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The Current Transcript for October 13, 2017

Host: Piya Chattopadhyay

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Listen to the full episode

Prologue

[Music: Theme]

SOUNDCLIP

I felt there was going to be a series of opportunities that were at my feet because I'd met the Great and Powerful Harvey Weinstein and that's not exactly how it went.

PIYA CHATTOPADHYAY: It's as if it's from a Hollywood movie script a young aspiring actress meets a Hollywood heavyweight who promises he can give her her big break. A powerful producer who is outwardly charming but behind closed doors was a predator. The real life stories from female actors about their horrible encounters with Harvey Weinstein keep coming. And each time they're disturbing and disgusting. Weinstein's power and his influence kept many including Eric Rosenbaum's silent for years. But in just a few moments the Canadian actor will break her silence. Also today:

SOUNDCLIP

Every year we take a step back and we think about we're pretty sure this section of the island is not going to change. It looks very stable, we have a nice beach front but every single year we come and we lose our time lapse camera.

PC: It might provide a momentary giggle for that photographer but he's been chronicling the Canadian Arctic year after year and knows what we're losing is more than a camera. So do the people who live there who have been watching the land they live on literally vanish from under their feet. We'll hear from them as we head to the bar north later on and find out how they're adapting as the environment around them changes. And then, pipeline's protests and prison.

SOUNDCLIP

I'm going to prison. I know that it felt so great to shut off that pipeline.

[Cheering and applause]

PC: Michael Foster could be facing more than two decades in a U.S. prison after shutting the valve on a Keystone pipeline. But the activist says he was never allowed to tell his full side of the story at trial. He'll tell us why in an hour. Hi I'm Piya Chattopadhyay and this is the Friday edition of The Current.

Back To Top »

'He really took something from me': Montreal actress Erika Rosenbaum says Harvey Weinstein assaulted her

Guest: Erika Rosenbaum

SOUNDCLIP

ANNOUNCER 1: Are we going to move on now to the new fallout this morning for Harvey Weinstein overnight the movie mogul fired from his job.

ANNOUNCER 2: Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie both revealed that Weinstein allegedly harassed them.

ANNOUNCER 3: Three women now accusing Hollywood's most powerful producer, all right.

PC: Erika Rosenbaum got chills when the news broke and as the revelations about Harvey Weinstein just kept coming over the past couple of weeks. The Canadian actor has her own story, one she's never told until today because she'd always thought she might be the only one. Erika Rosenbaum is in Montreal to share her story with us now. And a warning what you're about to hear is explicit and difficult to talk about. And at times difficult to listen to. Hi Erika.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Hi.

PC: Tell me about the first time you met Harvey Weinstein.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: I was a very young actor new to Los Angeles and I was there with really very little qualifications or opportunities. I had very little money. I did not have an agent. I didn't have working papers. It seems very naive and idealistic that I was there at all. So I was at a party and I met him and I didn't really know much about him at the time. He had to explain to me who he was and I think he got a kick out of my candor and the sort of small town girl that I was at the time. We had a chat and I did my best to be witty and interesting and. And you know and meeting in L.A. is a little bit like an audition because you never know who is going to be that person that changes the game for you. And so I found myself talking to this powerful producer and I just wanted to impress him so that if I was in an audition room and he was on the other side of the table he would remember me and I would I would have an advantage to an actor who came to the room who he did not know.

PC: How old are you at the time?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: I think I was 21. This was in 2001.

PC: And so you meet this really powerful producer who maybe you'd heard his name before but didn't know much about and as you say you tried to charm him and just be witty and all those things to try and get a leg up so to speak. What happens then?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Well he was very encouraging. He really responded to me and my stories and he told me right away that he had an eye for talent that he was never wrong and that I was going to do really well in Los Angeles. And he was not subtle in in talking about the careers that he had helped to build and he wasn't subtle about telling me about people who he had helped to take down either. Looking back I realized that he was sort of setting me up and flexing his power a little bit so that by the time I left and you know I had access to him I had his assistant number and he was going to call me. And there was going to be… I felt there was going to be you know a series of opportunities that were at my feet because I'd met the great and powerful Harvey Weinstein. And that's not exactly how it went. And yet I met him a couple of times over the years and although he behaved inappropriately I was able to somehow justify seeing him again because it was never bad enough or perhaps my fear of him was big enough.

PC: When do you see him next? How does that even happen?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Well he tells me that we're going to have a meeting and we're going to talk about how he can - what he can do for my career. I leave that night thinking this is it. You know I have this guy in my corner and I really believed him that he was going to be a help to me. You know I thought maybe he would introduce me to an agent, maybe he could get me into a casting room like anything would have helped at that point. I was really a nobody. So the fact that he was offering the same sort of relationship where I might have opportunities by knowing him that seemed like you know when you see the white whale you get in the boat you know like that. It was taking the meeting was the obvious choice but then the meeting has changed at the last minute. He would often have his assistants contact me anyway and now I've learned others as well. And so it seems very professional. It seems legitimate. You have an assistant making a business arrangement for you. And you know an assistant greets you at the door and say I'm thinking I'm safe I'm fine. But at the same time I'm a young girl and I'm not an idiot and alarm bells are going off that I'm walking into a cliche here.

PC: The cliche being what? Where are you meeting him?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: The cliche being a young actress meeting an older powerful man at a hotel because at the last minute he would sort of bait and switch and have an assistant call and say - I only know this now that it's a trend because I've been reading but it happened to me twice. He had his assistant call me at the last minute and say “Harvey can't meet you in the lobby. Harvey can’t meet you in the cafe. Can you go out to his office?” But he's in a hotel. So his quote unquote office is his hotel suite. And yes there's a table in it but you're still in a hotel room. And the assistant left as soon as I got there. The assistant leaves and the door closes. And then I am at the mercy of this person. He very quickly changed his tone once I entered the hotel room and we are no longer talking about my career or his work. His face changed. His register changed. His voice changed and he wanted to know if I was cool and if we were friends and he just wanted to relax with me. And he put an arm around me and and started - as if he was a boyfriend all of a sudden - started trying to be intimate with me. And I don't… I don't remember the details of exactly what happened because it was a very long time ago. I just remember that feeling of having to fight off an invader but I had to do it in a friendly way because I was terrified to anger this man. So I'm trying to laugh. I'm trying to negotiate and I'm using all of my wits to talk my way out of this situation. “No I have a boyfriend. No. Can we talk about business? Come on now.” You know “Stop”, trying to keep it light. Trying to keep… it trying to keep from embarrassing this man. It's amazing to me the efforts that I've made to not embarrass this person who… who is acting so unethically. And looking back it seems very obvious. But in the moment I didn't smack him and run. I didn't yell because he wasn't being outright violent with me. He wasn't holding me down. He was just making a move and I didn't want it. And so he settled for… He said: “How about you just give me a massage? I've had a long day and I just I just want to relax. Can we talk while you give me a massage?” And that seemed like the least offensive way for me to get out of the room. So I literally massaged his shoulders in order to get out and I left feeling very disgusted and confused but I felt so implicit in this happening because I had charmed him at a party. I I'd asked for the business. I was hustling. You know I was going for it. And so then I got the meeting I wanted. He changed the game suddenly and I was faced with the decision of angering this Hollywood Titan with a reputation or trying to get out. I thought that it was just me. I thought that's something I had done had provoked this behavior in him. And so I was I was deeply guilty for whatever I had done, to allow this to happen you know and I… I had not told anyone because I was embarrassed that I'd fallen into such an obvious cliche. And I… I wasn't even sure what to call it. I knew that when he called again I would answer the phone. And even more than that I called him. I pursued the contact in as professional a way as I could.

PC: How much did you keep in touch with him after that?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Sort of as little as possible while still touching base. I didn't want to see him again but I still held out hope that he was going to be a connection for me in some way. I felt that after that had happened in that L.A. hotel room that I had this secret and that maybe a little bit dangerous. It didn't occur to me that it was happening all the time. I... I pursued the connection hoping that I could take some of my power back I guess.

PC: And so Erika you leave that first meeting and he says to you what? “See you later. Keep in touch”?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Yes, yes. He says I'm a busy man but I'm going to be able to be a good friend to you and you… you're going to have to call me. You're going to have to keep in touch with my assistant. You're going to have to call me. Just call me every once in a while. Tell me what you're up to. And when an opportunity comes up we'll talk again. And I did it like a sucker.

PC: And so you meet Harvey Weinstein a couple years later, then.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: His casting director was going to meet with me in New York. He said you know “my my assistance is going to fly you down and you're going to meet with casting”. And I said I really thought that that was going to be an opportunity and that not only was I going to have this opportunity but I didn't have to see him. And so I was… I was you know I was still afraid of this guy but I knew that I'd stayed on his good side. I had touched base. He had asked about my family. He'd been very cordial and professional and I thought “Okay, that was a glitch. That was a weird night in L.A. I'm going to charge it up to a wild experience from my youth”. And… and… and that's it. I'm… I'm walking away from that. This is a new opportunity. His casting director is a woman and I'm not going to see him. He's not… He doesn't work in that office. So I went to their office and I met with her and I had a legitimately exciting meeting. And then on my way out I got a text from his assistant saying that “Harvey wants to see you before you get on the plane.” So… So I once again felt trapped, and he was once again inappropriate, and I was once again…

PC: Where did you meet him?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: I met him at his office. I think it was in Tribeca or Soho and he had an office full of people but he led me to a quiet office with a… and closed the door behind us. And once again I went there willingly because I was taking advantage of an opportunity that he had given me to meet with casting. So I felt like of course I have to go and meet with Harvey Weinstein. It's Harvey Weinstein. I can't say no to him. And then I had to do this dance once again of trying not to anger him while he tried to be intimate with me. Like as soon as he switch this on it was like I was on a date that I had not agreed to, just like the first time. And it was the lack of agreement that I found so shocking because… because knowing who he was and knowing the power he had. He's not an idiot. He had to have known that there is… there's nowhere for me to go. And so he violates you simply by making that advance in such an aggressive way. It's not like he just put it on the table with his words. He is right up in my face and he's got his arms around me and so I have to talk my way out of it without angering him again. And I make excuses and I talk about my boyfriend and I whisper because I don't want the people outside the office to hear me fighting him off. So like I'm covering for him even as he's doing it and in the moment it seems like self-preservation and saving my career because he could make it or break it. And looking back it just seems like… like a bug in a spider's web. Like I just… I'm a little angry, as you can probably tell. I tried really hard not to think about this for a long time and I hadn't talked to anybody about it until… until this story broke.

PC: Erika you met with Harvey Weinstein in Toronto during the Toronto International Film Festival.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Yep. What happened that time?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Well he was once again really encouraging when we are in public, acted as though I was an up and coming actor, introduced me to whoever he was talking to. Like I was… like I was a legitimate member of the community and treated me with respect and said you know “can you tell my assistant that we need to talk tomorrow? Well you know I am running all over the place. I am selling this movie. But we should talk while we're both in Toronto for this festival.”

PC: And what year is this?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: I don't remember actually. I had met the man that I'm married to now. So I think it was 2005. I honestly don't remember the time line of my dealings with him. I think because I tried so hard not to think about it over the years.

PC: Okay. So you take the meeting with Weinstein, who says “we should talk”.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Yes. So I take the meeting. His assistant is lovely and… and she's super cool. And… and it's booked before dinner. And it just feels like “okay there's no way this can get away from me”. But once again the meeting has changed and I asked the assistant where I'm supposed to go and… and she says “Oh we're… we're up at the suite. We're late for dinner. It's going to have to be brief.” And I'm thinking: “Well - we - that's very hopeful” like there's a female in the room. She's rushing around. There's no way this can go badly. And like a sucker I go and meet him in a hotel room again and the assistant lets me in and leave. And again as soon as the door closes behind me and I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. And he is clearly upset. And he comes to the door. He comes out of the bathroom wearing only a dress shirt. So he's in process of getting ready or something. So I'm already on edge because I'm alone in this room with him and… and he's wearing no pants. And I immediately start making excuses to leave without angering him further. “You're really busy. This is a bad time. We will chat another day.” Seriously. I'm and I'm trying my best to get out. And this angers him. He asks me to come to the washroom with him while he gets ready and takes a shower. And I flat out say “I'm not… I'm not staying, while you take a shower. That's ridiculous. I have to go.” And he's… he's angry with me for trying to leave. He was angry when I walked in. I don't know what had happened but he was pissed that I was trying to back out of it. And I felt like it was implicit that he had done me the favor to take a meeting with me and now I was going to waste it. And so I follow him to the open door of the bathroom and the toilet seat has been broken like a giant smashed it like it was in three pieces. And he kind of brushes it off as nothing. And he… he grabs me by… he… he holds me by the back of the neck and faces me to the mirror and very quietly tells me that he just wants to look at me. And… and she starts to masturbate standing behind me. And… I stood there and… I did nothing. I remember him. Looking right into my face, and I remember looking at my own reflection, and I think I was just too shocked to move or say anything. I couldn't believe it was happening. And yet I could because I had encountered his impropriety before, enough time had gone by that I had once again made excuses for myself - for him - and justified why I should meet him again. But I stood there. I can't describe… that feeling. I think he really… he really took something from me umm… by taking advantage in that way and by doing it in such a manipulative manner to make me think that I was going along with it in any way. I think the first time that he crossed the line behind closed doors and saddled me with a secret belonging to this powerful man. I think he took… he took something.

PC: Erika will stay with us. We have to take a break for the CBC News. I'm speaking with Canadian actor Erika Rosenbaum and we'll continue our conversation in just a bit. And we'll be talking about the impact of Erika having to keep this secret for so long and how hard it was for her to tell her own family. I am Piya Chattopadhyay. You're listening to the Friday edition of The Current on CBC Radio 1 and Sirius XM. We're back just after the news.

[Music: Theme]

PC: Hi I am Piya Chattopadhyay and you're listening to the Friday edition of The Current.

[Music: Theme]

PC: Still to come: An unrepentant pipeline protester.

SOUNDCLIP

I turned off the Keystone Pipeline and I got to tell you it felt so good.

PC: Michael Foster is facing two decades in prison for that act of defiance. He'll be my guest in half an hour. And we're headed to the Arctic in a few moments as part of our project adaptation. But first if you're just joining us I've been speaking with Erika Rosenbaum's. She's a Canadian actor in Montreal who had moved to L.A. when she was just starting out. And when she did she, like so many other women in Hollywood, encountered producer Harvey Weinstein. Erika has never before spoken out about what's happened but with so many others coming forward with stories of sexual harassment sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, Erika Rosenbaum has decided to share her story with us. If you've missed our conversation thus far, you can hear it on the CBC Radio app or at cbc.ca/thecurrent. Okay, Erika. I want to pick up where we left off. When you left Harvey Weinstein's hotel room that day in Toronto, did you tell anyone what had happened?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: No. No. I never told anyone.

PC: Why not?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: I was ashamed. Anytime I tried to imagine saying it out loud - and even now years later and with all of this coming to light – telling… telling the story, it sounds insane to me. Like it sounds like you have to be either so dumb that you don't see it coming, or really just very opportunistic that you're going to keep pursuing it and really looking to trade favors. And I was neither of those things. So telling the story it sounds… it really sounds crazy even… even to me.

PC: When did you tell someone? When did you tell your partner, your family?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Last week.

PC: Last week?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Yes, when this story broke and I realized the enormity of the secret I'd been carrying.

PC: For 12 years.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Yes. I had told a friend some time ago that he had been gross, like I'd sort of just chalked it all up to him being icky. Like I'd really sort of downplayed it into like oh well you know men will be men type of thing, kind of like that old boys will be boys scenario. I never told anybody what happened. I just didn't think I could take down a giant.

PC: So you told your husband last week.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Yes.

PC: And you thought you this secret that you've been carrying around for more than a decade, was your secret and no one else's. And so when you start seeing the stories what have you been thinking?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Well I've had a very strange week. It was a difficult conversation with my husband but luckily we have a very very good relationship. And he immediately saw why I could not say anything back then. He understood that I was trying to protect myself, but I mean I had to apologize for lying outright and saying “Oh yes it went fine”. You know an acting hopeful when I was horrified. And you know that's not something we do in our relationship. So that… that was hard. And… and having him in my corner has been a huge relief and I wish I had said something sooner.

PC: Do you regret not telling anyone sooner?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Oh yes. Yes. Because I'm… I realize now I'm not the only one.

PC: It was an assistant that led you to his hotel room and then they left.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Yes.

PC: Looking back, what do you think of that?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: I think if it hadn't have been that assistant, it would have been another. The assistance probably made their peace with wanting to get their opportunity in some way. And if they were not going to do the job somebody else would.

PC: Are you suggesting that the assistant or assistants that Harvey Weinstein had knew what was going on?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: How could they not know, leading a young girl into a hotel room meeting. I don't see there being any way that they did not know what was happening. But at the same time you know that that casting couch phenomenon that I heard plenty of. And you know I thought well maybe these assistants are just doing their part of what they think is a consensual transaction. Like maybe… maybe that insistence things that I am willing to sleep my way into a wall, but I know that there's no way they were completely naive to what was happening.

PC: What do you hope comes of all of this, all these women coming forward with about one guy?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Uh… I genuinely hope that this conversation keeps going and that… that more and more people and you know and it's obvious it's not just women - more and more people are strengthened by the strength of all these… all these people coming forward with their story, and that that the climate changes so that abuse of power is no longer a shameful secret that we keep individually. But something that we… that we out that it can't be okay. And I feel that with every story and with every person who is brave enough to come forward, we take the wind out of the sails of that narrative. And more and more women are supporting each other and creating their own work. And with many men in our corner who act honorably and who do the right thing. And the more we hear from those people and the more we support the victims of this kind of abuse of power I really think that this could be the beginning of a change for our industry.

PC: Are you okay?

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: I am okay. Yes. Yes I am okay. I'm hopeful that these stories as uncomfortable as they are to share that they will help people who don't necessarily have the privilege that I've had. And if I can change the game for even one person then then I'm happy that it's not a secret anymore.

PC: Take care, okay.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Okay. I appreciate it.

PC: I appreciate your time. Thank you. Erika.

ERIKA ROSENBAUM: Thanks.

PC: Actress Erika Rosenbaum is in Montreal.

[Music]

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Why homes along Arctic coastline are at risk of falling into the ocean

Guest: Briar Stewart

PC: I am Piya Chattopadhyay and you're listening to the Friday edition of The Current.

[Music: Adaptation theme]

PC: Climate change may be a global phenomenon but few places on our planet are feeling it as acutely as the Canadian Arctic. The effects of change on vivid display where water meets land, on the seemingly endless coastlines across the north where the shorelines themselves are literally washing away and the erosion is increasing year after year. CBC national reporter Briar Stewart traveled to the Arctic to witness the effects firsthand. And she is with us now as part of our season long project Adaptation. Hello.

BRIAR STEWART: Hello.

PC: Where'd you go?

BRIAR STEWART: Well we started the trip in Tuktoyaktuk and it's basically on the northern part of the Northwest Territories and it's a hamlet of about a thousand people. And it's right on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. This is an area where people have basically lived and thrived on the water for centuries. It's a meeting place for people to hunt caribou and Beluga. And it's beautiful, desolate, serene but basically it's falling into the ocean.

PC: Like what?

BRIAR STEWART: Well the people who are the most directly affected they basically have to move. Their homes are perched so precariously close to the shore that they're really at risk of falling over. When I was up there I got the chance to chat with the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk. His name's Darrel Nasogaluak. And I met him at an area of the community known as The Point. And it's basically this spit of land that juts out into the Beaufort Sea. It's very very pretty. It's kind of this rocky coastline. It's scenic but it's a place that's really just eroding away so rapidly, and because of that, houses have had to be moved and more will have to be moved this year.

SOUNDCLIP

There was really a lot of erosion last year here and this this house and the other two were at risk of falling over the bank here. You can see big cracks in the ground here where the ground is shifting and falling. And this area, washed out last year. We had a two or three big storms and you can see one of the foundation pads there that fell over. And had that house still been here it would have went over too. So the erosion here was really happening fast last year. All it would take is one or two big storms and these houses you see behind me would be gravely at risk.

PC: So, Briar if I got my count right, that's three or four houses that had to have been moved. There's still some there though right?

BRIAR STEWART: Yes that's right. There were four houses that had to be moved and there's basically four others that need to be moved in. These homes are right along the edge of the coast and the people that live there are basically watching their property disappear and their yards crumble into the sea. When I was standing up there I had the chance to meet one of the homeowners his name was Sandy Adam and he lives in this four bedroom house with 13 members of his family. And we were standing outside of his house on really what little Yardy has left there is kind of about a metre behind his property before it drops off and then below that there's these large boulders that had been placed there to try to stabilize the shoreline. I mean these are boulders that basically had to be brought up to Tuktoyaktuk on barges. They've been put there to try to you know slow down the erosion but it basically hasn't work. His property is almost all gone. And all of the equipment and tools and snowmobiles all the things that he used to store in his yard they're kind of clustered together piled high on top of one another. Basically parked in an empty lot beside his house.

SOUNDCLIP

SANDY ADAM: Oh terrible 40 yards. I used to have a shack here. This one here between here and here I used to put all my stuff skidoos in. Now I can do anything nothing. Every time no water rise up, all that rock washed away. Right now it's starting to slide again to the fall weather, the water came up. West wind is going to come up pretty soon. These two months here is going to be a little bit hard, I think, because it splash my window when it start getting west wind.

[Sound: Children chattering and laughing]

PC: Briar he said he's worried about the water coming up. It is going to splash his window? It's really that close?

BRIAR STEWART: Oh yes. It's that close and not only is it splashing his window but when the late waves are really large they don't just you know crash against his window pane they crash against the house and really eat away at the little land that is supporting it. Now when I was there it was very calm outside. There was very little wind whatsoever. But the storm season really ramps up around this time in the fall and that's what he's really worried about, that these waves will come will be so huge and they'll eat away at the land that's left underneath his property. And you know the whole time we're standing outside of his house he was somewhat distracted because he was watching his three grandchildren. They live in the home with him. And as children do they're kind of naturally attracted to go down and play in the water. But there's really no safe way for them to get down there because they have these large boulders that are basically trying to prop up the shoreline. So you have these kids that are scrambling up the boulders and he's watching them play and really kind of worried about their safety the whole time.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Water running]

SANDY ADAM: [To his grandchildren] Don't fall me babe, stay up here. [To Briar] When my grandkids play out I'm scared they might break their legs on these rocks. I need a place for them to play out better than this. [To his grandchildren] You are going to fall, baby. [Sound: Water running and Children laughing] Yes, you might get hurt. Come on. [To Briar] Not really safe them to run up and down. [To Children] High water, eh? [Laughter] [To Briar] I like this place because when whales come by you could see them from right by.

PC: Briar, you know Sandy talking about “you see the whales come right by”. Sounds amazing, have whales come right by your window. But you know on the other hand it's tough right. He knows it's not a safe, a good place to be. So what's he going to do?

BRIAR STEWART: Yes I mean he likes living close to the water but certainly not this close. He knows he has to move. And he says that there is money available for him to physically move his house to somewhere else. But the problem is finding a lot that he actually wants to move to. I mean you know it's quite a scenic spot to be so close to the water. There's something magical about waking up and seeing the ocean and the whales. So it's been quite hard for him to actually think about moving inland. But he has to do that.

PC: And how quickly does he have to do this? How much time does he have? How quickly is that shoreline that is now you know very very close to his home? I mean it's a race against the clock is it?

BRIAR STEWART: Yes it's hard to say. I mean how much time he really has because all it takes is one bad storm and that little property that he has left could be gone, which is why the community and the mayor of Tuk want to see these homes moved as soon as possible. This area known as The Point they've basically restricted any additional development from taking place there. So no new people can build homes there and they've created this new subdivision further inland. Now overall in Tuk the rate of erosion is just over two meters a year which is a lot considering Sandy Adam only has about a meter of land left.

PC: 2.1 meters a year. That to me sounds really dramatic. I mean you can imagine that.

BRIAR STEWART: Yes certainly it does. But I think the context is key here because while it sounds really dramatic it's actually quite small in comparison to some erosion that's going on in other coastal areas in the Arctic. To see even more dramatic erosion, I got a chance to go on a helicopter with a team of federal government scientists. We took about a 40 minute flight to the northwest of Tuk to this remote uninhabited island called Pelee Island.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Water Running - Chopping]

Is that Permafrost or ice? Yes it is ice. It is ice.

[Sound: Chopping]

BRIAR STEWART: Now what you're listening to there is one of the scientists Dustin Whalen. He's with natural resources Canada. And basically what he's doing is he's standing at the top of a towering cliff he has a shovel in his hand. Big rubber boots on and he's basically chipping away at the top layer of the island. So he's getting underneath kind of the muddy layer of sediment to show me that there are indeed ice crystals on this island. And those are basically what's melting and he's been coming back to this island for a few years now just to try to track how quickly it's disappearing.

PC: And how quick is it eroding?

BRIAR STEWART: Well it is eroding 30 to 40 meters every year.

PC: 30 to 40 meters each year?

BRIAR STEWART: Yes.

PC: I mean that that sounds unusual.

BRIAR STEWART: It certainly is. I mean the average rate of erosion for the North is about 1.5 meters a year so this is you know 10 to 15 times greater than other areas in the region. Pelley island is considered one of - if not the fastest eroding island in the world. And I think you have to remember when we're saying 30 to 40 meters a year, we're really talking about 30 40 to meters of summer because most of the year the island in the water around it is frozen. So we're talking about this much erosion happening really over just a few months.

PC: Okay, Briar. So I'm from Saskatchewan so I'm going to talk a football language. So we're looking 30 to 40 meters. It's about a third of a football field. So what does this even all look like?

BRIAR STEWART: It is very striking. When we were going to take the trip up there the scientists had said you know when we get up there you're going to be able to see and hear the erosion happening. And I thought really like we were only going to be there for a few hours to be able to see this right in front of my eyes. And you certainly can. I mean because you have a few different things happening here. On the one hand you have these you know the outer edge of the island you have these cliffs that are basically being hammered by the waves, so the waves are carving out sections of them. Ad then Whalen says at the same time you have the inside of the island itself melting.

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You can see that this entire block this entire portion of land has fallen off. And we have this little this little crevice here. But also if you look far in the distance you can see that the waves have undercut the coastline and eventually that whole block is going to fall. And so what's interesting here also is as the coastline sort of continues to thaw, you can see this stream of water coming down. So while we can hear the drips, you know the constant tripping. But every now and again I'm one of these blocks will fall some of these clumps of grass will fall and you can hear it kind of go into the ground.

PC: Briar, why is this happening here?

BRIAR STEWART: Scientists say that climate driven factors are obviously playing a big role. I mean what you have is that you have warmer air temperature. It leads to faster melting and it's also caused the water to be warmer so the ocean takes longer to freeze. And in the spring the ice breaks up earlier. So basically you have more of a time where there is open water in the ocean and that leads to more storms more waves hammering away at the coastline.

PC: And so how do people like the scientist Dustin Whalen, How do they track all this?

BRIAR STEWART: Well it's been really tricky because they've been trying to set up these cameras in order to take a time lapse sequence of photos so they can kind of document the change. But even somebody like him who's been here for a number of summers now he's surprised at just how quickly the land is disappearing.

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For years now we've been coming to the island and we've been trying to capture this footage on the time lapse camera. This is our third year trying. And as of today this is our third year failing because what happens is we really can't predict how the end is going to change. And so every year we kind of take a step back and we think about okay, we were pretty sure this section of the island is not going to change. You know it looks very stable. You know we have a nice beach front but every single year we can and we lose our time lapse camera including this year so. It's disappointing. But I think we're up for the challenge and hopefully in the future we'll come back and try again.

BRIAR STEWART: And you know when I was there with him he was actually trying to find this third lost camera and he had these chest waders on and he was basically wading into the Arctic Ocean. He had gripped a big stick trying to stabilize himself, scanning the shoreline looking for his equipment.

PC: Did he find it?

BRIAR STEWART: He found parts of it. But the problem was it was so waterlogged they weren't sure whether anything could be salvaged off of it.

PC: So if the cameras don't work because they get lost in the sea, through the erosion, how do they get information about how fast the land is disappearing?

BRIAR STEWART: Well and that's why it's really tricky because the cameras aren't working and they're trying to get a sense of the measurements and of course you have these cliffs that are so unstable that it's really not safe for the scientists to be walking out along them. So what they've been doing is they've been flying drones. So flying drones over the island several times to basically make these 3-D models. So that something that they've been doing now and they've also been relying on historical aerial photographs from the 1950s. Now it's believed that the island used to extend about 1 kilometer further into the ocean and so Whalen believes that the island could be completely gone in another 50 years or so.

PC: And Briar, what does that mean? I mean these things have impact beyond land falling into the water and the erosion. What's the impact been on the life around it?

BRIAR STEWART: Well and that's what they're trying to figure out because unlike TuktoyaktukI mean Pelee island is uninhabited. It's a place that most Canadians have never heard of most certainly will never go to. But it's not clear yet just what happens when an island disappears and you have all that sediments and soil and everything kind of ending up in the ocean. Scientists are trying to figure out just what kind of impact it has on marine life in the area and the fish and that some research that's currently underway.

PC: And to your point Briar, Pelee Island uninhabited but earlier when we were hearing about places that do have people so. So how are the people adapting to all the change?

BRIAR STEWART: Well it's kind of an adaptation that they've been doing for years now. I mean you talking to mayor NasogaluakI can talk. He says it's not new but the fact that the erosion is accelerating is new. But they've been having to basically deal kind of with this this climate change and this increased erosion over a number of years.

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It's been over 30 years that the community has been adapting to it. Just on the hill here, where we are, there were there were four houses that were moved this winter. Go back a little further in time the RCMP detachment there was just on a hill behind us here. They moved further inland. Just down the shore. Public Works had a warehouse that fell over. They took that out last year. They moved further inland. Our school [unintelligible] was rebuilt when we had a new scroll we put it further inland that's about 30 years ago. The community center has been moved. The firehall has been relocated as in when the infrastructures replaced. We build them further inland. There is an area here that we have no development so that we don't have the situation we're in right now, where these homes private homes are at risk of washing away.

PC: So, Briar, they've already adapted.

BRIAR STEWART: Yes. Basically they've been forced to I mean they've been trying to do everything they can to slow down the change to slow down the erosion. They've brought up those big boulders like the ones they talked about earlier. But basically it hasn't worked so now people who still live right on the ocean have to basically adapt getting used to the idea of living somewhere else.

PC: Briar thank you for this. Good to talk to you.

BRIAR STEWART: You're welcome.

PC: Briar Stewart is a CBC national reporter and she'll have more on the story tonight on CBC TV's The National. Of course that video of that disappearing Arctic island is really something to see. And you can head to our website cbc.ca/thecurrent to see some images of that. All right. Coming up next: He could be going to a US jail for the next 21 years for his protests against a pipeline. But Michael Foster says he would do it all over again. The pipeline protester and a discussion of pipeline politics with author Chris Turner is heading your way. I am Piya Chattopadhyay. You're listening to the Friday edition of The Current.

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Pipeline activist could face 21 years in prison for shutting off Keystone valve

Guest: Chris Turner

PC: Hi. I am Piya Chattopadhyay and you're listening to the Friday edition of The Current. I want to let you know about an interview coming up Monday here on The Current. Anna Maria Tremonti will be joined by the NHL Hall of Famer and former politician Ken Dryden. Ken Dryden has written a new book challenging the NHL commissioner to do more to prevent concussions in hockey. The book is called Game Change the Life And Death of Steve Montu Door and the Future Of Hockey. So don't miss Ken Dryden in conversation with Anna Maria Tremonti that is this coming Monday on The Current. Now to a pipeline protest.

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VOICE: [Unintelligible] situation and I'm calling to report that there are activists out of block belt site. I mean activists are preparing to shut the block belt. I am calling to ask that you shut down the Express pipeline, the Keystone pipeline in approximately 10 minutes.

DISPATCHER: [Unintelligible]

VOICE: Yes. We want to make sure that you are aware of the situation so that the pipeline can be shut down in a safe manner. Approximately nine miles south of the Canadian border.

PC: The group calls itself Climate Direct Action. And that's how it sounded last October when they took direct action turning off a valve on the Keystone pipeline. Michael Foster was one of the activists involved. Last week the former mental health counselor from Seattle was convicted for his role in that direct action. A North Dakota court found him guilty and he could now be facing up to 21 years in prison for what he did. Michael Foster's sentencing is set for January. But despite that hefty prison sentence hanging over his head, Michael Foster is still speaking out and we have reached him in Seattle, Washington. Hello.

MICHAEL FOSTER: Hello.

PC: Michael Foster you and your colleagues had a plan to shut down the flow of oil in the pipeline through North Dakota. Tell me about the plan.

MICHAEL FOSTER: Well the plan was very simple and I actually said this on a video played by the prosecutor in the case against me. I said this in a motel room the night before. We called the pipeline operations control center for five pipelines. About 10 minutes before we cut the chains and turn the valves to stop the flow. This allowed them to shut off the flow at the pump stations for a safe shut down. And it was really that simple. Five people with bolt cutters cut chains cut padlocks that would not keep your bicycles safe on the street in Seattle. And a few minutes later 15 percent of the nation's oil supply the U.S. oil supply halted. So it was I think a very effective action in terms of drawing attention to the tar sands and in drawing attention to the existing consumption of fuel that we have to stop right now we are in an emergency. We've been hearing about it for 30 years and we're running out of time.

PC: So you physically went and turned the wheel to shut down a pipeline, is that true?

MICHAEL FOSTER: I did. Yes. And then waited afterwards for the sheriff to arrive for about a half an hour. I could have been in Canada and because I was that close to the border but we waited. We wanted to challenge the system. We wanted to tell the story. And I'm very grateful to be out on bond and able to tell this story until January.

PC: Michael Foster what was the thinking behind tipping off, for more than tipping off, telling the pipeline company we're going to do this?

MICHAEL FOSTER: We called ahead. Like I said to make sure that there was no pressure in the line that all the pumps up upstream had been shut down so that we weren't endangering any communities. Now we were actually copycats. We were not the originals. We have to give credit to some wonderful women in Canada who did this first and taught us kind of how it was done.

PC: Where was that done?

MICHAEL FOSTER: Sarnia, Ontario was the side of a shut down. There were a couple of shutdowns in Canada. I'm most familiar with the three women who are facing potential life imprisonment. And in the end women were offered a peace bond which basically said if you don't mess with pipelines for 18 months we're good.

PC: So you and your fellow activists in North Dakota go and you mentioned you turned off five valves, was what pipeline's were these?

MICHAEL FOSTER: Enbridge, two vines in Minnesota, Keystone Pipeline, Spectra Energy, express pipeline and the Trans Mountain pipeline that comes into Washington State below B.C. from Kinder Morgan.

PC: And which one did you turn off? I turned off the Keystone Pipeline and I got to tell you it felt so good. I grew up in Houston Texas across from Shell Oil and gosh 50 miles of oil refineries, the oil capital of the world along the Houston ship channel, the place that was flooded very recently with Hurricane Harvey and toxic chemicals and emissions were spewed into the air. I had friends on Facebook saying they were being ordered to shelter in place to avoid breathing outside air while poisonous water was seeping into their homes. So that's where I grew up and that's where the Keystone has a spur going really close to my old neighborhood. So it was it was a pleasure to be able to turn that valve and feel 590 thousand barrels of bitumen stopped moving.

PC: So you could have protested in other ways. You could have held signs. You could have, you know a Vajillion ways to protest. So why did you decide to turning off the valve for the Keystone pipeline?

MICHAEL FOSTER: I am one of those people who has tried everything. I've made the signs. I've signed the petitions. I've written letters. I've met with my leaders and officials. I've proposed plans and policies. I've actually I think that radicalized me the most. I work with kids who plant trees and I help organize them. They have a plan. These you know fourth fifth sixth grade kids around the world are the United Nations tree counters they are trying to plant one trillion trees worldwide. That's one new tree for every three trees living today. This is an incredible thing most people have never heard of it. So I volunteer and I helped them organize. Well we met with some lawyers from our children's trust and we brought a lawsuit against the state of Washington. And these kids won this lawsuit and for the first time in U.S. history the courts recognized the constitutional human rights the inalienable rights to air and water in our state under our Constitution that these children will require to grow to adulthood safely. I'm not talking about future generation I'm talking about young citizens of our state who are you know sitting in school and learning about this climate science and freaking out. They have a plan to get the CO2 back into the ground and they're working on it. And they brought this case. They won the court directed the government to fix climate with a clean air rule and then the government simply punted. They passed a rule here in the state which does nothing. It tied up the courts for a couple of years. They appealed the rule even while the governor was celebrating these kids historic landmark victory quietly. He was appealing that same victory.

PC: So if I'm hearing you correctly Michael Foster you saw kids take their activism to the legal arena and you said to yourself it quote unquote works so I'm going to do something I don't turn off the valve you know full well knowing that you're probably going to end up in a legal arena yourself for doing that.

MICHAEL FOSTER: That's right. After watching the kids win from the plaintiff's side I realized that the courts were not going to be able to respond quickly enough. Our leaders, our donors the people who we you know we call ourselves progressives and we watch our footprint and you know we say all the right things and share all the right things on Facebook. We are the ones who are not demanding immediate science based action in response to a very clear and well-defined emergency.

PC: So you turn off that valve as you say it felt good. It gave you great pleasure doing that the sheriff comes and you know you're most likely going to be charged. What were you eventually charged with?

MICHAEL FOSTER: I was charged with 81 years’ worth of crimes and some of them were just ridiculous; burglary and theft of public services. Of course Trans-Canada is not a public service in the United States. On and on, most of those charges were revised. In the end I was found guilty of criminal mischief and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief felonies for costing Trans-Canada more than $10000 which I do not believe I did. But there was that and then there was the trespass which of course we recorded on video so that the companies would know we were there and that it wasn't a prank phone call. We wanted them to take action and shut these pumps and so we shared the video with them.

PC: You did you knowingly trespassed. What is your defense then at the trial? What do you say in your own defense for doing this?

MICHAEL FOSTER: I would have liked to have said what is a common law process of saying “I had to break this particular law in order to prevent a greater immediate harm”. So if I'm witnessing a house burning down and I can hear the voices of children inside I must break and enter I must trespass in order to do what I can to rescue.

PC: This is a necessity defence. That's a necessity defense.

MICHAEL FOSTER: That's right. And that was prohibited prosecution filed a motion to prohibit that defense and prevent me from bringing any witnesses or any evidence to support that defense. I did have evidence. There's obviously there's thousands and thousands of papers. There were witnesses. Dr. James Hansen former director of NASA came to testify in my defense and talk about this pathway back to climate recovery and how it's really our last chance now to get on that path. And yet the court wasn't allowed to hear them.

PC: So, the people you wanted to call to testify in your defense weren't allowed?

MICHAEL FOSTER: That is correct.

PC: So what did you do? What was your defence, all that taken away?

MICHAEL FOSTER: What did I do? That's a funny story because With all that taken away, I really wasn't sure what I was going to be able to do, except maybe you know argue about the money or the technicalities. And then to finish the prosecution, the prosecutors played 18 seconds of a video of me sitting at an event talking about the action in which I said: “I know I'm going to prison I'm going to try to win this case and argue necessity but I don't think I'm going to win. But it felt so good to turn off that pipeline” and then they cut it. Well they had introduced the video into evidence and the video was six and a half minutes long. So my entire defense was six and a half minutes. And instead of hearing me just say it felt good to turn off the pipeline. They saw a little video. A friend had put together for me of me planting trees with kids talking about how quickly we have to cut our emissions 10% a year and plant these trees and what it is that our children require of us.

PC: All right and so you are told what in that courtroom? What was the reason given for not allowing experts on climate change and civil disobedience to testify in your trial in your defense?

MICHAEL FOSTER: Ultimately it's a question for the institution of Criminal Justice. Ultimately the judge has to decide am I going to allow someone to present expert testimony and evidence at length in a way that might confuse the jury into thinking this guy's got a good excuse. You know this guy doesn't sound like a criminal to me. He sounds like he was actually doing this for us like he was actually trying to protect my kids. He may be crazy may be wrong I may disagree with his politics or his science but look at him. You know look at these people who are here from you know around the country to testify for him. I also had Reverend Dr. Rebecca vocal, an expert on social justice and the religious imperative to take moral direct action. So you know you have these experts come and take the stand and it would be hard for a jury to convict.

PC: Okay, but what was the judge's reason? Because that's your interpretation of why they weren't allowed to testify. What was the legal reason?

MICHAEL FOSTER: Just that idea that this has to be about the letter of the law whether the action that I took you know - cutting those change, trespassing under that property line, and turning that valve - whether that action met the definition of the charges against me.

PC: You broke the law and you know there are people who are thinking you broke the law you got exactly what you had coming to you were found guilty. You say what to that Michael Foster?

MICHAEL FOSTER: I say I would rather follow a higher law than betray my own children, an entire generation and frankly all life to come, everything I know everything I love on earth. If we don't stop, you know we're like a junkie shooting a needle. If we don't stop we can't correct or readjust or do anything. It will be too late for this generation.

PC: Michael Foster thank you for spending some time with us I appreciate it very much.

MICHAEL FOSTER: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

PC: Michael Foster is an environmental activist facing 21 years in jail for turning off a valve connected to the Keystone Pipeline. He will be sentenced in January. Michael Foster spoke to me from Seattle, Washington. Trans-Canada declined to comment except for this statement which reads “As we mentioned at the time of this incident. Safety is our number one priority. Vandalism which attempts to sabotage our equipment or interfere with operating machinery poses a risk to the public, our employees, those who break into our facility and to the environment.” Of course pipelines have long been a lightning rod for protest and environmental activism in Canada and beyond. And Alberta’s oil sands are the frontline in that battle. Chris Turner is the author of a new book it is called The Patch, the People Pipelines and Politics of the Oil Sands. Chris Turner is in Calgary today. Hello.

CHRIS TURNER: Good morning.

PC: First of all what do you think about what Michael Foster had to say?

CHRIS TURNER: Well I mean I think first of all I certainly understand his sense of frustration and desperation. I think that is a feeling that is quite common among people who have dedicated their lives to climate activism, the scale of the problem, the complexity of it, the difficulty in getting kind of coordinated action to really come out and do something meaningful that that you can really feel has begun to move the bar. It's very very different from any previous environmental issue and because of that I think there is this sense that has been for some time building that you know that something more needs to be done. There needs this surely there can be some sort of catalytic event that will shift the tide. That said I don't know that focusing this much energy into a particular pipeline project or particular pipeline network, is going to make a material difference long term.

PC: You get the sense from Michael Foster you know that desperation that you sort of acknowledged that, the traditional protesting, the placards and maybe even chaining yourself to a fence isn't enough that they have to go further now, that perhaps they're not being listened to. Why do you think that is?

CHRIS TURNER: Well I think a big part of it is how complex the climate change issue is. It's not a particular stand of old growth trees that you can kind of bodily protect and you know stop the bulldozers and then and then change the logging laws. I mean you know fossil fuels and the use of fossil fuels the creation of greenhouse gases is something that all of us do all the time. It is. It is the entire industrial basis of our society. And so moving from that energy basis to a new on, which is absolutely you know I think it is increasingly seen almost everywhere as a noble necessary and urgent goal, that process is going to be a lot more complex and on a much longer timeframe than a normal environmental issue.

PC: Okay we're going to talk about in just a bit about the impact this is having on pipeline companies, on the oil industry. But before we get to that Chris, I want you to talk about another oil activist that you profiled in your books from Idaho. This Helen Yost and her grass roots protests sort of grow into something much larger. So tell us about her.

CHRIS TURNER: Right. So she is similar I think to Mr. Foster's book earlier, someone who'd been passionate for years about environmental issues first became really engaged when she was living in Alaska and was living in Alaska during the Exxon Valdez spill, and sort of saw the scale of catastrophe that that can happen in the sort of my energy economy. She then relocated to a small town in Idaho and heard that an Exxon subsidiary Imperial Oil was moving these huge modules, these mega load freight shipments of modules that go to building oil sands production facilities.

PC: It's just like a massive infrastructure.

CHRIS TURNER: It is huge pieces of equipment that are built in East Asia, shipped across the ocean and then up the Columbia River and then get loaded onto these massive trucks that need sort of special permits and closed roads and they go in the middle of night. And she and her grassroots group in Idaho decided this is where we will make our stand. Exxon is not going to make a mess of our backyard and we have to do something similar sense of urgency as Mr. Foster. This notion that we simply have to do whatever we can to bodily stop the growth of this industry.

PC: And so do actions like hers or Michael Foster's and you talked about their desperation. They feel that there's no other way now to protesting for doing something that many people would characterize as drastic but what impact Chris Turner is having on the oil industry?

CHRIS TURNER: Well I mean there's two impacts. One is the actual material impact of their operations which is not huge. I mean you know the “you shut down the pipes for a little while. You slow down a megalo going through rural Idaho in the middle of night for a couple hours”. The plants are going to get built. The production is still going to come out of the ground. It is still going to be produced and it's still going to go down a pipe and eventually get to market. So there's no direct impact that way. I do think though that you know at least in its first phase the attention that environmentalists across Canada and around the world put on oil sands and pipelines did galvanize the movement itself. I think it was very useful as an internal political mobilization tool and Helen Yost, we were just talking was a great example where you know. She began with her little grassroots group and suddenly found allies that she'd never been able to discover before, in the region who were willing to join the indigenous groups, groups that had been involved in other occupy protests and things like that, were they were not as engaged in some of the other issues that her organization was working on. Once it was you know oil and pipelines and oil sands suddenly there was this much broader swath of civil society ready to stand with her.

PC: As you profiled in your book, when we talk about the oil sands - or some people called them tar sands - I mean this is just polarizing right. There's really no muchy metal for most people whether it's activists on one side or the companies on the other. And this debate, Christian, is far from being resolved. Trans Mountain continues to be a focal point for protesters. If shovels hit the ground, what do you expect to see there in this debate?

CHRIS TURNER: Well I mean I think at this point it seems very likely for example Trans Mountain Kingdom we're going to move forward with trans mountain that there will be protest on site that we will see pretty wide spread and large scale civil disobedience. And I think that that really has become the front line not just in Canada, in a lot of places around the world for climate change action. And I think the danger for that particularly for Canadians is that that might not be the best or certainly not the only place that we need to be having this debate about climate change and our carbon footprint. I mean yes there are you know immediate regional issues to be addressed about any given pipeline project, there are you know first nations land use rights issues that need to be settled. But from a Climate Change point of view, the 500-600 thousand barrels going into a given pipeline is not actually the breaking point for our carbon footprint. And that really I think that characterization of pipelines - it's as if the symbol became the actual goal. And we kind of lost sight of the scale of the thing we're talking about.

PC: Except for, people say it's all connected you know. And nationally and even internationally, the focus of much of these protests no matter what oil pipeline company is against no matter where it is. We often hear the protests against the Alberta oil sands. How fair is that?

CHRIS TURNER: Well I mean I think there's a sense in which you can say it's fair enough. I mean for one thing you know citizens of a democracy are welcome to say this particular thing you know to which our tax dollars have contributed for decades and so on, we no longer want to see you know growing and thriving in our name. So there's certainly there's a fairness there. There's also, the industry did itself very few favors for a long time did not respond well to the first - didn't you know if you go back 10 or even 15 years the first concerns about the rate of growth in the regional environmental groups are in Canada, saying hey you know what about this and that these environmental issues that you haven't begun to address. The growing climate footprint the industry was not terribly good in its response and so far you can characterize it as a single response. So I think to some degree they have to own the fact that they picked this fight. And so if they intend to you know now strive for some middle ground they have a serious credibility problem. That said though it is kind of - you know there is an argument to be made that singling out just two and a half million barrels a day or so that come out of Alberta oil sands as the absolute worst climate criminal on the planet. The thing that must be stopped. That is a debatable proposition you think but “Michael Foster you're shutting off the valves to keep oil from coming you know coming from Canada into the United States” doing so you know and then being tried in a North Dakota court where you know you're surrounded by new oil production that you know really the fastest growing oil fields on earth are all you know Fracht shale fields in the United States. So you know some in the industry, some defenders of the industry here in Canada say why is our particular oil so problematic. I think there is there is a nuanced case there.

PC: Chris Turner we'll have to leave it there. Thank you.

CHRIS TURNER: My pleasure.

PC: Chris Turner is the author of a new book it is called The Patch: The People Pipelines and Politics of the oil Sands. Chris Turner was in our Calgary studio. All right time to thank the team who put The Current together this week.

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YAMRI TADDESE: Hi I'm Yamri Taddese one of the producers here at The Current. This week the show was produced by: Idella Sturino, Ashley Mak, Howard Goldenthal, Ines Colabrese, Kristin Nelson, Karin Marley, Samira Mohyeddin, Mary-Catherine Mcintosh, Pacinthe Mattar and Willow Smith. Special thanks to the CBC's Jerry West and our network producers: Katy Parsons in Halifax , Suzanne Dufresne in Winnipeg, Michael O'Halloran in Calgary and Anne Penman in Vancouver.The Current's writer is Peter Mitton. Our web producer are Lisa Ayuso and Sarah Claydon. Ruby Buiza is our interactive producer.Transcriptions are provided by Rasha Shehata and Rignam Wangkhang. Our technical producer is Gary Francis. Our presentation producer is Lara O'Brien. And our documentary editor is Liz Hoath. Our senior producers are Richard Goddard in Toronto and Cathy Simon in Vancouver. The executive producer of The Current is Kathleen Goldhar.

PC: Thank you team. That is The Current for this Friday. Stay tuned to Radio 1 for Q where Tom power will be talking to the Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. This Sunday at noon 12:30 in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador. You can catch me in my regular gig hosting Out In The Open, here on CBC Radio One. I'll be speaking with people who have committed violence and about how their actions have changed them. That's Out In The Open this Sunday at noon, or you can get it online right now cbc.ca/open. I am Piya Chattopadhyay. Thank you for lending us your ear here on the Friday edition of The Current. Have a great weekend everyone.

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