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The AIH Transcript for October 30, 2024

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NIL KÖKSAL: Hello, I'm Nil Köksal.

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

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

NK: The water is testing them. Some fled, some were trapped. And it was chaos in Valencia as torrential rains triggered catastrophic floods. Our guest says it really was like living inside a disaster movie.

CH: Making the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law. A special interlocutor calls on Canada to create legal mechanisms to address residential school denialism. We'll hear from an MP who wants to make it a hate crime.

NK: The lay of the landmark. The home of Canada's first Black police detective was destroyed by fire. And Alton C. Parker's granddaughter tells us what that home symbolized to so many people and what she hopes will happen to that property now.

CH: At a road crossing crossroads. New York City officially makes jaywalking legal. To a chorus of indifference from pedestrians who were already acting like it was.

NK: Taking care of fizziness. A Calgary based electrician expands his longtime tradition of giving trick or treaters two litre bottles of pop, which he admits are kind of a trick for the parents, who then have to carry those bottles for the rest of the night.

CH: And that'll knock some sensuality into them. Some delegates at a U.N. conference wind up in rooms with mirrors on the ceiling, a pole in the floor, and even a swing in a motel that usually charges by the hour. As It Happens, the Wednesday edition. Radio that holds a mirror up to society.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Spain Flooding, Parker House Destroyed, Halloween Pop Guy, COP Love Motels

Spain Flooding

Guest: Marc Brimble

CH: Nearly a year's worth of rain in less than 24 hours. According to the state weather agency that is the catastrophic situation facing part of the Valencia region of Spain. Torrential downpours across eastern and southern parts of the country caused flash flooding. The King has described enormous destruction. And officials say at least 95 people have been killed. The search for the missing continues. Marc Brimble lives in Catarroja in Valencia. That's where we reached him earlier today.

NK: Marc, to see these images they are striking to say the least. You've been in the middle of this with your family. How are you all doing right now?

MARC BRIMBLE: Well, at the moment, we're still you know, most of us are still in a bit of a state of shock and just came to terms with it, you know, and just trying to put things back into order, really seeing where we can go next.

NK: Where are you standing right now? Where we reaching you?

MB: I'm on the roof of my building at the moment because there's no coverage anywhere and all the Internet is down. So, at the moment, on the roof of the building.

NK: So, when you look out around you, tell us what you see.

MB: It's 8:30 here. So, it's pretty dark. So, I'm not really seeing anything. You know, there's no lights on because most of the village hasn't got any power. We're lucky where we are in the centre we've got some power. So, but it just is basically just darkness. A few lights here and there, really.

NK: When you were out earlier, I know you were walking around as best you could your neighbourhood. What did that reveal?

MB: It reminded me of like a disaster movie from the '80s. I couldn't believe it. You know, I was seeing cars 3 or 4 stacked high on top of each other. Houses demolished with cars which had smashed into the ground floors and destroyed shops. There was mud about, in some places it was two metres high, the water. Where I was walking and it was, you know, easily half a metre of mud and debris. There were people trapped in their houses asking for help, you know, because mud had got into the locks so, they couldn't get the houses. It was just complete destruction. It was like an Armageddon movie.

NK: And as I understand it, there were official warnings the rainfall was coming. You're in a third floor apartment, you and your wife. When did it hit you both that this was going to be as bad as it was in the end?

MB: Well, my wife works as an instructor in a, you know, like I say, in a rowing school in the port. So, she's pretty up to date on weather. Everybody knew about a week ago that there was a storm due and there might be some flooding. I mean, there's been flooding in this village before, but nothing to this extent. So, we knew but nobody knew exactly how bad it was going to be. And then last night, at like 7:00 in the evening, the power went. So, I went out to have a look around the village and the water had started coming down into the streets that people were running from it. So, I went back to the house and that's when it all started flooding, basically about 8:00 last night. I mean, some parts, like I said, it had gone for two metres in depth the water, luckily where we live is a bit higher ground. So, our street wasn't too bad. But two streets away from us is just devastated. It's devastated.

NK: You've lived there for more than 15 years. Your wife is from Spain. You mentioned that there might be flooding in the village, but nothing like this. Do you feel that more could or should have been done to prepare you and your neighbours?

MB: Well, we've only lived in this village for a year and a half. We lived in Valencia, which is this, is the, you know, the third biggest city in Spain is about ten kilometres from where we are. So, you know, I've been chatting to some of the neighbours and they've been saying that the local authorities should have done more. But it's too early to say really, you know, because Spain's been in a dry, especially where we lived in the Mediterranean area for about a year and the rivers were so dry and so full of debris and just bits of trees and dry plants and rot that you know, when the rains came, it just washed over everything. So, I don't think you, I don't know, it's too early to say. I don't know if we could have prepared better for it. You know, it came so fast that, you know, there was not really anything that anybody can do. But I spoke to people in the village and they said this is the worst flood they've ever seen in their lives.

NK: Have you been able to reach friends and family to make sure they're doing all right?

MB: Yeah. I mean, luckily, I've been able to talk to most of my friends and family that we've got around here. Touch wood. Everyone's all right. Some people are in a pretty bad situation where they've had to leave their houses and go and try to get to stay in another person's house. But touch wood, everyone's all right. You know, people are in a state of shock. We haven't got running water. Luckily, we've got electricity. But a lot of people don't even have any drinking water because supermarkets all destroyed. Here all of the businesses are on the ground floor. Things are just being washed away. So, people are, the problem at the moment is like drinking water really.

NK: Is help coming? What have you heard on that front? Everyone's going to need supplies.

MB: Yeah, I know. I mean, I didn't I was out this morning at 7:30, and I didn't see any police or anyone around until this afternoon, about 4:00. But you have to bear in mind that we are kind of in the epicentre of the floods, but there's been about 5 or 6 other villages around us which have been equally bad. And, you know, all of the emergency service vehicles are in the same situation.

NK: Paiporta, nearby to you is one of the towns that were very hard hit. We're hearing so far from the mayor and local media that 30 people died there, including those living inside a home for senior citizens. There's three days of mourning across the country. But, I mean, how well stocked are you as you wait for that help to come?

MB: My wife and I, we walked to Valencia today. It took us, you know, three hours to get there and back. We managed to meet some friends in Valencia who brought us some, you know, we got about 15 litres of water, they brought us in a car. So, we got enough water to keep us going for a few days. The local authority here just sent us a telegram message saying that for the next, tomorrow, they want everyone to kind of stay in the village, like not to leave so they can clear all the roads as much as possible so the emergency services can get in. I'm guessing by the end of tomorrow we're going to get some kind of normality, well, not normality but, you know, they have an opportunity to clear the roads and, you know, get the stuff that we need.

NK: I hope that help does come soon. Marc, I appreciate your time. Please take care.

MB: Yeah, thanks. I hope there's been some help [NK: you're very kind.] Some use to you.

NK: It was. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you, Marc.

MB: Okay. No problem.

CH: Marc Brimble lives in Catarroja, Spain. We reached him there earlier today.

[Music: Jazzy instrumental]

Parker House Destroyed

Guest: Cherie Steele-Sexton

CH: CH: For over a century the Parker homestead near downtown Windsor was a cornerstone of the city's Black community. It was the home of Canada's first Black detective, Alton C. Parker. And it was the site where over 150 men enlisted in the First World War as part of Canada's only all-Black battalion. But now it's gone. Earlier this week, a fire swept through the two story home, leaving nothing but memories and questions about what comes next. The office of the Ontario Fire Marshal is still investigating the cause of the fire. Cherie Steele-Sexton is the granddaughter of Alton C. Parker. We reached her in Windsor, Ontario.

NK: Cherie, when you close your eyes and remember what this house look like when you think back to those memories, for our listeners who haven't seen it and won't be able to now, what did it look like? What are the images that you remember?

CHERIE STEELE-SEXTON: I really loved the wraparound porch. I think that was my favourite part of the house, the wraparound porch. One of our cousins, her name's Linda, her husband, Dennis Smith, is an artist and he did a few rendering drawings of the house the way it used to look. And those he, you know, gave them, a set to my mom years ago, and when we moved my mom out of her house, she asked me to take them and hang them on my wall. So, they hang on the wall in my living room. So, they've become even more special, like they always were precious, but now just so very special. Because I'll have that memory.

NK: Cherie, I know you were, you were listening to the radio when this news came of a fire and that it was on Elliott Street. Did you immediately worry?

CSS: Soon as I heard Mercer and Elliott, because I know that there are very few houses right there. Most of them are apartment buildings. I ended up sending a message to a friend of mine with Windsor Police and asked, was it 840 Mercer? He said he would get right back to me and he did. And he said, Oh Cherie, I'm so sorry. Yes, it's a, we've called it the Parker homestead.

NK: I mean, that's terrible news to get in any circumstance. What were you thinking when you heard him say that?

CSS: I can remember that it was, you know, feeling tearful, you know, just having that moment. Like, you know, when you get some bad news, not as bad as, you know, losing a loved one. But it was up there. It was up there. It was just hard to believe that it was going to be gone.

NK: You live in Detroit now, but you grew up just a couple of blocks away. Can you share with our listeners some of your favourite memories?

CSS: So, we would go by the house often, but usually on a regular basis after church. So, we would often just walk down to the house to go and visit our aunt Gladys and aunt Josephine, my grandpa's two sisters and Josie's son. His name was, we called him Uncle Pete and he would often be in the kitchen on Sunday after church cooking. So, if someone says, what are your favourite memories? Oh, having Uncle Pete's food to eat because my goodness, he was so good at cooking.

NK: And what was your favourite dish?

CSS: If he was cooking a chicken or turkey he made cornbread stuffing. He was a good baker, too. Just everything. We used to say that Uncle Pete could really throw down in the kitchen. So that was a compliment. Yeah. And then also in the warm weather months, if you walked by, there'd often be somebody sitting on the porch and, you know, a neighbour would pop in, join and somebody else would pop over. And before you knew it, there's a whole group just sitting on the porch sharing what was going on in the neighbourhood and who was getting married, who was having a baby, who was doing things they shouldn't be doing.

NK: [chuckles] It was a hub, it sounds like [CSS: yes, it was. Yeah] for the community and your family. Many people know about your, your grandfather, Alton C. Parker. Certainly, in Windsor, they do. But for our listeners elsewhere who may not have heard of him before, what do you want them to know about what he was able to do?

CSS: I find it amazing that a man was born, raised, educated, worked, married, raised a family, worked his entire career, retired all within a two mile radius. He was a man of faith. He was a Christian man. And he believed that you're known by your deeds. And he truly lived that. He just did so much for other people and just never, ever thought about it.

NK: And what did he tell you about being responsible for so many firsts being our first, that first Black police officer, Canada's first Black detective?

CSS: I don't think he dwelled on the fact that he was first, but I know that it was a burden because he knew that he was being judged not just by the department itself, but also, you know, by the community. And sometimes people didn't like the idea that he had to, you know, perhaps go into his own community and arrest someone. A young man by the name of Preston Chase was working on a documentary. And from all the interviews, the people that knew him, knew Alton Parker when they were young and growing up and he was a police officer. They said that he was always fair. He wore the badge proudly, and he believed in community policing, knowing the people in the community and having them know him. And that they could come to him. And they truly did. They would often come to the house if they knew someone was in trouble and needed help or was in trouble and needed to be dealt with. They would, they would often come to the house and talk to him rather than go to, go down to headquarters.

NK: Again, that house, the historical significance. But it was not, as we understand it, on any heritage lists or preservation lists. People may be surprised to hear that, given everything you've just talked about, Cherie, why had it not been designated as such?

CSS: I don't know why it wasn't. And I know, again, we called him Uncle Pete and in the year 2000, he started the paperwork, you know, sending documents to the city and getting responses back. Well, you know, can you find this? Can you prove that? Whatever. I don't know. You know, why it was not which is disappointing when you see some, you know, other places that weren't even as old. Like the paperwork shows that the house was built in 1840. So, it was one of the, you know, one of the oldest residential homes that was still standing in Windsor. So, you know, at some point, we hope that maybe we can organize perhaps we can get some kind of marker to go there.

NK: Cherie, a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you.

CSS: Thank you so much to. I appreciate the interest.

CH: Cherie Steele-Sexton is the granddaughter of Alton C. Parker. She's in Windsor, Ontario.

[Music: Guitar instrumental]

Halloween Pop Guy

Guest: Shane Walton

CH: 11 years ago, Shane Walton and his family decided to hand out something different to kids trick or treating in Calgary. And what began as a relatively minor endeavour has snowballed into a tradition that requires significant coordination. And consultation with structural engineers to ensure the house can take the required weight. This year, despite high costs, the popular tradition will fizz on. We reached Shane Walton in Calgary.

NK: Shane, if I was visiting and I was walking through your front door, if I could walk through your front door with everything you've got, what would I see?

SHANE WALTON: You would see two litre soda bottles lined up everywhere, all the way up through the stairs into my bonus room. And then there would be bags and bags and bags of chips. And then inside of my garage, there would be hundreds, actually no, thousands of soda bottles and bags of chips.

NK: How many bottles are we talking here?

SW: So, 22 hundred. 22 hundred and 50 bags of Old Dutch chips.

NK: They're not just scattered. I bet they're organized, right? [SW: yes] How do you get them lined up.

SW: In different flavours so that we can, as we're handing them out when we get a flavour, then we know where those flavours are. So, it's, it's kind of an art piece.

NK: Ah, so you enjoy being surrounded by all this.

SW: yeah. I mean I have ADHD, so quirks like that just mix.

NK: I hear you. I hear you. You actually, as I understand it, or as our listeners heard, you were to call an engineer. What did they say?

SW: Well, I posted a thing on our community Facebook page with a picture of all of the soda in my garage. And I said, I know that this can't all go upstairs. Is there a structural engineer that would be willing to give me an exact number professionally, how much I could stack in and safely do it. Because, I mean, the insurance company is going to know exactly what happened when it's all over social media. I could stack three high across my whole area, [NK: three flats]. That was as high, that's as high as I could go is like three sodas high and that's it.

NK: I don't expect that structural engineers get these kinds of calls often. Maybe they do around, I don't know, around Halloween. Maybe they thought it was a prank. What did they say when you asked them this?

SW: No, he knew. He knew, he was from the community so he knew. And he was willing to help me out because honestly, making phone calls, everyone's like that, like, no, just don't do it. That's stupid. I'm like, I'm kind of in a jam here. Like, it's happening. I just need to know what's safe. And so, he did me a community service, so I was quite happy about that.

NK: I'm sure, yeah. So, you started this more than a decade ago. How did this idea come to you? I mean, people are always looking, you know, you want to be the best house on the street, certainly maybe the best candy you landed on not just pop, but two litre bottles of pop.

SW: Yeah. You know, in the early days of the community and we didn't get a lot of kids. And so, I wanted to be fun. And that's what we started doing it to the point where my kids, you know, they were young when they stopped going trick or treating because they like to stay at home to hand it out.

NK: Everyone was it was involved. How do how do people who come to your door, how have they reacted over the years?

SW: Are kids thrilled. Like, I mean, it's the best thing ever. No matter the age. Now, the problem is, is when you have a three year old who's got the little pumpkin and then you pop it in there and they're literally dragging it back to their parents. And then now there's the second child who's about five, also comes and they look at dad and say, here's my, here's my candy. You got to hold it. And so, dad's now stuck with a, you know, an extra 10 pounds to haul around the community with. I had one dad who had four kids and he used choice words at me. [NK: oh?] But, he came back next year with the wagon so he couldn't have been that mad.

NK: He could not. Yeah. Now they know. Now they know. He definitely wasn't that mad, he was prepared. But this has to be expensive, Shane.

SW: This year it was, we were debating whether we could do it or not. I mean because it was, it was getting out of hand and then some amazing sponsors kicked in. So, Circle K is taking care of all of the pop, except A&W because A&W Canada is taking care of that. Old Dutch is doing all the chips and Skip the Dishes just wanted to help and they're providing some labour for the night to help haul stuff up and down and just, there's a lot of labour involved too.

NK: Yeah. Not only did they get a two litre bottle about the children, they come, but they can choose which flavour. And then you've devised a system with slides where they get the flavour of their choice.

SW: Yeah, yeah. And it goes and we shoot it down a slide.

NK: They press a button; the kids press a button.

SW: Yeah. I've got a, I've got a light switch scenario set up so that they can, they can press the button, it turns a light on that lights up the two litre soda of their choice. And then when we're up top, we can see that light. And then we send it down and then we have a button up top that turns everything off.

NK: Have you always loved Halloween?

SW: Yes, of course. I mean, I'm a kid at heart, so it's always been the best day ever. You get, run around getting candy.

NK: Any regrets? That you entered into this 11 years ago.

SW: I mean, some days like today. Yeah, because we're at crunch time and I'm not quite set up and its but, the outpouring from the kids as far as like community has been fantastic. And it's nice... for me, it's nice to be a part of something that as kids grow up and we have kids that have been a part of this that are adults now, it's good positive memories for them. And I think that that's important.

NK: You mentioned your own children. They've grown up with this as well. Your daughter, April, I think it was her video that I was watching as I was getting ready to talk to you. It's a hilarious video. And she's got millions of views now on that video as she dances through the house and all of the pop around her that's, she's been instrumental in getting these sponsorships.

SW: Yes, she is the influencer. She does all of that stuff. And yeah, I mean it's, without her, I probably wouldn't be to the level I am, which I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

NK: Are you going to dress up?

SW: I'm dressing up as Travis Kelce because my wife is dressing up as Taylor Swift in an amazing outfit.

NK: I look forward to seeing the picture Shane. Thank you. Really glad we could speak.

SW: All right. Yeah, no worries. Thank you.

NK: Happy Halloween.

SW: You as well.

CH: Shane Walton is a Calgary resident who is once again giving away two litre bottles of pop for Halloween. We reached him in Calgary.

[Music: Rock instrumental]

COP Love Motels

CH: When you go to a biodiversity summit, you expect the tone to be like this. [Music: Suspenseful instrumental] You do not expect it to be like this. [Music: Sexy instrumental] But at the UN Biodiversity Summit in Cali, Colombia, about a dozen international delegates wound up staying in a place where they can roundly condemn inaction from their round beds, they can really reflect on the challenges in the mirrors over those beds, or they can have an intellectual back and forth in the swing that's dangling from the ceiling. When these delegates arrived in Cali, they discovered that for one reason or another they had no place to stay. But there was one place with vacancy, the Motel Deseos. But both sides would have to make some compromises. The guests would have to deal with the absence of closets and the presence of a Kama Sutra, a lounger, a pole in the middle of the room and an excess of mirrors. And the motel owner would have to start serving breakfast and stop charging for the rooms by the hour. The Motel Deseos is what you might call a 'Love Hotel', in which the love is expressed with the help of various accoutrements and apparatuses over brief time periods. It wasn't really equipped for people who want to stay overnight and wear clothes while trying to save coral reefs and rainforests. But so far, so good. A Ugandan delegate says he and his colleagues are enjoying themselves. Even if he told The Guardian he was perplexed by the mirror on the ceiling, which he described as very unusual. The whole situation is unusual, but the biodiversity delegates and the regular customers do have one thing in common a profound interest in the birds and the bees.

[Music: Jazzy instrumental]

Part 2: Residential School Denialism, FOA: Rumble In The Jungle, NYC Jaywalking, N.L. Gardening Guy

Residential School Denialism

Guest: Leah Gazan

CH: We know the incredible harm that residential schools did. But a new report is highlighting the damage done by denying that harm. Yesterday, Canada's special interlocutor for missing children, an unmarked graves and burial sites associated with Indian residential schools released her final report. Kimberley Murray lays out a framework for reparations and shares a number of recommendations which she deems obligations. Among them, a call for the federal government to create legal mechanisms to address residential school denialism. Leah Gazan is the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre. Last month she introduced a private member's bill that would make it a criminal code offence to deny, justify or minimize the facts about residential schools. We reached her in Gatineau, Quebec.

NK: Leah Gazan, in this final report, Kimberley Murray writes, Indian Residential school denialism has, quote, "real life consequences and should not be dismissed as a harmless fringe phenomenon". You, of course, have been warning about this and raising concerns about this for some time. So, to see those words and those concerns highlighted so clearly in Kimberley Murray's report. What did that mean to you?

LEAH GAZAN: Well, you know, I'm very pleased to see that the special interlocutor has actually referred to the same part of the criminal code, that I am, Section 319 to amend the Criminal code to include the willful promotion of hate against Indigenous people by denying, downplaying, condoning or justifying the residential school system. You know, all of those actions, you know, incite hate. And we need to protect survivors' families and communities from that hate.

NK: You've described your bill you know, when you first introduced it as a gift, that's the word you used, for survivors. What difference do you hope that this, that your bill or the changes Ms. Murray is calling for, what would that give to survivors? What difference would it make for them?

LG: Well, survivors have been very clear with me that something needs to be done to protect them from the rising hate, the rising violence against a survivor, survivors, the incitement of acts of hate against survivors' families and communities. I listened. And this is my gift. This is my gift to survivors, communities and families. Survivors have a right to be safe. Survivors have a right to be protected. Survivors have a right to be free from hate and violence. Survivors have a right to be protected from the abuse, particularly with the abuse that they had to endure in residential schools. And so, this is what I offer.

NK: Is it beyond online as well? There was a recent story, I think just a day or so ago in Winnipeg of signage on someone's property in someone's neighbourhood.

LG: Well, absolutely. And we know the serial killer that was recently convicted, Jeremy Skibicki, was writing residential school denialist rhetoric all over his social media. So, these have real life consequences. This kind of incitement of hate has real life consequences and it needs to be dealt with.

NK: How do you believe denialism should be defined? I ask because, as you know, there was a recent controversy involving the Law Society of British Columbia. Two lawyers proposed referring to anomalies detected at the Kamloops Indian Residential School as the, quote, discovery of a potentially unmarked burial site, unquote. Is that denialism, in your view?

LG: Well, listen, we have well reported historical facts, like people that say that, you know, residential schools provided an education. We know leadership, it was documented in historical records, it was to kill the Indian in the child. That was the purpose of residential schools. We know through the TRC report and survivors who are living records of history that friends were murdered, went missing, disappeared at the schools. Questioning the genocide that happened at residential schools, a genocide that has been recognized by all political parties in the House of Commons through a motion that I put forward back in 2023, as an act of genocide. To question that genocide is unacceptable, especially for a people that are wanting to be elected in this country, misrepresenting the history of this country.

NK: Are you worried that the questions of definition and that examples like the one I raised or the questions that people talk about, you know, they say this is an issue of freedom of speech. Are you concerned that those will hold up your legislation?

LG: Sure. This is the willful incitement of hate. And this is what we are talking about here. And this this incitement of hate has real life consequences towards promoting hate and abuse of Indigenous people, most specifically. In this case survivors, currently in the Criminal Code we recognize Holocaust denialism as a hate crime. All my bill is intended to do is add to that section residential school denialism. It's so important in this country that we don't find it acceptable for anybody to misrepresent or provide disinformation related to the Holocaust. Thank goodness. We need the same thing for residential schools, something that was recognized unanimously in the House of Commons as a genocide.

NK: Leah Gazan, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

LG: Thank you so much. Take care.

CH: Leah Gazan, is the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre. She's in Gatineau, Quebec.

[Music: Calm instrumental]

FOA: Rumble In The Jungle

CH: It's a mistake to call yourself "The greatest of all time", with one exception, Muhammad Ali. Today marks 50 years since "The Rumble in the Jungle", where Mr. Ali famously fought George Foreman in Kinshasa in what's now the Democratic Republic of Congo. And after winning by knockout, he told the world exactly what he thought, as he always did.

SOUNDCLIP

MUHAMMAD ALI: Everybody stop talking now. Attention. I told you all of my critics. I told you all that I was the greatest of all time. When I beat Sonny Liston, I told you today I'm still the greatest of all time. Never again defeat me. Never again say that I'm going to be defeated. Never again. Make me the underdog until I'm about. 50 years old. Then you might get me.

CH: Half a century later, "The Rumble in the Jungle" is considered one of the greatest sporting events of all time. Because of Muhammad Ali's preternatural ability to captivate people with his distinctive balletic boxing style, but also with what he said and stood for outside the ring. In 1967, Mr. Ali was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title, his American passport and his right to box after he refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Seven years later, at the age of 32, "The Rumble in the Jungle" was part of his return to boxing and a chance to reclaim his heavyweight title. In the feverish lead up to the match with the bigger, younger George Foreman, he spoke to, As It Happens. From 1974, this is Muhammad Ali talking about his opponent's previous fight with Joe Frazier and reciting a poem about what he thought was going to happen.

SOUNDCLIP

MUHAMMAD ALI: Joe Frazier is a fighter who, anybody can hit him, he is known for taking punches. And George just have a much stronger punch than I have. And George just got to him. But that don't mean George will do that to me because I'm not a Joe Frazier. I'm not easy to hit. And I'm always moving and sticking. And I'll tire a man out for 7/8 and then I'll pick him apart. I don't rely on power, just mainly speed. And I knock a lot of them out, I've stopped a lot of them. But mainly in the long run I think I'm a better bet. By a long shot. We don't know what George can do as a [inaudible] as a man is sticking with him. We see him knock him out real quick this year.

HARLAN LEVY: With Joe Frazier you boxed and your clenched, boxed and clenched. Is that going to be your strategy with George Foreman?

MUHAMMAD ALI: No, Frazier was short. He was ducking. He was always in close, short range. And you have to clench him and hold him and tie him up because he's the most effective inside. Foreman is not effective inside. He's a long range puncher. I can see his jabs coming, I can see his right hands coming. I can reach out. And he's there. He's not right up under me. And he's tall. He stands up straight. You don't duck. So, I don't need to do much clenching with him.

HARLAN LEVY: George Foreman is a really powerful puncher. Do you think he's got a good future in boxing?

MUHAMMAD ALI: Yes. If he didn't fight me, but now he's going to fight me. His future aint gonna be so bright. It will be over that night.

HARLAN LEVY: Have you written any poetry especially for the fight?

MUHAMMAD ALI: I got a rule of something called 'Positive Thinking'. It says, when I meet George, if I think I am beaten, I am. If I think that I do not. I don't. If I like to win but think I can't. It's almost a cinch I won't. Life’s battles don't always go. To a bigger and stronger man. But sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can. And that's me. George is big and strong but life's battle don't go to the strongest man. Sooner or later, the fight will go to the one who thinks he can. And that's me. I don't think I can. I know I can. And I wrote a poem that goes like this: how the fight's going to sound on radio. Ali comes up to meet Foreman. But Foreman starts to retreat. If George goes back in his barber, he'll wind up in a ringside seat. Ali swings to the left, Ali swings to the right. Look at Ali, carry the fight. George keeps backing, but there's not enough room. It's a matter of time before Ali lowers the boom. Now Ali lands on the right. What a beautiful swaying. And the punch lifts George clean out of the ring. George is still rising, but the referee wears a frown for he can start counting till George comes down. Now George disappears from view. The crowd is getting frantic, but our radar stations have picked him up. He's somewhere else over the Atlantic. Who would have thought when they came to the fight that they'd witness the launching of a coloured satellite.

CH: From our archives, Muhammad Ali speaking to Harlan Levy on As It Happens in September 1974, ahead of "The Rumble in the Jungle".

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NYC Jaywalking

Guest: Gersh Kuntzman

CH: New York isn't just the city that never sleeps. It's also the city that never waits for the walk sign, listen people got places to be, 'their walkin here!'. But now, for the first time in nearly 70 years, they're no longer breaking the law by jaywalking. This weekend, a new bill legalizing the practice became law. And Gersh Kuntzman says it is high time. He's the editor in chief of Streetsblog NYC, where he reports on street culture and politics. We reached him in New York City.

NK: Gersh, how many times have you jaywalked today?

GERSH KUNTZMAN: Well, first of all, I don't call it jaywalking. I call it crossing against the light. And I do that every day, multiple times, probably a dozen.

NK: Yeah, I would say maybe not a dozen for me, but several times, certainly. Why is it important for you to make that distinction just even in what it is called?

GK: Well, the origins of the term jaywalking go back to the 1920s, when the term 'Jay' was meant as a real pejorative term about like a newbie, a newcomer, or just someone whose head was in the clouds and really was a kind of a crazy person. And so, the automobile industry created this term jaywalkers to demonize what had been for centuries a very common practice, walking across the street, because what was happening is car drivers were killing pedestrians in such huge numbers that the automobile itself was in danger of being seen as a negative thing on society. Well, carmakers couldn't have that. So, they invented the term jaywalker to demonize the victims of their own products deleterious effect on cities.

NK: Crossing against the light, as you and others call it, this change, this decriminalization, the legalization of this practice, what do you make of how it happened? The fact that it passed because Mayor Adams didn't sign or veto it after 30 days?

GK: Usually in New York, things are exceptionally controversial most of the time because supporters always want to take the high road and opponents of things just take the low road and completely demonize everything they don't agree with. It's a sort of a MAGA- ization of politics writ small. But in this case, so few tickets are written by the NYPD for jaywalking. It's only a couple of hundred a year that it really wasn't particularly controversial to decriminalize jaywalking because it's not like society is going to be reinvented in a positive or negative way as a result of this change. It just eliminates one way in which the racist police force can no longer harass young Black men, young Black and Latino men of colour.

NK: You were part of this push. This is about more clearly for you than, you know, whether people are ticketed for something like this, the demographics are an issue, who is getting ticketed is an issue. Tell our listeners what was happening there because you were researching these rates.

GK: Yeah. I mean, owing to some sort of consent agreement from decades ago, the NYPD does have to put the race of the people they stop for jaywalking or for other reasons. So, we figured out very quickly that 94 to 96 per cent of the people getting tickets for crossing against the light were people of colour when, in the city that's 55 per cent or 60 per cent of the city is comprised of people of colour. So that was disproportionate. And we know that everybody in New York City crosses against the light, whether they're Black, Latino, white, whatever national origin class. Everybody does it. There's no reason not to do it. So, when you see such an obvious racial disparity in something that everybody's doing and mind you, we see this in, we saw this in marijuana arrests before the decriminalization of marijuana. We saw this in tickets for drinking beer publicly on a stoop. We saw it in tickets for riding a bicycle on the sidewalk. The NYPD has a very well established practice of racially biased policing. And so, in the case of jaywalking, you cannot argue that Black people do it more than white people. Everybody does it at the same rate. So, it was so glaring. We had to do it.

NK: As the Associated Press reports, other cities have already decriminalized jaywalking in recent years, and they quote America Walks, a group in Seattle and its executive director, Mike McGinn, and he talks about what it takes to make a city safe. And in his view, you know, you focus on street design, speeding dangerously large vehicles, quote, not jaywalking laws, unquote, as Mr. McGinn put it. If we're talking about safety. Do you agree with Mr. McGinn that this is a misdirected, misguided way of trying to keep people safe?

GK: Yeah, of course I do. And the other point that's important there is that the Department of Transportation in the city of New York opposed the decriminalization of jaywalking on the grounds that it would make the city less safe, but in fact, they're wrong. What would make the city more safe is obviously strict regulations over the size of vehicles, something our federal government has never had the guts to do and never had the guts to even address, let alone the speed at which these vehicles go, let alone the dramatic reduction in enforcement of moving violations by the same NYPD officers who are, well, not so busy, but busy writing tickets to people of colour for jaywalking. So, there's a multi-pronged effort to make the roadways safer in New York. This jaywalking thing is really very much at the margins. You need to redesign the streets; you need to deprioritize the movement of private cars and you need to prioritize the movement of high capacity buses so that people can get around quickly and don't have to be in cars and don't want to be in cars where they can kill me and my neighbours.

NK: The city spokesperson or a spokesperson for the mayor's office, I should say, said "crossing against traffic lights or in the mid-block is still risky" and that quote "All road users are safer when everyone follows traffic rules", unquote. Given what was said in the statement, do you think you're going to get the kind of changes that you want in terms of keeping streets safer?

GK: Well, the city of New York. Both under well, under Mayor Bloomberg, under Mayor de Blasio and now under Mayor Adams, you know, does make changes to the streetscape that are very positive in terms of slowing down drivers. We just lowered our speed limit from 25 to 20 miles an hour. I don't know what that is in kilometres because I'm American, I don't care. [NK: chuckles] But that's a good step. I mean, they do redesign streets for safety, but and the mayor's statement is obviously a boilerplate statement. It is obviously safer if everybody knows where everyone's going to be if you're crossing mid-block. A driver is not likely to, is less likely to see you. So, it's probably not the best move. But the goal here is really to reduce the racist policing of the NYPD. And even just as a symbol of something small, I think it's important.

NK: Happy walking. Gersh. Thank you.

GK: I will be walking whenever I can.

CH: Gersh Kuntzman is the editor in chief of Streetsblog NYC, and we reached him in New York.

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N.L. Gardening Guy

CH: When should I prune my crabapple tree? How do I get my dahlias to return next season? How do I get my dahlias to go away next season? I have no answers for any of those questions, but these are the kinds of perennial and annual queries that keep gardeners up at night, I imagine. For over five decades, people in Newfoundland and Labrador beset by these concerns could call up Ross Traverse. Mr. Traverse is a lifelong champion of horticulture who's been inducted into the Atlantic Agricultural Hall of Fame, and he answered everyone's most desperate gardening questions on CBC radio programs like Radio Noon and Cross Talk, and most recently, The Signal. But yesterday, Ross Traverse gave his final broadcast, and among the tributes and thank yous, memories resurfaced of a call about a plant some people love to have in their gardens and some really do not love at all.

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FEMALE VOICE: I think the bar was raised by you and all the other gardening experts on the show, and people can tell that when they drive around Newfoundland and Labrador how much more beautiful it is now, how much more care people take with their gardens and interesting things they've got planted and the conversations they all have with each other, you know, the clubs, the horticultural societies and all of that. There's a huge interest and I think you people really stimulated it.

ROSS TRAVERSE: Maybe we did contribute a little bit to some of the beautiful gardens that we see around now. Yes.

AMANDA GEAR: Jackie Felthon on the line. How are you doing, Jackie?

JACKIE: Yeah, I just want to thank Ross, for all of the guidance over the years. I think it would be neat if you told the story about the herb that the lady in Goose Bay wanted you to id for her.

ROSS TRAVERSE: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I'm glad you reminded me. This is one of my first trips up to Goose Bay in the early days, and there was American servicemen that were stationed there, and one of them had a great interest in gardening and was bringing down the seeds to this German lady who was living there. And she was talking to me and she said, I want to get some more seeds. She said, I want to get more seeds. She said the servicemen love it. And I said, oh is that right? Let me, do you have any plants growing there? Yes, I do, And then there was this big cannabis plants, marijuana plants growing in the back. She didn't know what it was, but they were coming harvesting every, every so often.

AMANDA GEAR: I'm sure they did love it.

CH: That was Ross Traverse, horticulture champion and longtime CBC radio contributor, taking final calls on The Signal yesterday.

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Part 3: MTL. Pediatric Clinic, Ukrainian Kids Mural, Puppy Cares For Kitten, Africa Asthma Epidemic, World Series Fan

MTL. Pediatric Clinic

CH: When students head to school, they can usually count on access to textbooks, a gym, some blackboards. But when students head to Lakeside Academy in Montréal, they'll also have access to doctors and health services. A new paediatric clinic is opening up at the high school. Students and their siblings will be able to seek treatment there. And there are plans to eventually open up access to the rest of the neighbourhood. Dr. David D'Arienzo is behind the clinic. He's a paediatrician who launched a similar venture at Verdun Elementary School five years ago.

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DAVID D'ARIENZO: In Lakeside we are built in what used to be their former weight room. [SH: Okay]. Which is very exciting. However, in Verdun, we transformed a former classroom into a clinic.

SEAN HENRY: Right. How does a child get an appointment at the clinic? A child and their family?

DAVID D'ARIENZO: Yeah. So, our mandate is really to improve access to care. So, anyone, be it teachers, school principals, the parents, or even the teenagers themselves can request to be seen by the paediatrician and we'll see the child usually within about a one month period.

SEAN HENRY: What kind of health concerns or other issues do you expect to see?

DAVID D'ARIENZO: So, we see all types of conditions at this type of clinic, everything from routine paediatric conditions such as asthma. However, we also see very significant numbers of behaviour and mental health concerns, nutritional concerns such as food insecurity or even obesity. And then we've also, you know, made some much more unusual diagnoses, missed genetic conditions that have gone undiagnosed in the past. So, we really see a broad breadth of conditions.

SEAN HENRY: You really became part of the school community at Verdun Elementary. What can you tell us about Doctor day?

DAVID D'ARIENZO: Yes, Doctor day is something we started 3 or 4 years ago now, and it stemmed from the fact where kids have many unanswered medical questions that they might be uncomfortable talking about with their parents or even their teachers. And so, we have physicians that go into the classroom and sit in the room, open concept with the children and simply have a carte blanche activity where the kids raise their hand and ask whatever question they feel is on their mind. And so, what this allows for is it's a really non-judgmental platform for the children to ask the questions that are most meaningful to them and where they can get reliable and accurate information, not having them try to sift through information online where there might be inaccurate resources. And it is fascinating the questions that have come up. The kids will ask everything from, you know, why do my armpits smell, all the way to why am I feeling sad? So, it's a beautiful opportunity to really explore the minds of the kids and understand what's going through their heads and what challenges they might be experiencing.

CH: The CBC's Sean Henry speaking to Dr. David D'Arienzo. He's a paediatrician at Montréal's Children's Hospital and the co-founder of the Hearts and Hands Clinics, one of which is set to open in Montréal's Lakeside Academy.

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Ukrainian Kids Mural

Guest: Phil Buehler

CH: The impact of the war in Ukraine is reverberating around the world, and in one Manhattan neighbourhood, it's now especially hard to miss. This weekend, a new art installation opened in Little Ukraine, drawing attention to the thousands of Ukrainian children who've been abducted by Russian forces during the war. The 100 foot mural features photographs of the now empty bedrooms of children who were taken. Phil Buehler is the artist behind "Empty Rooms". We reached him in New York.

NK: Phil, our listeners heard a bit of a description of what you've done here, what you're doing, but can you give them a better sense, a description of one of these images in particular?

PHIL BUEHLER: Sure. They're all images of a child's bed in Ukraine. They're one of the children that have been returned from Russia, Russian occupied areas. There's sometimes stuffed animals on top of the beds or one kid, 17, he had a Yankee cap and a Ukrainian flag and his camera bag. There was actually one bed where there were a bunch of stuffed animals. And then after I took the photograph, I noticed her kitten was sitting in the middle of the stuffed animals. But they're eight feet tall and ten feet across each image. So, they're very large, but they're very intimate.

NK: And to focus on this idea of looking at empty rooms, these children were taken from that they left behind until, as you said, they were returned. Where did that part of this idea come from for you?

PB: Two things came together. One was 10 years ago, I went to visit a very close friend and his daughter, 25 year old daughter, had been killed by a drunk driver and they had left her bedroom intact. And I went in there a few times and was quite moving, made quite an impression on me, just standing there in front of her, this empty bed. You know, there were still posters on the wall. Laundry was still in the hamper. It was just this life interrupted. And then last year, when I went to Ukraine, I had never heard the story of the, you know, 20 thousand something plus kids that had been abducted. And then I could just imagine, you know, are the parents, you know, I imagine they left the bed and the kids room alone because they're waiting for them to return and that those feelings I had in my friend's house all came back to me at once. And then this trip happened. You know, I decided I wanted to go and photograph the empty beds. I didn't know at the time that this is all acts of war crime investigations, and I wouldn't be able to meet the families whose kids were still there. But I was able, you know, because of this whole series of groups that helped me out, you know, starting with Bird of Light Ukraine, who then also connected me with the Bring Kids Back group in Ukraine. So, they were able to find me families of the returned kids. And that's what the project became about is that the ones that are back.

NK: Just to underline for our listeners what you were saying there. You weren't able to photograph the pictures of bedrooms of children who are still missing because they are the subject of active war crimes investigations, those abductions. As you stood in the rooms that you did photograph Phil, I wonder what you felt.

PB: It's really hard to describe. One hand these are, you know, the lucky ones. So, and the kids are playing and the parents are talking about their experiences, you know, being translated to me from Ukrainian. And I could tell at parts, you know, how it would get incredibly emotional for them. But, you know, the kid was there, so it wasn't the same feeling for me as if it was, the kid was still in Russia or Russian occupied area. But it really, what I saw was the relationship between the father and the kid or the mother and the kid, you know, with the kid running around and the mother taking care of... that came through totally. And when the mother would talk about the possibility of losing her kid, then that emotion just floated through. Yeah.

NK: There's a universality of that emotion, certainly. And even seeing the rooms as I look at the pictures and I wonder if that was part of the kind of effect you wanted to have on people as they look through it, not just if there's a Yankees cap, but just there's similarities regardless, right?

PB: I think that's one of, like a universal shared value. I imagine even a Russian father and mother would look at that. And if it wasn't for all the propaganda they hear, they would cry thinking about it.

NK: One of the children whose bedroom you photographed, who has come home, Rostislav Lavrov is his name. Can you tell us about his experience a little bit?

PB: Sure. Rostislav was 16 when he was in Russian occupied Ukraine. And, you know, I really related to him because he wanted to be a photographer one day, plus that Yankees cap that was hanging on his bed. He told me it was almost a hard story to listen to about, Russians were trying to convince him to give up his passport, his citizenship and become a Russian citizen. And he kept refusing, you know, I guess they kind of know that if you become a Russian citizen at that age they are going to basically then put a Russian uniform on you and send you to the front to fight against Ukrainians. And I've heard stories of that. And he so, he refused and he was tortured and still, you know, didn't agree to do it. And then he was lucky enough to escape. He couldn't tell me the exact details of that because of, you know, protecting people. But he did say, you know, he was told to be at a certain place at a certain time. And he was and he got back.

NK: Today and tomorrow, Canada is hosting world leaders to talk about Ukraine. And Ukraine's foreign affairs minister has said, quote, The release of all prisoners and deported persons from Russian captivity, including children, is Ukraine's top priority, unquote. In your country, you're just days away from a pivotal election, and the outcome of that would have an impact on that war in this particular atmosphere so politically charged, what message do you hope this artwork sends.

PB: That this is a human tragedy that affects us all. I mean, I'm not Ukrainian, so I don't have a connection that way. My connection is because these are civilians. These are kids. Like the presidential election, I didn't want to make this a political piece about that. But I think maybe the parents in all of us can respond and say this is tragic. And then what would be the best outcome for these kids in this election?

NK: Phil, I thank you for your time.

PB: You're welcome. Thank you.

CH: Phil Buehler is the artist behind an art installation called Empty Rooms. We reached him in New York.

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Puppy Cares For Kitten

CH: As the owner of a dog school, Patricia Tschanen, and has seen all sorts of unusual and funny things and of course, a lot of cute things. But she's never seen anything like this. For about a week now, she's been observing her 11 month old puppy, Phoenix, nursing her nine week old kitten Snickers. It's definitely unusual and even more so because, she says Phoenix has never been pregnant. Here's what she told the CBC's Felisha Adam.

SOUNDCLIP

PATRICIA TSCHANEN: She is a feral kitten. She's very, very scared. But I could tell from the beginning she was very affectionate with the dogs. Phoenix picked her and she started sucking on Phoenix's nipples. And I just thought, Yeah, yeah, cute. And then a friend of mine, she's a vet tech she said, like, is there actual milk coming? And I said, I don't know. So, I checked and I squished it and there is milk coming. So, she is literally nursing the kitten. And my dog is not pregnant or in heat or was never pregnant. She is just, she is not spayed yet. The most amazing part was when I saw that there is really milk coming.

CH: Patricia Tschanen is the founder of Crazy Jumpers Dog School and Boarding in Fraserwood, Manitoba. Information Radio host Marcy Markusa understandably wanted to get to the bottom of this interspecies mystery, so she spoke to Winnipeg veterinarian Dr. Philipp Schott.

SOUNDCLIP

PHILIPP SCHOTT: Actually, not that uncommon. So, dogs can go through a false pregnancy where they have the exact same hormonal picture as with a real pregnancy. So, at 11 months she will have been in heat already at least once. And after being in heat, even if she hasn't been around a male. In some cases, they will go through a full false pregnancy right through to producing milk. So, yep. It happens. It's just not always obvious to owners unless there is a situation like this where there's, you know, in this case, a kitten around that's going can take advantage of that.

MARCY MARKUSA: How common is a situation like this, and especially with two different, you know, a dog and a cat, two different species of animals?

PHILIPP SCHOTT: Yeah. So, the false pregnancy itself is quite common, but that kind of cross species nursing pretty unusual. I mean, there certainly have been case reports. I've never personally seen one, but there are case reports are scattered around. Just the stars have to align, right? You have a dog that's in that situation, there's, feels like it wants to nurture. And you have a kitten that has the need and happened to be in the same place at the same time. And it works out perfectly for both of them.

CH: Veterinarian Dr. Philipp Schott, speaking to Information Radio host Marcy Markusa in Winnipeg.

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Africa Asthma Epidemic

Guest: Sandra Kwarteng Owusu

CH: If you have it, you know the feeling your chest tightens. It gets harder to breathe, to feel like you're getting enough air. It's scary. And at its most extreme, asthma can be lethal. Now, a study published in The Lancet has looked at six African countries South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria. And it found that despite showing severe symptoms, young people suffering from asthma in those countries are going undiagnosed. Sandra Kwarteng Owusu is a paediatric pulmonologist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and one of the co-authors of the study. We reached her in Kumasi, Ghana.

NK: Doctor, in the reporting so far on your study, the headlines read, you know, and describe this as a silent asthma epidemic. Does that ring true to you?

SANDRA KWARTENG OWUSU: I think I tend to agree with them because a lot of the children who reported positive for asthma symptoms had. No official doctor's diagnosis.

NK: 80 per cent had not been diagnosed by medical professionals, your study is saying. How is that happening? Why is that happening?

SKO: It hasn't been recognized in the communities as a disease that needs long term care. I'm saying, although they have symptoms, they have ongoing symptoms. They have not been formally given medication. So, if you have asthma because it's an inflammatory disease. You need to get what we call inhaled corticosteroids. But for most adolescents in Africa because they don't officially have a diagnosis. That part of the treatment is missing. So, they are not on medications that would reduce or control the asthma symptoms.

NK: So, is it about, doctor, just to make it clear to our audience, is it about communities, as you said, not recognizing the severity or the realities of asthma or access to medical professionals who will recognize it and diagnosis? Or is it a combination of both?

SKO: Yes. So, it's a combination. The caregivers need to take them to the health facilities to be reviewed by the health care professionals. Then they will be given medications. The diagnosis is established, medications are offered to the children. But I must say, that because of stigma and these major barriers that adolescents with asthma face, they don't get to be seen by the health care professionals. That aspect or the challenge obviously will be lack of ready access to medications. These medications tend to be expensive, especially for those that need to pay out of pocket. And because the chronic illness, it has to be given routinely, as often as they go to the doctors, they will be seen. And they'll get a refill.

NK: The World Health Organization says more than 260 million people around the world suffer from asthma. About half of those affected may be in Africa, the WHO says. To what do you attribute that prevalence in African cities of asthma?

SKO: We do not completely know why, but some of the reasons that are attributed to this observation. Is one, rapid urbanization and then two, the rising levels of air pollution, especially in the major cities in Africa, has been linked to the rising prevalence of asthma especially in adolescence and childhood.

NK: And Doctor your, to let our listeners know, your team looked at 20 thousand children over a three year span. You personally focussed on cases in Ghanaian children. What stood out to you, what surprised you there.

SKO: Even when some of the children reported severe symptoms in effect of quality of life, they were not offered inhaled corticosteroids. That's a major lack. Asthma is a chronic disease. It can be effectively manage once inhaled corticosteroids are introduced. And we also try to encourage people living with asthma not to rely on rapidly acting bronchodilators, which has no inflammatory effect. So that would give you just a temporary relief.

NK: Sort of over-the-counter things?

SKO: The blue inhaler. Yes, but that does not have any effect on reducing the swelling. So, we educated a lot of adults in the communities about seeking early care, removing stigma and getting a formal diagnosis.

NK: And when people, when people don't know and they're not getting this diagnosis, how is it discussed in communities? What do people tell you? Do is it being brushed off as just a mild illness? There must be some way that people are talking about it and minimizing it, maybe even.

SKO: There are different perception. As part of this study, every child who responded yes to having asthma symptoms, we reached out to all the parents and offered them hospital care. And we highlighted that it could be dangerous if you have asthma and you are not on medication.

NK: And how did they react to finally, you know, getting answers and treatment? What were the children telling you?

SKO: Many of them were very happy. Many of them were relieved. They understood that it can be helped, particularly to improve quality of life for these children as they tend to have severe symptoms from time to time.

NK: That must be rewarding. Was it to see that and hear that from them?

SKO: Yes. I mean, obviously very rewarding. And that's what research is about. It's supposed to inform. It's supposed to improve livelihoods and make lives better. I think all in all, as a team, we felt very relieved that we are able to reach out to, if I would say the unreached and we're able to take health care to get those things. Yes.

NK: And is your sense at this early stage, since you've published this with your team, that it could lead to better, broader access for young people in the countries that you were studying?

SKO: At least I can speak for Ghana. So yes, in Ghana it would lead to better access. I think we need to sustain the effort to reach into communities, educating caregivers and also supporting young people. You know, it's not a onetime process. You need to sustain education. You need to encourage people once it's a chronic illness, it's not just a onetime event. You need to sustain. You need to get feedback and use that to improve care for other children that you may meet.

NK: Dr. Owusu, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

SKO: Thank you very much for having me. I'm grateful.

CH: Sandra Kwarteng Owusu is a paediatric pulmonologist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a co-author of a new study on asthma among young people in Africa. She in Kumasi, Ghana.

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World Series Fan

CH: Tonight, for the second night in a row, the New York Yankees are trying to stave off World Series elimination at home. It's been a tough series for the team, which is down three games to one against the L.A. Dodgers. And for fans, emotions are running high. So high it seems they've decided to take matters into their own hands. Literally, unfortunately. At least that's what two fans tried to do last night when Yankee Gleyber Torres hammered a ball toward Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.

SOUNDCLIP

ANNOUNCER: Fly to right by Torres, Betts in the corner. Does he have room? Fights with a fan! And they're going to say that it's an out and fan interference. So, an out. One gone in this first. It's the second time that Gleyber Torres has hit a ball that has ended up in fan interference in this series. He had the home run turned into a double back at Dodger Stadium. And yeah, Betts has that ball in his glove and this fan literally tries to take his glove off. Pries the ball out of there. A for effort. Well, he won't be watching the game much longer.

CH: That fan did not watch the game much longer after prying open Mr. Betts's glove, he and a co-conspirator were promptly shown out of their very expensive seats. It was only the first inning. The fan was later identified as Austin Capobianco, who defended his actions by telling ESPN, quote, If it's in our area, we're going to 'D' up, unquote. Despite that compelling defence, the backlash against him was swift. Some commenters said he should be banned from Yankee Stadium for life. But others contended the preying was warranted, including Yankee fan Ana Flamengo who told The Athletic quote, I told him he was my hero for trying to save the Yankees. It's the championship game, unquote. I mean, that is true. But it's hard to argue that by trying to grab the ball, they really dropped the ball.

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CH: On October 31st, the children of Des Moines, Iowa, will do something that hasn't been done in their city for more than eight and a half decades. They will trick or treat on Halloween. I know it's surprising because back in 1938, some intrepid Des Moinesite or possibly Des Moinesian, nobody seems to know what people from Des Moines are called. Had the idea to rid the city of Halloween related nuisances, things like tomfoolery, monkeyshines and door knocking after 8:00 p.m. And the big idea was to move Halloween from the 31st to the 30th and call it something else. Also, the children would have to tell jokes to earn their candy. Like, why don't werewolves ever know the time? Because they're not when-wolves. Somehow that seemingly misguided and ineffective strategy stuck. And the Des Moineses or the Des Moinegelinos have been doing it ever since. Until this year. Tonight's forecast is calling for bad weather. So, for the first time in 86 years, the city has moved the Halloween it moved to tonight, to tomorrow night, which just happens to be actual Halloween. At last shenanigans, hoodlumerie and hooliganism will once again reign on Halloween night as they are meant to, and officials can't say boo about it.

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CH: You've been listening to As It Happens on the CBC Listen App. Our show can be heard Monday to Friday on CBC Radio One after Your World Tonight.

NK: And you can always read more about the stories and conversations we feature on As It Happens on our website, cbc.ca/aih. I'm Nil Köksal.

CH: And I'm Chris Howden.

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The AIH Transcript For October 30, 2024

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