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The AIH Transcript for January 29, 2019

Hosts: Carol Off and Jeff Douglas

CAROL OFF: Hello, I’m Carol Off.

KAREN GORDON: Good evening, I'm Karen Gordon, sitting in for Jeff Douglas. This is “As It Happens”.

[Music: Theme]

Prologue

KG: Tonight:

CO: Haunted. A friend of one of Bruce McArthur's victims says he feel some relief — but also anger and regret — after the serial killer pleads guilty to murdering eight men who had connections to Toronto's Gay Village.

KG: First the deal — then the ordeal. U.S. officials suggest talks with the Taliban are progressing — but if a peace deal is reached, women in Afghanistan worry about what will happen to their rights.

CO: Sparing no expanse. You'd hope people who visit Joshua Tree National Park would respect nature, especially during the U.S. government shutdown — but our guest says you should abandon all hope about those who entered there.

KG: Unnatural disaster. Five people are arrested in Brazil, after the collapse of a dam buries part of a city in mud — and while the death toll stands at 65, hundreds of people are still missing.

CO: All anniversaries are periodic. But this one's more so than most — the 150th anniversary of that complicated smorgasbord, the Periodic Table of the Elements.

KG: And...his company's a success — and he really wants to rub your nose in it. One entrepreneur says he can help you control when you get a cold — by delivering you sneezed-in tissues at the low cost of 80 bucks U.S.

KG: "As It Happens", the Tuesday edition. Radio that's disgusted — 80 bucks? It's enough to make you sick.

[Music: Theme]

Part one: Bruce McArthur guilty, Joshua Tree update

Bruce McArthur guilty

Guest: Kevin Nash

KG: For years, people in Toronto's gay village were left to wonder and worry about what became of eight missing men. And in a courtroom today — they heard Bruce McArthur admit to killing all of them, between 2010 and 2017. The self-employed landscaper pleaded guilty to eight counts of 1st degree murder. The crown said that each murder was planned — and that the murderer kept items from some of the victims as souvenirs. Kevin Nash was a friend of one of the victims: Skandaraj Navaratnam — who was known as 'Skanda.' We reached Mr. Nash in Hamilton, Ontario.

CO: Kevin, what was it like for you to see Bruce McArthur plead guilty today?

KEVIN NASH: I was completely shocked and happy at the same time. But it just brings it back again, you know? And I haven't been paying attention. I've been trying not to. And I know it sounds selfish or whatever, but it hurts me because Skanda was very, very dear to me and my son Taylor.

CO: So what does it bring back for you hearing those eight guilty pleas?

KN: It brings back the garage. It brings back a drop in stand-off at that house. The shock that meeting Bruce, and shaking his hand, and I just remember him taking me to the place and showing me the koi pond that was sitting on top of all those kind of things that they made the flower box.

CO: These were things that he worked on with Bruce McArthur was landscaping?

KN: He was excited about it. He wanted to get into landscaping. He was going to take a course in landscaping. He thought that he had found a new life, and he came from so much heartache in Sri Lanka you know to Canada to start over. And I feel like he was betrayed — that we were all betrayed by this guy.

CO: Why was your friend Skanda attracted to Bruce MacArthur?

KN: Skanda always liked mature men. Bobby, his partner, was a mature man.

CO: His ex. Okay.

KN: But besides that point, he was a great-hearted person. Like my son came to visit me in Toronto one time and went missing, and Skanda loved Taylor so much that he went out on his bike looking through all the parks to see if he could find him.

CO: But Bruce MacArthur was a landscaper, and Skanda — your friend Skanda — worked with Bruce MacArthur as an apprentice to the landscaping, but he was also dating him. Is that what you understood?

KN: I think he was because it seemed like they were that way. They were going out to dinner. And that night when I first met tBruce when I walked Skanda out to my car, which was parked in front of the purple van, I hugged him out there, and I generally thought that he had found a new direction. But he was the first to go missing, and I'm just wondering is there anybody before Skanda, you know? I mean it's great that we all have closure, but there's still that question of how many other people are not going to be found?

CO: Well, and the police are now investigating whether there were prior… looking at all kinds of cold cases to see what might be going on there. But your friend Skanda knew Bruce MacArthur for about ten years before Skanda disappears.

KN: Yeah, before that happened. But I did see Skanda in 2009 at a local gay bathhouse because my friend worked there. And I was shocked to see him in there because he wouldn't have went there unless he was you know hiding or running. But I grabbed him and took him into a room, and I asked him what was going on? And he couldn't look me in the eyes. He looked scared. And I had asked him if Bruce had hurt him? And he said no, but he was afraid of Bruce's violent behavior. And I saw one more time in the Village on Church Street, coming out of one of the bars with Bruce and some other guys. And that's the last time I saw him. And I just thought in my own mind that he had moved on to better things because Bruce did not seem the personal that he is. And Skanda would not have went to the police. He grew up in Sri Lanka, where the Sri Lankan security police were quite aggressive. And he left there to go to the States to come through the States to Canada to start a new life, and he landed here as a landed immigrant.

CO: And as a gay man, he would not want to be on the radar of police because of what he’d known through his own history, I guess?

KN: He was very scared because of where he came from.

CO: What were your impressions of Bruce McArthur when you met him?

KN: Confident, but arrogant, but nice. It's like a combination. His handshake was firm, and he seemed level-headed. But there was just something I didn't like. And I'm not saying it now as in hindsight. My question was Bobby being so gracious and feminine and fun, and this guy being so sturdy.

CO: Bobby being your friend Skanda’s ex before he was with Bruce?

KN: Ex-lover, yeah.

CO: When men started to disappear from the Gay Village, and many of them were disappearing, did you or anyone ever associate that disappearance with this man Bruce MacArthur?

KN: No, because at the time, I wasn't in The Village anymore. And I didn't find out about it till I turned on the news. Me and my son were watching TV, and I wanted to turn on the news to see what's going on, and Skanda’s picture came up, and that's when we realized that this was going on.

CO: What was he like — Skanda?

KN: He was great. He had this huge fish tank with this god awful white fish in it — this huge white fish. And when I went into the game room when he was playing with Taylor when me and Bobby went in there, I always had to sit by the tank, and this fish just hated me. It would spit stuff in the bottom of the tank at me. But he was a lover of fish. He had many fish tanks. He liked his bonsai trees.

CO: And he was the first to disappear of eight, and there may be more we don't know who became victims of Bruce McArthur, do you think, as many have said, if the police had taken these disappearances seriously earlier, people believe that there wouldn't have been these deaths. Do you think that when Skanda disappeared, do you think it was taken seriously enough?

KN: Not that it came up the way it did. But I want to commend the police because the detective I talked to at the interview they were very compassionate. And I think sometimes they get a bad reputation in times like this. But yeah, I think it could have been done a little quicker. I struggle with this myself. If I hadn't been more involved in not taking the high road and thinking he’s on to a better life, I’d have been more involved that I could have stopped it. It's a guilt that I'm always going to struggle with that I didn't jump in, you know?

CO: Because you think he was trying to signal to you that he was scared?

KN: He wouldn't look me in the eyes, and I asked him if he had hurt him, and he said no. But I knew he was lying.

CO: Do you think Bruce McArthur had hurt him at that point?

KN: Well, he said Bruce had a violent temper and a violent way. I mean I guess the part that bothers me the most I struggle with is was Skanda really the first? And what happened between them in that ten-year period that set this in the direction it went, you know? I mean I'm always going to be hurt about that, and always sad about that. But if you knew SKanda, you would love him. He was a very attractive, handsome young man with a charismatic attitude; loved to laugh. He had me going to all these hot restaurants, and I'm not really into that.

CO: Spicy.

KN: Yeah, he took me to the “Red Devil” in Mississauga or somewhere out that way, and there had to be 20-30 bottles or hot sauce, and he was getting me to try them all, and I was completely dying from it. And he was laughing, you know? And he said well, we can go do this again next week. I said not a chance. But yeah, he was a great person. I can't say enough about him. I'm just devastated that it ended this way. I'm struggling with this impact thing whether I should go or not.

CO: You mean to go and give a statement at the hearing.

KN: Yeah, but I'm also struggling with the fact what if nobody shows up? because his family is in Sri Lanka.

CO: But for you, what does it do now that you know that Bruce McArthur is probably never going to get out of prison?

KN: I'm happy. What I would like to tell him is that not only did he destroy my friend's life, he destroyed his own, and many, many more. And there's no question of thinking that he might have any morals because I'm not sure if he did because I don't understand if he used duct tape and a needle to do what he did. I just don't understand it, you know? It's going to be hard for me to get my head around someone that would do that to him.

CO: Do you think that you could face him in court and tell him this?

KN: Oh yeah. I'm so angry at him; I'd like to face him face-to-face any time. Just to let him know that I know, you know what I mean? Because to put on this facade that you're this upstanding person when greeting you, and then it turned out to be such an animal is just disturbing to me. I’d broke up a relationship I was in for 34 years about two years ago, and I'm not comfortable dating now — going out there. It takes away that trust that you see people at face value because Skanda was very much a person that would take you a faced value. And there's always a dark side to somebody. It sits in my mind like is that what it is, you know? How do you trust?

CO: Do you think he's robbed that trust for a lot of people?

KN: I think he has. We're an open community. Gay people are very friendly and open-minded because what we all been through. I think it's really put a hole in everybody’s heart in the community.

CO: Kevin, I'm sorry you lost your friend. But I do appreciate you telling us about him today. Thank you for that.

KN: That's the most important thing is that people know what a wonderful person he was.

CO: Thank you.

KN: You're welcome.

KG: We reached Kevin Nash in Hamilton, Ontario. For more on this story, go to our website at: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Horns]

Freeland on china

KG: Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister is leaving open the possibility of appointing a special envoy to China. But if Chrystia Freeland does that, it won't be because her government's messaging on the file has been in any way confused. Over the weekend, John McCallum was ousted as ambassador for failing to stick to the government's official line. Since then, there have been calls for Minister Freeland to delegate a representative who could take the Trudeau government's message straight to Beijing. In Ottawa this afternoon reporters asked Chrystia Freeland whether that's in the cards.

SOUNDCLIP

CHRYSTIA FREELAND: The government has a lot of point people on the China file. We are very, very engaged — very focused on it. It was an issue which we discussed in our cabinet meeting this morning. As the Prime Minister has said, as I have said, our absolute priority is the condition, the treatment, the detention of our Canadians in China — of Mr. Kovrig, of Mr. Spavor. And, of course, as we always do, we object to the use of the death penalty against all people, and particularly against Canadians. So that is our absolute focus. When it comes to securing that objective, we are working on many, many different fronts on many, many different levels, and we are constantly actively considering different approaches.

REPORTER: That sounds like you haven't ruled out the idea of a special envoy to replace Mr McCallum, but could you address it more generally? How urgent is it for you to replace Mr. McCallum, given that the China file seems to be in quite a bit of disarray right now?

CF: I would disagree with the framing of that question entirely. It is absolutely the case that we face a challenging situation with regard to China now. The Canadian position has been clear and consistent throughout, and that is that Canada is the rule of law country — that we honour the rule of law at home and our international treaty commitments. We've been very clear with China that Ms. Meng has been afforded access to Canada's impartial and objective judicial system. There is absolute urgency. There is a huge focus on this issue by our government. And we are energetically and systematically working on it.

KG: Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was speaking to reporters in Ottawa this afternoon.

[Music: Ambient]

Joshua Tree follow-up

Guest: Rand Abbott

KG: The U.S. government shutdown may be over — for now. But in Joshua Tree National Park, those 35 days did damage it will take years to fix. Park visitors sprayed graffiti on rocks. They knocked over some of the nature preserve's iconic trees. And they left tire marks all over the desert. A few weeks ago, we spoke to a climbing guide who works in the park. He described the garbage he and other volunteers were cleaning up; the overflowing toilets they were dealing with; and the waste they were picking up — both pet and human. Rand Abbott is a local climber who was also part of that volunteer brigade. Now he's surveying the long-term harm to the park. We reached him in Joshua Tree, California.

CO: Rand, how long do you think it's going to be until Joshua Tree National Park recovers from the damage that was done during this government shutdown?

RAND ABBOTT: Some of the damage is going to take a couple hundred years to come back — just because it needs to be repaired by Mother Nature not by us.

CO: And would it take hundreds of years?

RA: Well, Some of the micro biotic crust is what the scientific name for it; we call it desert glue. There's soil in the desert — it's not all sand. It takes hundreds of years for that to form. And when it gets damaged, it's going to take three to five hundred years for that to come back.

CO: Can you just explain how it got so damaged?

RA: The areas of the park that are considered wilderness area, where you're only supposed to be hiking on designated trails and no vehicles, those areas had quite a bit of I guess what you would call off-roading, people taking their vehicles out and driving through those areas. They actually made new roads to get to certain areas, and that's what got damaged in the process of that was the desert with the desert glue — the micro biotic crust.

CO: It just got torn up by the tires?

RA: Big four-wheel drives — people wanting to go out and do doughnuts, or people wanting to go to an area that they normally would have to hike for an hour to get to. Instead, they just served their vehicle for 15 minutes and got out there. It's ignorance that causes it. I think probably 80 per cent of the damage that was done was done out of ignorance not out of malice.

CO: But they took advantage of the fact that there was very little supervision during the government shutdown, right?

RA: Yeah. I mean the stuff that happens happens all the time. We see it. But because of there not being anybody there that was in a National Park uniform, people basically just did whatever they wanted to do.

CO: What happened to some of the Joshua trees? We can see pictures of quite a bit of damage to them. Could you describe what you've seen?

RA: There was one that possibly it was a bigger one that somebody climbed up on. And because of the weight of people being on it, the limbs broke, and it broke where the tree kind of wides. There was another one that the park rangers reported that was actually cut down, so that people could drive past a gate. And then a lot of juniper trees were damaged. It's a beautiful tree. And it burns, so people were cutting it down and using it for firewood. So they were either snapping the branches, or I saw on probably four or five occasions where they had just taken an axe to it and chopped the tree down.

CO: But these are people who are camping, right?

RA: Yes, this happened in campground sites. Yes.

CO: Well, wouldn't you make some assumptions that people who have gone to the trouble of going camping in your park would respect those trees?

RA: I would like to assume that. But like I said earlier, a lot of this damage is the stuff that happens on a regular basis out here. I'm a climber, even though I'm paralyzed, I rock climb. And there's numerous times where I go into the park to climb, and I see so much trash laying around that I go back to my van and I get a trash bag and I spend two or three hours picking it up, and then I don't climb. Or I go to a climb and I see somebody is in an area where they're not supposed to have a dog, and they've got it tied to a tree, and the dog is pulling so much that it's breaking the limbs of the trees. And over the years of talking to these people, they just don't understand. People will plan their trip, they'll buy their sleeping bag, they'll buy a tent, they'll go online to Google Maps and they'll figure out how long it's going to take, they go grocery shopping, but they don't spend five minutes on the National Park webpage to learn the rules and regulations, and find out why it's important not to do this.

CO: I just wonder do you think it's because people are accustomed to others telling them don't do this, and watching over them, and guiding them, and supervising areas, cleaning up after them. Do you think that people have become sort of accustomed to that?

RA: I think you just hit the nail on the head. If you live in a suburb area on the coast of California or out in Arizona — anywhere in the world — your local parks are clean by taxpayer dollars. And if you open your door and a napkin blows out, or if you open your door and you walk across a section of grass, and your dog goes to bathroom there’s somebody that's getting paid to clean that up. There's nobody that's doing that in Joshua Tree National Park. That's not the job of the National Park Services. So this mentality of somebody else will clean up after me, or the mentality of it can be fixed. I had people go well, that can be fixed. And it's like no, it can't be fixed. That tree is probably 300 years old, and we can't just plant another one.

CO: I've visited the park one occasion, and it's extraordinary. I've seen a lot of parks, and I've never seen anything like it. It's just a most unusual environment one could ever be in. You’re a volunteer. You’re part of the volunteer brigade. Why does the park matter so much to you?

RA: Two reasons. One, I believe that we're the guests in the park. The animals that live in the park are the true residents — not me. Same with the wildlife. That's the first reason. The second reason is when I got paralyzed, when I got back to rock climbing, the first time I climbed and I got 50 feet up on the side of a rock, and I looked down and my wheelchair was empty, I was free. I was out of my wheelchair. And the rock doesn't care that I'm paralyzed. If I make a mistake, it's going to hurt me. It's just like any other climbing. So it helped me to really reassure the mindset that I was trying to develop that my disability does not have to define me. It's not who I am. And that's what Joshua Tree did. It opened my mind up to I can do whatever I want in my life, even though I'm paralyzed. I might just have to do it a little bit different than other people.

CO: Rand, it's good to talk to you, and I’ll let you get back to being in the park. Thank you very much.

RA: Thank you for your time, and have a good day.

CO: Bye.

KG: Rand Abbott is a climber who volunteered to help maintain Joshua Tree National Park during the shutdown. He was in Joshua Tree, California.

[Music: Ambient]

Used tissues

KG: Here's a cut entitled "Sneeze Number 1: Short Choo".

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: “ Sneeze Number 1: Short Choo” — possibly in the key of C]

KG: And its companion piece, "Sneeze Number 2: Wet".

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: “Sneeze Number 2: Wet” — gross!]

KG: Now, another pair of brief tracks: "Nose Blow, Comical, Numbers 1 and 2".

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: I give up]

KG: Those are all cuts from the extensive CBC library of sound effects. In that case, those were obviously actors who were paid to pretend to sneeze or blow their noses, which is the difference between them, and the professional sneezers who get paid to sneeze stuff into tissues for a company called "Vaev". Here's a commercial.

SOUNDCLIP

SPEAKER: You tear your muscles to become stronger. You learn to fall to become a dancer. You callous your fingers to become a musician. Why is your immune system any different? Introducing a tissue powered by the human body… for the human body. This flu season, keep your immune system feeling like your immune system. Vaev.

KG: I should explain that, towards the end, you see someone open a fancy branded box, grab a wadded-up tissue, wipe her nose with it, and smile broadly. See, Vaev's big idea is to let you get sick when you want to, like not when you're supposed to be on vacation. Vaev is a company that sells used tissues. Tissues people have sneezed and blown their noses into — for 80 bucks apiece. I know what you're thinking: "No, it's not." But yes it is. It's the brain- and nose-child of a guy named Oliver Niessen. In an interview with Time Magazine, he angrily claimed the company is not a hoax. And he articulated the Vaev philosophy. Quote: "...we customize everything in our lives and we have everything the way that we want it, so why not approach sickness that way as well?" Unquote. Well, quick answer to that rhetorical question: because it's stupid and dangerous. Although, until it's shut down, a stable of ten sneezers are filling their bank accounts by emptying their noses. They got an opportunity. They blew it, repeatedly. And now they're going viral.

[Music: Orchestral]

Part two: Afghan peace deal, Brandon Bob

Afghan peace deal

Guest: Fawzia Koofi

KG: Some are hailing a breakthrough in talks over peace in Afghanistan. American negotiators have been meeting with the Taliban. And they say they've drafted a framework for a peace deal to end the long-running conflict there. Most Afghans would welcome peace after nearly two decades of fighting. But women in the country are also wondering what the cost will be — and whether their rights are in jeopardy. Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan MP and women's rights advocate. We reached her in Geneva, Switzerland.

CO: Ms. Koofi, Wwhat are your biggest concerns with these negotiations being worked out between the United States and the Taliban?

FAWZIA KOOFI: Well, the biggest concern for me is not as a politician but as a woman. As a woman who lived in Afghanistan all my life, including during Taliban, I know what Taliban perspective and views towards women freedom was. And they have not come again to explain to the people of Afghanistan that they have changed. And this is 21st century, they would like to move on with their worlds development in terms of freedom of speech, freedom of women education, etc. So the biggest concern is that if you go back to scratch, and to the civil war. But in the meantime, as a mother, I hope that we will put an end to this war that people of Afghanistan have suffered for 40 years. So there is a need for peace. But the peace process should be inclusive, especially women should be in the negotiation table.

CO: And when you say inclusive, what's interesting is that so far, other than the Taliban, the Afghan government, the president Ashraf Ghani, anyone else except the Taliban have been excluded from these negotiations. It’s just going on between the United States and the Taliban, is that right?

FK: That's true. In fact, everybody else is involved in the process except people of Afghanistan. And that's why we are worried because you know as a country, and as people who paid the highest price during the war, we don't want to be a victim of peace process.

CO: Can you remind people of what it was like for everyone, and particularly women and girls, to live under the Taliban from ‘96 to 2001? What was it like for you and for others?

FK: You know in 2001, when the a the US invaded Afghanistan, I knew that there were foreign troops in my country. But as a woman, the important thing for me was that I could go in the streets of Kabul and breathe as a human being without the fear of being beaten up by Taliban for small issues like for wearing a white burqa. And Taliban will regard that as a miss respect for their flag. So basic human rights was violated. It's true that that there was peace, but there was no life basically.

CO: And what was it like? Just describe some of the things. You said a white burqa, you had to wear a burqa, you had to cover your face completely, you had to cover every part of your body. One of your fellow parliamentarians has told the story of how her feet were beaten and whipped until she couldn't stand up just for some transgression. So is that really clear in people's memories what it was like to live with the Taliban?

FK: I think life under Taliban is kind of unforgettable scenario. All of us remember how it was for girls to stay home, and education was abandoned for women. I had to stop my education from going to school and becoming a medical doctor. I was, and hundreds of other woman like me, we were looking at the world with its beauties and opportunities from small window of our burqas. And that burqa had to have a particular colour. It was like a graveyard of humans that were alive, but they still could not breathe. And I hope the Taliban will come forward and say that you know we would like to now rule a nation that has become so progressive after 2001 the nation has transformed. There is freedom of media, freedom of speech, girls go to school, woman in politics. So much changed socially that I don't think anybody could reverse these changes — could take us back to pre-2001. And therefore, I think Taliban should adopt with the new situation. And they have to come forward and clearly tell us you know how they have changed and what are the issues that they have changed and they would like to compromise in this process.

CO: What is the likelihood that the Taliban would agree to that? I mean you know what their views are, and that all these changes… plus they at this point control at least half — if not more — of the country. I mean what is a chance that the Taliban's actually going to sit down and make these kinds of agreements to protect the rights of women?

FK: You see these are the points we would like to hear from Taliban. As people who will be the victims, as women who have been the victim of war by losing our husbands, our children, our family during the war, we don't want once again to lose, and above all, losing our freedom. We don't want to lose in the peace process and become victim of the peace too. And therefore, these are the issues. Exactly, I would like to hear from a Taliban what is his perspective about my daughters going to school? They definitely cannot stop children like my daughters from the progress that they have experienced. They have explored the opportunity of work. They have to come forward and tell us what do they think? Because I am sure some of the Taliban family members live abroad and go to the better universities, including their girls. So they have to gave an assurance to the people of Afghanistan that they are willing to rule an Afghanistan of 21st century, post-2001, which everybody has a mobile phone, everybody is connected with the world, and the United States above all should give a guarantee that we will not go back to the scratch.

CO: Ms. Koofi, we will be following this story in Afghanistan. And I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

FK: Thank you.

KG: Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan MP. She was in Geneva. And we have more on that story on our webpage at: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: World music]

Vancouver flowers

KG: While much of Canada is smelling wet boots and road salt, the West Coast is smelling the flowers. Temperatures in Winnipeg are set to hit a record low — minus-50-something with the wind chill — but in Vancouver, the signs of an early spring are everywhere. And since he can go outside without getting frostbite, CBC Vancouver's Matt Meuse went for a stroll with local flower expert Chrissy Whitman.

SOUNDCLIP

MATT MEUSE: I noticed there's in addition to the yellow buttercups, there's also a little purple one there. What's that one?

CHRISSY WHITMAN: That's the hearty Cyclamen flowers, and so they're a little bit earlier as well. But oftentimes you know in Seattle, which is sort of three weeks ahead of us usually from here in Vancouver, usually they're blooming in Seattle around now.

MM: And then there's also something coming up in the corner that I see like the little sprouts there?

CW: Yeah, those little sprouts these are gonna be all some of the daffodils, as well as some of the little Iris bulbs that are coming up too. So all of these bulbs they're dormant over the winter while they're bulbs are underground in the cold soil, and that allows them to set their roots. And as soon as the warm weather comes that's what's encouraging them to start spreading their green. So because we've had this sort of unusual warm weather this early on the season in January, we're seeing a lot of these green sprouts coming up earlier than normal. This is pretty rare. These blue flowers here they're called Lithodora, or the common name for this plant is called Grace Ward. So it's an evergreen ground cover. But these flowers typically bloom in the summer — not late spring, not to early spring, but usually like midsummer when we've got lots of heat and lots of sunshine. That's when you'll see the sea of blue flowers on this plant. So to see the five or six little blooms on this little plant this early on is pretty surprising to me.

KG: That was flower expert Chrissy Whitman describing the offensively beautiful weather in Vancouver, on the CBC's "Early Edition".

[Music: Piano]

Brandon Bob

Guest: Tyler Glen

KG: If you are a fan of marmot meteorologists, you're probably looking forward to Punxsutawney Phil's weather prediction — coming first thing Saturday morning. Meanwhile, Canada's contenders for the top prognosticating groundhogs include Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia, Wiarton Willy in Ontario and Balzac Billy in Alberta. Although Billy's not actually a rodent — just a human in a rodent costume. And then there's Brandon Bob, from Brandon, Manitoba. Never heard of him? Could be because he's kind of a local phenomenon. Or it could be because — as we've learned from a story in Macleans Magazine — he doesn't actually exist. Tyler Glen grew up in Brandon. And as the program manager for a local radio station, he's vowed to make Brandon Bob the trustiest marmot meteorologist of all, regardless of his non-existence. We reached Mr. Glen in Brandon.

CO: Tyler, when did you first hear that there was some prognosticating rodent named Brandon Bob predicting the weather in your city?

TYLER GLEN: a long time ago — 19 years. I've been doing the morning show at STAR FM in Brandon since 2000. And it was the very first year that I had come across some indication that there was a Brandon Bob, and had a hard time finding him.

CO: And when did you start to suspect that he might not exist?

TG: Actually, it was a few years. The first few years up — until around 2003 — we just took for granted that we were out of the loop. We were just kind of making things up as we go. But yeah, it was around 2003-2005 that we realized you know what? This is really not a thing. Because I was thinking to myself if I can't find this guy, we should really make sure we have Brandon Bob. So I just decided to take matters into my own hands.

CO: Okay, but I mean Brandon Bob has been showing up every Feb 2, to see his shadow or not, and then give us six more weeks of winter or not. But you're not the only one who reported on his predictions. He's been in the CBC, he's been in The Globe & Mail, he's in Wikipedia, he is a thing, but he's not a thing. That's what you’re saying?

TG: Yeah, he's not a thing. And it's very interesting that there was all this reporting going on because I too was following that similar reporting. But I could not find him. And in the early 2000’s, I just got frustrated. You know I went to the mayor's office. I was talking to politicians, the MLAs, the MPs, tourism associations. I just you know tried to figure out where this all came from. And as the article says in Maclean's, it looks as if David Phillips may have started this many, many years ago, and it was just complete folklore.

CO: David Phillips is?

TG: David Phillips from the Environment Canada. He's kind of the weather guru across the country. And he wrote a book many years ago, where he's talking about weather phenomenon in one of his books. And he was talking about the Groundhog Day folklore, and how Brandon Bob just kind of flew out of his mouth because he was thinking of Winnipeg and couldn't think of anything clever to say about Winnipeg. I’m paraphrasing now, but something to that effect. And he thought of Brandon Bob, and then it was like okay, Brad and Bob exists as of that moment. Brandon Bob is born, but yet, no one had any accurate information about where Brandon Bob lived specifically to give us all these details about whether spring was coming early or not. It was a complete mystery.

CO: So you decided to blow the lid off Brandon Bob?

TG: I did. It was around 2010-2012, I just said look, we're going to take matters into our own hands. And we're just going to create Brandon Bob. And then what happened was the media actually picked up on that because it appeared that we had the exclusive hum on what Brandon Bob was saying. And we I guess we kind of did, but only because we invented him in an official capacity where we had everything from a puppet. I had a puppet video that I had made on YouTube that was a groundhog/golfer. And that was seen a couple of thousand times. And then we actually even brought in a hamster. So it's like Brandon Bob kind of changed every year, but people just had fun with it. And we had media again from across the country giving us a call saying what did he say? Or send us a tweet or message — what did he say? And we just had fun with that.

CO: Okay, if I'm following this correctly, there was this Brandon Bob everyone believed to exist because he was predicting the weather every February 2^nd. And then you find out there is no Brandon Bob. And so in the absence of a real Brandon Bob, you invented Brandon Bob.

TG: Well, kind of. Or stole him, I guess? We were going to petition the city of Brandon and other levels of government to say hey, we should have a groundhog. But everybody laughed it off and thought it was ridiculous and thought it's not really worth the work that's involved. Then what do we do the other 364 days of the year with this rodent? And no one knows how to take care of it. And I just thought you know it's too bad because we could turn this into a thing where I mean you've obviously seen the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day”, and the chaos in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania. I mean sure it's chaos, but people come from around the world to see what this little rodent would say. And I thought what a great excuse to come to Brandon, Manitoba in February.

CO: Okay Tyler, what's the temperature there today?

TG: Well, with the windchill this morning, it was minus 46. Tonight, it's supposed to get down to minus 56 with the windchill.

CO: Why do you think anybody, any tourists, would flock to Brandon at minus 56 for any prediction about the weather? And they would not believe that spring is coming if they were there I’m sure.

TG: I’ve got an answer for you. Because if doubt that groundhog says spring is coming, you can believe anyone that survives minus 60 that spring is going to come.

CO: That groundhog’s not getting out of his hole or her hole in that weather. If it has a rodent brain to know what not to do, it's not going to happen. It would freeze to death out there.

TG: Well, and usually by the first week of February, it's not quite that bad. We usually have temperatures in the minus 20s. But I'll tell you right now the next 48 to 72 hours in Manitoba right across southern Manitoba it is not a fun place to be.

CO: Tyler, stay warm. And it's good to talk to you. Thanks.

TG: Carol, it's great to talk to you. And here's to an early spring. Thank you so much.

CO: Bye-bye.

TG: Bye-bye.

KG: Tyler Glen is the program manager for STAR 94.7 FM. We reached him in Brandon, Manitoba.

[Music: Ambient]

UNESCO periodic table

KG: The building blocks of our universe — organized into a handy chart. The periodic table of elements turns 150 years old this year. To celebrate, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has declared 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. This morning in Paris, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay launched the I.Y.P.T.C.E. celebration.

SOUNDCLIP

AUDREY AZOULAY: the periodic table of chemical elements, which identifies and classes all the chemical elements known to humanity, tells a story. It tells us a very long and riveting story, full of detours, setbacks, and sometimes unexpected developments. It is the story of quests of humankind mind seeking to uncover the mystery of the world to understand the essence of all things.

KG: Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, speaking in Paris this morning. In January, 2016, four new elements were added to the periodic table. American chemist Dawn Shaughnessy was part of the international team that discovered them. She spoke with "As It Happens" guest host Helen Mann about the organization of the updated table.

SOUNDCLIP

DAWN SHAUGHNESSY: So right now, after this news, we now can say we have 118 known elements in the periodic table. The naturally occurring elements, which are the ones you would find in your everyday surroundings, those start at hydrogen with number one, and they end with uranium at number 92. And everything that goes up from there has been manmade in the laboratory in some way. And the way it's organized is on the left hand side, you have things like that make up salts. The middle of the table would be metals. And then the right hand side is where you have all the way to the right you have your noble gases that make your neon signs and your lights at night. And where these elements sit now is on the bottom row going all the way across basically the whole bottom row and all the way out to 118, which would be a noble gas if we could measure that that many atoms of it.

HELEN MANN: And these new elements, they only exist for a brief moment in time, is that right?

DS: That's right. These radioactive because they're very unstable now because they've we've used a lot of energy to make them. And they do have that huge number of protons inside. So their tendency is to want to split apart. So we have to make these with so much energy. And then when they exist, some of them exist literally on the millisecond timescale. And we know that they're real because we can detect them as they're decaying into something else. But yeah, they don't last. On a good day, some of them might last on the second timescale. But most of these are getting to be in milliseconds timescale.

HM: Wow!

KG: From our archives, that's American chemist Dawn Shaughnessy speaking with "As It Happens" guest host Helen Mann in 2016.

[Music: Ambient]

Part three: Brazil dam collapse, Yorkshire dictionary

Brexit vote

KG: Just fifty-nine days until the United Kingdom officially leaves the EU. And today, some MPs hoped to extend that deadline, in order to prevent a no-deal Brexit. That proposal was rejected. Instead, MPs backed another proposal: to replace the so-called Northern Irish backstop, with "alternative arrangements" to avoid a hard border. With an agreement in Parliament on that key sticking point, Prime Minister Theresa May plans to take her case to Brussels. She'll press the EU to re-open the withdrawal agreement to make changes to the backstop — something the EU has already said is not up for discussion. Here's what the voting on that backstop proposal sounded like during a raucous session in U.K.'s Parliament today.

SPEAKER: The “aye’s” to right: 317. The “no’s” to the left: 301. SO the “aye’s” have it. The “aye’s” have it. As many as are of that opinion, say aye.

[Sound: a chant of aye]

SPEAKER: Of the contrary, “no”

[Sound: A chant of no]

SPEAKER: The “aye’s” have it. I think the “aye’s” have it. I’m going to order the prime minister.

THERESA MAY: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, a fortnight ago, this house clearly rejected the proposed withdrawal agreement and political declaration — with just 202 members voting in favour. Tonight, a majority of honourable members have said they would support a deal with changes to the backstop. It is now clear that there is a route that can secure a substantial and substantial majority in this house for leaving the EU with a deal. We will now take this mandate forward, and seek to obtain legally binding changes to withdrawal agreement that deal with concerns on the backstop while guaranteeing no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. There is limited appetite for such a change in the EU, and negotiating it will not be easy. But in contrast to a fortnight ago, this house has made it clear what it needs to approve a withdrawal agreement. I agree that we should not leave without a deal. However, simply opposing no deal is not enough to stop it.

KG: Point of order from Prime Minister Theresa May in U.K. Parliament today.

[Music: Jazz]

Brazil dam collapse

Guest: Maria Julia Andrade

KG: Hundreds are still missing in the deep mud around the Vale mine in Brumadinho, Brazil. On Friday, a dam broke at the iron-ore mining complex — burying people in metres of sludge. So far, the official death toll is 65. Today, Brazilian police arrested five people — including three Vale employees, and two engineers who signed off on the integrity of the dam. Maria Julia Andrade is an activist who has been in Brumadinho helping families who live near the mine. We reached her today in the nearby city of Belo Horizonte.

CO: Ms. Andrade, how are people in Brumadinho reacting to the news that there are now five people who have been arrested in connection with this dam that collapsed?

MARIA JULIA ANDRADE: The people really were not happy because they're afraid that they will go after the small fish. And they are saying that the president of Vale and all the managers should be responsible for these too. And not only the engineers, who say that it's ok this dam.

CO: All right, so you’re saying just the small fish have been arrested. There are three employees of the company were arrested, and these two others who were subcontractors that signed off a declaration of the condition of stability of this dam. But for you and others this is just not sufficient.

MJA: No, I think it's important not only to implicate the directly employees that were dealing with the dam, but also the bosses. They are the same. They should be responsible of this what has happened. But there is one thing that I want to reinforce is the conditions of the dam. They were saying that the dam was stable, and they have reports at least from September of last year. So that people are not feeling like secure to understand what happened. It is important not to happen what happened Mariana that 19 people died, and nobody was responsible to today.

CO: Sorry, you're talking about another very similar dam disaster that killed 19 people. This one killed so many more, didn’t it? It killed 65. You still have 300 people who are missing.

MJA: 300 people, but there is one thing important because the families are saying to us that they are missing people from the family on the list. We are hearing since Saturday that people when the first list came out they are saying my husband is not here, my son is not here, my brother is not here. So for our feeling, the number should be increased in the next days. We don't know why the list is not complete?

CO: So you think much more than just 300 people are missing or dead at this point, among the 65 who are dead.

MJA: Probably.

CO: Can you describe what the area around the mine and around the dam looks like right now?

MJA: It's like a pool of mud. This dam was a very old dam. They not use the dam anymore. They stopped to use it this dam in 2015. The mud is very dense. It’s not a liquid. It’s not like when it rains and it comes like a dirt place. When you put your foot there, it gets stuck. It’s very… I don't know. It's like cement. So when the mud come down, they destroy everything. But one point that you cannot recognize what was that place. I knew this place before. And then when I came there on Friday, hours after the dam break, I stay there like one hour staring and not understand what I was seeing because there was rad, there was lakes, there was buildings, and everything is covered by the mud. In this place the centre of the disaster closer to the dam, you cannot see anything — just the mud. And this was the place that the employees were.

CO: So they were all in that cafeteria right next to the dam. Sorry, when you describe this mud you’re talking about. I mean what it is it's the tailings from an iron ore mine, isn't it? So it's very dense, and they believe it's probably full of toxins. It’s probably toxic material in there as well.

MJA: It‘s a mud that is not a normal mud let's say. The mud is very different. It's like… I don't know how to describe it because it is something so different. The smell is different. It's hard to stay closer to this mud because it’s a hard smell. I don't know how the people that they are working in a process of saving and now to try to get out the bodies from this mud. They are really heroes.

CO: Is there any hope of anyone being recovered at this point from that?

MJA: No, from this point is officially that there is no hope.

CO: So they're trying to recover bodies from that sludge?

MJA: And it’s very hard because now the people are not rescuing bodies anymore. They are rescuing just parts of bodies.

CO: I just want ask you finally, and as you're saying, that you're not hearing from the president of Brazil, Mr. Bolsonaro, that he wants to deregulate, to make it easier for mines to be profitable. Do you think that there's possibility of more disasters like this one in Brazil?

MJA: With this kind of model that it is all controlled by companies it is not we a number of things like this. It is when we have something like this happen again?

CO: Ms. Andrade, I'm so sorry for what you're seeing and what you're dealing with there in Brazil. And I appreciate that you'd speak with us tonight. Thank you.

MJA: Thank you very much, Carol.

KG: We reached activist Maria Julia Andrade in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

[Music: Sombre]

Sound Of The Day: Threshold choir

KG: Time now for our sound of the day. It comes courtesy of our colleagues at the CBC's London, Ontario station. This morning, they played host to the members of the local Threshold Choir. The "threshold" in the choir's name refers to the fact that they offer to sing for people whose lives are coming to an end. Elaine Zappitelli-Andrews is a founding member. The CBC's Julianne Hazelwood asked her to describe what happens when they sing.

SOUNDCLIP

ELAINE ZAPPITELLI-ANDREWS: Well, I can tell you that we can visibly see signs. We can start to see the lines on a forehead start to soften. We can start to see the breathing regulate. There's oftentimes tears. Because people they have emotion right up to the surface, and this just helps bring it out. And the songs are so loving and nurturing that it's almost tears of love. You know they're so grateful, and we are too, you know? When we see them, and we see them breakthrough. We have certain songs that bring the emotions to the surface and let it out in. And people really, really appreciate that. And the families really appreciate that. It lasts forever — the memory.

JULIANNE HAZELWOOD: is there a moment when you were singing to somebody that has stayed with you?

EZA: Oh, yeah. We had one woman we sing from Ireland, and she made us tape the Irish blessing song and send it overseas to her family. We had a gentleman a couple weeks ago that he was having a hard time catching his breath, and was having a really difficult time. And we started singing, and then the tears started coming in. He just kept on saying I'm feeling better. I’m feeling better, you know? And when you start to see that ease in someone, you're like okay we're here for the right reason. We don't consider ourselves performing. We consider ourselves doing an offering. We're not a performing choir. We offer song.

JH: Elaine, tell us what you'll be singing.

EZA: “Walking Each Other Home” was actually a quote from Ram Dass. And someone asked from Ram Dass. And he goes we're just here to walk each other home, man.

JH: All right, well let's bring over the rest of your choir.

[Sound: A choir song]

KG: That was our sound of the day, the London Threshold Choir. Before that your heard choir member Elaine Zappitelli-Andrews in conversation with London Morning host Julianne Hazelwood.

[Music: Sombre]

Yorkshire dictionary

Guest: Ian McMillan

KG: In 2019, on this side of the Atlantic, if you went for a walk and happened upon a small path between two buildings, you'd probably call it an "alley". But if you were in Yorkshire, England, in the 17th century, you would have called it a "ginnel", or "snicket". And you'd pay for things with "brass" rather than cash. You'll find those words — and 4000 others — in a new online historical dictionary. It was compiled by two language enthusiasts — a historian and an archivist. And it's dedicated entirely to the dialect of the county of Yorkshire. Ian McMillan is a poet born and raised in Yorkshire. He was at the launch party for this dictionary — and says it's important to celebrate region-specific vernacular, no matter how incomprehensible it may sound. We reached Ian McMillan in Barnsley, England.

CO: Ian, can you tell us why you think it's important to keep a record of this vernacular?

IAN MCMILLAN: I think sometimes if we don't give the record, then it just disappears. If someone's granddad comes to say a word which in Yorkshire means to play, and then they die and they can't say it anymore. Unless we record it, that word will just disappear into the ether. So it's very important to record these words, and to then reuse them. I think there's no point in just writing them down in a book. I think we have to use it. So we have to say it because only by put in your mouth around the word and letting it breathe can that word survive and thrive.

CO: And how can you do that? How can you encourage people to use these old words?

IM: I think the best way to do it is just to include in normal conversation, and then people ask you what it means. And then you tell them. So for example, this evening, here in Barnsley, I could say well, there was a nice sunset tonight. It is a wonderful word for sunset. What a great evocative word that is. SO I think there's the more you use them, the more people will ask what they are. And then they'll realize that, in fact, they probably are fit for purpose.

CO: There's just some wonderful words on the shortlist that I have, which just the sound of them you can actually kind of imagine what they are. But what about the word General. What does it mean.

IM: And that's the exciting thing about these words sometimes they don't travel very far outside their own backyard. And the more we can say them it'll be the same in Canada. There'll be words everywhere. They don't travel far outside a little micro area. And the more we can use those words and spread them about the better it is.

CO: We have in many regions like that. And I know there's a dictionary of words from Cape Breton, which is this place for a lot of Scotts had settled. And the same thing — words that are just so evocative of what they're trying to communicate. Going back to yours though — to the Yorkshire dictionary — words like Bray: to hit someone, or brass for money.

IM: That's very much still in common use. If I walked on the street now and raised my fist to somebody outside, they’d say don't bray me. Don't bray me. And what I like about that word is it’s onomatopoeic, isn't it? It sounds like what it is. The word bray sounds like you're going to hit somebody. So that’s a word that although it's ancient, is still very much in common parlance today. The one that I like is fettle — to fettle something — to put something in order. I'm just going to fettle me drawers. I'm going to fettle me socks and me sock drawer and I think the word fettle, again still in common use, means to arrange things to settle things up so I suppose all comes from settle. They're just fantastic words to say. That's why I like them. They sound good when you say them.

CO: But they also tell us a bit about the people who originate them. I mean what does it tell you about how people lived in Yorkshire centuries ago?

IM: If somebody says can you frame that, that's an old coal mining term. Go and frame that. All the coal mines around here have shut now, but that tells you something about that time of day. If somebody’s fettle, it probably comes from the textile industry. You know she had to fettle something. You can aversely refer to someone as a bobbin doffer, and that's an old textile term as well. So a lot of these terms tell you things about the jobs and the industries that were around at the time they have since gone.

CO: So there's 4,000 of these words in this dialect dictionary. And I understand that you have created a poem with some of them. Can you tell us about that?

IM: What I did was I was I was asked to write some poems that contained just some old Yorkshire words, so I wrote a calendar which has got some ancient Yorkshire words. It might just sound like mouth music when I do it, but we'll see. So this is a Yorkshire dialect calendar for February.

[this is incomprehensible]

CO: Well, it’s a great poem. And it certainly is evocative on February. And also, words to live by. Ian, it’s great to talk to you. Thank you.

IM: Thank you very much.

CO: Bye-bye.

IM: Cheers.

KG: Ian McMillan is a poet in Yorkshire. He created the poem he just read using ancient Yorkshire dialect, to celebrate the launch of an online Yorkshire dictionary. We reached him in Barnsley, England.

[Music: Ambient]

Kite flyer obit

KG: The skies over Vanier Park in Vancouver will be a lot emptier this year. Because Ray Bethell won't be there to fill them. Mr. Bethell died in December at the age of 90. For years, he dazzled park-goers by flying kites in a delicate, choreographed dance, often paired with classical music. He told anyone who wanted to know that he was inspired to try flying kites when he watched his first sport-kiting event, while on vacation in Hawaii. He had many jobs in his life — including being a gynecologist. But his passion was kites. He said they helped him deal with his anger and depression after he lost his hearing in his 60s. In 2008, Mr. Bethell spoke to CBC Radio's "North By Northwest" in British Columbia, about his emotional connection to kite-flying.

SOUNDCLIP

RAY BETHELL: I started in 1980, in this park, with one kite. And I enjoyed it. And I’ve developed my fashion since then you know slowly. But I enjoy it today just as much as I did the first day.

SHERYL MACKAY: And how did you know, or when did you know, that kite flying was going to become such a passion for you?

RB: Being deaf, being deaf and doing this, I can be anywhere I want to be. I can be with anybody I want to be. I can be on my own. I've got no other distraction, so I can be me regardless of what’s happening around me. So I'm in my own world. I'm at peace with myself and peace with the world. After I don't go home and kick the dog or the cat or miserable. I'm happy, I really am. It's hard to explain but, that’s the way I feel, you know? It's my life. It really is my life. I'm the happiest when I'm flying it.

SM: And I'm just wondering how many kites have you ever flown at once?

RB: Well, the last record I made with 32 kites.

SM: Thirty-two?

RB: Yeah, 32 kite for a world record. I have 11 world records now that I’m not going to touch. The most one I like is flying twelve hours, twelve minutes non-stop. Flying continuously. I could've gone longer, but I thought oh, you know? Who’s gonna beat this?

SM: What does it feel like to be choreographing so many kites all at once when you’re working with them?

RB: Being deaf, I remember the older songs, especially love songs. And I first started flying with my mind. So then I developed the way I feel, the way I move, into the music. And I gradually picked songs that match my way of flying, and the way I felt, and the way I move. A lot of people apply to music, but they don't put their self there.

KG: The late Ray Bethell, talking to Sheryl Mackay in 2008, for CBC's "North By Northwest". Mr. Bethell was well-known for his kite-flying routines over Vanier Park in Vancouver. He died in December. He was 90.

[Music: Folk]

Inflatable scare wolf

KG: He's the kind of guy you'd expect would make a great car salesman. But let's face it, he was never really a closer. I mean sure, he was good at attracting attention — out there on the lot every day, waving and gyrating his tall, gangly body just trying to get prospective clients to walk in the door. At best, though, he was good for a chuckle: when it came to selling, he was all air. And easily deflated. Now, it turns out he may have been in the wrong line of work all along. Because while he may not be great at drawing purchasers, he's showing real promise at driving away predators. Just ask Ted Birdseye, a rancher in Jackson County, Oregon. On Saturday, he welcomed the arrival of the towering, inflatable dancing man -- the kind you see on car lots — onto his ranch. Mr. Birdseye has lost several cattle — and a guard dog — to a rogue pack of wolves in the area. The latest incident happened on Friday, when he had to dispatch a calf that had been fatally mauled. But Mr. Birdseye has already noticed a big difference since the dancing man. He told a local newspaper this week: "He's all lit up and dancing around in the field. He's lime green. It looks like an alien at night." And he says he's had his best sleep in months -- a full eight hours, with no howling or barking. He's cautiously optimistic, saying, "We don't know if the deterrence was a factor or if it's a coincidence." But perhaps it's time for the inflatable car-lot man to update his CV with a newfound skill: "dances with wolves."

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January 29, 2019 episode trascript

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