The Current for March 4, 2021
Today on The Current:
When COVID-19 raged through Steinbach, Man., last November, Filipino-Canadian Lester Quives got sick and ended up in a coma. When his wife Christie-Mae shared their story online, she received an outpouring of support from around the world. We hear their story as part of our virtual road trip, Canada's Road Ahead, and talk to Filipino advocate Kris Ontong about how his community has fared in the pandemic. Plus, we talk to Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk about the deadly spike in cases in the fall, and lockdown protests that made it that much harder to get it under control.
Then, the Magpie River in Quebec has officially been granted personhood, a recognition of its rights that could thwart future plans to harness the river for hydroelectric power. We hear what that means, and what's at stake, from Pier-Olivier Boudreault, with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's Quebec division.
And in a world first, a German court has convicted a former Assad regime intelligence officer with crimes against humanity, involving torture during Syria's civil war. We discuss the case with Mai El-Sadany, a human rights lawyer with the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy; Wafa Mustafa, a Syrian journalist and activist living in Germany; Bill Wiley, founder of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability.