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 2021

The Current Transcript for December 20, 2021

Host: Matt Galloway

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

[Music: Theme]

SOUNDCLIP

VOICE 1: The reality is Omicron is here in Canada, and we have to cut down community spread.

VOICE 2: This could affect jurisdictions across Canada with the potential to overwhelm health care capacity.

VOICE 3: The situation is is both dramatic and critical.

MG: As the second calendar year of this pandemic comes to a close. Cases of COVID are rising dramatically. Some jurisdictions have implemented further public health restrictions. Others are easing theirs in 30 minutes. Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, on Where We're At, Where We're Going and her advice for a very different Christmas season than many people expected. Also this morning,

SOUNDCLIP

For everyone who's listening, don't begrudge me the right to also want to go back to go back to the roots, go back to the motherland.

MG: For years, the Canadian journalist Kamal al-Solaylee has been trying to come to terms with the idea of home in an hour. We revisit our conversation about belonging, why he is increasingly drawn to his ancestral roots in Yemen, and why going back doesn't always lead you where you thought it would. We start, though, in British Columbia, with the reopening of a highway that just weeks ago was washed away and the challenge of rebuilding in the face of climate change. Good morning. I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current.

[Music: Theme]

Coquihalla Highway reopens today ahead of schedule

Guests: Michael J Ballingall, Amy Kim

SOUNDCLIP

It is the best news we could have had. It's just a game changer. I'm looking forward to seeing traffic move on that corridor once again.

MG: That corridor is the Coquihalla Highway that runs through British Columbia's interior. It was flooded, washed out and destroyed in places by mudslides last month after B.C. was hit by an historic rain event. Crews have been working around the clock to get the critical road back open as soon as possible, and that hard work is paying off. The Coquihalla will reopen today, well ahead of schedule. Dave Earle, president and CEO of the B.C. Trucking Association, knows how bad the road closure has been for the B.C. supply chain.

SOUNDCLIP

That entire network, that fabric that our economy relies on and that you and I rely on has been utterly shattered in British Columbia for the past month. I can't begin to explain the level of impact that it's had on people's lives, that it's had on the movement of goods that it's having on our economy. It is just stupefying the impact that's starting to get more stable. We're months and months and months from a recovery, but it's getting stable. Everybody wants to get off. Highway three Highway three is a beautiful, stunningly beautiful drive in the summertime, by the way. You know, for a family vacation, it's very beautiful. It's incredibly mountainous. It's very twisty, very steep in sections. It's a really pretty drive. No one wants to drive that in a commercial vehicle. It's incredibly difficult. The skill that it takes to move is extraordinary. It's challenging. Everybody's looking forward to getting back on Highway five, where it's designed to be able to accommodate larger vehicles and looking forward to getting back to to a quarter. That's just ever so much easier to manage than Highway three.

MG: Today's just a first step. That road is reopening, but only commercial vehicles and intercity buses will be allowed. Ernst Penner hopes to be one of the first truckers to hit the highway this week.

SOUNDCLIP

Oh, it's very important. It's I mean, they're not finished all the work yet on there. So they're they're saying it's going to take an extra longer time, right? But it feels really good that they got it, and it's pretty much straight line. There's a couple good hills there but it's it's not a windy road, right? So that would save me two hours. So that'll be a huge relief.

MG: This news is also music to the ears of tourism operators. The pandemic has hit tourism hard for nearly two years already, and the extended closure of the main route between BC's Lower Mainland and the interior only made things worse. Michael J. Ballingall is senior vice president of Big White. It's ski resort just outside of Cloner British Columbia. He's also chair of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association. Michael, good morning.

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: Good morning. From the highest living room in Canada,

MG: how big of a deal is it for you that this highway, which, as I said, was washed out in something like 20 different places, people saw the images of a road that was no longer a road. How big of a deal is it for you that it's reopening in time for the Christmas holidays?

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: It's the biggest deal. I don't think, you know, for your listeners coast to coast, this is catastrophic. What happened out here in British Columbia a month ago that, you know, we heard this thing called the atmospheric river and the devastation that happened in the Lower Mainland and on the Coquihalla highway. You know, our thoughts, our hearts go out to those that are affected by that, but to the to the men and women that reconstructed the Coquihalla when they say things like an engineering feat and this is something that was never expected to happen. The fact that it's happening on the Monday before the, you know, Christmas Christmas Day, we get to get Highway three for the for the family and friends and the general public tomorrow that this will change everything. It'll just mean that people can move again. And then for a month, they haven't been able to move. And you know, I think everybody right across the country understands that visiting at this time of year and just being together with with with the pandemic, nothing is normal. But now we get a chance just to be together with family and friends.

MG: Can you just briefly? I mean, I've driven that highway a number of times, but for people elsewhere in the country who saw those images but don't understand how important is that highway?

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: Well, just imagine the 401 being down for a month. Nobody moves. It doesn't exist. Take it out of the system and put everybody on a single lane highway. Everybody. So it had to be changed to essential travel only. So our trucking industry has done an absolutely wonderful job. The men and women that drive the big rigs to the highest mountain pass in Canada on snowy, high res double lane traffic everywhere. They've done a wonderful job and there has been loss of life. I think we need to remember this, that this is this is skilled, skilled people doing the best they can to get our goods to and from the market. And now that they have the highway, the freeway opening back up again to what it is, it's not like it was before, there will be single alternating traffic. But to the engineers that pulled this feat off, I mean, this is a standing ovation, Canada. It is something that we're all going to benefit from.

MG: For your business. What specifically, do you think it's going to mean? I mean, have you seen an increase in bookings? Did you see a drop off when people when it was much more difficult for people to get to big white?

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: Oh, yes, we lost the entire Christmas booking out out of the Lower Mainland, I mean, people had the option to come through the states, but look, what's happened with travel just in the last six days, the uncertainty out there, the anxiety out there, just just for travel. Is it essential? Is it non-essential? Can I go? Can't I go? You know, we have people arriving at Cologne from all over Canada and international flights as well. B.C. is the mecca for skiing in the world. Every resort's got great snow and and now is our busiest time of year. But we have to remember that we have to practise, you know, good safety protocols. But at the same time, there's people that are just there cancelling for no other reason than I can't get to you. And so they made other plans and we lost 50 percent of our bookings.

MG: You talk about uncertainty. I mean, the reopening comes while cases are exploding across this country, and there is the real possibility that new restrictions to help prevent the spread of al-Muqrin could come into place. What are you expecting?

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: Well, we've just gone through a very busy weekend, 15000 skier visits, so real time data is now coming into our particular tourist location. And what I was saying to people standing in line yesterday, this is time to be Canadian. This is time to come together and understand that everybody is in this boat together. We're lining up at the airports were lining up for booster shots, were lining up to get tested. We're standing in line at the grocery store. That means that when we go on vacation, there's probably going to be line-ups for the restaurants and bars. Everybody is a little bit confused with with what's new for me. I had a New Year's Eve planned. Now I have to change those plans. I can't get up and dance. Now I have to sit down. If these are the little things that we have to do together, then let's do them together. What we have noticed in our resort is that 25 percent less hand sanitiser is going out the door. That means we're not washing our hands. A simple thing to keep this vaccination away is where the proper masks wash your hands, stay six feet apart. And Canada, we got to do this again. Now's the time to step this up and be in this together and understand that the person beside you, you don't know what they're going through, but I can tell you this. We're all on edge. And so let's just embrace this time to get rid of this new virus because we know how to do it. We've done it before.

MG: I guess just the last point on this is again, when it comes to restrictions, there could be the possibility that that people will be told going and skiing at Big White, as great as the snow might be, is not. The thing that you need to do right now is now the time that people should be going to a resort like yours as Omicron continues to spread.

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: You know what, one of the things that we've listened to is the science and outside is better than inside has has been one of the staples of our magic. We know that last year it became essential travel only, so we had to pivot and we closed down. If you weren't within 150 kilometres, a big white ski resort, we asked you not to come. We cancelled over seven million dollars worth of reservations. If that's what we have to do again to do our part, then every resort in British Columbia is prepared to do their part. But that's also where we're going to need government help. Every restaurant, every small operator, province to province, coast to coast knows what they need to stay alive and their local government, the provincial government and the federal governments all need to get together to help us get through this together, because if we're told not to travel, then that is absolutely the right thing to do. Stay home, stay small. Stay in your bubble, stay warm. Stay healthy. But at the same time, get outside because we know it's better to be outside than inside.

MG: Your part of the country has been through the wringer. When you think of fires and floods this pandemic, the infrastructure which we're going to be talking about more in just a moment which is vulnerable to climate change, how can your industry prepare to be resilient in the face of everything that you've gone through this year?

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: I think we're there now where it's not the fact that we're preparing, we're living it every day. The hospitality and tourism industry, the professionals that work at the front desk of a hotel, making making a bed, serving a cup of coffee in the back of the house in the kitchens. This is the life that they have chosen to do and they do it very well. What we're asking is our customers to understand, be available to show your vaccine passport, have the proper ID, understand if we're at 50 percent capacity, that's all we're at. If it's six to a table, please don't try to put a seventh one on there. We're when we say that we're in this together. The hospitality industry has been doing this and practising this for two years. Be consent should be understanding of what we're going through to. 'Cause we're here to serve you and all we want to do is make your Christmas holidays as good as it is, is as good as it can be.

MG: Michael, good to speak with you. Good luck. Stay safe and thank you very much.

MICHAEL BALLINGALL: Happy holidays to all your listeners.

MG: Happy holidays to you. Michael J. Ballingall is the senior vice president of Big White Ski Resort and chair of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association in the B.C. interior. This isn't the first time that extreme weather has broken a piece of critical Canadian infrastructure, and with climate change, it most certainly will not be the last. Amy Kim is an Associate Professor of Transportation Engineering at the University of British Columbia. Amy, good morning.

AMY KIM: Hello.

MG: As an engineer, what is your reaction to the fact that the Coquihalla Highway, again, parts of it washed out we we saw the images that it's reopening sooner rather than later.

AMY KIM: Well, I think it's a truly amazing engineering achievement when you consider the scale of damage in the locations where it occurred. Some of these are really challenging terrain that make equipment and material access difficult. Also, it's important to remember that we're in winter, which means construction itself is more challenging due to freezing temperatures and reduced daylight hours. Overall, I think it was, you know, it was a massive and dedicated effort by a huge team with a range of expertise. Those in the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to consulting civil engineers, structural geotechnical, hydro, technical transportation and others to qualify contractors. And I will add some of whom were likely on site within hours of getting the call to work.

MG: I was going say, how is something like this possible when you saw what was left of the highway after those storms where the road was just washed into the river? How is it possible that you can rebuild it at least temporarily, that quickly?

AMY KIM: Well, to be honest about this, in terms of the scale of damage I was, I was astonished by the severity and the geographic scope over which it is. Which it occurred is astonishing. And the thing about these highways is that because they're built through really challenging terrain, you know, on steep slopes following rivers and across different drainage pathways in mountain passes, they are inherently vulnerable and these do occur. But again, all at once and so severely over such a large geography is astonishing.

MG: And so how do you go about making sure that a highway like this isn't damaged like this again, given a changing climate?

AMY KIM: Yeah. Well, as engineers, you know, we cannot guarantee this, what we do, though, is we we try to lower the risks of such occurrences through our infrastructure, design and maintenance processes. And also we try to minimise transportation disruptions that may follow from such events through operations and planning studies and to inform these processes. It's important for us to study the events that contributed to the damage, the damage itself on the different components, which include bridges, culverts, the road surface and then how traffic and transportation management was done. But just to go back to the to the cost of risk, the challenge for us is that highly infrastructure is designed based on we design it based on some expected future condition over an expected lifespan. And certainly, safety cushions are built in. But that's just the thing about expectation. It is inherently uncertain what will actually happen. And so with these criteria, engineers do accept a certain level of elevated risk. Now, such events like the one that we witnessed in November are certainly extremely severe, but have had a low probability of occurrence. Which may be to be revisited in light of climate change, but with improvements that follow newer adaptation guidelines, our infrastructure can be more resilient.

MG: Should this be a wake up call? I mean, when it comes to how you talk about resiliency, how resilient our infrastructure actually is?

AMY KIM: Yes. I mean, well...

MG: I just wonder whether this event is the kind of thing that sort of should signal to people that we need to think differently about how critical infrastructure can and should be protected in the face of climate change.

AMY KIM: Yeah, certainly in my mind, what I in my mind, the work of adaptation involves involved to do so. It involves a holistic thinking about all the different ways by which we can build resilience, which can include structural solutions, hazard mitigation and also better understanding how our networks are actually used to move people and goods. In addition to all the ways our networks can potentially be used to do this and also planning for what happens to this movement when things do fail. So like from my perspective, as a transportation engineer, I look at how we use this system to move people and goods and in building transportation resilience. But we want to understand how we move not only in regular times, but also how we can utilise the network as effectively and safely as possible when these disruptions, when disruptions do occur.

MG: Do you think routes like this need to be rerouted? So that, I mean, as you said, they're through dangerous mountain passes that perhaps makes them even more vulnerable because of the conditions that they sneak through. Do we need to think about rerouting these sorts of things, given what you know, the changing climate and what those routes will be facing?

AMY KIM: Well, the ruling is really hard because our transportation networks in Canada need to cover huge distances over what is difficult terrain. It creates major limitations. For example, there's only so many viable routes and mountains, and when you also have a river, for example, you have limited area in which to build the road. So I don't believe that building new move is necessarily going to be the solution in in many cases. I think what we have to do is think about how, how we currently are using and how we currently using the routes that we have now. And it's important to coordinate across the different disciplines in order to make those boats as resilient as possible.

MG: How effectively is that sort of planning and mitigation being done in Canada right now, do you think?

AMY KIM: Well, from what I understand, I believe there is variation in the approaches across Canada and work each jurisdiction is that. And plus we're a huge country. The needs are are different everywhere. The needs are different everywhere, and there's a lot of challenges. There's a lot of challenges to this work. First, the impacts of climate change are just really uncertain and really uncertain. So planning infrastructure investments under these conditions is really, really challenging. The next thing is that there are so many stakeholders that are involved in providing and using our highway system, including different levels of government, truck trucking companies, communities and others. And we heard from some before. Coordination is always a challenge because motivations and priorities will naturally differ. And third, it's incredibly costly and there are so many demands on our infrastructure, but resources are limited.

MG: But we've seen what happens when those those networks are broken. I mean, just how disruptive it can be and as you say, this should be a wake up call for those who are making those decisions.

AMY KIM: Yes, and we need to we need to study what happened in this last in this last event in order to move forward into the future.

MG: Amy Kim, good to speak with you. Thank you very much.

AMY KIM: Thank you so much.

MG: Amy Kim, an associate professor of transportation engineering at the University of British Columbia. You're CBC News is next. And then as we were talking about, it's not just disruptions to the transportation network that are affecting tourism destinations. Of course, Omicron is here. It's hitting this country hard just as people get set for a holiday season that they thought would be very different maybe even six weeks ago than what is facing us in the next few days. We all have questions. We'll put some of those questions to Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam joins me on The Current coming up in six minutes. My name is Matt Galloway and it's a CBC Radio One. Stay with us.

Coquihalla Highway reopens today ahead of schedule

Guest: Dr. Theresa Tam

MG: Good morning. I'm Matt Galloway and you're listening to The Current. Still to come, the holidays can sometimes bring up a kind of soul searching over the meaning of home, where and what home means is something that the author Kamal Al-Solaylee has thought deeply about. He was born in Yemen, fled to Beirut, then Cairo as a child, studied in London and immigrated to Canada in just under 30 minutes. We'll revisit my conversation with him from earlier this year. But first Canada's top doctor. How are you doing? In some ways, it feels like we have taken a giant step back when it comes to COVID, cases are rising quickly across this country and provinces, and public health authorities have brought in restrictions to stop the spread. The new variants omicron as part of a reason why. And just ahead of the holidays, it's making public health officials and Canadians very nervous. Joining me now is the chief public health officer of Canada, Dr. Theresa Tam. Dr. Tam, good morning.

DR. THERESA TAM: Good morning. How are you doing? I'm doing fine. Thank you.

MG: Your report to Parliament last week said that we weren't ready for COVID. Now, once again, health officials are scrambling to blunt this rising wave. There's a scramble for people to get their hands on rapid tests. What people have characterised as the Hunger Games to try and book shots for a third dose a booster shot. Why does it feel like we're still being caught flat footed almost two years into this pandemic?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, I think the pandemic is still very much with us, and we have learnt a huge amount. I don't think any country could say that they were prepared for something of this scale. But I think what I'm really hopeful about is that the world's scientists are learning at breakneck speed about these variants of concern and that we do know what we should be doing and the layers of protection that can can really help us limit the impact of this virus. So we, you know, it may seem like we're taking a step back because the virus is taking a step forward, but we know what to do and we can continue to apply those layers of measures.

MG: I guess the question you framed there, we know what to do is the subject of some debate for people. Alberta has loosened some restrictions for social gatherings over Christmas. In Ontario and B.C., most events in big venues can continue at 50 percent capacity. That still allows for hundreds of people to be together. But you said last week that people should avoid mass gatherings. Who should Canadians be paying attention to right now as we head into the holidays?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, I think Canada is a vast country, so the situation is always a bit different in different jurisdictions. The local public health is keeping a close eye on what's going on. And that really does determine what people can do. But what I can say about this particular variant beyond the common variant is that it can actually escalate really fast. So I think prevention and precautionary measures are the way to go. So I advocate for keeping your gatherings small with your close family or your intimate friends who you know, and it's safer if everyone is vaccinated. Although the Omicron variant, even if you're vaccinated, you could still be infected, even though you personally more protect against serious outcomes. So you should still try and enjoy yourselves, but make sure that your ventilation is maintained as well as possible. Wear a mask if possible. It depends on who you're gathering with and get that third shot to get the booster shot.

MG: This is we're looking for, in some ways, practical information as Canadians. Is it still safe to get together?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, I think you can, as I said, keep your gatherings smaller and you know your gathering with you have plans and make there's probably need to be some flexibility in their plans, depending on where you're living. And so I still think one can gather in and enjoy ourselves with our loved ones if we keep the gatherings as small as you can.

MG: When you take a look at what's happening elsewhere around the world. That is not the advice that is being delivered in some jurisdictions. The Netherlands, for example, went into a hard lockdown this weekend because of the looming threat of Omicron. Is that what? It's ultimately going to take something like that to snuff this out?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, I think we're still watching the situation in Canada day by day. But what we have learnt about this virus, if it's spreading very quickly, is that acting fast and early can get us out of the situation faster. So I do think that if cases begin to escalate in any particular local area, then measures in that local jurisdiction is very important. And so acting fast is important.

MG: What do you think. Those measures should look like given what you know about where we're at right now, but also what might be coming down the road?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, think again, people should remain flexible in terms of what's going on. I think that right now, most provinces are trying to do these additional measures, particularly keeping gatherings small, is to avoid total lockdowns and stop stopping our ability to go to work and do all the essential things imposed in our society. They want the kids to be able to go back to school in January. But but again, remaining flexible in terms of what happens there. So everything that we can do over the holiday period to enjoy ourselves, but small gatherings can help us return back to work or back to school, back to university that much faster. So I think we can still. I know everyone is tired and weary, but we can still all the parts so that we don't have to go into complete lockdowns. But I think jurisdictions are still remaining flexible on that front.

MG: I just wonder whether you talk about people being tired and weary, whether people emotionally and mentally are prepared for the real possibility that there could be further lockdowns, that there could be further restrictions on what people can or can't do over the next few weeks.

DR. THERESA TAM: I do think everyone is tired. Nobody wants another Christmas or holiday periods where there are such strong restrictions. But I think Canadians have been absolutely amazing in the last year. They've been patient. We know we can only get through if we do this together. So I do think that despite the weariness, people will continue as they have done to the right thing, but it is getting more and more difficult to do so, which is why we know that no layers of measures are perfect. Reducing contact rate is really key. But you can still wear a well-fitted, well-constructed mask, make sure your ventilation is improved and do the best that you can. So I think that's what we're asking everyone to do.

MG: Do you think we're still all in this together? That was the tag phrase from eight months ago when we were really scared by what was happening. And now again, go back to the issue of pandemic fatigue. Are we really still all pulling together, do you think?

DR. THERESA TAM: I think it is more difficult. It is different, perhaps in different parts of the country as well. But I do think, yes, again, communities and individuals are still very much trying their hardest. And so I think it's something that allows people to take more control of their lives. It's also very important now most people know what to do themselves without perhaps even the public health units telling them what to do. They've learnt over the months and they know how to assess their own risk, the risk in the gathering that they're going into. But they also, I think, know that the vaccines are going to help them and that getting a booster shot is very key, especially for High-Risk people. So there are things that we can do, and knowing that we can have some control is actually very, very important for people's mental health.

MG: I think you raised the issue of schools, and I think there are a lot of parents across this country and in many, if not all jurisdictions with that knot in their stomach, wondering whether their kids are going to be back in class come January. What should we be doing now. And again, part of this is individual. But there are larger, systemic things that that whether it's individual school boards or provincial territorial public health departments, what do we all need to be doing to make sure that kids are back in class come January?

DR. THERESA TAM: Mm hmm. So I think what we saw prior to the arrival of Omicron is that most cases were in fact occurring in children under the age of 12 because they had not had the benefit of the vaccine until very recently. And we saw that outbreaks in the number of cases in older kids came down. So I still think it's very important for individual protection for children, for reducing school disruption, to continue to move ahead with vaccinating children and get the first doses. And now we've we've only got a third of kids between the age of five to 11, having had the initial dose, so we can do more on that front. But I think again, reducing our gathering sizes, reducing the number of contacts will help kids in general have an increased chance of getting back to school in person. Also, adults around children can increase their protection again, get fully vaccinated, get the primary series, get the boosters and protecting each other in the community reduces the amount of transmission overall and can help schools get back as fast as they can. I think public health is also using other tools to try and keep children in school. For example, some are sending kits, but testing kits with parents back with them over the holiday period so that they can reduce the chances of introducing the virus as kids go back. So people are trying their hardest. I think again, I being cohesive and working together between school boards, public health and parents will get us somewhere in the new year that is good for our kids.

MG: Do you think kids will be back in class in January?

DR. THERESA TAM: I think it's difficult to say again, we have to remain flexible in our plans, but the more we can do to creatively have fun while reducing our contacts, I think it's important kids have learnt to have some fun despite the fact that they perhaps couldn't do as much as they could before. I do think kids enjoy the outdoors more than adults. They actually look forward to snow and winter weather. So getting them outside, making sure that the mental and physical health are protected as much as possible sets them up for a better return.

MG: Let me ask you about the mental health part of this. I mentioned earlier the idea of, you know, the pit of anxiety in people's stomachs. How concerned are you that almost two calendar years into this, the cumulative mental effect, mental health effect of what we've gone through on people is really beginning to show. It's been showing already, but this is really beginning to present itself.

DR. THERESA TAM: Yes, and I think in last year's report that I presented, I think I pointed to the wider impacts of the pandemic, not just from the virus itself, but from all the measures that we've all had to take to reduce transmission. So there's a real concern, I think that many organisations and non-governmental organisation community organisations are trying to get together to support each other and not just from the virus, but from the mental health aspect of wellness together as a platform that the government of Canada has put together where people can get help. There are 24-7 help lines kids help phone and other supports that people shouldn't be afraid to use. They are there to help people as they need to. Many people are consuming more alcohol, for instance, just to cope and finding other avenues to cope with stress of our imports, including more physical activities, for instance. But there are people at the highest risk of physical and mental health impacts, and they are often people who are struck by loss of job living in poverty or homelessness, and those are the groups that we must support the most. And I think focussing on small things that we're being grateful for, but helping others can often elevate our own public health and mental health as well. So I think Christmas and other holiday periods is a good time to again have all Canadians. They're very generous, show their generosity and helping others can potentially help our own mental health, but do seek help if you need to.

MG: There is still so much that we don't know about this latest wave and about this new variant. People have been speculating and waiting for information on whether it is or is not, perhaps more severe in terms of disease outcomes than Delta. Given that uncertainty, how do you strike the balance between raising the alarm and not being alarmist?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, think even compared to two years ago, we are learning even faster than before. So the global community is coming together very fast and we have to be thankful for South Africa for sounding the alarm in the first place. And it's been less than a month since the emergence of the unwelcome variant. So we learn way more than what we did before. Yes, we're waiting for some further information, but we already have vaccines and boosters that we could use, and we know some of the interventions as we just talked about where we can protect ourselves and each other. So I think that it is very important for us to take this seriously, but we mustn't panic. We know some of the things we can do. So it is important to sound the alarm because then you can act faster and reduce to. Risk and be much more organised in the way that we go about reducing our risk. But we will learn more. I think very soon we will learn about not just whether this virus causes similar or different outcomes and impacts for severity. But we'll we will learn more about the vaccine impact on reducing severe outcomes. Right now, we are hopeful that the vaccines, as it stands, even with two, does, but certainly the three can reduce severity and that's what we need to focus on. Because of this, we're doing now is to prevent a rapid surge that will overwhelm our health care system because our health care, we're tired.

MG: As you roll out vaccines and boosters in particular, there's still close to 20 percent of the population that's has not had their first dose. How do you reach those people?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, I think there are many different multi multiple ways is not a one size fits all. I think I'm Kwan is yet another wake up call that we should get the vaccines into arms, but again increasing access, making sure people have access to vaccines and that suits the their lifestyle. Some of them might be at work, for instance. I think combating misinformation and that is rampant across social media is really important when we see something that is the wrong information. Public health units are trying to address them head on. So that all those things are very important. But also access, I think, is paramount. Getting information out to people, making sure the questions are answered, particularly helping health care professionals themselves who are on the front lines of talking to patients are very important. But community leaders are very, very key. So people that different groups trust, whether they're religious leaders or whether they're community leaders, indigenous leaders are very important with supporting and other government organisations. Boys, Boys and Girls Club, BGC Canada, for example, youth leaders trying everything to reach those who are not yet vaccinated is still very much the priority.

MG: Is it about mandates at some point in time? Do you need stronger mandates to say this is what is required if you want to send your child to school? If you want to be involved in other restaurants and and bars and what have you, there are proof of vaccination requirements. But beyond that, do we need stronger mandates to close that gap to bring that number down in terms of the number of people who have yet to have their shot?

DR. THERESA TAM: I think, again, that's up to the provincial and local health units in general, but what we did see is that over the summer months from about mid-August on when some different levels of government brought in some of the vaccine proofs and some of the mandates, we did increase the vaccine coverage. Some of it was a bit short lived, but it did increase coverage in the younger populations who had not got vaccinated before. Now, some of the vaccine requirements for travel purposes, I think, has stimulated more people to get vaccinated. But I think this is an ongoing evaluation by different levels of government, so we'll have to see. The most important thing is that everybody has access to that booster or to the kids vaccine first before any kind of mandates are put in place. So I think equity and access comes first and then people can look at other measures.

MG: Do we need to change that definition of what fully vaccinated means from two doses to three?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, fully vaccinated, this has been a very administrative sort of terminology. We have been learning about vaccines over time. At the beginning, I think all the clinical trials were focussed on safety first, which was very important. That was very well done. There wasn't a lot of time to look at all different schedule, the number of doses, the interval between doses and indeed the amount of vaccine in each does. We're learning more and more about that. And I think that people again should stay tuned to the latest scientific evidence as we learn about this together. So I think we learnt over time in the last months that we were likely to need a booster dose and that was already started before Omicron surfaced so that we must continue to do that and we will continue to learn more about the impact of vaccines over the coming year as well. One other thing that I strongly recommend is that either the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine are good at boosting your antibody levels against different variants, including the Omicron variant. That booster will give you a stronger punch against this virus. So either of those vaccines a good choice. Depending your age group, there may be different recommendations, but don't start picking and choosing. Once again, I think our recommendation is that both are good.

MG: When you gave your update on Friday, you urged Canadians to hang on for a little while longer. You said that all storms ran out of wind and rain. How much longer do you think we're going to have to hang on? How much longer? Will we need to continue limiting contacts, putting off travel and living what could be classified as a normal life? Are we talking weeks? Are we talking months here?

DR. THERESA TAM: Well, we can't give an exact date, but we all know that every pandemic ends and it ends when I think- now we know we can't eradicate this virus, but when it becomes a bit more predictable in its spread and its timing, and which age groups or which groups affects the most. I think that we don't know the exact dates, but it's not going to be days or weeks. It will be a number of months. I certainly was urging Canadians to look towards spring. This winter is going to be a bumpy ride. But even beyond spring, we will continue to learn about this virus. I think the global response is very important. If even if we get somewhere in Canada in terms of out of the crisis state, the virus continues to do what viruses do its expected and ways of mutating. So I think helping many other countries get the pandemic under control is of paramount importance in 2022 and moving into 2023.

MG: Where are you finding hope? Just finally in this, there's a lot of bad news and it does feel as though we've gone in reverse. And I get that as you said this because the pandemic continues to move forward. But for a lot of people, this is really hard. And so where are you finding optimism?

DR. THERESA TAM: It is really hard. But if I look back almost exactly one year ago, we didn't have any vaccines. Very soon after we got vaccines, we saw the rate of death decrease very dramatically, particularly amongst elders and long term care. If we had this virus delta in particular, and now the al-Muqrin rolling through our communities, if we didn't have the vaccine, this is not the picture that we would see. We would see way more outbreaks and severe outcomes. So I'm really grateful for the fact that this has been a very positive steps. Canadians have rolled up their sleeves. We just need to continue to on that pathway as as we move forward. So that is so different, I think, than what we would have seen a year ago. And with that comes hope, and I think we learn more about how the virus is spread. Please do a well-constructed well-fitted mask properly and reduce gathering size. And we look forward to the beginning of next year.

MG: Dr. Tam, appreciate speaking to you his morning. Have a safe and happy holidays and thank you very much.

DR. THERESA TAM: You too. It's been a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you very much.

MG: Dr. Theresa Tam is the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. Are you doing and all of this again, it's been. If you take a look at where we were a month ago, six weeks ago, things have changed dramatically. A lot changed in the last week. A lot evolved over the course of the weekend. And so how are you doing and where are you finding some hope and strength in this? You can let us know. Email us thecurrent@cbc.ca. Tweet us @TheCurrentCBC or head to the website cbc.ca/thecurrent and click on the contact link. Coming up after your regional update,

SOUNDCLIP

I'm very grateful for this country. In many ways, it's also my homeland, but there's a part of me that doesn't feel completely connected to it. It's the land of my ancestors is where I should spend probably the end of my life and where I should probably be buried.

MG: The journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee has spent his life in movement, which means he spent a lot of time thinking about the idea of home. In just a moment, we'll talk about whether home is a place of feeling a language or some combination of all of those things, plus more that's coming up in about 90 seconds. My name is Matt Galloway. This is The Current on CBC Radio One.

Kamal Al-Solaylee on the idea of home and the desire to return

Guest: Kamal Al-Solaylee

MATT GALLOWAY: Hi, I'm Matt Galloway and you're listening to The Current. Earlier this year. I spoke with the journalist and author Kamal Al-Solaylee His newest book is about home, what it means and why we return to it. And something that is often on people's minds this close to the holidays. And so here is that conversation.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: Yemen is where I was born, in the port city of Aden and where most of my siblings and extended family still live in the capital, Sanaa, cholera, famine, water and electricity shortages, floods and more than a year of covid-19 have left Yemenis reeling as the world watched helplessly, indifferently.

MG: In his new book, Kamal Al-Solaylee reflects on what it is that pulls people to return to their homeland. That book is called Return Why we Go Back to Where We Come From.

SOUNDCLIP

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: The biggest connection, however, remains our shared homeland. Soil sees streets, structures, mountains, trees, smells and sounds, even if I've been away from the country for decades.

MG: We're surprised by how much you miss Yemen even after decades of being away.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I was really taken aback by this sort of inexplicable connection I have particularly I mean, I should say probably not all of Yemen, but in the city where I was born, in a city that I left at the age of three and only returned to briefly in my 20s, but a city that sort of lives in the family law and our family history and and and yet I see, you know, so much of my life in the last few years have been motivated by a desire to revisit the spend time that

MG: I want to talk about that desire, because that runs through the book in various ways. The book starts with this question that not a lot of us, I think, to be honest, are grappling with before we have to. The question is, where do you want to be buried? Why do you want. Why did you want to start this book there?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I wanted to say that because because it is, I think, the ultimate expression of where you belong. And it is where do you want to, you know, search for your body to have that final resting place. And I couldn't think of anything that says this is home, this is the soil. This is the land that I belong to. And where you choose if you have a choice, some people obviously don't have that choice. If you choose to be buried in your homeland, it seems to me to connect this inexplicable desire with literally with the land that you that you are connected to. And it was also as I mentioned the book, it was it was a question that took me by surprise because it was it was my question at the time who asked me that question as we were walking down in Toronto, a pleasant cemetery in midtown Toronto. And that sort of is interesting. The question that is almost 90 years old now and has lingered ever since.

MG: Why do you think that is?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I think the question lingers because I do believe all writers write the same book, but in different ways, this is something that I, you know, have been written about books and having written about books. And I think for me, the one question that sort of underwrites all of my books and my writing is this idea of where do I belong? Where is home? And the question has lingered because it forced me to confront that. Yes, I guess I'd love to try and try and get some of the kind. And I've had and I'm still having a wonderful life. I'm very grateful for this country in many ways. It's also my homeland. But there's a part of me that doesn't feel completely connected to it. And as a part of me that still thinks that the land of my ancestors is where I should, which is where I should spend probably the end of my life and where I should probably be buried.

MG: Again, this idea that you say something is broken in your sense of belonging, what's broken?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: And I would say a number of things. I feel that I am much more confronted by racism in ways that I had not realised earlier on in my immigration history. When I first moved to Florida in 1996, it was a completely different city. I'm sure that there was racism and other workplaces or on street level, but I never really felt it. And it felt to me in many ways, it felt like paradise having to come here from a small town in England. And I would say probably and I said that in the book, probably since the start of Donald Trump's presidency and even in the lead up to it, I started to feel less and less secure in on the streets of Toronto. I mean, something I've always done is, especially when I had a dog, is to go for long night walks and explore different parts of the city. I feel less comfortable doing that then than I was even maybe six years ago. And I think that's the insecurity of standing out a little bit, even in a multicultural city like Toronto, a feeling that people would look at you differently and then experiencing it, in my opinion, experiencing racism at work or micro aggressions or racial tensions and resentments have all added up to a sense that, you know, why am I here? Like, why am I continuing this charade of, you know, trying to convince myself that this is this is this is where I belong.

MG: This is your story in many ways, but it's the story of many other people around the world who are also grappling with those same emotions and those same tugs, if I can put it that way, from from a homeland. When you spoke with people broadly, I mean, what did you learn about why it is that people want to go back to where they came from?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: You know, if I were to sort of like if I were to put it down to one to one observation, I would say that as long as there's been immigration or exile there, there's been return. It is sort of baked into the very movement of people across continents and countries. And it is in many, many of the people I spoke to have had their formative experiences in their homelands they returned to, but many others didn't. They returned to their ancestral homeland or the homeland of their parents or long, long, long, like great grand parents, etc.. And I think for every every immigrant story has returned as part of it. The only the only reason we don't talk about it, the only reason that may not be talked about enough is that for sometimes the return is very hard to quantify or to analyse because countries don't necessarily keep data about returned to their homelands and return itself can be multidirectional. People go to their homeland and then can come back to their adopted country and then go back. So it's returned as a phenomenon is much harder to study, to analyse than, say, immigration, which was countries tend to keep records.

MG: Tell me more about that. Why is it that, as you say in the book, liberals in particular think of immigration as uni directional? Why? Why don't we talk when we speak about migration, why don't we talk about return?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I think it I think there is there is perhaps a misconception that return implies defeat or at least that the host country. Has failed in its duty of care towards newcomers. I think there's a there's an impression that particularly Western countries, Western liberal democracies and I'm thinking particularly of the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the countries that have so large numbers of immigrants have always cast themselves as the kind of a safe haven for migrants and refugees and exiles. And when some of these people decide that, you know what, this is not working, I'm going back to where I come from, even though what I don't know what awaits me there or would be probably a much harder life, in my opinion. Some of the some of the people who are talking about immigration or planning, immigration policies tend to see that as a kind of a slap in the face or an insult to the host country when it shouldn't be. It is the most organic, the most natural human desire. And some people will emigrate, will will will have great success, will always have a piece of, say, Canada as part of their lives. But it's still also choose to go back to their country of origin.

MG: You travel the world to gather these stories. You go to Ghana, to Northern Ireland, to Jamaica, Israel, to the Basque region in Spain. Northern Ireland is really interesting. I mean, with an Irish diaspora that that extends around the world, why did you go to Northern Ireland and not the Republic?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I wanted to focus on countries where the idea of homeland is contested, where there are several people, at least two groups of people who are fighting to combat that their homelands. I mean, you mentioned I went to Israel. So, for example, the Israeli, the Israelis and the Palestinians. But in Northern Ireland, it was you know, I was fascinated with the idea of of homecoming for the Irish diaspora, which is, you know, as you mentioned, is in the millions around the world. But I had to go to the republic, would have been slightly would have just not given me that context I was looking for, which is the conflict that's still ongoing between Catholics and Protestants and and that sort of still underwrites so much of the story of Northern Ireland.

MG: What did you learn about why it is that people are drawn to go back to Northern Ireland?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I mean, this is a chapter that has a lot of men in it. And it's the same with Taiwan. And in both cases, I think there's a certain element. The two things in Northern Ireland in particular, there is this almost folkloric attachment to the homeland, to Irish culture, to the to the topography of Ireland. But there is also some kind of transactional element in the sense that it was an economy at the time. And this epidemic is an economy that is very open to innovation and in the work of technique of entrepreneurs. And it's a world of possibilities that combined that can be combined with a better standard of living, cheaper housing than, say, in New York or London or Toronto and a kind of very traditional way of life where many of the characters I spoke to talk about buying a home outright and being able to raise their, you know, to put their children in schools, that it's like a five minute drive away. So there is almost a kind of a return to a simpler, simpler life. And I thought that was fascinating because that is unfolding against an ongoing conflict. And as John talked to one of the people I talked to in the book mentions that it is it may be a violent society, but it's not a conflict one just yet.

MG: How is that different than the return to a country like Jamaica be? Initially, you were speaking about the idea of failure and the idea that return can be seen as as a kind of failure and that runs through a part of Jamaican society. But there is also an element where people want to go back, they want to go home to something that they have in their own minds.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I would say that Jamaica was the place that I find most surprising and in many ways touched me and affected me the most, because that connection to that the Jamaican migrants who are all American or British or Canadian citizens has persisted over 50 years or more, has persisted. Over several declines in the standard of living in Jamaica or rising levels of violence, and yet everyone I spoke to dreams or has made his dream come true of having a piece of the art, a piece of land they call home, it to me, it was on one level, you know, inexplicable on the other. The most natural thing I could think of you.

MG: You interview a woman named Angela, tell me her story and her own experience, because it in many ways captures exactly what you're saying.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: Yes, I think in a in what was already a remarkable visit, Angela stood out because she she someone was married five times and two of her husband, the first one, Christopher, the second one, Richard, were actually murdered and the first one during a home invasion, the second one in a kind of hold-up at a restaurant. And, you know, to lose one husband to to murder is one thing. To lose two consecutively is completely another. And my you know, I kind of expected her to say, oh, my God, I never want to live in this country again. Or I took my stuff and left. And yet aside from sort of brief stints in the US and with her family in other parts of the Caribbean, she always wanted to live and to return to Jamaica, to Kingston, particularly there. She kept talking about something in her DNA and she cannot imagine living anywhere else. You know, like honestly, I don't know if I like my gut feeling would be to flee the island if I had two of my partners were killed. But that was her response, however, was to return to return several times and to make it a home, because there's something about the air, about the people, about the culture, about the level of comfort. And I have to agree with that. And even when I went back to visit Cairo, there was a certain kind of comfort in looking like everyone else and understanding the language perfectly and knowing the customs and not worrying about someone telling me to go back to where you come from. They were there. It is home. And it's something that immigrants really, really sort of relate to.

MG: Identity runs through this book as well. And I as a member of the LGBTQ community, you say you had to flee home to be able to find your identity. You write that leaving and returning is, in your words, a part of our story, a chapter we tell a lot. What do you mean by that?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I think there is a section coming out narrative for a lot of members of the LGBTQ community is that you if you particularly if you live in an in a- if you grew up in in a culture that was homophobic or did not allow an expression of sexuality, is that you go to the big city, you move to the you move to to the west. And if you're if you're in in in the West already, you move from a small town to the city and thinking that the city will be your salvation. And many of us have come to the city, myself included. I mean, I remember when I first arrived in Toronto and how much Church street [unintelligible] the gay village meant to me right now I rarely ever go. And and to me, the city is not exactly the safe haven for for LGBTQ people that it was. And on a very personal level, I think the the serial killer was MacArthur and the and the and the murder of a number of operationalised. And indigenous gay men or men who have sex with men has really left me sort of reeling and made me, every time I go to the gay village now, if I do, I just keep thinking of them and thinking about how could this haven has turned into a playground for a murder.

MG: You also talk about language in your own story, and I mean, this is connected with that idea of identity and your relationship with the language that you grew up speaking and where that relationship is now. Tell me about about how language has shaped and complicated in some ways. Your thoughts on return?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I think if I were if I were to pick a kind of the spark for the book, it has been my inability to communicate in Arabic with my family at times of great stress for that particular to refer to the war in Yemen. And Arabic is my native tongue, it's you know, I call it my birthright. But and in an attempt to reinvent myself as a gay man, as a westernised gay man, as someone who loved the English, wanted to learn English, studied English literature to the level of each day, the only way I could achieve all of that was to suppress Arabic and not to let it contaminate my message of understanding and my work in English. And that lasted three decades or more to the point where it's actually the language atrophied. I barely know how to write in it. I struggle to read it. I understand most of it, but not all of it. And that has added a level of complication when it comes to return, because how do I go back to a country that I that is what I look like everyone else, what is actually my birthplace. But I do not understand what people are saying. And I discovered that this is not a unique experience. And I particularly felt that in places like Taiwan, where a generation of Canadian and American, second generation, of Taiwanese young men and women had travelled and made a life for themselves, even though they don't speak Mandarin.

MG: How do you reconcile now, 30 years later, your desire to return? I mean, you call it an obsession at the end of the book with your sexuality and how that would be viewed back home.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: That remains an unanswered question in the book, I mean, the book offers offers a lot of questions, some answers and some remain unanswered. And I honestly, I don't know what the answer to that would be. And I know that it is not going to be, I'm not going to be welcomed as a gay man. And I also don't wish to go back into the closet and suppress my feelings, my sexuality and how I feel. I but I can't I can't let that stand in the way of me connecting with particularly with my family and connecting with the land I come from. I have to figure a way around it. But I have not. Even by the time the book, the book went to press, I could not and I did not find an answer to that.

MG: It's not easy.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: It's not an easy answer. It's not. It's not is a difficult question. There's no easy answer

MG: at the end of this book, as I mentioned, you say that you're longing to return, the desire to return is an obsession. Have you figured out this is a grim question to ask, but have you figured out where you want to be buried?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I would like to be buried in Aden, and to be perfectly honest, I'd like to be buried very close to my grandparents. I'd like to end my days in Aden. And I don't know how and if that will happen. But if I were to have a choice right now, you know, if you put a gun to my head or I would probably say I want to be buried in Aden, I don't think that has changed.

MG: And that's where you believe you belong.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I think belonging is very complex, but if I have to choose, I would I would choose to go back to my roots. Yes, I think that's that's an answer that would probably not go down very well with many, many listeners. Doesn't even sit well with my friends when I mention it.

MG: Why do you think this wouldn't go down, well, as you say, with listeners or your friends?

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: I think I go back to that point where the arc of an immigrant success story has some predictable elements to it. And one of them is sort of loyalty and love for adopted homeland, which I do have. I just want to make sure that comes out loud and clear and any duality in that belonging is seen as less than gratefulness for the host country. I'm always I'm always amazed at how many of my friends referred to me or other people in my circle as successful as this kind of you know, I'm so proud of Canada for giving you a home. And I and I'm so grateful to Canada for all of that. But I also want to propose that I could have that and also have a piece of me and at least my you know, don't begrudge me not you personally. I mean, just for everyone who's listening. Don't begrudge me the right to also want you to go back and to go back to the roots, to go back to the motherland. It is all this time. And I'm just simply I feel like it's a dilutionary narrative and I'm just following this conference.

MG: It's a really powerful book and I'm grateful to have the chance to talk to you as always. Come on. Thank you very much.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: Thank you so much. What a pleasure to talk to you again.

MG: Take care.

KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE: You too.

MG: Thank you so much. What a pleasure to talk to you again. Take care.

MG: Kamal A--Solaylee is the author and of a brand new book. He's also director of the University of British Columbia School of Journalism, writing in media that new book is Return Why We Go Back to Where We Come From. I spoke with Kamal Al-Solaylee in September. That's The Current for this Monday. Coming up next on CBC Radio One, it's Q. Have you spent hours and hours wiling away time during this pandemic watching Get Back, The Beatles epic special on that rooftop concert? Ringo Starr provides a lot of comedic relief and great drumming throughout that Tom Power. Speaking with Ringo Starr this morning about life as a solo musician in some ways, when the pandemic hit derail his plans for a tour, he took to the studio recorded a new EP called Zoom In. Ringo talks to Tom about making the EP and, of course, life in the Beatles. Speaking of The Beatles, a week before Christmas, you've been hearing Christmas carols in grocery stores since the day after Halloween. You might be tired of hearing those holiday classics. This is one of the good ones that perhaps you have not heard or not heard enough. On this day, in 1968, The Beatles released their sixth Christmas record to fan club members like us now. The Beatles back then were staying home, probably because they didn't want to see each other at that point. To compile the record, each Beatle recorded their part largely on their own, often at home, and then gave the tapes to their friend, the BBC Radio one DJ Kenny Everett. Here's a little bit of what that sounded like. I'm matt Galloway thanks for listening to The Current and we'll see you tomorrow.

SOUNDCLIP

Hello, this is a big hi, Alison. See you, merry Christmas from yours, truly, Ringo Starr.

[Song]

Once upon a time, there were two balloons called [unintelligible] O'Neill. They were strictly in love, bound to happen in a million years. They were together man on thought and a timetable as he had previous experience which kept calling them one way or another. You know how it is. But they battled on against overwhelming oddities, including some of their best friends being in love. They glued together, even man. But some of the poisonous monster, outdated baloney throwers did stick slightly, and they occasionally have to resort to the dry cleaners. Luckily, this did not kill them, and they weren't banned from the Olympic Games. They left hook level after and who could blame them? Well, here we are again, another farm, Christmas. Christmas time is here again.

Monday December 20, 2021 Full Transcript

Social Sharing

More from this episode