The Sunday Magazine for January 16, 2022
This week on The Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay:
The rising ethical stakes of a prolonged pandemic
With COVID-19 cases still climbing, governments and public health officials around the world are considering new tools – from taxing the unvaccinated to broadening vaccine mandates – in order to stave off the worst outcomes. Maxwell Smith, a bioethicist and assistant professor at Western University in London, Ont., joins Chattopadhyay to discuss the ethical decisions that must be made at this point in the pandemic, following the news of Quebec's "vax tax" and the United States Supreme Court weighing in on mandates south of the border.
Remembering former NDP leader Alexa McDonough
Alexa McDonough, the first woman in Canada to lead a major political party has died. After winning the leadership of the Nova Scotia NDP in 1980, McDonough went on to lead the federal NDP in 1995. Author and academic Monia Mazigh tells Piya about McDonough's unwavering support as they worked to free her husband, Maher Arar from a Syrian prison when he was detained in 2002. Piya also speaks with former NDP Member of Parliament for Halifax, Megan Leslie, about McDonough's legacy, and how she blazed a trail for women in politics.
Roberta Bondar left Earth 30 years ago and never saw the planet the same after that
Thirty years after becoming the first neurologist and the first Canadian woman in space, Dr. Roberta Bondar joins Chattopadhyay to reflect on her historic mission and legacy. She also shares her lifelong passion to help Canadians embrace creativity and curiosity about the natural world, and talks about the work that still needs to be done to make space programs more inclusive.
Naben Ruthnum interrogates workplace diversity initiatives with new novel
In his comic new novel A Hero of Our Time, Canadian author Naben Ruthnum delves beneath the surface of corporate diversity initiatives. He speaks with Chattopadhyay about the book and his frank and funny take on why even the most well-meaning initiatives need to be interrogated in order to achieve meaningful change.
Plus: Listeners share their invented words to sum up the strange start to 2022, as inspired by our story on The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.
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