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The AIH Transcript For August 30, 2021

[hosts]Peter Armstrong, Chris Howden[/hosts]

PETER ARMSTRONG: Hello, I'm Peter Armstrong, sitting in for Carol Off.

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

[music: theme]

Prologue

CH: Tonight:

PA: Burnout notice. Amid the latest COVID surge, an Edmonton doctor tells us it's disheartening to see so many unvaccinated patients arriving in her emergency room.

CH: Drug trade. A California senator says his state has a "terrible problem" with methamphetamine overdoses -- but he believes expanding access to a program that pays people to stay sober will help.

PA: Beyond a reasonable drought. Years into a disastrous dry spell in Madagascar, our guest says food is so scarce people are resorting to extremes just to survive.

CH: Dub exposure. Reggae legend Max Romeo conjures up the magic of creating music in the famed Black Ark studio alongside the late musical genius Lee "Scratch" Perry.

PA: A long time to wait to use the bathroom. After a six-year battle, a trans teen from Virginia says he can finally rest -- now that his case against the high school that barred him from using the boys' washroom is finally settled.

CH: And… everything and the kitchen sinks. To fix a severely leaning luxury tower residence in San Francisco, crews get working to shore up the foundation -- only to stop abruptly when it starts leaning more than ever.

CH: “As It Happens”, the Monday edition. Radio that figures they shouldn't have been working full tilt.

[music: theme]

Part 1: AB Covid Hospitals Unvaxxed, VA Trans Bathroom Settlement, Lee Scratch Perry Obit

AB Covid Hospitals Unvaxxed

Guest: Aisha Mirza

CH: Many Canadians thought -- or, at least, desperately hoped -- that we'd be able to forget about the COVID-19 pandemic by this summer. Vaccines had arrived, and tens of millions of people rolled up their sleeves to get their shots. But parts of the country are facing surging COVID numbers. New cases across Canada exceeded 3,000 on multiple days last week. And a large chunk of those were in Alberta, which has seen consecutive days with new cases over 1,000. Aisha Mirza has been working on the frontlines. She's an emergency physician at Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton. That's where we reached her.

PA: Dr. Mirza, give us an idea of what it's been like in your emergency department over these past couple of weeks?

AISHA MIRZA: The emergency department has been going up and down over the last 18 months. And I can honestly say that there was a few weeks there where we felt like things were going back to normal. I mean, who doesn't want the pandemic to end? And in the last two weeks, I guess this is it. This is the fourth wave. You know it's happening when things start changing in the department. You start seeing people coming in with respiratory illnesses again, and they're very sick, and they have COVID, and they have Delta. At this point, 18 months down the road, I mean, we've dealt with this before, but we know what happens when these patients start coming in and using up the beds. It's disheartening that it's still happening because previously, well, OK, this is happening. We have to take care of these people. But now, it's happening to people who could have taken that one extra step that they didn't do. And that's the common ground that I'm seeing.

PA: That's the vaccine you're talking about?

AM: Yes. So we're having patients who just didn't go get the vaccine. And I don't even understand it. These aren't anti-vaxxers. These are just people who didn't make it a priority, and/or our province just didn't give them the right message. They're getting mixed messages that COVID isn't that bad. COVID doesn't really exist. It's gone away. The pandemic is gone. And we're still in it. It's really frustrating.

PA: You use the word disheartening to describe it. How is it for you and your colleagues? What has this been like for you guys?

AM: I can feel it in the air. We're feeling pretty depressed. [strained chuckle] I think that's the best way to say it. We're depressed because it's happening again. It's like we haven't learned anything. And we feel like our health care leaders, our government leaders, aren't stepping up and giving a consistent message to the people of Alberta that we still need to take precautions. They're saying we're going to remove restrictions, masking isn't absolutely necessary now when all of these things are ramping up, and we're seeing it happening in the E.R. We're having increased volume. People are waiting in the waiting room way too long. That's not normal. I'm showing up to a shift and hearing that there are five nurses short. Now, I don't know if that's because they're sick, they're leaving the province, they're leaving acute care in general, or they're just burnt out. But we're short. And now we don't have beds to use for those patients that are waiting in the waiting room. And that's true for across the board all health care professionals in the front line. I can see that they're burnt out.

PA: And what... what do you do for yourself in that case? How do you take care of yourself knowing that… that we're still very much in the thick of this, and this is going to go on for some time?

AM: [coughs] Well, I remind myself that I'm not a hero, no matter what the president says. Honestly, I do have to take care of myself, and I have to take care of my family. And that means I have to check myself and make sure that I have the empathy that I need to take care of the patients. And if that means I have to reduce the number of shifts that I do in the E.R., then that's what I do. I don't have my usual coping mechanisms. I can't travel and just take a break from my work. I have to stay in Edmonton. For a while, I couldn't even really play sports. And I feel like a lot of coping mechanisms for people are being taken away because I can see that a lot of people use socialization to cope, and that doesn't feel as free anymore because you're afraid and you're paranoid of what you're going to cause in the whole pandemic. Like, are you going to make things worse? Are you going to make things better? You want to be part of the solution. It's as though we're part of this horrible group project. And some of us are trying to do all the right things. And then we have this other set of people who are either willfully ignorant or delusional about what the pandemic means right now in society.

PA: You talk about some of these patients that come in that aren't necessarily anti-vaxxers. They just didn't make it a priority. What did they tell you as you're beginning to treat them for COVID about the decisions that led them there, and what they've been told, and what they're going to do going forward?

AM: Well, I do have lots of empathy for them because no one wants to be sick. No one wants to be in that position. And you can clearly see that they have lots of regret. And we can't go back and make them out of the vaccine now. So that's not even an option. So all we can do is move forward. But sometimes when my empathy wanes is when we have these patients who either have the symptoms and don't want to be tested or are being told they have COVID but don't believe it or are still adamant that the COVID vaccine causes deaths and somehow there's a conspiracy that we're hiding. This and when I hear these things coming out of people's mouths, it's like being slapped in the face as a frontline worker.

PA: I bet. I mean, can it affect your... almost your motivation in terms of wanting to treat somebody who's not willing to... to take basic precautions themselves?

AM: At the end of the day, as an emergency physician, we know what we have to do. We check ourselves, and we take care of every patient that comes in through the door. But ultimately, it's a team effort. Helping patients and giving them the best health care they need. It is a team effort, and the centre of that team is the patient.

PA: It's what 70 per cent of eligible Albertans are fully vaccinated? You know, when you put all of the various reasons together, what do you think is... is the main thing keeping that number from getting any higher?

AM: I think there's a lot of fear, and I think there's a lot of misinformation out there. And unfortunately, it seems to me that sometimes you're giving the same airtime to two completely unequal opinions. And so I think people are afraid. And that's why they're not getting the vaccine. And I think they're afraid because there's a lot of misinformation out there.

PA: Well, I mean, I just can't imagine how hard this is and how frustrating this is. Thank you for speaking with us. And do make sure you find a way to take care of yourself amidst all this.

AM: Thanks, Peter.

PA: Take care.

AM: You, too. Have a good day.

CH: Aisha Mirza is an emergency department physician working in Edmonton. That's where we reached her. And we've posted that interview to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[music: vocalization]

VA Trans Bathroom Settlement

Guest: Gavin Grimm

CH: It's been a draining legal battle for Gavin Grimm. For the last six years, he's been engaged in a lawsuit against his now-former school board. As a transgender high school student, Mr. Grimm was barred from using the boys' bathroom. So he sued his school board for discriminatory practices in 2015. And he's been in court since 2015. But on Thursday, his long fight came to an end. Gloucester County School Board agreed to settle the case. It will pay Mr. Grimm's legal team 1.3 million dollars. We reached Gavin Grimm in Virginia.

PA: Gavin, how does it feel that this fight is finally over?

GAVIN GRIMM: It is a relief that this case is no longer making itself through the court system, that its outcome has been decided. And so, for those kids in the 4th District who were looking at this case to give them clues on how their future would be, they can rest easy knowing that... that the courts made the right decision and that they should be supported in their schools.

PA: Take us back to the beginning of this case. Because initially, if I've got this right, you were allowed to use the boy's bathroom. Then what happened?

GG: I was allowed to use the boy's bathroom for a period of around seven weeks. After that period of time, there was some complaints by members of the community. You know, word gets around however it gets around. I happen to know one of the ways it did get around was that a PE teacher at the school just apparently could not stop gossiping and saying hateful, horrible things to the parents in order to get them angry and worked up. And as a result of his meddling and other people probably stirring the pot and other gossip mills and such, word spread of it to the members of the community that a Facebook post went around. And the Facebook post that went around said... it targeted the next school board meeting and said that... that people should show up and rally and get that girl out of the boy's room. And I went, myself and my mother went. And I spoke on my own behalf. Was one of the only people who did. The meeting was then postponed... or the vote on whether to ban me from the bathroom or not was then postponed for another meeting following that, where I again spoke on my own behalf. Importantly, we were not... my family was not informed about either of these meetings. Despite myself being the explicit subject matter at both of them. They were hoping we wouldn't know what happened. They were hoping I would just wake up one day and have my rights stripped from me. But we did find out about them and we did go.

PA: I'm sorry you had to go through that. That must have been awful. You actually won this case quite a few times, but the school board kept appealing those rulings. Why did they feel it necessary to keep pushing and trying to get the ruling overturned?

GG: First of all, when you're dedicated to hatefulness and discrimination, you're not going to back down and say you're wrong. Because you're not acting in good faith, you're not acting on the basis of any common sense. So there's really no motivation for you to say, oh, I've... I've made a mistake here when it's much easier to just continue to insist that you're right and continue to insist upon a discriminatory world view which, you know, paints trans people as... as inherently dangerous to be in shared environments. When you’ve sort of put your… put your stake in that kind of thinking, it doesn't actually benefit you to back away from it because your allies are other hateful, twisted people who also hate this minority group of people.

PA: And I mean, this almost went to the Supreme Court.

GG: It did. It almost went to the Supreme Court.

PA: What does that tell you about the argument and about the willingness to... to try and see this all the way through to something as high as the Supreme Court?

GG: Again, that's sort of the roller coaster that they were on. I mean, that it wouldn't have made sense for them at that point to back out. They were in it for the long haul. They made their commitment.

PA: I mean, you talk about that, a 15-year-old kid being forced to stand in front of the school board and make these cases and then see it all the way through, almost all the way to the Supreme Court. What has this case taken out of you?

GG: I don't even really know because I haven't had a chance to exist in isolation of the case since I was 15 years old. I want to be very clear that there's nothing that I've done that I would ever not do again in a heartbeat. I stand by every choice I've made along the way, and there really is genuinely nothing I can think of that... that I would do differently. I would bring the case again in a heartbeat. I would stick with it in a heartbeat. I would speak publicly in a heartbeat. None of… you know, none of these things exist as regrets for me. But despite that, it takes a lot of energy, a lot of resources that... that your average 15-year-old doesn't have anyway, especially when you are a transgender young person in a conservative area, especially when you have had already a history of being bullied and harassed and failed by school administrators in a variety of ways. It takes... it takes everything you have. And when that plays out over the course of your formative years, pretty much, you know, all of your teenagerhood, your young adulthood, it takes a lot.

PA: You know, I think a lot of people might read the headline of this news story and say, wow! One-point-three million bucks. That’s a lot of money! Just to be clear, how much of the settlement do you actually get to keep.

GG: Nothing.

PA: Right.

GG: Not a dollar of that settlement is... is now or never was intended for me. That has nothing to do with me. A separate conversation is the nominal damages that I... that I asked for, and that by, you know, virtue of this... of this ruling will be receiving in the form of one dollar. One dollar is all I have ever asked for from the very beginning. The money that's being paid out is going to the ACLU. It's covering attorneys fees, legal fees, you know, filing fees, court fees, all those kinds of things. And they're probably not even going to break even on the amount of money they put into that spending all this time over all the years with all those many people that have been on my team. I'm not getting a dollar of that. I'm just getting a dollar of my own dollar. And it's not even... it's not even going to cover their expenses.

PA: Well, Gavin, we have to leave it there. But really appreciate you making time to speak with us today.

GG: Absolutely. Thank you for speaking with me.

PA: Have a good day.

CH: Gavin Grimm is a trans rights activist. For the last six years, he's been at the centre of a lawsuit over his former high school's bathroom policy. We reached Mr. Grimm in Virginia.

[music: “Soul Fire” by Lee "Scratch" Perry and The Upsetters]

Lee Scratch Perry Obit

Guest: Max Romeo

CH: Lee "Scratch" Perry and The Upsetters, with the 1978 song "Soul Fire". "Scratch", as he was known around the world, wasn't just a giant of reggae music -- he redefined it. His pioneering exploration of dub influenced the likes of Bob Marley, the Beastie Boys, Keith Richards, George Clinton and so many more. And the hundreds and hundreds of songs he created in his studio -- Black Ark -- expanded the limits of Jamaican music. Lee "Scratch" Perry died on Sunday. He was 85. In 2015, a fire from a candle destroyed his entire studio in Switzerland. At the time, Carol spoke with Mr. Perry and his wife, Mirielle, about the damage.

SOUNDCLIP

LEE SCRATCH PERRY: Hello.

CAROL OFF: Hello, Lee. I'm so sorry to hear what's happened.

LSP: Well, something have to happen to make the world go around. And then that's what happened. Maybe I have to make a change in my life. Maybe I was tired and went to sleep and something like that. And knew the candle was still burning and that something like that. And that’s it.

CO: You said that you're very sad and your wife is very mad.

LSP: Yeah, that's the way it is. She’s very mad. It made me glad because I was thinking to ask people what they think of me on the Facebook. Reply what will people think of me? And I know a lot of people love me... in love with me that much. [chuckling]

CO: [chuckling] You're getting a lot of love on Facebook. And what... you said you made a list of the things that are lost on Facebook. What's the most valuable thing? What's the... the thing that you lost that was most important to you in this fire?

LSP: Well, in the future, I get a lot of --

MIRIELLE PERRY: What is the most valuable thing that you lost?

LSP: Like, I have some... some new keys when I go to do shows and something like that. I make a copy of the shows, the CD, the DVD and lots of that. Yeah, music on the... like, I was planning to release some of those… the best clips from those shows.

CO: You were going to put together a compilation of music that people hadn't heard ever before?

LSP: Yeah.

CO: Wow! So you're going to... but you can... you're going to pick up where you left off and keep going, we all hope?

LSP: Yeah.

CH: From our archives, that was Lee "Scratch" Perry and his wife, Mirielle, speaking with Carol in 2015. Mr. Perry died yesterday. He was 85. Max Romeo is a reggae legend who worked with Mr. Perry on the 1976 album “War ina Babylon”. We reached him in Linstead, Jamaica.

PA: Mr. Romeo, first of all, I'm just... I'm so very sorry for your loss.

MAX ROMEO: Yeah, well, you know, none of us come here to stay. We are visitors, we do our part, and we say goodbye.

PA: What's it like for you to hear the voice of your friend Lee “Scratch” Perry today?

MR: You know, it really touched a chord in me. You know, he was a very close friend of mine, you know? Although time drew us apart, we still communicate. And when we see each other, it was joy, you know? So, it’s a loss, really. I really felt it. Yeah.

PA: In that... that clip from the interview with Carol, you can hear he's talking about his studio in Switzerland where he had moved later on in life. How... how devastating was the loss of that studio in that fire for him?

MR: Well, it happened before with Black Ark in Jamaica. So obviously, you know... you know, it's hard to say how you feel. But I could imagine that, you know, you would just say it’s one of them things, you know?

PA: it was just... it was so lovely to hear him talking about how in spite of... of a lot of loss in the... in the fire, how... how that incident allowed him to reconnect with fans and friends and all these people that... that really did love him so much.

MR: Reggae is a beloved music across the globe. And Scratch is widely regarded as an icon, a genius for a true sense of the word. Because, you know, he knows how to make music. And I loved to work with him as a producer because I go with I set a lyrics and I set... a melody and we sit together and construct the rhythms. We get, you know, along with the musicians. And, you know, he was more than just a producer. He was a creator of songs, you know, working along with artists. That’s how I knew of him.

PA: Well, and he had a real knack, didn't he? In terms of... of the layering of so many rhythms and so many different kinds of sounds on top of one another in the studio. What did people make of that at the beginning when he was just starting out?

MR: Well, it was a struggle for all of us in the business. And, you know, he added a little craziness to it. And I think that was the trick because in order to be able to be a good creator of music, you have to have a little craziness in you. [both chuckle] Yeah, he had a lot of crazy. His music is crazy, man. Just crazy. What other way could I put it, you know? Because… man, it’s hard to explain, you know. It's a great loss.

PA: One of the... I've heard so many stories about your track, “Chase the Devil,” that... that he produced. And one version I've heard of it is that you... you didn't like it. You were unhappy with that track. And he... he sort of took it... took the reins in terms of that... that recording. Tell me what happened with that song.

MR: Well it’s true. You know, after we actually did the mix. And he gave me a cassette to go and listen. And I listened to the album all the way. And when I got to that track, although I wrote the lyrics, but it is not… I didn't actually the track. It just didn't fit in with what the rest of the song was about. You know, everything about it was different. So I told him I didn't like that track on the album. He said you’re crazy, man. Take a rest. That’s the best track on the album. You don't hear what you're saying. You're an idiot. And he was right. It's... it's... that sells the album.

PA: It must take an incredible amount of… of trust and courage to... to... to hear him say that and say, OK, boss, if you think so, let's do this.

MR: Yeah. Hey, I'm talking to a genius, you know?

PA: Yeah.

MR: Who am I to say, it's OK. You know, just do it.

PA: You mentioned that… that the fire at the studio in Switzerland wasn't the only one. Yo u talked about when the Black Ark, his studio in Jamaica, burned down in 1983. That was a particularly dark time for him. What... what do you remember about that and how he was doing then?

MR: At the time, I was on tour. So I came home to the news that went down. But before I left, he was acting a little crazy. And, you know, the next step was to hit that extreme. But I think the idea was there were some guys around him he wanted to get rid of. And no matter what he tried, they still hang around. So he decide to blow the studio up, you know? And that was how everybody went. But everything went with it.

PA: You know, he's obviously known for reggae and dub, but his... his music has also inspired so many artists who are talking about him today. What do you think... what do you think he would make of the legacy that... that he's left?

MR: Well, I would imagine that he would be sitting there enjoying every moment of it because he deserves it. [PA chuckles] I mean, hey, everybody is saying good things because there's only good things to say, actually.

PA: Right. I'd like to think he'd be getting a kick out of it. Listen, thank you for this. And thank you for sharing these stories. It's... it's great to hear you remember such a great guy.

MR: It's my pleasure, man.

PA: Take care.

MR: OK, Bye-bye.

CH: Max Romeo is a reggae musician and legend in his own right, who produced the 1976 album, “War ina Babylon,” alongside the late Lee “Scratch” Perry. He was in Linstead, Jamaica.

[music: glassy guitar]

Part 2: California OD Bill, Madagascar Climate Disaster, FOA: Millennium Tower

California OD Bill

Guest: Scott Wiener

CH: As the United States was fighting the COVID-19 pandemic last year, a record number of Americans were also dying of something else. According to numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released earlier this summer, more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2020. That's about a 30 per cent increase from the year before. California has not been immune to that surge. And State Senator Scott Wiener is hoping a bill he's authored will help people with addiction. He wants the state's Medicaid program to pay them to stop using drugs. We reached Democratic Senator Scott Wiener in Sacramento.

PA: Senator Wiener, what exactly would your bill, the Recovery Incentives Act, change in California?

SCOTT WIENER: Well, we have a terrible problem with meth addiction and people overdosing and dying from meth. And there's currently no medical treatment for meth addiction. There's no drug that you can take to end the addiction. So this strategy called contingency management, which our federal government, our Veterans Affairs Administration, has been using for a decade, is a proven way of helping people get sober and stay sober and stop using meth. And what it is, is you... you provide small financial incentives to people to get sober and stay sober. For example, I know someone in San Francisco who was addicted meth, and every Saturday, he would go to a location and urinate in a cup. And if the test was negative, he got seven dollars. And that was enough of an incentive to help him get sober and stay sober. Sometimes people might get a 20 or 30 dollar gift card to the supermarket or to a drugstore for toiletries or to the movie theatre every time they have a negative test. It doesn't work for everyone, but it works for a lot of people. And we need to expand it in California.

PA: How much does it add up to, though, when we're talking about the broader look at how much this as a program statewide would cost?

SW: This is an extremely cost-effective strategy. Typically, the entire program, because you do this for a few months, it's about 300 to 400 dollars per person. And you compare that to someone having to go to the emergency room or getting arrested and being processed through jail or someone overdosing. Those situations are dramatically more expensive. So this is a really cost-effective... even if someone has to go through this program several times before it works, you're still talking about maybe 1,000 dollars for that person.

PA: So much of the conversation around drug abuse and drug addiction in the United States and here in Canada as well is around opioid addiction. This is specifically for methamphetamine and for stimulants in general. How bad is the problem with methamphetamine in California right now?

SW: It's really bad. And I know opioids have gotten enormous attention, which is deserved. We have an opioid crisis in terms of people getting addicted and dying and overdosing. So I don't want to take away from that. But meth has gotten lost in that conversation. In 2019, in San Francisco, most of our overdose deaths were from meth, not from heroin. And even in 2020, when opioid deaths increased because of fentanyl. Meth is still a big percentage. In addition, in San Francisco General Hospital's psychiatric emergency room, where people go when they're in mental health crisis, a majority of the admissions to our psych E.R. are related to meth. People go into a psychosis and get picked up and get brought for a psychiatric hold. So meth is a big problem, not just in San Francisco, throughout the country, and we're not doing enough to address it. It's harder to address because you don't have like a methadone, for example, like you do for heroin. We don't have those medical, pharmaceutical treatments. So we have to use every tool at our disposal and be creative.

PA: You mentioned that this program has a proven track record and that the data back that up. One of the things that the data also show, though, is that it works pretty well in the short-term, though not necessarily as well six months after sort of treatments conclude. How do you manage that? Like, this can't just be a sort of one-prong approach.

SW: Yeah, just to be clear, this is not a silver bullet, and it's not like, OK, you go through this program, and you complete it. You're good to go for the rest of your life.

PA: [chuckling] Right.

SW: I know people who have been sober from meth for a long time, but they're still involved in recovery programs. They still are... have a recovery community around them, and they still have to keep working. So this is a... I think it's a good tool for a lot of people in terms of helping them get sober and stay sober for a while. But then they're going to have to employ other strategies. It's one piece of the puzzle.

PA: It is also... I mean, it's counterintuitive, right? You would think paying drug users they're just going to use the money to go get more drugs. Convincing people of that and educating people around that is... is a difficult task. How much support is there in California for this idea?

SW: Well, you know, when I introduced this bill in January, I thought it was going to be very contentious because the idea of paying people to stop using drugs might be controversial. And there are certainly, you know, some people who have a knee-jerk reaction. But I'll tell you, this legislation passed the Senate unanimously, 40 to nothing, all the Democrats and Republicans. And it appeals to different people for different reasons. I think for progressives, we view it as an evidence-based strategy. And the Biden administration has recognized it. We want to look at the science and the evidence and that supports it. For conservative Republicans, there's the evidence, but also the idea of willpower to be sober, right? Helping people get sober appeals to a number of my Republican colleagues. And so I was really surprised that it was literally a unanimous vote in the Senate. And in the Assembly, we've also drawn significant Republican support. What I've... what I've learned in my work around mental health and addiction treatment in the legislature is it's one of those issues that really isn't very partisan. Every community is suffering from mental health and addiction problems and lack of treatment. Everyone. I don't care if you are in a... in a... in a Donald Trump, right-wing conservative district or a place like San Francisco, we all have these problems, and everyone knows people in their community, in their family, in their friendship circles who are suffering. And so, I do think there are opportunities to be aggressive and to work together to make it happen.

PA: Well, listen, we'll be following this closely. And we'll... we'll follow up when you... when you get closer to a... to a final vote on this.

SW: Thank you so much.

PA: Thank you. Have a good day.

SW: Bye-bye.

CH: Scott Wiener is a Democratic state senator in California. We reached him in Sacramento.

[music: folk]

GG Reading: Michelle Good

CH: When this year's Governor General's Literary Award Winners were invited to contribute to an original writing series on the theme of "Moving Forward," they came at it from all kinds of directions. Devin Fan opted to explore love, nature -- and the love of nature in the imagist poem "Wind and Flowers." In readings we've heard on the show, Eric Walters and Kim Senklip Harvey tackled subject matter as diverse as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and the mysticism of 7-11 Slurpees. But when Michelle Good set out to write about "Moving Forward," a particular experience loomed large. The sudden death of her son -- and the insight she says it gave her. Ms. Good is a Cree writer and lawyer who won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction for her novel, "Five Little Indians." Here she is reading an excerpt from her new essay, "On Moving Forward."

SOUNDCLIP

MICHELLE GOOD: Almost immediately, it was clear to me that the fact of his death was about him, not me. The focus of my journey then was to seek understanding of how my life could continue to have meaning without him in it in a temporal sense. This existential journey was the most painful, eye-opening trial of my life. What gave me strength to continue was an understanding that was reinforced through moments of inexplicable coincidences that left me with no doubt whatever that he was with me as I struggled on. My entire concept of the world evolved into a certainty that all the ones who have gone before are only a perception away. They are as close to us as the living. It is only the limits of perception that command a sense that they are lost to us. They are not. My boy made his presence known to me in so many completely inexplicable ways, leaving me with no doubt our connection now was as strong or even stronger than when he was walking this earth. I travelled the world alone in the first years after his death, new geographies, the backdrop to a deep and years-long contemplation of the nature of life, love and loss. He walked with me, of this I am sure. He broke trail for me. And brought me gentle and needed gifts from the other side. Today, I feel that we are connected by this interdimensional umbilical cord, and he is not at all gone from me. I am strengthened by him. And though I will always miss the sound of his beautiful laugh, his death brought me to a universal truth about the never-ending spiral of life that I never would have learnt otherwise. Inherent in that long existential journey was the absolute necessity of moving in a forwardly direction. It was perhaps the most critical thing that, rather than allowing myself to get mired in suffering, I had to keep moving forward. When the sorrow would threaten to overtake me, I would repeat what became a kind of mantra. I would say to myself, eyes forward, woman.

CH: Michelle Good is the author of the Governor General's Literary Award-winning novel, "Five Little Indians." You just heard an excerpt from her new essay, "On Moving Forward." It's part of a series of original works by this year's GG winners, commissioned by CBC Books in partnership with the Canada Council. And you can find all six pieces at: www.cbcbooks.ca.

[music: ambient]

Madagascar Climate Disaster

Guest: Tsina Endor

CH: All summer, all over the world, the effects of climate change have been obvious. We've seen record temperatures in parts of British Columbia, the largest reservoirs in the United States drying up, and deadly floods in Europe destroy communities. And drought-stricken Madagascar is feeling the consequences too. The World Food Programme has warned of the risk of famine there. Thousands are facing "catastrophic" levels of hunger. More than 1.3 million people are projected to be food-insecure by the end of the year. And the UN agency is pointing at climate change as the cause. Tsina Endor is the deputy director of the charity SEED Madagascar. We reached her there, in Tolanaro.

PA: Ms, Endor what are some of the stories you can share with us about the lengths people in southern Madagascar are having to go to find food right now?

TSINA ENDOR: Yes, people have to travel from the next door, from the rural area to another rural area to buy food, to buy cassava or green banana to feed their family. Like, you can look at the map. Like, people have to cycle, use a pushbike to travel a little bit further inland to buy cassava and green banana for them to take back home, to feed their family and to sell to others so people can have food in those areas.

PA: How long do those journeys take?

TE: It takes them two to three days to do that around those mountains.

PA: And we've heard stories about people only having cactus leaves to eat, and the locusts have destroyed the crops. What can you tell us about that?

TE: Yes, since last year, in September, there was a bad wind in the south part of Madagascar. And that bad wind have damaged all of the crops in the field. And have destroyed all of the crops that have started to grow. And then a little bit later, like in the earlier this year, there was a little bit of rain. And then when the rains come, start to grow again, and then a lot of locusts came up. And there was lots of locusts in the rural area that have eaten all of the, like, young plants in the field. And it's all taken everything from the community. And then people just have used the locusts to eat because there was nothing for them to eat. Or in January, there was lots of family that was sold all of their pots and plates and everything, even up to their land to buy food. And have left the country to come to town.

PA: Did I hear you right? Did you say people are eating the locusts as well?

TE: Yes, people are eating the locusts as well because there is nothing available there for them to eat.

PA: And I understand that you personally have family in parts of southern Madagascar. How... how are they doing, if I may ask?

TE: I do have my in-laws family who lives in Androy region. And we do support them, like despite the food prices have gone up three or four times now at this stage. We send them food like imported rice. We send them like vegetables, we send them whatever is available we can find to support them in that area because the food is like start to disappear from the market and the availability with the price is going up as well.

PA: Yeah, I wanted to pick up on that because you said so many people are leaving these rural areas and going into town. What impact is that having in the city and the markets in... in… in... prices.

TE: Prices have gone up like three to four times, as I said earlier. And there is, like, the town has become overcrowded. There are lots of children that is begging in the street. And the insecurity in town has increased very badly.

PA: You know, we've read so much about the problems with droughts in Madagascar in the past. You know, people there are used to droughts. I wonder what's different about what's happening this time.

TE: This time is the worst in time... worst time that was happening to this part. People is kind of used to the drought because it happened every few years, each time. But this time, it was very bad because there are so many things that was unpredicted. Now, we are only lean season, and we have started... and there is no rain until... until now in Madagascar. So like, the future season will be extended this time and we never know when again we will have rain so we will be able to grow crops.

PA: It's been, what, four years now of drought in that country?

TE: It is nearly four years now, but the last two years is very, very bad.

PA: There's a World Food Programme spokesperson who said, and I'm going to quote here, this, the situation in Madagascar, this is unprecedented. The people of Madagascar have done nothing to contribute to climate change. They don't burn fossil fuels, and yet, they are bearing the brunt of climate change. When you hear a statement like that. What do you want to tell the international community?

TE: What I would like it is like an awareness that I would like to give to the international community wherever this can support the community in the south of Madagascar, where they can give any capacity building for them to give an alternative to face the the climate change on agricultural, on farming, on everything where they can support, even to provide food. Because they have been doing this since. And there are lots of international NGOs such as Save Madagascar, where I'm working with, that are trying to support the community because malnutrition is really bad, hitting children, affecting children and families in this area at the moment.

PA: And as you say, I mean, the... the problem with these... these crises is they get deeper and harder to get out of. So as climate change gets worse, and the situation on the ground in Madagascar gets worse as well, what can the government of Madagascar do to try to help people there adapt?

TE: They have tried to help the community in the rural area. They have set up so many committees like to support this and work with the international to do this. But it's never been enough because it's like extended in more places. There is the place where people have the hunger and there is the people like... the place that are indirectly hitted by the impact of that hunger. That the government is doing everything they can to save lives in the south. And the organization where I'm working is doing what to alleviate the impact in the town that is not affected directly by the hunger.

PA: Well, best of luck with the work that you are doing, and we're certainly grateful you... you're able to get what help you can to the people and appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today.

TE: Thank you very much.

CH: Tsina Endor is the deputy director of the charity SEED Madagascar. We reached her in Tolanaro, Madagascar.

[music: folk]

FOA: Millennium Tower

CH: It's rare for something to be both settling and unsettling. But welcome to San Francisco's Millennium Tower. The extremely expensive, extremely exclusive Tower started making news five years ago. A list of its pros would include the breathtaking views of the city; the gorgeous design; the fancypants fitness centre and lap pool; wine storage facility; and the proximity to downtown. A list of cons would include: the list. As in, for years, the building has been listing heavily. It was built in 2009, and by 2016, it had sunk and tilted 18 inches to the north-west. Residents launched a legal action against the developers. To their relief, they settled. But to their chagrin, the building continued to settle. One hundred million dollars was put toward fixing the problem: crews would shore up the foundation by sinking concrete piles about 250 feet underground, into the bedrock. But last week, work came to an abrupt halt, when it turned out the building had sunk another full inch, just in the weeks since the work had begun. The Tower Association insists the building is still safe. But residents are leaning toward...maybe not. In 2016, guest host Dave Seglins spoke with Jerry Dodson -- a retired lawyer and Millennium Tower resident who was leading the legal fight at the time.

SOUNDCLIP

DAVE SEGLINS: Does it keep you up at night knowing that your home is literally sinking into the ground?

JERRY DODSON: Well, I think it does. It makes a lot of us very nervous because the building is sinking and it's tilting and we don't really know when it's going to stop doing either one of those. Which adds to the anxiety, I think, of many people that live here.

DS: Beyond sinking, I understand there's a noticeable lean that's bad enough that residents can actually detect it in their units. Can you tell us about that? How are people testing this out?

JD: Well, they are doing experiments like marbles on the floor or golf balls. And the all... the... all the balls are rolling towards the northwest. And we understand that the tower has not only sunk 16 inches, but it leans at least six inches to the northwest. And some estimates are that it's leaning 15 inches in that direction.

DS: But is it... is it just a tiny roll? Or if that marble rolls across the floor, what's… what's it doing?

JD: No, it rolls very rapidly. So it's not a slow roll.

DS: What exactly is causing Millennium Tower to sink?

JD: Well, it did not go to bedrock. And it should have since we're in an earthquake zone. They should have quit the building to bedrock, and they didn't. They just sunk it into some mud and then sand. So, you know, that's really the problem that's causing it to continue and to sink until.

DS: And was it... I'm understanding that was built on landfill, is that right?

JD: Yes. Yeah, it was. Yes, it was. I mean, there were representations at the time that it was the safest building on the West Coast, and had gotten all kinds of design awards for the way it had been constructed. And, you know, lo and behold, they hadn't really done their homework in building the building correctly.

CH: From our archives, Jerry Dodson, a resident of San Francisco's leaning Millennium Tower, speaking with guest host Dave Seglins in 2016.

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August 30, 2021 Episode Transcript

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