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The Sunday Magazine

Abolishing the Senate; Canada's Iraq mission; Their Own Room; Jealousy; Inuit children discover their heritage

Michael's essay - Why the Senate will never be abolished. Why is Canada in Iraq? ISIS has become the focal point of Western counter-terrorism. We ask Canada's Defence Minister, Jason Kenney, if the West's military strategy against ISIS is actually working. Michael also talks to Andrew Bacevich, a retired Colonel in the United States Army, who doesn't share Minister Kenney's view. "I Want My Own Room" - an Alisa Siegel documentary: Sophie and Faye, two sisters, 7 and 9, share a bedroom. And they both want out. They have launched a campaign to make it happen. The bright side of a dark emotion: Peter Toohey is a classics professor at the University of Calgary. In his book "Jealousy", he explores how this disturbing emotion can be a force for both bad and good. Mail: Listeners react to Michael's essay from last week about the culture of sexual abuse in Canada's military and the RCMP, and to Karin Wells's documentary about Margot Bentley, who, despite advanced Alzheimer's, is being kept alive in contravention of her clearly expressed wishes. Docu-essay - Walking on Thin Ice: David Blair takes his two adopted sons on a holiday to a First Nations Winter camp in the far north. It's a risky business. His sons are Inuit. He is white.
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Sunday Edition1:33:29The Sunday Edition, June 21, 2015

Michael's essay - Why the Senate will never be abolished (00:00:26)

Here's an excerpt: "For as far back as memory reaches, the Red Chamber has been a luxury rest home for every variety of  clapped out political water carrier and bag man trenchering down in the Canadian Grill of the Chateau Laurier, or wandering the moldy halls of the Rideau Club."

Why is Canada in Iraq? (00:04:24) It has been almost exactly a year since ISIS ran Iraqi forces out of Mosul - Iraq's second-biggest city - and became the focal point of Western counter-terrorism. Canada is one of the United States' most active allies in this fight. But ISIS appears to be marching undeterred toward its goal of creating a caliphate in the region. We ask Canada's Defence Minister, Jason Kenney, if the West's military strategy against ISIS is actually working. Michael also talks to Andrew Bacevich, who doesn't share Minister Kenney's view. Bacevich is a retired Colonel in the United States Army, and Professor Emeritus of History and International Relations at Boston University.

"I Want My Own Room" - an Alisa Siegel documentary: (00:38:05) A Room of One's Own. Virginia Woolf nailed the title. And since then, generations of women have openly expressed that yearning for private space - from the powerful to the downtrodden - from the old to the young. Even to the very, very young. Take Sophie and Faye. Two sisters, 7 and 9. They share a bedroom. And they both want out. "I Want My Own Room" is the story of their campaign to make it happen.

The bright side of a dark emotion: (00:46:46) The torments of jealousy are known to anyone who has resented what someone else has. But Peter Toohey, a classics professor at the University of Calgary, believes jealousy can be a force for both bad and good. In his new book Jealousy Toohey tackles the differences between jealousy and envy, and describes how jealous feelings can sow discord, fuel ambition or turn impulses for romance, admiration and enthusiasm into bitterness, resentment and sorrow.

Mail: (01:08:59) Listeners react to Michael's essay from last week about the culture of sexual abuse in Canada's military and the RCMP, and to Karin Wells's documentary about Margot Bentley, who, despite advanced Alzheimer's, is being kept alive in contravention of her clearly expressed wishes. 

Docu-essay - Walking on Thin Ice: (01:23:09) David Blair takes his two adopted sons on a holiday to a First Nations Winter camp in the far north. It's a risky business. His sons are Inuit. He is white.

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