic in Virginia has actually trademarked that phrase. It's weird and it's upsetting. The NCAA, which runs college sports in the US, is certainly upset. And it's trying to have Virginia Urology's trademark on the phrase "vasectomy mayhem" cancelled. See, the NCAA runs the enormously successful US college basketball tournament March Madness. It has exclusive rights to the phrase "March Madness" -- and also just in case, I guess, the phrases "midnight madness" and "March mayhem." So the NCAA claims the clinic is stealing its marketing. And this ad from 2011 does show that Virginia Urology has tried to make it seem like the best way to watch the tournament is with a can of beer, a bowl of chips, and a bag of ice cream.

VOICE 1: [SOUNDCLIP: (Basketball game sounds in background) Here's a genius hoops madness idea. In order to legitimately spend three days on the couch watching hoops, wife totally supporting your lounging, call Virginia Urology right now and schedule your vasectomy. Hey no better time to get it done. But you've got a call now to align your couch time with optimal tube time for the best games. Hey this isn't madness. It just makes good sense.

VOICE 2: Hey guys, want to know how we can help you out? Visit vasectomymadness.com to found out how.]

CH: So yes, they did use the phrase "vasectomy madness." But Virginia Urology's lawyer told NBC, "We don't think anyone has confused our vasectomy ads with any other organisation." And he says he's confident the trademark on vasectomy mayhem will stand. So unlike a recent vasectomy patient, the clinic is not going to take this sitting down. But so far, things are still reasonably polite. There's no reason for both sides to get snippy.

[Music: Piano Music]

Part 2: Urban Indigenous Vaccinations

Urban Indigenous Vaccinations

Guest: Janet Smylie

CH: By almost any measure, the vaccination rollout for northern fly-in Indigenous communities in Ontario has been a success. Every eligible Indigenous person in the province's remote communities has been offered their first dose. Metis physician and researcher Janet Smylie would agree that's an achievement. But she says for Indigenous people in urban centres, the vaccination program has fallen short. Dr. Smylie has been working to get vaccines in the arms of Indigenous people in Toronto, and that's where we reached her.

CO: Dr. Smylie, how are your efforts to vaccinate Indigenous people in Toronto going right now?

JANET SMYLIE: They are going very well. By the end of the day tomorrow, hopefully, we'll have had two successful clinics this week in vaccinating 250 people.

CO: How many people need to get vaccinated?

JS: I estimate between 60,000 and 70,000. So that's the challenge. We've got a mountain to climb and we're going to need some help.

CO: You're getting into the hundreds, but you've got maybe as many as 70,000 Indigenous people living in Toronto that need to be vaccinated.

JS: That's right. So that's what I've been trying to tell people since October-November of this year. But unfortunately, the response has been quite slow.

CO: We know that there has been an enormous effort to go into Indigenous communities, First Nations communities, in remote communities especially, and get everyone vaccinated. That's been a priority for the federal governments and provincial governments. But what has happened with Indigenous people living in urban centres?

JS: Unfortunately, I think we've fallen into a pit of jurisdictional gaps and complexities. And despite the fact that our constitutional inherent rights don't change when we live in an urban versus a rural and remote geography -- there hasn't been a response that matches in any way the size of the population, the need in our distribution.

CO: The levels of government made it a priority to get into those communities because they said Indigenous people were particularly vulnerable to COVID. Tell us a bit about the vulnerabilities of Indigenous people living in the city.

JS: We have some different and some shared vulnerabilities. So, for example, issues that contribute to COVID like rates of chronic disease, they're not decreased for First Nations, Inuit and Metis in cities. In fact, for some chronic diseases like diabetes, there's evidence that the rates are actually higher. So of the 80,000 Indigenous people in the city of Toronto, 40,000 experience two or more chronic diseases that could negatively impact that COVID infection and make people more likely to have to be hospitalised or die. The other big thing that impacts COVID is your living conditions. So unfortunately, again, one out of three First Nations Inuit and Metis people living in the city of Toronto is functionally homeless and over 90 percent of this population is living below the poverty line. Then the final piece, that's a big challenge I think for First Nations, Inuit and Metis people seeking health services across geographies is attitudinal and systemic racism. Of course, this has been in the news quite a bit. What's really challenging for me, and I would hope for most Canadians who believe that discrimination in access to health care is probably one of the more shocking forms and inhumane forms of discrimination is despite the fact that within a couple of square miles of where we sit at the Auduzhe clinic, there's probably the highest density of physicians, health care providers and hospitals in the province. Unfortunately, Indigenous people don't feel safe there.

CO: In Ontario, supposedly Indigenous people living in cities are supposed to be in phase one of the vaccine role that they're supposed to be at the front of the line already. Is that not the case?

JS: I believe it is the case now. It's the first time that I actually saw in print that it started as adults in Indigenous communities, and then we were able to clarify that this included First Nations and Inuit, Metis adults across geographies. But we haven't actually seen action that matches the talk. In fact, I fought for a couple of weeks, actually, to reschedule the vaccine clinic for homeless men in one of our Indigenous homeless shelters in the city of Toronto and was told I was jumping the queue to try to get these homeless men access to vaccine. So, yeah, I think there's been quite a bit of mixed messaging. We are in a catch up stage here.

CO: Okay. So if it's identified now, you understand that the Indigenous people living in cities like Toronto are supposed to be ahead of the line, but it doesn't mean anything unless you got the vaccine. So that's not happening, is that what you're saying?

JS: So I've been fighting every week just to get access to small numbers of vaccines since January. So we're very lucky that this week we got access to 200 vaccines. We were able to increase that to 250, we are able to administer all of those. We've heard indications that a more appropriate amount of vaccine because again, 80,000 people and 200-300 vaccines a week is obviously insufficient. So we hear that's coming down. I really want to make sure that when this vaccine comes down, though, that it is managed by Indigenous leadership that have been running health and social services here in Toronto. We have trust relationships with more or less with the diverse 20-plus Indigenous health and social services. But many of us might not feel safe or comfortable in hospitals and might avoid them.

CO: This comes up time and time again in stories dealing with health issues is that there's this jurisdictional issue. This is what it comes down to so often that the province says it's the federal government, the federal government says that health is the responsibility of the province. We spoke with the federal minister of Northern Affairs about the Manitoba situation, the Metis who are saying that they're not getting vaccinated either in Manitoba. And it was so clear that what it comes down to is that, well, you know, who's really responsible? Has it come to that again? Is the big issue behind all of this is that two levels of government that won't take responsibility?

JS: Yeah, so it's three levels here because we have in Toronto -- the City of Toronto, Toronto Public Health, and then the province, and then the federal government. So the good news story is the province appears to have taken responsibility and partnered with our First Nations leaders in the province and done quite an admirable job of delivering vaccine to First Nations on reserves. And the challenge here is this ignoring of First Nations, Inuit and Metis people living in the cities. We're hearing stories of our community members dying now from COVID in the city and they haven't been able to access vaccine.

CO: Dr. Smylie we will continue to try to understand more of what's going on in these communities. And I appreciate speaking with you today. Thank you.

JS: Thanks so much Carol.

CH: Dr. Janet Smylie is a Metis physician with the Indigenous Health Research Unit at St. Michael's Hospital. We reached her in Toronto.

[Music: Guitar Music]

Sol Mamakwa

CH: Ontario MPP Sol Mamakwa wanted to set an example and encouraged people from Indigenous communities to get the COVID-19 vaccine. So following an invitation from the chief of Muskrat Dam First Nation, Mr. Mamakwa visited that community in February to get its first dose. And this month he visited Sandy Lake First Nation again after being invited to get his second dose publicly. Both communities are in his riding of Kiiwetinoong. But during Question Period yesterday, Doug Ford drew outrage for wrongly accusing the MPP of vaccine queue jumping. The premier immediately faced calls to apologise, and this afternoon he phoned Mr. Mamakwa to do that and proposed an in-person meeting as well. But Sol Mamakwa told reporters he'd still like to see more.

SOL MAMAKWA: I think for him to see that I'm not part of that community, whether it's the northern riding, whether it's trying to remove me from that setting and put me in a place where a colonial structure like being in a legislator wants to put me there. He has no right in doing that. And that's what oppression is. And that's what colonialism is. And I think that's what as an Indigenous person, yes, that was a personal attack on me, you know, saying that I jumped the line. But I think when you are trying to save lives literally in Indigenous communities, that wasn't a fair comment. We didn't talk about that. But I'm just saying. But I think we need to be able to, again, it's the Indigenous people across Ontario that need a public apology from him. And if he's apologising, like, I think I would want to see some action. Action speak louder than words. We need to be able to see those urban-Indigenous-led vaccine clinics in Toronto and Thunder Bay. And, you know, they're in a crisis right now. So we need to be able to address those. And, yeah, that's some of the comments that I have on that.

REPORTER: And so regarding the invitation to his office, are you planning on going there? And why would you want to go there? What would you see the purpose of meeting in the premier's office with the premier? Why would you do that?

SOL MAMAKWA: You know? It's been almost two years since he had invited me to his office to go for lunch. But I think what's really critical is I would rather see him in the fly-in community in northern Ontario, where there is a housing crisis, where there is a water crisis, where there is an infrastructure crisis, where there is a mental health crisis. And I think that's the invite that they would have in order to do that. And it's not just simply just going to his office and having a cup of tea.

CH: That was Ontario NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa answering a question from the Globe and Mail's Laura Stone at a press conference today.

[Music: Drum & Bass Music]

Alabama AG Death Row

Guest: Bill Baxley

CH: Bill Baxley is a big supporter of the death penalty. Back in the 1970s when he was the attorney general of Alabama, he led a Supreme Court case that made executions legal in the state. But since retiring, he's had a change of heart about one death penalty case in particular. In 1995, a sheriff's deputy was shot in the head and died while on duty. Authorities arrested and charged an African-American man named Toforest Johnson for the murder. In 1998, Mr. Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death. And now Mr. Baxley says an innocent man is about to be executed. We reached Bill Baxley in Birmingham, Alabama.

CO: Mr. Baxley, what first led you to start to question whether Toforest Johnson might have been wrongly convicted?

BILL BAXLEY: Well, the lack of evidence in this case. The only evidence was not credible and I wasn't sure that that could be true. And what I knew, most all the people that had been involved in it and they are good people -- I knew them to be good people. And so some of them I started calling and asking about it. And sure enough, this was just a case that floored me that it happened. I couldn't believe that this could be.

CO: But this man Toforest Johnson was convicted in 1999, he's been on death row for years now. Now, what is it that you're seeing in these -- just give us some of the things -- you mentioned the one witness, they had one piece of evidence. What was flawed about that?

BB: What was flawed about it? Well, she should not have been enough to even make an arrest on. Her testimony was -- I think she had a daughter who had a boyfriend that was in the Jefferson County Jail. And so somehow she was able to get a cell phone in to him. And apparently he was running a little thing with other prisoners where he'd let them use his phone, I'm sure they buy something. And they were doing a lot of calling to her and getting her to pass messages on the people in the outside and stuff. And her mother, who was this witness, the mother of the little girl, was the witness. And she started thinking something was wrong and started listening in. And she overheard a person that said his name was Toforest Johnson, say that he'd killed a deputy. Now, this lady didn't know Johnson, had never met him, never seen him, never laid eyes on him, never heard his voice, and didn't see him. And when she called police and turned him in, she was the witness.

CO: And she was paid 5,000 dollars.

BB: Yes she was paid 5,000 dollars after the fact.

CO: But at the same time, there were multiple alibi witnesses for Toforest Johnson who had put him on the other side of town at the time of the murder. Did they appear at the trial?

BB: I don't think they were all developed at that point. But that's immaterial about his proof at this point, because with only her testimony and it being something that she had heard a person that said it was him and she'd never heard his voice before, that is the part that's unbelievable to me. That is not enough to support a conviction, much less a capital crime conviction.

CO: At the same time the prosecution presented four different versions of what happened and five different accounts of who committed the killing. So what did that tell you?

BB: That was the most unbelievable part of all. They actually tried one person who was found not guilty and they had five theories, different theories, of how this crime occurred and four different people that were accused of being the perpetrator of the murder.

CO: So this was a completely botched case.

BB: This one that should have never been. And I could not imagine that it existed, it had happened, that it had been upheld. I still can't. I still can't.

CO: It's rare for you to second-guess a death penalty sentence. You have now become a friend of the court. You've submitted a brief, along with a number of other prominent people, all saying that this has to be revisited. You're not just saying it has to be re-tried. You say the man is innocent and he should walk. Is that right?

BB: Yes. I'll go a step further than some of those signed some of the briefs, and they expressed no opinion as to guilt or innocence. That's the brief I signed. But I'm willing to go one further. I have now looked in depth and talked to people involved. And this is a travesty of justice that this has happened.

CO: Yes, it's such a seriously flawed case. Then also with amicus briefs from people like yourself, from a former Alabama Supreme Court justice, former US attorney, bar association, presidents, all kinds of people. Why is it so difficult to get justice for Mr. Johnson?

BB: I've asked myself that thousand times since I looked at it. And I can't give you an answer. That's why I say, I can't believe that it happened.

CO: But we know that there have been many cases. There are hundreds of people who have been exonerated, many of them on death row after various projects, initiatives, have proven people were wrongfully convicted. Does this shake at all your conviction that the death penalty is a good idea?

BB: I think that it shows that we need to have everything possible in place to make sure that it doesn't happen. But it does not change my belief that there are some crimes that are so terrible that if two conditions are met, you should be able to allow capital punishment. One of them being it has to be a heinous crime -- really really outrageous, which this one was, it was killing a uniformed officer. The second one, though, is I think you've got to have proof not just beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond a shadow of a doubt to have capital punishment. And there's no remotely any argument you make that this kind of proof in this case, this lack of proof, shows [inaudible].

CO: But this man would have gone to his death if not for the effort of you and others now. How many others do you think are like that?

BB: I don't think there are many. I really don't, because I've never heard of one like this except the Scottsboro one I mentioned that happened before I was born.

CO: Do you think it's possible you just haven't heard of them?

BB: Sure it's possible. I did read about one in New York. It happened around 1900 where a police lieutenant or captain was sentenced to die and did -- that I felt like after I read it, he was innocent. But those were the only ones that I personally am aware of this year.

CO: Mr. Baxley I appreciate your time. Thank you.

BB: Okay thank you.

CH: Bill Baxley is Alabama's former lieutenant governor and former attorney general. We reached him in Birmingham, Alabama.

[Music: Piano Music]

IKEA Catalogue

CH: You've likely heard of the Danish word "Hygge," a term for a sense of cosiness, that as countless media reports have told us, the Danes embrace as a way of life, which makes them all super happy and chill. And you should hygge too if you ever want to find true contentment. Well, after a year of pandemic stress and isolation, how about we all embrace the Swedish term "svartsjuka" -- jealousy. Sure, I could sip some mulled wine by the fireplace wrapped in a snuggie to feel better in this harsh pandemic world. But I prefer to cosily enfold myself in hot envy. It doesn't take much to make me jealous these days. I envy my cats for their ability to roam around mask-lessly. I'm jealous of people who get to stay in mustard spattered pyjama pants while I have to wear these stupid clean pants to work like a chump. I even find myself flipping through my treasured copy of the now discontinued IKEA catalogue and wishing I was one of the people pictured inside it, ecstatic about their new Martorell cutlery. If you too want to embrace the svartsjuka lifestyle but you no longer have the energy to turn pages, you're in luck because IKEA has created a podcast of its catalogue being read out loud. And it is a tale for our times, which sounds like this.

VOICE: [SOUNDCLIP: Chapter one. Swim Surf Sleep Repeat. Pages 6 through 23. We now begin IKEA catalogue Journey in earnest with a very hip looking surfer couple, a snapshot of their bright sea breezy space features an imported skin key shopping bag casually hanging on the wall with some other items. It's listed as 99 cents. Just beneath that, we see a bright red lixhult cabinet for 40 dollars. It looks like it has room for all kinds of cool surf things. We also see the handy white polyester vuku wardrobe, 1299 -- imported with an arrow note that reads "The function of a closet, a fraction of the cost. This wardrobe can even be rolled up when they move. Now isn't that handy? Secure it. Prevent tip over injury. Furniture with included restraints must be secured to the wall according to the assembly instructions." On the opposite page we see this hip looking couple taking a selfie next to an image of the famous IKEA frakta bag for 79 cents imported. It says "Swim, surf, sleep, repeat. Some love the city. Others prefer the sea." Meet the young couple living a lightweight life closer to nature where the adrenaline is high and the rent is low. Their pint sized first place together is all about function and fun with flexible essentials that will follow wherever life takes them. Jealous.]

CH: That's right. I am jealous. Svartsjuka in 2021.

[Music: Dance Music]

Part 3: Bow Valley Wolf

Bow Valley Wolf

Guest: Bill Hunt

CH: He was at the age where wolves often take off in search of new territory or a new pack. And so at two years old, the wolf, known as M2001, left his home range in Banff National Park and made his way into Montana, where he was shot and killed earlier this month. Parks Canada staff had been tracking the wolf with a GPS collar for over a year. Bill Hunt is Banff National Park's Resource Conservation Manager. We reached him in Canmore.

CO: Bill, first of all, tell us about the journey that this wolf took.

BILL HUNT: Well, quite incredible. And there's been similar stories in the past, but certainly not in recent years. So this is a young subadult male wolf coming into -- he would have been coming into his third year of age this spring. Born and raised in the Bow Valley area, right in the heart of Banff National Park. And earlier this winter, he started to show signs of wanting to explore and look for alternative habitat. And so the first indications, he took two separate trips east of Banff into an area known as the Ghost or Waiprious area out into provincial lands. In both cases, we were watching closely to see how he did and what happened. The second trip, he went a little further and in both cases made it back into Banff and sort of recentred back in with the pack. And then on February 28, we saw movements where he headed south of Banff -- down through Kananaskis country and actually into the Fernie area in southern B.C. and eventually made it across the Canada-US border. And unfortunately, on March 8th was lawfully harvested by a hunter down in Montana.

CO: He was shot and killed.

BH: That's right. Yeah.

CO: Who killed the wolf?

BH: I don't have a lot of information. It was a landowner in Montana. Apparently, everything was done lawfully. He had a tag. My understanding is they can harvest a wolf or shoot a wolf legally, even just as a landowner if it's potentially threatening livestock or seen as a risk to their livelihood or farm operation.

CO: And do you know if that was the case?

BH: No. We just got some information this morning that it appears that this fellow had a tag and was going after wolves. He had seen a pack of wolves or other wolves in the area the day prior to that, and then saw this wolf, M2001 that had come from Banff, the subsequent day and shot it, thinking it was actually the larger male from this other pack.

CO: Now, was this wolf, known as M2001, was he alone?

BH: On this trip, he had gone on his own yes -- and the other adventures. And that's quite typical. So he'll be a member of the pack. And when he hits it, sort of like the gap year for high school students, where when they hit a certain age, and typically for wolves it's between one and a half to three years of age. If they're not the dominant male, especially in the group, they'll go on a walkabout or a trip and see if they can locate some habitat of their own or meet up with another pack and establish dominance there. And obviously, there's significant genetic benefits in terms of evolution for animals doing this.

CO: Well, kind of a wolf was he?

BH: He was a young male. I believe he had four siblings. A grey coloured wolf. His sibling died on February 11th on the railway tracks right near Banff as well. So they've had a rough winter. But as you know, wolves are very resilient. And there's still six members in the Bow Valley pack. There is an adult female, two remaining subadults, and then three pups from the offspring so what we call 'young of last year.'

CO: Not very long ago, I guess 2016, there was a story about the Bow Valley pack that a number of pups were hit by trains. And then I think the adults, some of the adults were euthanized by park management out of concern. What was going on?

BH: Yeah. So in that situation, wolves had got exposed to human sources of food and had become food conditioned. And unfortunately we were in a situation where we euthanized an adult female and another subadult. And that seemed to have sort of truncated that behaviour. And they went back to focussing in on wild food sources, the elk, deer, things like that in the valley. But again, that's one of our other challenges. We have so many visitors here and there's so many potential sources of unnatural food whether it's getting into garbage or somebody leaves dog food out at their camper or trailer or near their tent -- once wolves, you know, they're incredibly intelligent, there's a reason, you know, they were domesticated so many years ago is because they clue in on food and they're very quick to learn a food, like many of the wildlife, and as soon as they do that, it can pose a risk if they start to associate people with food.

CO: So how healthy are the packs that you're studying now at this point in Canada?

BH: The packs in Banff are doing well. We have five or six packs. So there is the Bow Valley pack in the main area right around the town of Banff. To the north, we have the Red Deer pack. And the Cascade-Panther pack which are right in where we have our bison and so they're interacting with our bison quite a bit. And we just released some videos -- we actually got trail camera footage of the bison and the wolves in the same frame and following the bison calves. There's the Spray pack which is down south of the park towards Kananaskis Country. And then sometimes we have a separate pack, and sometimes emerges a bit with the Bow Valley pack called the Fairholme pack and they live typically between Banff and Canmore and make their living right in the heart of the Bow Valley as well.

CO: Just a week or so ago, we covered this story in Wisconsin of more than 200 grey wolves that were killed, were shot, by hunters -- many of them trapped in less than three days. It was part of a concerted effort. And very distressing to people who are trying to help with the wolves there. Is it dangerous for wolves if they stray over into the US side of the border?

BH: Well, I think it's dangerous for wolves everywhere. I can't really speak to the US numbers. I'm not that familiar with them. But one of our biologists here in Banff just co-authored a paper recently where they did the maths for interactions in and around Banff National Park, looking at a very long data set. And they found that wolves outside the protected area had about a 6.7 times higher mortality rate than inside the park. And as I said earlier in that example, we still even within the park with all the work we've done, mitigating our highways with our fencing and buried aprons so they can't dig under the fence and things like this, we still lose wolves inside the park to food conditioning, to railways, and some of our secondary roads. So it's a challenging life for wolves for sure.

CO: Bill, we'll leave it there. I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

BH: Thanks very much.

CH: Bill Hunt is Banff National Park's Resource Conservation Manager. He was in Canmore, Alberta.

[Music: Hip-hop Music]

Promo: Lindsey Hilsum Interview

CH: 10 years ago in Syria, police arrested a group of children in the southern city of Daraa for a spray painting anti-government graffiti. That was the small spark that lit a fuse which eventually exploded into the worst humanitarian tragedy since the Second World War. Next week, As It Happens, will be marking a decade since the war in Syria began. And we'll start our coverage with Lindsey Hilsum, a London based journalist with Channel 4 News who spent much of the past decade covering Syria -- from the massive exodus of refugees to the political jockeying of world powers, to the stories of the people she met on the ground. And as she tells Carol, it's the children she met that she'll never forget.

LINDSEY HILSUM: There was a half built building in Aleppo, it was like a doll's house that you could see into it because it had the floors and it had the pillars, but it didn't have walls. And people were living there. And we went up and we were filming with them. And that was a particular family, very nice family had two little girls, Kasur and Sara, who I think were 6 and 10. And they were just such sweet girls. And they very much wanted to show me how they could count. And the little one could count up to 10 in Arabic and the older one could count up to 10 in English. And so they did that for me and for the camera. And I do think about them because the older one had been taken out of school. They'd been displaced, I think, three times. The younger one had never been to school. And you just know that the chances are that they would never get to school. And I found that when I was in Europe, that was in 2014 when I was in Europe amongst refugees, I was always looking for them. I was always looking for them. But of course, I didn't find them. I once sent somebody back to that building to try and find out what happened to them. But of course, they'd go on. So hopefully they are somewhere. But yeah, it's difficult. And then you see all the kids coming to Europe. And I do remember one thing on a train -- I was on a train going through Macedonia and looking in the carriage and all the adults were just fast asleep, exhausted. You know, they'd been walking for days. And there was a little girl. She must've been about 9. And she was standing on, you know how the little table ledge comes out on the side of a train window. And she was standing on there watching the world go by. And you could just see this is so exciting for her. I think about some of those kids as well for whom the world is new and exciting.

CH: That was Lindsey Hilsum speaking with Carol in a feature interview marking 10 years since the war in Syria began. And you can hear the rest of that interview on Monday's program.

[Music: Synth Music]

Dwight The Otter

CH: Not sure exactly how early Steve Dumonski heads to his ice fishing hut. But every morning it's up an otter. Mr. Dumonski lives in Sioux Lookout, about 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. And lately, he's been entertaining a regular visitor at his hut, a river otter that he's named Dwight. It's a mutually rewarding relationship. Mr. Dumonski gets Dwight's company and Dwight gets fish. Over the weekend, a bond has developed between the unusual companions. You might even call them the otter-couple, but it's okay if you don't. Here's Steve Dumonski recalling his first encounter with Dwight.

STEVE DUMONSKI: I had two walleyes sitting on the ice between my legs in my hut -- in the portable hut. Next thing I know, he was dragging that walleye right between the flats and the sleigh. It scared me pretty bad. And then he is running off to the island where, I guess it looks like, he's actually staying at. And so I went back -- I don't know, three or four or six days (later). And he came in to see me every time.

GORD ELLIS: So do you figure you recognised you?

STEVE DUMONSKI: He might have marked my hut or the cover for it because he was rolling around on the cover outside after he ate. So I don't know if he catches wind, because the last time I seen him, he was heading for the spot where I normally see him. I was down the shoreline probably half a mile maybe, quarter mile. And he was going for the regular spot. And the other guys, they said he just put his nose up, stopped and beelined from my hut. So he must have smelled something that he recognised. I'm going to say the last couple of times he's come in, he's come in and he's come and sniffed my boot lately and then goes about his business. And the last time he was in my hut, he ate -- I had maybe a 10 inch herring -- so he ate. He chomped that in the hut and then went on [inaudible].

GORD ELLIS: And so he is basically like a dog then.

STEVE DUMONSKI: More like a stray cat -- you feed it once and it just keeps coming back. And I talk to him and I'm following him right beside with him and he doesn't do anything. And then he was eating the herring and a couple buddies stopped by and they said, oh, you see Dwight today? I say he's probably in the hut. They go, where? I say he just finished eating. The guy bent over and looked, he put his head up and growled at him. He's protecting the hut or the fish -- I don't know.

GORD ELLIS: And for somebody who hasn't seen the video, how big is Dwight?

STEVE DUMONSKI: I guess from tail to nose -- I would say like two or two and a half feet long maybe. I put him at like a two year old maybe. He is not very old. He doesn't look very old to me. I don't even know if it's a boy. I was watching him run away with my fish and I guess Dwight came to me, so I can call him Dwight.

CH: And that was Steve Dumonski speaking with Gord Ellis, host of Superior Morning in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Mr. Dumonski has a new ice fishing buddy, an otter named Dwight. And you can see video of Dwight at: cbc.ca/thunderbay.

[Music: Brass Music]

Dog Sled Race Winner

Guest: Aisa Surusilak

CH: Late last month, 12 dog sled teams set out along the northern coast of Quebec for Nunavut's annual Ivakkak Race. The dog sled race typically lasts 10 days, but because of extreme weather conditions and a few false starts, the race took most teams 15 days. Others were forced to drop out along the way. On Wednesday, Aisa Surusilak finally crossed the finish line to win the gruelling race, along with his partner Paulusi Amarualik and their team of dogs. We reached Mr. Surusilak in Puvirnituq, Nunavik.

CO: Aisa, congratulations.

AISA SURUSILAK: Thank you very much.

CO: How does it feel to win this year's race?

AS: It feels great. And the finish line was at my hometown.

CO: The finishing line was in your hometown. And is that where you are now?

AS: Yes, I'm home.

CO: What are people saying to you? When you crossed the finishing line in your hometown, how did people react?

AS: They were really really happy. It was crowded outside when we were arriving. Everybody was screaming, happy, and jumping. So I was also screaming happy. It was really fun.

CO: You must have been very tired.

AS: Yeah, we were tired. Mostly the first two days of the race were the most tiring. It was really soft snow, and mountains and hills, we had to push the sled to help the dogs for mostly the first two days.

CO: And how are your dogs doing?

AS: They're doing really good. Some of them were injured from their paws burning from the soft now. It was different this year.

CO: So the big problem was that the snow was so soft.

AS: Yes. A lot of dogs paws were not very well.

CO: You also had some very bad weather, didn't you?

AS: Yes, it was really really cold. Wind chill -55. Plus a blizzard was coming. We had to delay the race for many days between the checkpoints.

CO: And didn't you have to get some skidoos to get you across, to ferry you across some of the areas?

AS: Yes,. The second day we were going to camp out in the tent not too far from the village Ivujivik. Blizzard warning was on forecast, so everybody had to go to that village because if we were in a tent we didn't have much fuel for the heat. So we had no choice to skip a few kilometres to get to safety. And then the second last day, we went through the blizzard. Nobody was on the trail. Everybody was going everywhere. It was a really strong blizzard. Some of them were chasing caribous through to the blizzard.

CO: The dogs?

AS: Yes.

CO: Aisa I have no idea how you did this. You were camping out in all these 15 days as well, right? Except for a few. You were sleeping in a tent.

AS: Yes, we have to make the tent, just put the snow blocks up on the tent. So it was okay.

CO: What was the hardest part?

AS: The hardest part was the soft snow and the blizzard on the second last day.

CO: What was the best part?

AS: The best part, it's when we hit the hard snow, everybody was flying, all the dogs were happy, running full speed. That was the best time -- hard snow.

CO: You know that three of the teams left the race, they didn't continue. Did you think about that? Was there a time when you thought you couldn't do it?

AS: No, no, no, no, no. I don't give up easily. So I just kept pushing.

CO: What kept you going?

AS: For the people watching, they're happy. We have friends and families. We were going home to the finish line and that kept me motivated.

CO: You went 450 kilometres in that race.

AS: Yes.

CO: You are way ahead, though, the next team that came across the finish line, right?

AS: Second team was three hours almost behind me. So I did pretty good this year.

CO: You did really well this year. And are all the sledders back? Did everyone get back with their dogs?

AS: Some of the teams are still here waiting for their charter to fly back home. A few teams left today -- they're home.

CO: But everybody finish the race safely.

AS: Yes, 19 finished the race safely, and they were really happy to cross the finish line.

CO: I'm sure they were. And what did you win? Did you get some kind of prize?

AS: Yeah, they gave us plane tickets, cash prize, and certificates to buy from the stores.

CO: Did you have a big celebration?

AS: Yeah, we were celebrating with our family, they were really happy for us to be back.

CO: Are you going to do it again next year?

AS: Yes, if everything goes well, I'm looking forward to race another year.

CO: Well Aisa, again, big congratulations to you.

AS: Yeah, thank you very much. And we just had a race this morning, local committee hosted the race and I won first place today.

CO: You're on a roll.

AS: Yes, I did. Another win this morning.

CO: You're amazing. Aisa it is great to talk to you. Thank you.

AS: All right. Thank you very much.

CO: Good night.

AS: Good night.

CH: Aisa Surusilak is a veteran dog sled racer and one of the winners of Nunavik's Ivakkak Race. We reached him in Puvirnituq, Nunavik.

[Music: Flute Music]

Stephen Harper

CH: Stephen Harper isn't taking Canada's calls from the White House anymore, but that doesn't mean the former prime minister has stopped taking the measure of American presidents. Mr. Harper addressed the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence today. He took the opportunity to give his take on four years of Donald Trump's foreign policy and what we can all expect from the Biden administration.

STEPHEN HARPER: I don't know Donald Trump personally at all, but we have a lot of mutual friends. But I would say that Joe Biden is two great strengths. One is he is a really engaging personality, very open, easy to dialogue with, you know, makes connections not just with friends, but frankly with opponents as well. That's a strength. The other's strength is that, you know, Joe Biden, his area of expertise is actually foreign and security policy. That's where he spent his entire career in the sense that concentrating -- I can tell you he is a genuine expert in the area. On the other hand, I would just caution that -- that all said, I've never been able to discern what Joe Biden's overall kind of foreign policy or strategic philosophy is and where he really wants to take this. So the tone, there is no doubt the tone will be far better around the world and in the West than it was under Donald Trump. I think the real question is whether Joe Biden will really ultimately have a foreign policy that I think understands what foreign policy is really all about. Foreign policy is fundamentally all about understanding your security, prosperity, and value interests in the world and how those define your allies and your partners and your friends versus your enemies, your opponents and your rivals, and calibrating your foreign policy appropriately. And, you know, there's an awful lot of people who are experts in foreign and strategic policy, but who just do not fundamentally understand -- by the way, Trump did understand this notwithstanding is his unevenness. Trump did understand that, you know, fundamentally you have friends and you have people who are not friends, and you align your foreign policy and your interests around that. So the question is whether Biden will bring ultimately that expertise will turn into that kind of clarity. If it does -- look, I think as Canadians, I think as the world, but especially as Canadians, we need the United States to be an effective multilateral global leader in the world. We need it for economic interests, for our security interests, and we need it for the propagation of our democratic and human rights values. Will it get back to that? At this point, I don't know.

CH: That was former Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaking to the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence earlier today.

[Music: Pop Music]

Grammys

CH: Looks like Grammys weekend will be a weekend off for The Weeknd from here on out. The music industry's biggest awards will be handed out on Sunday, but one of the biggest stars, The Weeknd, will not be amongst the recipients because he's not amongst the nominees. That's despite having a pretty okay year career wise with adequate moments like having the biggest streaming week for an R & B album ever, doing the halftime show at some sports game called the Super Bowl, and making music history with the first song ever to spend an entire year in the Billboard Hot 100's Top 10...that kind of thing. The Canadian singer and songwriter has let it be known that he will no longer allow his label to submit his music for consideration, "because of the secret committees." Which sounds conspiratorial but is actually pretty accurate. Like many awards shows, it's less than appetising to see how the decision making sausage is made. The Grammys have been called on the carpet both for the overrepresentation of sausages at the party and the persistent under appreciation of Black performers. As The New York Times noted, the last Black artist to win album of the year was Herbie Hancock 13 years ago, and that was for a tribute to Joni Mitchell, which really does speak volumes. The Weeknd has said being overlooked felt like a sucker punch, but it's the bigger picture bias that really snubs him the wrong way.

March 12, 2021 Episode Transcript

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