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The AIH Transcript for July 1, 2020

Hosts: Duncan McCue and Chris Howden

Prologue

DUNCAN MCCUE: Hi. I'm Duncan McCue, sitting in for Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

DM: Hong Kongers take to the streets despite a new national security law that has already seen people arrested. But one local politician says the law could mean a more cautious fight for democracy.

CH: Admonishment. A growing number of Canadian brands are boycotting Facebook over lax rules on hate speech. An exec from one company tells us why they've pulled their ads and what it will take for them to click like again.

DM: Holy Mackinaw. It looks like Toronto and Edmonton will play host when the NHL returns this summer, something former Leafs captain Wendel Clark says would be a real score for Canada.

CH: The shows must go on. A Canadian born filmmaker has kept cameras rolling in more than 10 countries during the pandemic, and his directorial debut went very differently than he expected.

DM: Payback time. Another first of the month, another rent cheque due, but two Saskatchewan landlords say the pandemic has hurt them as well as tenants and they must be allowed to evict a renter who hasn't paid in months.

CH: And by the skin of its orange teeth. To mark Canada Day, we revisit a thrillingly Canadian tale of a flat Canadian tale: the time two East Coast employees rescued a beaver in distress in Ottawa. As It Happens. The Wednesday Edition. Radio that figures the beaver may not have cared at the time, but went on to give at least one dam.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: 'Hong Kong people will fight on,' councillor says after national security law arrests

Hong Kong Law Enacted

Guest: Lo Kin-hei

CH: The new national security law was enacted late last night, and today police in Hong Kong made their first arrests. They arrested at least 10 people for breaching the new law. And there were hundreds more arrests for unlawful gathering as there have been in the past, for those who took to the streets today to mark the anniversary of the city's handover from British to Chinese rule. China's controversial new law targets crimes of secession, sedition, subversion, and collusion. And has been criticized for being far reaching, ambiguous, and severe. Lo Kin-hei is a district councillor in Hong Kong and the vice chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong.

DM: Mr. Lo this new national security law enacted just last night is already being used by police to arrest people. Do you have any idea why they were arrested?

LO KIN-HEI: According to the police, they basically arrest people because they possess some materials that have Hong Kong independence on it. So advocating for secessions or subversion of the country or the government then they will arrest you for violating or breaching the national security law.

DM: Apparently, there was one man that was arrested for holding a pro-independence flag. Is this what you feared might happen with the law?

LO KIN-HEI: I think it is something that we fear last night that it will be violating the law and against the law. And it proved today that if you possess independence threat or if your post says some -- only some stickers, then you will be easily arrested by the Hong Kong police. Of course, we don't know yet whether the court or whether they will charge the people for that incident. But, yeah, this is something that Hong Kong people fear.

DM: The text of this law, it was just released last night. You've had a chance to read it now. What parts concern you?

LO KIN-HEI: I think there are a few past that concerns a lot of Hong Kong people. Well, first of all, that there is a mechanism for the country and for the government to put the arrestee to the jurisdiction of China. And this is something very alarming because in China, the legal system is totally different than in Hong Kong. And the conditions, they said, is very vague. And they can easily interpret it and make it very easy for people to be extradited to China and to be pursued under the Chinese legal system. This is one thing that is very alarming. I think the other thing that is alarming is the set up of the National Security Agency in Hong Kong. The National Security Agency, although it's said they have to follow the laws of Hong Kong, but apparently the Hong Kong police or the Hong Kong government can do nothing about it. They can't arrest them. They can't check them even though they broke the law. So if the National Security Agency broke some law, they would just keep on going and they would still be able to walk away from that. And Hong Kong peoples who suffer from that kind of arrest or monitor cannot have a way to protest or cannot have a way to sound disapproval of that kind of work. So this is basically ripping off the rights of the Hong Kong people, even though they are under arrest.

DM: And that new security office that Beijing is setting up in Hong Kong will have its own law enforcement personnel as well. Given all of this, what was the atmosphere in Hong Kong like today as people took to the streets?

LO KIN-HEI: I think the atmosphere is quite bad. Hong Kong people are quite fearful of that because we don't know how we will be arrested and how that kind of law will be put onto somebody on the street. And the penalty is harsh. So I think Hong Kong people are taking it very cautiously. The chanting of slogans is very cautious. And I think most of the people on the streets, they want to be there. They want to show the world that we're not giving up. But you can see from their faces and you can see from their actions that everybody is ticketed in a more cautious way than before.

DM: The Chinese government says this law was created in response to those massive protests in Hong Kong last year. How is it meant to address some of what played out there?

LO KIN-HEI: Well, they basically categorize all kinds of things that happened last year in the protests as some kind of terrorists actions, terrorist activities. For example, vandalizing the traffic lights -- it can be categorized as terrorist activities. Vandalizing some public transport, it can be categorized as terrorist activities. And it will give you at least three years of imprisonment. So I think this is the way they want to do with Hong Kong, they want to rule by fear. They want to make sure that Hong Kong people are fearful and to be frightened and not to be able to express so freely like in the past.

DM: As you suggested, the law says that it could be punishable with a minimum sentence of three years or a maximum being life. Canada and other countries have signed a joint statement raising their, quote, "a deep and growing concerns" and are urging the government to reconsider this law. Apparently, the law could also affect foreigners. How could that happen?

LO KIN-HEI: According to Article 38 it allows the government to arrest and prosecute anybody who did something that's so called violating that law. Even though he's not a Chinese citizen or a Hong Kong resident and he's doing that in another country, so if somebody who tried to sencion China or they try to make sure that China is not going to trust Hong Kong, they are against the law and if they set their foot in Hong Kong, they can be arrested. Of course, we don't know how forceful the Chinese or Hong Kong government would do that. But theoretically, if President Donald Trump or Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the United States, if they set foot in Hong Kong, they can be arrested under that law.

DM: If I could put it this way, last year there were so many protests about democracy in Hong Kong, what does this law mean for that continued struggle and fight for democracy?

LO KIN-HEI: It will be harder for Hong Kong people to keep on fighting. But, of course, I believe even though we are facing much higher chance to pay that price, I still believe Hong Kong people will keep on to have that kind of a spirit of defiance and a spirit to fight for Hong Kong human rights and freedom and for our rule of law.

DM: Mr. Lo thank you for your time.

LO KIN-HEI: Thank you very much.

CH: Lo Kin-hei is a district councillor in Hong Kong and vice chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong.

[Music]

NHL Hub Cities

Guest: Wendel Clark

CH: When it comes to home rink advantage, Canada appears to be set to score big time. For months, the NHL has been on hiatus. But there are plans to resume the season later this year with games hosted in two hub cities. But which two hub cities? Well, according to reports from TSM and SportsNet, both cities will be in Canada, with Toronto hosting the Eastern Conference games and Edmonton hosting the West. That news has Canadian fans rummaging in their closets to find their giant foam fingers, including Wendel Clark. He spent 15 years playing in the NHL, including a stint as the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. We reached Mr. Clark in Muskoka, Ontario.

DM: Wendel Clark, how big a win for Canada would it be if Edmonton and Toronto are the NHL's hub cities?

WENDEL CLARK: I think it'd be great. You got your east and your west. And you've got two cities that, you know, because it's Canada we have hotels and rinks and they can handle hockey.

DM: Why do you think Toronto and Edmonton were chosen, might be chosen over other cities such as Las Vegas?

WC: Well, I think you're both in one. You don't have to worry about borders. Maybe because it's not quite as serious in Canada as it is going on down south right now. And the Canadian dollar at 35 cents or whatever difference, it's a lot cheaper to run it in Canada than it is run it down south.

DM: You think it's about the money, why do you think that?

WC: Well, every business is about money.

DM: [Chuckles] Let's talk about Toronto. You know the city so well. What makes it ideal to host this new format?

WC: Well, I think you get the Mecca of hockey. It's the centre of hockey everywhere just because of the size of the city and being in Canada. And they have the amenities to be able to have hotels, rinks in a close knit area. You can quarantine the teams and quarantine a lot of players and people per team. I don't know what the numbers are. And then also, you know, the two big Canadian cities, especially Toronto, you could promote the game at its best.

DM: Alberta's premier has certainly been making the case for Edmonton. What do you think of it being hosted there?

WC: Oh, I think it's great. You got a lot of hype. You got one of the best players in the game playing there. They got great rinks and facilities that can handle people as well as players with each team. And that's a big thing. This is a whole new thing for everybody. So you have to have situations where they can safely handle everybody.

DM: Of course, the NHL and the Players Association have still got to come to a final agreement on all the details. But if you were still playing, Wendel Clark, I mean what would be going through your mind about considerations when it comes to returning to the ice?

WC: I know they get the business end there. They're going to do and do all the talking. But I was always the player that knew we weren't playing for a long time. You might be a player that's got a short career and you play four years. The average career might be 10 to 15 years. So, yeah, to have one year that you miss that gets lessen. You have a lot of time between 35 and the rest of your life to not play hockey. So I would always be wanting to be play hockey. So if you give me a chance to play and be around the guys in our team and play for the Stanley Cup, I'd always be saying let's play hockey.

DM: But what about safety? I mean, we've seen cases of COVID-19 at baseball training camps. The NHL has said 15 players have tested positive at the team facilities so far. I mean, wouldn't that be a concern for you?

WC: No. I'm going to pull up and fill up with gas at the gas station, and I bet you somebody has been through there in the last 10 minutes that had COVID as well. Everything we do in life has risks to it. There isn't going to be any more risk. I don't think what the players are doing, they're going to have the best doctors available. They'll be getting tested more times in one week than I'll get tested ever. They are going to have more precautions to look after the players than anywhere else. The pro sports look after their players so well. So if you're going to get it, you'd get it on their own. You know, they're all out and probably stopping by a restaurant here and there, they all go and get gas in their car, they all go to stop by a store. They're out in regular life doing things as well. So playing is just another avenue.

DM: There may be residents in those cities of Toronto and Edmonton, though, who point out that, you know, this is a large group of people. I mean, you said yourself, I mean, there's trainers and coaches and support staff and...

WC: They're all quarantined together. They're not out in the...people.

DM: What about the players? I mean, they'll certainly be coming into contact with each other.

WC: Well, the players are. But they're all quarantined and tested. So if somebody was to get it, then they're isolated.

DM: When it comes down to playing, I mean, they'll be playing to empty stands. How different is that going to be for players?

WC: I think at the beginning it's going to be different. You're in these big stadiums with no fans. And I think, there'll be an adjustment there, the first few games. But as the intensity goes and the more games they play and they understand what they're playing for, then they'll have enough intensity on it -- that will build. And it'll be something that they'll get used to, it will be one of the learning curves that they get as players that play. And that will just be a new norm in the sport that they're playing.

DM: You mentioned that it's tough for young players to be away from their teammates to miss that camaraderie. What do you think it's going to be like on the ice when the teams finally come together for the hockey training camps?

WC: Yeah, I think you're going to have, like in anything, you're going to have players nervous a bit, maybe, because they're back at it, but then you're going to have a group of players that can't wait to get at it. You know, they've been separated since March and they're missing what they love to do: hanging out at the rink, hanging in the dressing room, playing hockey -- the game they love. And you only get to do it so long. It's not a sport that you get to do forever at the highest level. So I think once they get back in the swing of things and you get groups of guys together playing the game there, it'll fall right into being fun times.

DM: I saw one wisecracker on Twitter comment that this may be the best way for Toronto to see a Stanley Cup win in the city. Do you think that's fair comment?

WC: Well, hey, we might as well try it. We haven't done well in the last three years. We lost the first round in April. So maybe August is our month. August, September, I'll take it doesn't matter to me as long as we have a chance to win.

DM: [Chuckles] Wendel Clark, thank you very much for your time.

WC: All right. Thank you.

CH: That's long-time NHLer and former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Wendel Clark. We reached Mr. Clark in Muskoka, Ontario.

[Music]

Boyd Godfrey

CH: During the pandemic, it's been hard to spare much sympathy for landlords. But one retired couple in Saskatchewan says as people who rent out houses, they're hurting, too. The province has put a stop to evictions for unpaid rent during the pandemic. But Boyd Godfrey says he's been trying to evict one of his tenants since long before anyone had even heard about COVID-19. He says the unpaid bills are eating into his retirement savings. Here's part of what Mr. Godfrey told CBC reporter Bonnie Allen.

BOYD GODFREY: Well, as a result of the pandemic, the provincial government put a moratorium on evictions of residential tenants back in March 26. Prior to that, we had tried to evict this tenant when he wasn't paying back in January. And then in March, the moratorium went into place. And since then, we haven't had a payment since early February. As of today, first part of July, it'll be ten thousand dollars -- in excess of ten thousand dollars for rent and utilities. There's many many landlords in Saskatchewan, I'm suggesting to you hundreds, if not in the thousands who are in this position with us. When the moratorium was put on, it was put on for tenants who were not able to pay, not tenants who would not pay. This tenant has been working part time throughout the pandemic. He's getting a COVID payment that he has specified as 2000 a month, but he's decided he's not going to pay. Originally, yes. I didn't think it was that bad of a situation because everybody was scared of COVID and what it was doing and what could happen with it. But recently, I mean, they are opening up everything in the province except for courts. So therefore, we still can't have hearings. They're still concerned about these tenants. And there's no doubt in my mind there's going to be a lot of evictions going on when they do open it up, because there's a lot of landlords out there who are suffering.

CH: There was Saskatchewan landlord Boyd Godfrey. The CBC also spoke with Mr. Godfrey's tenant, who says that he's receiving some federal assistance, but that the pandemic has left him behind on all his bills.

[Music]

Beavers on Canada Day

CH: In December 1974, Barbara Frum and Alan Maitland welcomed a special guest to the studio, Scruffy The Beaver.

BARBARA FRUM: [Cross talking] That's great. Oh how nice for you Al.

ALAN MAITLAND: Such a lovely boy. He's peeing on me. [Cross talking] [Laughter]

BARBARA FRUM: [laughs] It doesn't stop. Merry Christmas Al. [Laughter]

ALAN MAITLAND: It's never happened before on the radio, I'm sure. [Laughter]

CH: Scruffy thoroughly soaked Alan with urine. And yet, As It Happens, continued its campaign to make the Beaver Canada's national animal. And it worked. In March 1975, an act of Parliament designated the beaver a symbol of the sovereignty of Canada. Now a creature with a set of transparent eyelids, which secretes a surprisingly versatile fluid from its anal glands is officially synonymous with this gigantic nation. So to mark Canada Day, we went to the archives for a story of an act of ludicrously Canadian heroism in which two members of parliament rescued a beaver in Ottawa. One of them was Rodger Cuzner, the other was Mark Eyking. Both were MPs from Nova Scotia and both spoke with Carol in April of 2009.

CAROL OFF: Hello, Mark. Hi, Rodger.

BOTH: Hi Carol. Hello there.

CAROL OFF: Hi. Rodger, first of all let's start with you, when did you first spot this beaver on Sparks Street?

RODGER CUZNER: Well, we were on our way back down from an event and we'd come to the end of Sparks Street where it comes on the bay. And we heard a car come to a screeching halt and we looked up. It was a cab. And there was this fairly large round mound of fur in front of it. So, you know, we thought from the distance that it was a beaver and...

CAROL OFF: You knew it was a beaver already?

RODGER CUZNER: Pretty quick. He waddled over to the curb. And it was an adult beaver -- probably, I would think 75 or 100 pounds or so. Big tail on it.

CAROL OFF: So Mark, what did you do?

MARK EYKING: Well, I said we've got to do something with this boy or somebody's going to hit him or he's going to get kill.

RODGER CUZNER: So we phoned 911 first though Mark. And they weren't able to do anything to help. So that's when Mark jumped into the phone booth and put on his cape. [Laughter] And...

CAROL OFF: The Cape Breton Cape. [Laughter]

MARK EYKING: Being a farmer I think my herding instinct, kicked in, I guess. And I was going to herd the animal. Rodger was going to do traffic control. We knew we had to get him to water. So the Ottawa River was the closest water, but it was a couple streets to get through.

CAROL OFF: Well, not just a couple of streets if I know my Ottawa directions well. You had an enormous street to cross about six lanes of traffic, right?

MARK EYKING: Wellington was the big one, that's for sure.

RODGER CUZNER: He darted up Sparks Street on his first, he took off up Sparks Street. So Mark tracked him down, got out in front of them and brought him back around again. But we got down, and the beaver probably didn't pay too much attention to the "don't walk" sign so as Mark's note earlier on Wellington, we had to stop all the cars on Wellington. So that was a...

CAROL OFF: Rodger, you stopped all the cars?

RODGER CUZNER: Yeah, I was traffic control and public relations, really, Carol, because it drew quite a bit of attention. There were a few joggers who went by almost running into street poles because, you know, they were twisting around to see what was going on. A couple of girls had stopped and snapped some pictures. But we got him over to the National Archives building and we got him around to the back parking lot. And then a gentleman came over and told us about how the beavers had eaten away his cottage and, you know, what pests they were. So there were a few people around telling stories.

MARK EYKING: Smacked his tail on the pavement. So I figured I just had a smack the stick on the pavement, just kind of showing that we were for business too. [Laughter]

CAROL OFF: So you're showing you were the alpha male in this?

MARK EYKING: Yeah it kind of went like that. He would respond better when I hit the stick on the ground and then he was going along pretty good.

CAROL OFF: How do you know it was a male?

RODGER CUZNER: Answer that one Mark. [Chuckles]

MARK EYKING: He was pretty aggressive. He was pretty big.

CAROL OFF: When you're hitting that stick Mark, maybe, I don't know, maybe it was the call of...maybe it's a love tap you were doing.

RODGER CUZNER: [Laughter] He didn't look that amorous.

MARK EYKING: [Chuckles] I've been around enough animals to know the difference between the male and the female.

CAROL OFF: You got him over to the archives building. So what did you do from there?

MARK EYKING: There was a pretty steep embankment straight behind the archives, and I'm sure you're familiar with that area. So the old fellow wasn't too fussy about going down over the hill. So we had to, again, gather him up and take them over. There's a cement ramp walkway that goes down under the bridge.

RODGER CUZNER: I think once he started hearing the water...

MARK EYKING: Yeah. He got going. Once he got down the bottom part of the ramp he was on his own and he was in pretty good shape from there. So he had his walk from there.

RODGER CUZNER: It's quite the joke on the Hill today [laughter] that he's coming down to do some construction work because John Baird is not getting the infrastructure out quick enough. All kinds of stuff. [Laughter]

CAROL OFF: Oh, these are all your Ottawa jokes. But Mark where did you learn to herd Beaver?

MARK EYKING: [Laughter] Well, on the farm you're herding animals and you kind of look them in the eyes -- anyway, once he starts moving, you know, the speed he is at and, you know, when he's mad, so you back off a little bit and you give a little smack.

CAROL OFF: But you have this great rapport with beavers now then, I guess.

MARK EYKING: Yeah, I guess I'm the beaver expert now, but I don't want to be called up about it. [Laughter]

RODGER CUZNER: He was very effective. I almost wanted to jump in the river myself, Carol. [Laughter]

CAROL OFF: And slap your tail on the water?

MARK EYKING: We don't want people to have a problem in their cottages and they're starting to call us. You know, we got enough on our plate right now. [Chuckles]

CAROL OFF: So what did the beaver do when it hit water?

MARK EYKING: Well, he's just gone, I guess. But anyway, the Ottawa Citizen was down there looking for him. I was down there with them this morning. And anyway, there's no reports that he came back on the road. So I think he's in beaver land now.

CAROL OFF: There's a Cape Bretoner that I know that wants to say that, Cape Bretoners across Canada applaud you on saving this national symbol. [Laughter]

MARK EYKING: We're known for the beaver tails in Ottawa. So this is another one to add.

CAROL OFF: Yeah, there you go. Well, congratulations to both of you. Rest assured that that beaver is safe. [Laughter] Bye to you both.

BOTH: Bye bye.

CH: From our archives, Carol, talking to former employees Rodger Cuzner and Mark Eyking about rescuing a beaver in Ottawa.

[Music]

Part 2: Why outdoor apparel brand Arc'teryx is pulling its ads from Facebook this month

Facebook Ads

Guest: George Weetman

CH: This month, a growing number of brands are unfriending Facebook. The Canadian company's Lululemon, MEC, and Arc'teryx have announced they're pulling all ads from the social media giant for the month of July. They're joining U.S. heavyweights like Coca-Cola, Unilever, Honda, America, and Patagonia in the boycott. The companies say Facebook isn't doing enough to stop racist and other harmful content from circulating on the site. George Weetman is the V.P. of brand and digital commerce for the Canadian outdoor apparel brand Arc'teryx. We reached him in Vancouver.

DM: Mr. Weetman, we've known for a long time that racist and other objectionable content it finds its way onto Facebook pretty regularly. So what was it that crossed a line for you that made you decide to pull your ads from the site?

GEORGE WEETMAN: Yeah, like I think like a lot of values based and global brands, our character stands itself, you know, close to other brands that, we've all been doing a lot of listening, a lot of learning. And I think trying to find ways for us to take action that represent our values and our belief system. So joining this boycott was really a reflection of us putting action behind, a firmer commitment against racism and hatred.

DM: You tweeted that Facebook promotes hate and bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism and violence. Could be said that YouTube, Twitter and other social media sites are just as problematic. Why single out Facebook?

GW: Yeah, you know, I think this is really the time for all brands to be looking inwards and trying to find ways where they can make changes to have meaningful impact. I think a lot of the platforms are doing that work right now. And quite honestly, in the conversations that we've had with Facebook since the boycott began, you know, we're encouraged by the sort of accelerated conversation that, you know, I think Facebook has recognized that their definition of hate has been a little bit too narrow for what people are asking for. And we're encouraged by, you know, Facebook's response so far to try to, you know, really improve the language around their ad and and content guidelines.

DM: When you told Facebook that you were pulling the ads, what kind of response did they have in your conversations?

GW: You know Facebook understands. You know, I think they are listening to their advertisers right now, which is encouraging. They're also, you know, trying to be quite clear about the steps they're taking. They're engaged directly on sort of the nine requests from the boycott and really trying to find common ground to make meaningful change over the next 30 days.

DM: I want to ask you about some of the steps that Facebook is taking. But have you ever seen a case where Arc'teryx ads have popped up next to objectionable content?

GW: Personally, I haven't seen it. But, you know, I think this is a little bit more of us being part of a larger conversation and really trying to make, you know, a recognition that small changes on a platform of the scale of Facebook should have big impact. And so this is more putting our voice behind, you know, I think a larger problem out there.

DM: What about your own customers? What have they expressed to you about their concerns about seeing Arc'teryx on Facebook?

GW: Our customers, for the most part, support our commitment to join the boycott. I think they're looking for us to, like many brands, to put more action behind their values and to take a stronger stand against hatred and racism and to embrace a stronger collective around diversity and inclusion.

DM: You mentioned some of the measures that Facebook says it's taking. I mean, they say they're spending billions of dollars a year to pull down, identify some of that objectionable content that they've been able to identify 90 percent of the hate speech before it's even reported. What more would you like to see the company do?

GW: Well, I think in Facebook's own language, you know, they would say that that 10 percent leaves room for improvement. I think their ability to remove 99 percent of terrorism related content shows that there is an opportunity for them to close that gap. And, you know, I'm confident the next 30 days are going to show a significant change on that 10 percent difference. And I think we have to remember once again that, you know, just the scale of their platform, each of those percentage points, you know, on that definition of hate is going to have a big impact on trying to make the world a better place.

DM: Well, they also say though, I mean, they've been able to ban 250 white supremacist organizations from Facebook. So, again, in terms of being a social media site, how much of a challenge is it going to be for them to police what their users are posting?

GW: Yeah I think it's important to remember that, you know, Facebook is not short on resources to attack this problem. You know, I think they have a responsibility, like every media company has a responsibility to take a firm stand on racism. So this is not a resource issue for Facebook. This is really about them, you know, putting firm commitments behind language they've used. And I'm confident they're going to make meaningful change here in the next 30 days.

DM: Facebook's stock has dipped a little bit as a result of this boycott. But the brands that have joined the boycott, I mean, they're just a small fraction of Facebook's ad revenue. How optimistic are you that you're going to be able to have any kind of impact?

GW: I think the sense that this topic is actually trending right now in media it gives me a lot of confidence. I think Facebook is engaged in the conversations. I think they're having the right conversations right now with civil rights groups. And I'm confident there's going to be some progress made in the next 30 days that is going to help make the world a better place.

DM: So if progress doesn't happen that satisfies you in the next 30 days, will you stop using Facebook ads permanently?

GW: Yeah, I think our commitment is to continue to put action behind what we believe in. We're going to take the next 30 days to evaluate the changes that Facebook has made. And we'll be making that decision come the end of July.

DM: We'll keep an eye on this story. Thanks for joining us.

GW: Thank you very much.

CH: George Weetman is the V.P. of brand and digital commerce for the Canadian outdoor apparel brand, Arc'teryx. We reached him in Vancouver.

[Music]

COVID Film Production

Guest: Rick Dugdale

CH: Rick Dugdale has worked on film and TV sets, shooting everything from the X-Files to the equally creepy Intrigo trilogy based on the books of Swedish novelist Hakan Nesser. And on the one hand, his newest film has a lot in common with its unsettling predecessors. But "92" is also decidedly different. Not only is the thriller Mr. Dugdale's directorial debut, it was also conceived of, written, cast and shot entirely during the coronavirus pandemic, with cast and crew working in isolation in Canada and all over the world. Enderby Entertainment wrapped production this week and "92" is expected to premiere this summer. We reached Rick Dugdale in Los Angeles.

DM: Rick, congrats on your directorial debut. How are you feeling about it?

RICK DUGDALE: Feeling pretty good. Not the usual way to break into the business as a director, but it's a new world.

DM: [Chuckles] Not the usual way. Take me back to the early days of this project. How did you come up with the idea and the concept?

RD: Well, the first days of the lockdown, we realized that this might go on for a little while anyways. And we had a lot of big brains and a lot of creative people around us in our network. We started to brainstorm what it would look like to shoot a film using the technology we have available and not letting anyone be face to face. We started putting an idea together with Cam Cannon, the writer, and within a week we had a script based on an idea that would allow us to shoot this way.

DM: None of the actors, none of the crew, none of the production people are in the same location. So what is the storyline here?

RD: So we're set in 10 countries and we shot in nine countries. So not only are they not in the same place, all of these actors don't even know each other, nor have they read opposite each other in the scenes. So our storyline consists of...this would be considered a futurist thriller where they all have to come together when they're given a pass code that they have to enter to stop a time machine from coming in action. So to protect everyone, they all have to come together over a video conference.

DM: Not the normal way that a movie is shot. So what did this change for you?

RD: So we use Zoom to Zoom into the set. We have a virtual cinematographer and production designer. Our editors are there. The writers there. Myself, another co-producer. And we're standing on the set. And after a few days of shooting, you start to realize you start to feel like it's a normal set. And we all weigh in on the framing. And everyone does their bit like you would on a normal set. So it's very strange at first, but it starts to become the new normal, I guess, to shoot for us.

DM: How did you find actors that would sign up for this?

RD: Well, first, it takes actors that you may have worked with in the past that will come around to this crazy idea that you pitched them. But what it is from there is we actually have to do an inventory as to what they have available to them because the nine countries we are shooting in all have different government guidelines to safety and safety protocols. So therefore, we have to make sure we're doing everything safe. If you're shooting in Sweden just because you're in Sweden, we don't want them to go hire a crew to shoot their sequences. So we've done everything where the actors work by themselves. They tell us what cameras they have available in their house, whether it be an iPhone 11 or a Canon 5D. And from there, we work with the cinematographer to build out a shotlist as to how we achieve the scene using the resources that each actor has. So there's kind of different media that we're collecting, but we're all going to make it work in post-production and match it all together.

DM: What did the actors say when you said you had to do your own hair or your own makeup, you have to shoot yourself?

RD: [Laughs] Yeah, well, it led with here's how we make a film safely and they start to realize, "okay, maybe this is possible." It definitely took a lot of faith on their part to know that we could actually make a story that can work. And it starts with the script ultimately. Once they read the script and realize that not only is it a great script and a great story, but it's written specifically to be shot this way. And then, you know, in terms of lighting, you don't have the standard lighting that you have on the set as well, which helps offset the hair and makeup requirements. You know, a lot of the scenes are a little darker and they're supposed to look and feel like it's a selfie to some degree.

DM: We've all been on Zoom calls where someone -- you can't even see their face or you can't hear them at all. So, I mean, how did you overcome those technological difficulties?

RD: What happens is when we're Zooming into the set and standing on the set and we're recording not through the web camera version, they have a camera that they've mounted near their laptop and that's their eyeline. And we see the performance via the Zoom conference. So if the Internet freezes up, they're still rolling on the camera. It's not affected by the Wi-Fi signal. And so we have a lot of those scenarios where, well, did you feel good about it? Do you guys want to do playback on your own performance? Do you like that? Okay that works for us. Because we didn't see it live because the Wi-Fi connection failed. So we had numerous times where that has taken place.

DM: You wrapped up production on Sunday. You're going into post-production now. Now that you're looking at all this material and trying to make it work as a feature film, I mean, how do you think it's going to look?

RD: Well, we have about 20 people in post-production in Sweden, and I've been seeing cuts and everyone's very excited by what they see. I think what it's going to play into is that it's a new way to see a film just like The Blair Witch Project where we learn to watch a story play out through the POV of the cameraman. And I think once the audience sees this film, they will adapt to how to see the story take place. So what we're seeing from the editing room right now is very unique, very different. But certainly it's a thriller and you're wondering what's going to happen next.

DM: It certainly does sound like it harkens back to The Blair Witch Project. Is this something that you see yourself doing again or are you just hankering to get back onto a normal film set?

RD: You know, we joked that it'd be nice to make a sequel in a more conventional fashion, but I think that there's certainly something to take from this as a way of the future. And I think there's a way that, you know, we hope that we can blaze a trail and people come behind us and do better. I think this is a way to look at the new world of independent film. And maybe if you're a filmmaker in Saskatchewan or Nova Scotia and you're trying to launch into the business, it's hard to make those small independent films that go to festivals. Now, when the international distributors, they want to buy storylines that work in international territories. So if you're that small filmmaker in Saskatchewan and you want to have a piece from Kazakhstan or Uruguay or Japan, you now can reach out to a filmmaker in those countries and ask them to shoot a sequence. And I have an international scope and storyline, and I think that is something that I hope can come from this.

DM: Well, good luck in the edits week.

RD: [Chuckles] Thank you. Thank you so much.

CH: B.C. born filmmaker Rick Dugdale is the producer and director of the movie "92." And the CEO of Enderby Entertainment. We reached him in Los Angeles.

[Music]

Reading: Land of the Silver Birch

CH: Like a lot of things lately, this Canada Day is different. Complicated by important questions about colonization and racism, and with most of the usual celebratory events cancelled due to coronavirus. It's one of many things that continues to make 2020 feel unfamiliar, at least to some. For Annahid Dashtgard, there's a weird way that the last few months have felt more like an echo of the past. Ms. Dashtgard is the author of the memoir Breaking the Ocean, and the final contributor to a CBC Books commissioned writing series inspired by COVID-19. Her essay, Land of the Silver Birch, was published today. In it, Ms. Dashtgard reflects on the parallels between the pandemic and her family's exile from Iran when she was a girl. Here's the author with an excerpt that follows her account of a nasty fall while hiking.

ANNAHID DASHTGARD: It took me until mid-life to reconcile the first exile, to allow myself to grieve the multiple losses. I spent years in a kind of no-persons land, caught between what had been and where I wanted to be: anchored in the knowledge that who I was belonged to where I was. After this period of lockdown, we will collectively face the projected worst global recession since the Second World War, we will have to grapple with the discriminatory impact of this virus hitting lower income and racialized communities with greater vehemence, we will need to find new ways of being — will touch ever be taken for granted again? Perhaps hardest of all, we will have to learn to live with the newly awakened awareness that at any time, exile in the form of another pandemic, or worse, could happen again.

A couple of weeks later, on one of the first mornings when I'm able to walk again — slowly — I pull out a pile of food and call, "Picnic!" Koda is the only taker, and we meander together, watching frogs leap away from our approaching footsteps. Monarch butterflies dance around our heads and my son momentarily catches one between careful hands. When we reach the shallow part of the river nearby, we see a fish caught headfirst under a rock. Its silver underbelly winks at us blindingly and it takes me a few moments to realize it's dead, the exuberant flapping of its tail to and fro caused by the fast-moving current. Spring has arrived in her full glory and today she is showing us her prized jewels, but even here, death is an inescapable part of reality.

Sometimes, and especially as I get older, I catch glimpses of the other me, the one dancing limbs akimbo in a living room in downtown Tehran, thick Persian rugs rolled aside. I'm spinning in the centre, laughing into the faces of those pressed up against me. Yes, a part of who we are dies in the leaving, but it's also true that exile seduces you into believing that where you left is somehow the promised land compared to the uncertain future ahead. You think the best is over and what's to come is merely to be endured.

Over the years I've had to teach myself not to see dead fishes in every situation, not to search them out and turn them into whales that block the sun. I've had to learn to see the thousand shades of green, smell the hopeful mossy scent of earth after rain and feel the solidity of the everlasting rock under my feet. Who I am today is a more sensitive and seasoned version of the person I left behind. There is no panacea for exile, but what we notice and nurture during the time of transformation determines who we will be on the other side.

In this moment I notice the brightness in my son's small uplifted face, his brown eyes like tiny amber planets. Drawing in a deep breath, I sing the words from an old childhood campfire song in as loud a voice as I can muster, a battlecry:

Land of the silver birch

Home of the beaver

Where still the mighty moose

Wanders at will

Blue lake and rocky shore

I will come home once more…

Koda shyly joins in, hitting every third or fourth word. We sing as we walk, heading down the dusty road toward the cottage we are temporarily calling home. The silver birch trees, trunks bared waiting for the restorative heat of summer, escort us on both sides.

CH: Annahid Dashtgard reading from her essay "Land of the Silver Birch." The final installment in a writing series commissioned by CBC Books called "Transmission." To read the full piece visit: cbcbooks.ca

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July 1, 2020 Episode Transcript

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