Note: Transcripts may contain errors. If you wish to re-use all, or part of, a transcript, please contact CBC for permission. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. Copyright © CBC 2018

The AIH Transcript for October 10, 2018

Hosts: Carol Off and Jeff Douglas

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello, I'm Carol Off.

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

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight…

CO: The coast is cleared. Our guest is among tens of thousands of Floridians who were forced to leave their homes. Now all she can do is watch Hurricane Michael do its worst.

JD: A clean break. After this week's disturbing warning about climate change Denmark's government says it will do what is necessary. But opposition politicians say it's not necessarily enough.

CO: A chronology of cruelty. A horrifying timeline emerges in the case of Jamal Khashoggi, involving a team of agents who brutally executed the journalist inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

JD: Prime Suspect numbers. A professor in Belgium has questions for Rwandan President Paul Kagame, After tracing the serial numbers on the missiles used in the assassination that sparked the genocide.

CO: His raisins d'être. With amazing ingenuity and remarkable patience, the late animation pioneer Will Vinton gave life to the inanimate and gave soul to the California Raisins.

JD: And…Up for it. Marlon Blake was one of six people to get their Canadian citizenship yesterday while extremely high — 356 metres above the ground to be exact, on Toronto's sky-scraping CN tower. As It Happens: The Wednesday Edition. Radio would have thought they'd have to focus, but they were all over the place.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Hurricane Michael, Khashoggi timeline, Citizenship oath

Hurricane Michael

Guest: Linda Albrecht

SOUNDCLIP

HIGH SPEED WINDS BLOWING

JD: Those are the howling winds of Hurricane Michael crashing into Florida's panhandle today at speeds nearing 250 kilometres-per-hour. Hurricane Michael has been downgraded to a Category 3 storm but was a Category 4 when it touched down in the area. More than 100,000 Floridians were under mandatory evacuation orders and they can only watch what is happening to their homes from afar. Linda Albrecht is one of those evacuees. She's a local councilwoman in Mexico Beach, Florida. We reached her in The Villages, Florida.

CO: Ms. Albrect, what are you hearing about what Hurricane Michael is doing to Mexico Beach today?

LINDA ALBRECT: It's devastating. It has come — the strength has just popped up. A week ago it wasn't even a thunderstorm until Friday. And we're all shaking our heads saying ‘How did this happen?’ And it's like a nightmare. How did this happen so quickly?

CO: Well, how did it happen? How were there no warnings? What are you hearing?

LB: Well it was a thunderstorm last Friday south of the Yucatan and then Thursday morning it was a tropical storm and I was not concerned at that point. But I have a number of boat captains that became very concerned and they said ‘This is one that we need to watch.’ And by Sunday morning it was almost panic-ville with everybody I was talking to. I started to pack up things to take just in case the house wouldn't be there, knowing in my mind that it was probably going to be a Category 3 and I would come back to a house. Some shingles might be off but I'd come back to a house. But there's no way I expected what happened. And I was just watching pictures on TV And it's like a death, it's like a death. I know people say ‘Oh, it's just a house and they're just things.’ That's true. My husband passed away last November, so everything I took it was because as I'd look at it that's a good memory of him. That's a good memory we had.

CO: I'm so sorry.

LB: Everybody is feeling that way. Tears — I don't know how many buckets of tears we have all shed because you have to start from scratch. Where do you begin?

CO: Do you believe that your house is lost?

LB: I have no idea. I live right directly across from the beach. There is nothing in front of my house. So I will be the first to get hit in this area. So I don't know, I'm looking at the pictures and the TV just recently and the flooding is overwhelming. I really don't know what's left. I do have a friend that’s going to try to get to the house. And I said just take a picture. I said I don't care what's left. Just take a picture so I can mentally prepare when I go back. In my mind I'm thinking it's going to be a warzone.

CO: They say this is a hurricane, a monster unlike any other. Nothing like this has ever hit the panhandle before.

LB: I know, I know and one of the channels kept saying ‘This is just an historic hurricane.’ I kept saying ‘I don't want to be part of this historic event.’ But, I mean, we’re a tiny town, we’ll be wiped out. If it's as bad as what people are saying it is, we will be wiped out.

CO: And what are you hearing from people? Aside from what — the news can say what it wants but what are you actually hearing from people on the ground that you know?

LB: Well, it was a Cat 4 with 156 miles-an-hour — that's pretty darn strong. I do know that a couple of businesses have already gone. One of my friends’ house on the beach is gone. I can't even fathom what I'm going to go home to. God willing, I hope I am wrong, but you have to prepare for the worst and pray that you will be surprised.

CO: Given how little notice you had, you said this came from a storm to a monster, you evacuated, did everybody do so? Did you leave people behind you didn't want to evacuate?

LB: Beginning at 6:00a.m. Tuesday it was mandatory evacuation. Most of the people left. I do know that our police chief, in the afternoon on Tuesday, went around to all the homes. Anybody that they talked to and if they were staying he asked for a name of kin and a phone number and then said ‘Please put your Social Security number and your left in permanent marker.’ And I can tell you, that, for my friends who were staying, changed their mind after they heard that. They said ‘That scared to death,’ and they left, which I am thankful they did. How many remained? I don't know yet. I don't have that count. And I'm just hoping and praying that anybody who did stay is OK.

CO: I mean, there was so little warning about this and it just came sort of out of nowhere. Why do you think that's the case? Because they were asleep at the switch or do you think this is the new normal?

LB: Oh no, it just formed, it just formed. Most of the hurricanes begin in Africa. And if you live in a hurricane area you're going to be tuned in to — and seriously, weekly I would go on the internet and look if there's any new things out there. And so when you see something in Africa you're mentally prepared as you see it traveling, whether it goes up the Atlantic coast it starts to go in the Caribbean. But this thunderstorm, it just formed. So it's nobody's fault, nobody dropped the ball. It just formed, and when it formed it became very, very strong very quickly. And the waters in the Gulf were so warm up by us that it just added more fuel to the fire.

CO: How long will it take to rebuild your community, do you think?

LB: Who knows? That's a question that many of us asked. What do we do next? What do we do? What's the first step we do? You don't know.

CO: Ms. Albrect, I really hope that your house is OK, and you're able to recover what you need. And I appreciate you speaking with us. Thank you.

LB: Well, thank you so much for calling and bless you. Thank you.

CO: Take care. Bye-bye.

JD: We reached Linda Albrecht in The Villages, Florida. She left her home in Mexico Beach, Florida under a mandatory evacuation order yesterday.

[Music: Ambient Tones]

Khashoggi timeline

Guest: David D. Kirkpatrick

JD: Top Turkish security officials say they are positive Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated, and that the Saudi dissidents’ death was the result of a direct order from the Royal leadership in Riyadh. New reports out of Turkey allege that a team of 15 Saudi agents flew into Istanbul last Tuesday, executed Mr. Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate and then flew back to Riyadh the same day. Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, have denied the allegations and maintained that Mr. Khashoggi left the consulate freely. The New York Times however, has confirmed many of the details that Turkish pro-government media have published. David D. Kirkpatrick is an international correspondent for The New York Times. We reached him in Ankara.

CO: David, first of all, what makes Turkish officials so sure that Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated?

DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK: Well, that's a very good question. They are very sure, but they are yet to disclose the specific evidence, nor have they made the accusation on the record publicly. So what we have is a pattern of statements from anonymous officials and leaks that paint a portrait of the Saudi operation that the Turks say killed Jamal Khashoggi, but we haven't yet seen the specific evidence to prove it.

CO: You have one unnamed Turkish official who compared this to the film Pulp Fiction. What did he mean by that?

DK: Well, I should warn your listeners that it is not for the squeamish. What he means is that according to the Turkish government a team of 15 Saudi operatives flew in on October 2nd in two private planes. That team came with the intention of ambushing and killing Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate, that they did it within two hours after his arrival, that they brought with them an autopsy specialist to help with the aftermath. They also brought a bonesaw and that they proceeded to dismember him in order to remove his body in pieces from the consulate. So that's what he means when he says it's like Pulp Fiction.

CO: You describe the sequence of events, the two planes arriving at different times. Mr. Khashoggi arrives at the consulate around 1:00p.m., never comes out again. And a few hours later vehicles are leaving the consulate with diplomatic license plates including, a Mercedes Vito van with darkened windows. Why do you think Turkish authorities think that Mr. Khashoggi was in that van?

DK: Well, the van is getting a lot of attention today in the Turkish media here in Ankara. Everyone is showing footage of the van moving out. I suppose it looks big and capacious and you could put the boxes in it. Beyond that I don't know. The bottom line is, he was never seen alive after he went into the consulate, and the Saudis have welcomed journalists into the conflict for a kind of show to say ‘Look, no Khashoggi, he’s not here. We don't have him.’ They continue to insist that they have no idea what happened to him, that he left freely and that they're as concerned as anyone about his well-being.

CO: The stories that are coming out, the leaks that are coming from Turkish officials have gone to different media including Sabah. The information that you are getting, what you've been able to glean from this situation, have the Saudis been sloppy in this? I mean, you'd think with all those people involved and an order that that is said to have come from on high if you have that many people involved. Were they sloppy or did they just not care if you found out?

DK: You know, it's a fine line between negligent sloppiness and willful sloppiness. For whatever reason it was done carelessly. I should say, at this point it's just the accusations of the Turkish and they haven’t made these accusations by name. But it may be that the Saudi government just feels like they can act with impunity. After all, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman since he consolidated power over the kingdom, has done a string of things which really troubled the West and appear to have been misguided at best, including holding a couple hundred of his country's richest people in the Ritz Carlton against their will, temporarily abducting the prime minister of Lebanon and waging a truly horrific war in Yemen that has been going on now for three years. And yet after all that, he's welcomed pretty warmly by business leaders across the United States and the White House. So he may feel like the criticism couldn't get any worse or he may feel like ‘Nothing can stop me.’

CO: But why would it matter so much to them? Presuming that this is what happened, why would it matter to them so much to get rid of this man?

DK: Why indeed? He for years was a kind of a mouthpiece for the Saudi establishment. He was someone that a lot of Western diplomats and journalists would turn to get a kind of cogent rendition of the royal family's perspective. And as a critic he style himself as a kind of loyal opposition, somebody who wasn't against the monarchy or the idea of the monarchy but just thought they were making some bad decisions. It may be that his particular credibility built up over all those years or his prominence as now a Washington Post contributor were irksome to them. Maybe they wanted to teach a lesson. But it's really a puzzle, in part because it's foreseeable that a lot of western journalists and Western diplomats are going to be alarmed at Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance.

CO: Given that there is no love lost between the Turkish administration and the Saudi royal family. So can we really trust what the Turks are saying? I mean, don't they they have it out against the Saudi royal family?

DK: There is a kind of unfriendliness between the two governments but there's also a kind of friendliness. Both sides have been careful to maintain cordial relations. They're both important regional players and I think they both feel a need to continue to get along. And really, it is quite inconvenient for the Turks and for President Erdogan to have that rupture now because Saudi is a pretty big trading partner and the economy's in trouble already. So there's not much incentive for him to be picking a fight.

CO: We know in Canada what it is to take on Mohammad bin Salman and have had quite a dust up with him. In fact, Mr. Khashoggi wrote about that. But why doesn't the rest of the world respond to this? We’re seeing U.S. President Donald Trump saying he's concerned about Mr. Khashoggi, he hopes it will all sort itself out. What message is that sending to the Saudi royal family?

DK: Well, I think today President Trump has spoken a little more strongly and a little more supportively of the Turks. So the pressure from the U.S. is rising a little bit. At the same time, President Trump has made clear that he has a high regard for Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The president's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, has really embraced Mohammad Bin Salman and Saudi Arabia as a partner. At the same time, the Turkish government of Erdogan are not super popular in the U.S. domestically, so it's not an easy decision for the Trump administration.

CO: But we're sure that — unlike what the Saudis are saying they know nothing about this and we don't know what happened to him — he's not going to show up alive?

DK: You never say never. But every day gets less and less likely. And it's really hard for me to believe that the Saudis are keeping him someplace locked up, and it doesn't make a lot of sense that he's kind of a runaway himself. Is he hiding someplace? How would that work out? So I'm not optimistic about Jamal Khashoggi.

CO: David, I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

DK: Good talking to you.

CO: Good night.

JD: David D. Kirkpatrick is an international correspondent for The New York Times and the author of Into The Hands of the Soldiers. We reached him in Ankara. Before Jamal Khashoggi disappeared he was living in the United States under self-imposed exile after speaking out against Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. He wrote columns for The Washington Post and did frequent media interviews, including one with the BBC in the fall of 2017 where he criticized Saudi Arabia for its quote “one-man-rule.”

SOUNDCLIP

JAMAL KHASHOGGI: It was very insulting to order a writer to go silent. But I'm more worried than sour — worried for my country. I have made it in my life. I can retire here in America happily and just write a about unimportant issues and go on with my life. But I’m worried for my children, for my grandchildren. What worries me the most is the one-man-rule, we need to reform but one-man-rule, as I said earlier, is bad. It always goes wrong in any country, whether we are talking about Saudi Arabia or Germany or Iraq.

JD: Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi speaking to the BBC in the fall of 2017.

[Music: Somber Piano]

Citizenship oath

Guest: Marlon Blake

JD: For many people that moment of first officially calling yourself a Canadian citizen is thrill enough. But at one citizenship event yesterday organizers really upped the ante, if you will. Marlon Blake is originally from Jamaica. He took part in yesterday's event. As is customary, he had to take the oath and sing O Canada. As is not at all customary, his citizenship ceremony took place 356 metres up in the air. We reached Marlon Blake in Toronto.

CO: Marlon, first of all, congratulations on becoming a Canadian citizen.

MARLON BLAKE: Thank you. Thank you.

CO: Why did you want to make Canada your home?

MB: I guess, because Canada is a growing economy. There are lots of opportunities. The country is very diverse and over the last 10 years or more Canada has an immigration system where they welcome new immigrants. So those are some of the reasons why I thought Canada would be a very good place to live.

CO: And when did you come here from Jamaica?

MB: Well, I came in April 2014.

CO: Did you bring a family?

MB: No, I came alone.

CO: Have you started a family since you came?

MB: No. My luck is not that good.

[LAUGHTER]

CO: All right. Eligible bachelor alert here.

MB: Yeah, yeah.

CO: Yeah, but you became a citizen in style, didn't you?

MB: Yes, yes, yes. It was amazing. It was better than I had anticipated.

CO: All right. Tell people, describe how you did your citizenship ceremony, where you did your oath?

MB: Well, I did on the CN Tower Edgewalk. We were actually outside in the open. We were standing on a grill on the edge of the tower, which is over 1,160 above ground. And the guide asked us to actually lean back and just barely stand on the edge, literally with the tip of our toes on the edge, or leaning back. And then the minister and the judge they read the oath and then we repeated it after them and then we sung the national anthem. It was great.

CO: OK. Let's just walk through this again. So you're at the top of the CN Tower. You've got some kind of harness on, right here? I presume.

MB: Yes, yes, yes. Absolutely.

CO: Then with his harness on you lean back?

MB: Lean back, totally back. So I felt like I was actually in the air.

CO: Were you not freaking out?

MB: Well, initially actually the asked us to do a practice run first, right, so individually — and then we did it as a group after.

CO: There were six of you who were doing your citizens oath yesterday?

MB: Yes.

CO: So, I mean, you know what people say that it's nervous-making enough just to be doing this. It's memorable enough just to do it. Why did you want to do it at the top of the CN Tower leaning out into space?

MB: Well, actually I didn't know —I wasn't sure exactly how they were going to do it. That part actually took me by surprise.

CO: You didn't know? You didn’t know what you signed up for?

MB: I didn't know that we were going to lean back, right. I thought we would just stand, but then they asked us to lean back. But it was fine because by the time we were out there for at least 10-15 minutes. So before we actually went out they actually did the safety procedure test checking all the stuff. So they checked to ensure that everything is secure. So that helped us to get a lot more comfortable.

CO: I mean, people who do this citizenship oath, I’ve not done it but I know people who have, it's quite a memorable day in any event. So you didn't have to do much to make it a special one for you. Why did you agree to be one of these people?

MB: Well, actually I went to do the test in September. And then after the test they call they called me for the interview. So when I went and gave her my documents and my ID, while she was reviewing them then she asks me if I'm an adventurous person. So I said yes. Then she asked me if I've ever done bungee jumping. So I told her no. She asked me if I would do it. I told her ‘I’m not sure.’ And then she asked me if I've ever did the CN Tower Edgewalk, and I told her no. And then she asked me if I was interested. So I Told her, ‘Yes, I'm okay with it.’

CO: Who were the other people you were out there with?

MB: Well, they were from India. One was from India, one was from Iran, Ukraine, one was Filipino, one was Armenian.

CO: And you're from Jamaica?

MB: And I'm from Jamaica.

CO: Quite a mix.

MB: Yes. Yes, all of us were from different countries. It was very diverse.

CO: Women and men?

MB: Yes, it was four women and two men. And I think maybe that's what made me such a huge difference because we were all doing it together. So I think that helped us to all get comfortable and relaxed and it help us to calm the nerves.

CO: The Canadian way.

MB: Yes.

CO: Marlon, welcome. I'm glad you’ve become a Canadian citizen. And it is great to talk to you. Thanks so much.

MB: OK. Thanks Carol.

CO: Bye.

JD: Marlon Blake is one of six new Canadian citizens who took their oath at the top, and on the outside, of the CN Tower in Toronto. And that's where we reached him. In Toronto, that is.

[Music: Ambient Beeps]

Brown booby ferry

JD: One witness said quote “He looked really tired and was just kind of sitting there. He wasn't going anywhere.” That describes, in fact, about 90 per cent of the adult passengers on any ferry in Canada in the late evening. But this guy stuck out. He was clearly from out of town. And just from the look of them people were surprised he hadn't flown to Prince Edward Island, instead of hopping on the boat from Caribou, Nova Scotia. Plus his feet, they were weird. The witness said quote “They were webbed and they were large. It had like Pelican feet.” But the passenger on that Nova Scotia to P.E.I. ferry on Sunday night was not a pelican, but a much rarer visitor to the Maritimes a single Brown booby. They're not from around those parts. They tend to stick to tropical locations — Jamaica, Cuba the Gulf of Mexico — especially in October. But as Janelle McCleod, who is with the P.E.I. Wildlife Federation told CBC quote “It's a little concerning that they are this far north, but maybe with all the hurricanes and bad weather in the states he just kinda lost his way and ended up up here,” unquote. That's one odd thing. The other is that the Brown booby landed on the ferry, took it over Woods Islands, P.E.I., got off, stayed overnight and then took the early morning boat packed to Nova Scotia, whereupon it took off. And one expert says it may have been the first time ever that a Brown booby ever spent any time on P.E.I. — definitely the first one that took the ferry over. I hope he enjoyed it, but I understand why you had to move on. When you're a rare specimen in a foreign place you have to watch out for booby traps.

Part 2: Denmark climate, Will Vinton obit

Denmark climate

Guest: Rasmus Nordquist

JD: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its latest dire warning about the state of the planet this week. And yet, around the world most countries aren't taking the big steps scientists say are needed to cut emissions. Denmark however, said it was ready to do its part. The country revealed a 38-point plan to reduce its carbon footprint. It includes phasing out the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars by the year 2030, along with other tough pollution measures. The government also said it would pursue labelling on food packages to indicate the climate impact. But opposition parties say the new climate plan does not go far enough. Rasmus Nordquist is the member of parliament for the environment-focused The Alternative Party. We reached Mr. Nordquist in Copenhagen.

CO: Mr. Nordquist, the prime minister of your country has said this plan proves that his government is ready to fight climate change and the future can be green, he says. Do you think the measures he announces today live up to that promise?

RASMUS NORDQUIST: No. Far from it, unfortunately. I mean, what is great about this plan is finally this government is actually agreeing that we have a serious climate crisis, that we need to act. Unfortunately the right measures are not in this plan.

CO: What's missing?

RN: But missing is actually the ambition. I mean, there's good steps when it comes to transport, to cars so far. But what what's missing is basically the whole agriculture industry, which is big in Denmark. And then also how do we do get our whole idea of how to think economy, think growth and the whole issue on how to transform our society to a sustainable society.

CO: The main plank of this is to phase out the sale of old gas and diesel cars by 2030. From the point of view of other countries, the international community, this sounds like an ambitious goal. Is it not?

RN: I don't think we should measure against other countries. We should measure against the Paris agreement which we all signed up for. If we follow that, especially a country like Denmark, we need to move faster. I mean, yes, we need to phase out the diesel and gas cars. We think 2025 is a better year, but also we have to see what's in this plan is what about the hybrid, cars are they allowed for another five years as the prime minister is saying because we actually know with the UN report that we need to move fast — both in Denmark and in Canada as well.

CO: So I ‘m just going to go through some other things in this list. Phasing out, as you said, petrol, diesel cars by 2030, zero carbon emissions from your transportation from buses by 2030 in the cities, charging stations for electric cars, funding for that. No registration fees for sustainable vehicles. All these things are very difficult to happen in most countries, including Canada. There would be a lot of pushback.

RN: Yes, and there are details which have to be explained as well because it's very well presented from the Danish government. But, for example, the taxes on the cars is only for the next two years and then we have to look at how is it going. We need to make real plans to actually transform our transport sector. Denmark is very different from Canada when it comes to distances. I mean, Denmark is a small country so also we can have a transition to electric vehicles much faster than you can in Canada because of the technology here we have now for cars would actually work in Denmark.

CO: Well, okay you compare Denmark and Canada and the differences of driving are really considerable. But something that is quite similar is the distance we are, as you are, from food sources during the winter, from fresh produce or whatever. And part of the plan in Denmark is to get labels onto food in supermarkets that show its climate impact. Now this sounds like something that is ambitious as well, is it not?

RN: It is. It is ambitious but it very much depends on how it's being done is this a real declaration so you can actually compare, for example, red meat compared to vegetables so you can actually do a real comparison when you're doing your grocery shopping. And so it depends on how it's being done. We are very positive about doing declarations on food because we need to change the way we are eating as well. We need to eat much less meat and much more vegetables. It's an interesting idea and it depends on how it's being introduced.

CO: The issue — you say that you don't care what other countries are doing, it's what you want Denmark to do. But at the same time, is there not a problem if you are way ahead of other countries? I mean, we hear this in Canada we hear this elsewhere saying ‘Well, why should we be way out there doing something when other countries aren't doing the same thing? So do you expect some pushback from Danes on this?

RN: No, actually we can see a population which actually say now that climate is top of the agenda. There's a lot of things saying we need to to move on this, and if everybody's sitting waiting for somebody else ‘Why should we do something when Trump is leaving the Paris Agreement? Why should we do this when Canada is not doing it?’ We need to say to ourselves, and especially as politicians, and I'm saying this again would do with the U.N. report in mind, ‘What can we do? How big steps can we take?’ And then let us be an inspiration and also have a case other countries can learn from.

CO: But if you're saying Denmark isn't going far enough where does that leave, well you just mentioned Cannes and the U.S., where there's a president that denies that climate change is even happening. So where are we?

RN: I was just about to use a word that I don’t think you can use on Canadian radio. But it is serious now. But also the positive side to it is actually in the report, it says we have an open window act now and we need citizens to tell their governments, their politicians, their elected politicians, ‘You need to act now.’ I mean, because we have to do all the difficult things.

CO: Just out of curiosity, you got me wondering what is the word that you decided you couldn't say on Canadian radio?

RN: It was just, we’re f***ed.

[LAUGHTER]

CO: Okay, got it. Mr. Nordquist, thank you.

RN: You're welcome.

CO: Bye.

RN: Nye.

JD: Rasmus Nordquist is a Danish opposition member of parliament. We reached him in Copenhagen. And we have more on Denmark's climate plan on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Industrial Bass]

Humboldt Broncos book

JD: It has been six months since the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan left 16 people dead and there's already a book about it — against the wishes of the victims’ families. A former Saskatchewan coroner named Barry Heath has published a book about the hockey team and the crash. It relies entirely on media interviews because not a single family agreed to speak with him. Michelle Straschnitzki is the mother of Ryan Straschnitzki, who survived the crash but was left paralyzed from the waist down. Here's what she told CBC in Saskatchewan.

SOUNDCLIP

MICHELLE STRASCHNITSKI: Although he did reach out to most of the family members, the general consensus among the families was ‘No not right now. We're not comfortable doing this. This isn't the time and we're still all dealing with so much.’ And, you know, it's a lot of grief and tragedy we’re trying to work through and for him to try and exploit this at this point it seems a little opportunistic. It's not appropriate and it's not your story to tell. He had reached out, I think, it was maybe two months after the accident, I think, that's when he sent the letter out. I can't quite remember but the timing was ridiculous in our opinion. Of course all the information that he has used he said he got from previous interviews and things that he's read and picked up from the Internet and that, so it's pretty much fair game. But our concern is that some of it might be inaccurate. For him to just take that information and basically rewrite it his own way, it's very disrespectful to our families.

JD: Michelle Straschnitzki, her son Ryan is a survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. Barry Heath, the author of a new book about the crash says the proceeds of the book will go to hockey bursaries for players in need.

[Music: Oboes]

Will Vinton obit

Guest: Mary Vinton Folberg

SOUNDCLIP

CALIFORNIA RAISINS SONG PLAYING

JD: In the 1980s that commercial was pretty awesome. It was an ad for California raisins and performing that song was a group of singing dancing raisins. They became stars, those raisins. But the thing was they could only dance because of Will Vinton. Mr. Vinton, an Academy Award-winning claymation filmmaker who has been called a master of stop motion animation, died earlier this month. He was 70 years old. In 2011 Will Vinton gave a speech at the Rocky Mountain College of Art Design. He spoke about the beginning of his career, a time when animation was predominantly 2D. He was an architecture student and one of his inspirations was Spanish architect Gaudí.

SOUNDCLIP

WILL VINTON: I realized that if I really wanted to be inspired or wanted to design like Gaudí, I had to throw away the T-Square and the straight edge and grab some plasticine clay. And I started basically molding and designing by way of sculpting, as opposed to designing by way of T-Square and straight edge. And it was really a case of the filmmaking that I was already into, making short films at the time. And the interest in clay that sort of crossed paths for early experiments that I found astounding, that I found amazing. And so it was quite innocent in some respects. I mean, I was doing pixelation experiments and things with the stop motion cameras at the time anyway, but I kind of innocently it wasn't like inspired to do stop motion all of a sudden. I just sort of had these tools and started playing with this with Powells, architecture student Powells, and the results were amazing sometimes. I mean, things that — simple inanimate lumps of clay somehow coming to life.

JD: Filmmaker and animator Will Vinton speaking back in 2011. Mr. Vinton died this month at 70 years old. Mary Vinton Folberg is Mr. Vinton's sister. We reached her in Portland, Oregon.

CO: Mary, first of all, I'm sorry for your loss.

MARY VINTON FOLBERG: Thank you very much. I miss him already. He was a delightful human being who always lit up the room. He was always so optimistic and so positive.

CO: We could hear that, and we heard his voice just now and his enthusiasm for his work. And what was it like for you to hear him describe what he was inspired by?

MVF: Well, I've heard him talk that we all my life, all his life. When he was a little kid he was always inventing things and if tools or designing a new boogie board or talking mom into assisting him with an upholstery job on a car after he started driving. He was the proverbial do-it-yourselfer, who would always do it himself in a different way.

CO: That short film that won your brother an Oscar it was called Closed Mondays, and I know he worked on that with a partner, sculptor Bob Gardner. What was their relationship like? I understand they worked together on that project in the basement.

MVF: Well, I think they were just excited about what might happen and the result of what they were doing. Talk about Claymation, clay animation and stop-motion, it's just a tedious business. At the time they were playing with what clay could do if you sculpt, click, sculpt, click, sculpt, click. And they did that for hours a day.

CO: What do you mean sculpt, click? What is that?

MVF: You move the clay and then you take a photograph, and then you move it a little more and let's say on the face, the lips, and you photograph it and you move it again. And pretty soon you have a smile that is in motion.

CO: Such a long process, I mean, months and months of this, right?

MVF: Oh, yes. And I had small children at that time and they would come over and just be infatuated with what they were doing. But you can’t have little kids around stop-motion studio moving anything or your shots are garbage.

CO: Trying to get kids from playing and saying ‘This is fun. Let me get my hands on this clay.’

MVF: He’d say ‘Don't let the kids in here.’

[LAUGHTER]

CO: And from that that award-winning the Oscar-winning short film, what were the projects he moved on to from them then?

MVF: He moved on to some commercials he did a Rainier Beer ad and then he and Bob split. They went their separate directions and then he developed Will Vinton Productions and started doing more commercial work.

CO: Let’s go back to California Raisins. There was a lot of response to that, right? Many people were — famous people, including Michael Jackson — wanting to get involved in that. What was the call he got from Michael Jackson?

MVF: He was staying on his boat one night down in the Willamette River. And he had been in touch with Michael, Michael and called him and gotten a hold of him and wanted to know would he be willing to do to animate him and work with an animated project. And it was funny because he was staying the boat one night and Michael calls at two o'clock in the morning. ‘Hi, Will I have a new idea.’ And he would talk until 4:00 or 5:00a.m. It was really an experience. And, of course, Will had to visit Neverland and they enjoyed, very much, working together.

CO: And now you mentioned the studio rather built, at its peak 400 people worked there. But what happened though? Because this shareholder, the chairman of Nike, Phil Knight, forced him out, right?

MVF: Yeah. I think he had probably not very good legal advice. I think they may have gotten a bit overambitious and Mr. Knight is very wealthy and had a stable of lawyers that were probably better than Will’s. It was almost overnight and he called me and he said ‘I think I've lost the studio.’ And it was hard for us. He was much more calm about it than some of the rest of us. We just felt it was unjust.

CO: But what did it mean to him to lose it?

MVF: Oh, this is his life’s work. He had started in the early 70s and Will Vinton Productions began in ‘75. And he had, by that time, by 2003 when this happened, he had produced a lot of films, he was known all over the world, he was lecturing, he was working on animation projects in England. And suddenly he was without the studio that he'd build.

CO: But did he continue to do his work, his animation?

MVF: He was absolutely, I mean, the one thing he was very upbeat. I mean, he has always been so optimistic all his life. After the studio he just kept working on projects and even when he was hurting and he was on a new chemotherapy protocol and his whole body was being racked by the medications that were just hard on him — he just would soldier on. He just worked all the time. And I can remember talking to him two weeks ago and his body was beginning to not function well and he was still so optimistic. It was just his nature. It was an incredible quality.

CO: Mary, what an extraordinary man.. And again, I'm so sorry for your loss, but I appreciate you telling us about your brother.

MVF: Oh, you're very, very welcome. I'm glad for people to know about him. He was a gem.

CO: Take care.

JD: Mary Vinton Folberg is the sister of filmmaker will Vinton who has died at the age of 70. We reached Ms. Vinton Folberg in Portland, Oregon. And if you'd like to see some photographs of Mr. Vinton's work or hear that interview again or share, all that's on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Xylophone]

Fat Bear Week

JD: Every year at Thanksgiving millions of creatures eat too much turkey or ham and then shovel some pumpkin pie on top, and then we collapse into an arm chair chair, loosen our belts a couple of notches and fall into a sweaty sleep for several hours waking only to moan ‘Oh, I ate so much.’ Some of us did that this week, but other creatures have been doing that kind of heroic eating every day since July in preparation for a nap that will last about six months — and they haven't whined once. They are bears. And for the past seven days these gluttonous heroes have been getting the recognition they deserve from us human amateurs. And now a champion of champions has been crowned at the triumphant conclusion of Fat Bear Week. Fat Bear week is an annual event run by Katmai National Park in Alaska. It chooses 13 of the park's 2,200 brown bears and asks the public to vote on which is plumped up most majestically to prep for hibernation. Beginning in July, Katmai’s bears start chowing down on salmon and they don't stop. It is called hyperphagia, and it's necessary because they lose one third of their body mass while hibernating. So the park's competition draws attention to bear health by glorifying bear girth. Yesterday, a winner was named — bear 409 — Beadnose. She is breathtaking. And the park points out that she quote “emancipated her two cubs early in the summer” unquote so she could spend the bulk of her time on her bulk, so she's ready to be unconscious now. And after months of impressive personal growth she will not be a light sleeper.

Part 3: Rwanda assassination, Harrod's shopper, Abandoned lion club

Rwanda assassination

Guest: Filip Reyntjens

JD: There has been a dramatic discovery about the double assassination that sparked the Rwandan genocide. In April of 1994, two missiles struck the jet carrying the presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi. In the months that followed, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans — mostly Tutsis — were murdered. Now, a Belgian researcher has found evidence about the origins of those missiles. His discovery is raising fresh questions about the responsibility of former rebel leader and now Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Filip Reyntjens teaches law and politics at the University of Antwerp. And we reached him in Antwerp, Belgium.

CO: Professor Reyntjens, what you new light does your discoveries shed on the assassination of the former president of Rwanda?

FILIP REYNTJENS: Well, it at least strongly suggests — and more than that actually I think it's almost a smoking gun — it suggests that the Rwanda Patriotic Front, the then rebel movement that's in power today, has committed this attack against the Habyarimana’s plane, and as we know, this has been the trigger to the genocide. It hasn't been the cause of the genocide but certainly it triggered it.

CO: You're referring to, of course, the leader of that and the leader of the country is Paul Kagame, who is a bit of a darling of the West. So what problems does this present for him with what you've discovered?

FP: Well, I think it's politically uncomfortable, of course. It's a crime obviously, but I don't see him being prosecuted for it, I wouldn't know where he would be prosecuted, certainly not in Rwanda. But it really is apolitical embarrassment in addition to a number of other things that are known about the nature of the regime. It has been very successful in economic terms. It has good technocratic and bureaucratic governance, but the situation of human rights in Rwanda is extremely bad. It's a totally closed political landscape. There's no opposition, it's a strongly authoritarian regime.

CO: I want to get into the details of what you discovered about these missiles. Can you tell us what you learned and why it matters?

FP: Well, first of all, we knew the identity, the serial numbers of four surface-to-air missiles, SA-16 missiles that had been in the hands of the RPF. Two were used during the attack. I say, we know, we suppose they were in their hands. Two of those were used in the attack against the plane. One was found in ‘91 on the front line and had not been used, and a fourth one was discovered just two years ago. Now we have these serial numbers. What I have done is to try and lay my hands on Ugandan missile stock-lists, this has been quite difficult because people in Uganda, in Kampala had to help me taking photographs of a number of those documents. What I find is serial numbers in Uganda stock-lists that are extremely close to the ones we know were in the RPF position. Let me give you just one example. One of the missiles used during the attack against the plane has a serial number 04835. And what I find in Ugandans stock list is 04831 — 32, 33, 34 — and, of course, 35 it's not in that list because it has been used during the attack against the plane. Now I have four lists like this of serial numbers that are clearly clusters of numbers and they all match in the same way. So this shows that the missiles used during the attack against the plane came from Ugandan's stocks and obviously they were given by the Ugandan army to the RPF, which the Ugandans were strongly supporting during the 1994 civil war.

CO: Just on its own this would not be as significant as it is given all the other little bits and dribs and drabs people have been pulling together, mostly you, over the years. What other information that leads to the same conclusion you have?

FP: Well, there has been over the years a lot of information pointing towards the RPF as the author of the attack against the plane. A number of former RPF people say so, and they say so in a great detail. They are not just alleging in general terms that the RPF did it, but they describe in detail how the missiles were transferred from the RPF headquarters in the north of the country to Kigali, the capital city. There are then descriptions of how they were taken from the RPF’s contingent to the airport area, and more precisely, a valley close to the airport. There have been a number of affidavits sworn, particularly again, by former RPF military to the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. So there is a lot of circumstantial evidence already. But that was mainly testimonial evidence. This is a material fact and I have been insisting on the fact that this material thing needed to be found out because it's stronger than testimonies.

CO: You say that this evidence as it’s being gathered pointing to Paul Kagame and the RPF as having been allegedly responsible for shooting down the plane and launching the genocide. You say that he's never going to be brought to trial in Rwanda. Is there any other jurisdiction that's looking into it?

FP: Well, yes there is one actually. There has been a complaint filed in France at the end of the 1990s by family members of the French crew that were killed during the plane attack. And that case has been pending for a very long time. But that inquiry was closed some time ago and file now with the public prosecutor in Paris. So, technically speaking, a trial in France is still possible. Now the commission, of course, if the French decide to prosecute, the question will be whether Rwanda will be willing to extradite that person. Actually in the French inquiry there are actually nine people and most of them, or almost all of them, are military officers in the current army.

CO: So you’re raising all these questions about Paul Kagame’s government, but at the same time internationally, wel,l Canada and France have strong diplomatic relations with him. Canada has now abandoned Michaëlle Jean’s bid for a new term as head of the Francophonie, and now President Kagame’s is lieutenent is going to take that job. So should Canada be reconsidering its relationship with Rwanda?

FP: Well, not just Canada — other countries or the Francophonie should look at this more closely as well. Particularly because the recent Bamako Declaration, which spells out rules about how countries, member states should run their affairs — and those rules include things like democracy and human rights. And those two things are perfectly absent in Rwanda.

CO: We will leave it there. Professor Reyntjens, thank you.

FP: My pleasure.

JD: Filip Reyntjens is a professor in law and politics of the University of Antwerp. And we reached him in Antwerp, Belgium.

[Music: Whimsical Bells]

Harrod's shopper

Guest: Duncan Hames

JD: Britain's National Crime Agency reveals the name of a woman who made some suspicious expenditures. She's the wife of a banker who's in prison for fraud. And if you want to know what constitutes "suspicious", well — she spent 27 million dollars Canadian at Harrods department store.

CO: Mr. Hames, how did Zamira Hajiyeva come to the attention of anti-fraud investigators in the UK?

DUNCAN HAMES: Well, the National Crime Agency here in the United Kingdom were preparing this case to be the first case of the new ‘Unexplained Wealth Order’ power that they have to force people to declare how they lawfully acquired what would otherwise be unexplained wealth here in the United Kingdom.

CO: And why did she end up being number one?

DH: We don't know for sure, but it's proven to be a very useful test case for an important criteria for this power in law, which is that the individuals concerned are what are called ‘politically exposed persons’ so cronies, if you like, of ruling elites in different parts of the world. And it was whether indeed she did fall under this definition that was the basis of a legal challenge that the High Court heard. And the challenge was unsuccessful and the order stands and the case continues.

CO: What does she have to do to prove that she has this money legitimately?

DH: So under the order she now has to demonstrate that her source of wealth was lawful. And the reason why the police are suspicious is because the income of her husband was a known figure because he was a public servant and his salary was well short of 100,000 U.S. dollars a year. And yet here she is spending 16 million pounds in Harrod’s over the course of 10 years and owning a golf course as well as an 11 million pound home in one of the most expensive parts of London.

CO: I mean, it’s maybe not difficult to spend that much at Harrod’s. But how do you get to such staggering sums of spending?

DH: Well, what we do know from the court case is that she'd been issued over that time with 35 different credit cards by the State Bank that her husband ran. And some of the items that she'd purchased were extremely expensive jewelry — items of jewelry that cost as much as some people in our country would spend on their home. And in some cases went on resell the jewelry, but nonetheless it is mind boggling that someone can spend that much money.

CO: She says that her wealth comes because her husband was a legitimate businessman before he went into banking. He was independently wealthy. He ran a string of successful businesses and he became a chairman of a bank. And that would lead to considerable amount of wealth. Tell us about her husband whatever we know about where his wealth may have come from?

DH: Well, we know that he's currently serving a prison sentence in Azerbaijan for allegations that he embezzled 110 million pounds from that state bank. So you'll understand why the police here have suspicions that that account that has been given is not an accurate account of where this money came from.

CO: If this unexplained wealth order is successful what is Ms. Hajiyeva required to do?

DH: The order from the court is to account for the lawful means by which the wealth that was spent in this case was acquired. And if she fails to do that or chooses not to respond to the court order, then that will count as evidence which will assist the police in an application to cause her to forfeit these assets in particular the house and the golf club.

CO: And what about all the stuff that she bought — the jewelry, the watches, the luxury men's goods, the wine, I guess, maybe they won’t get that back — but what happens to all of that?

DH: Well, indeed none of that is the subject of the unexplained wealth order. So it's part of the evidence for the case but a freezing of these assets only applies to the house and to the golf club — and the most expensive asset that it doesn't apply to is the private jet.

CO: Is this kind of low-hanging fruit? I mean, do you think you could really go after — I understand you figure there's about maybe four or five billion pounds worth of suspicious wealth in the UK. Do you think you can actually go after some of, perhaps, bigger characters than Ms. Hajiyeva?

DH: Absolutely. And one of the key strengths of this police power, the unexplained wealth order, is that it doesn't require the kind of predicate conviction that we see in this case. So it can be used in instances where the suspect is someone who enjoys impunity from the law in their home country. It's not just designed for cases where someone may have fallen out of favor with the ruling elite, but in countries like Azerbaijan we have suggested that the president's family itself are owners of suspicious wealth in the United Kingdom. And from our point of view at Transparency International we think it's very important that in time this power is used against ruling elites that enjoy impunity in their own countries, not just those that have already fallen foul of the law, as in this case.

CO: And under this unexplained wealth order does Harrod's or do real estate agents, do banks have any responsibility to report this kind of activity?

DH: Absolutely. And these are big questions arising from this case. There are obligations under anti-money laundering regulations here in the UK on banks but on also other regulated sectors, estate agents, lawyers, accountants high-value dealers, auction houses. And we do not know yet whether any of these involved in any of these transactions filed a Suspicious Activity Report with the police. Certainly it would seem that they should have done — you know, alarm bells should be ringing when someone on a state salary is amassing huge property wealth, purchasing private jets, securing an investment Visa to invest over a million pounds. This is not conventional behaviour for public servants in countries where most people cannot afford anything like this kind of lifestyle.

CO: We'll leave it there. Mr. Hames, thank you.

DH: You're welcome.

Abandoned lion club

Guest: Peter Klaver

JD: A veterinarian in the Netherlands is surprised to get a call from Dutch police asking for his help with a baffling case: the case of an abandoned lion cub.

CO: Peter, can you tell us about the call you got from the police on Sunday? What did they tell you?

PETER KLAVER: They told me they found a small lion along the road in very weak cage and they were afraid he will escape from the cage, so they need a vet with blowpipe, dart-gun, experience with lions and everything to come as soon as possible to that place.

CO: Did you think that it was a joke, that someone was having you on when they call and say ‘We need you to come and deal with a lion cub?’

PK: It could be a joke, but when the police call you we normally don't think about jokes and you decide to go and see what's going on. But I was not sure that it was not a joke because they found another zoo and they refused to send their veterinarian because they thought it was a real joke on Sunday morning. But I decided to collect everything and see what's going on there.

CO: And when you got there what did you see?

PK: Some police cars along the road and there was a small cage in the pasture, along the road with the police, they collected some blankets and wrapped that over the cage. When I came there he was a little bit stressed but looking well, healthy. And yeah I thought it was a four-month-old lion looking around and a little bit afraid. But yeah, pretty good.

CO: This is an unusual thing, right? How often do you find lion cubs on the side of the road in Utrecht — anywhere in Holland?

PK: Never. It's my first time, I’ve now spent more than 30 years as a veterinarian for exotic animals and wildlife and I never have this before. And I was with the official from the government and the legal officer for animals and exotic animals and he had never seen that before too. So we thought it was very, very unusual to have this small lion along the road.

CO: You say that it was in a weak cage. This wasn't enclosed very well then inside this cage?

PK: No, no, it was a little bit weak for a lions, but it was a young lion so he was a baby so he had no idea how to escape. But the police officers, of course, they are very with hooligans and robbers — but not with lions. So that's why they ask the vets to come there and help them with this lion. When I have somebody in my house who wants to kill me I call the police and when they have a lion they call the vet.

CO: Did the police tell you what happened, how this lion cub ended up being on the side of the road? Do they know?

PK: No, there was a jogger making his rounds in the morning and he saw this lion along the road and he phoned the police and then they decided to call me.

CO: Now clearly it was abandoned there, right? Somebody put it in the cage, left on the side of the road. You said there were some blankets. Were those ones that the police had supplied or was the cage left with blankets?

PK: The police put the blankets in the cage. It was an abandoned area. There was a nature field on one side of the road and the other side was a pastureland so there were no houses within one kilometre. So we think — yeah we’re 90 per cent sure it's somebody who had this lion illegally at home — because it's forbidden in Holland to have a lion in your house — and wanted to get rid of his illegal lion and then put it along the road to be sure that somebody can find it.

CO: What did police want you to do?

PK: Yeah. Be there with your blowpipe in case it wanted to run away or to break out. And I found a rehabilitation centre for big cats and they came about two hours later and they took care of him very well. And today they did an investigation on its health — the blood samples were very good and they found out that it was a male. And after some time in the rehabilitation centre he probably will go back to Africa but not in the wild, but in an enclosure with other lions in a kind of fenced rehabilitation centre.

CO: And what do you think happened? I mean, I guess lots of people think there's probably a cute little cub at one time, a little fellow and then as he gets older, gets more aggressive then we get rid of this cat. Is that your general thinking?

PK: Yes, that’s the general thinking. They think he's born in a circus and then the circus sold it to an illegal dealer and then he sold it to somebody in Holland illegally.

CO: As a pet?

PK: As a pet, yeah. And it's illegal so you cannot walk with the pet outside so you have to keep it inside. And then when he grows he starts to grab on your furniture and maybe your children or your wife. So then you get bigger, yeah. An adult lion can be 220-250 kilograms, so not so very easy to have as a cat in your house.

CO: Will the police continue to investigate it as a as a crime?

PK: Yeah, they will do that. It’s not very easy because they hardly have any track. They will find out but it will take some time for this investigation.

CO: All right, Peter, we'll leave it there. Thanks for telling us the story.

PK: Yes. Very welcome. Nice to tell you. It was very nice to talk to you.

CO: You too. Have a good evening.

PK: Thank you.

Provide Transcript Feedback

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

Oct. 10, 2018 episode transcript

Social Sharing

More from this episode