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The AIH Transcript for June 14, 2021

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello, I’m Carol Off.

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

[music: theme]

CH: Tonight:

CO: Liz, what kind of shape is the playhouse in right now?

LIZ CROCKER: Oh, my gosh! It stands there with the front of it looking its majestic, iconic self until you look up to the top — and there's black at the top. And then, if you go to the side and you look around, you can see that much of the roof at the back of the building is gone. And I've not seen inside. I've seen pictures. It's amazing what stands, and it's amazing what's gone.

CO: And how did you learn about the fire?

LC: I was at home visiting a friend on Friday afternoon, and my co-chair called me. She was on a trail with her dogs. Her husband had called her. And then, my phone blew up. So, yeah, I heard about 3:30 Friday afternoon.

CO: It really took a huge effort to put that fire out, didn't it?

LC: Yes, it was amazing for a couple of reasons. Number one, 18 volunteer firefighters... firefighting stations were called in. And they cooperated with each other, like, from what I'm told, like firefighter ballet. They did not trip over each other. They knew what to do. They worked collaboratively. And Chester, as a village, does not have a water supply. So one of the things they had to do was run hoses from our harbour up to the playhouse. And it was amazing. And it was fast. And the one ladder truck in the area was in our village within half an hour, and that saved the day. It was also a windy day. And it was so important, therefore, that we had such amazing and brave response from these incredible firefighters.

CO: Where the theatre is — that strip — there are so many lovely buildings as well, lots of wooden structures. So it must have been tremendously worrying that the fire might spread?

LC: Exactly. And you do know the village well. And these wonderful wooden buildings are fabulous to look at. But one spark and things could go quickly. And we're so grateful that no one was hurt. And the fire was put out within a couple of hours, and the damage to our neighbouring buildings was very minimal.

CO: But as you point out, this building where the Chester Playhouse is now is a majestic, iconic building and with lots of memories for people. What are people saying about this fire?

LC: Oh, people are sharing memories of when they first went or how taking a youth program at the playhouse started their career as a theatre. Or they can remember a certain performer that touched their heart and soul. They can remember putting makeup on a little kid. It's... it's so... I'm delighted to hear all these stories. I just wish this wasn't the provocation.

CO: But all these things you're still going to be able to do. You think you'll be able to rebuild the theatre and start again?

LC: Oh, I wish I knew the answer to that question today, Carol, but I don't. It's one of the questions we have to wait for. Even today, there were a number of professional experts on the site doing what they need to do to assess the extent of the damage. And it will only be when we get their reports that we will know what our options are. And with the spirit of community behind us, whatever our options are, I know we will find a way forward. I just don't know how or when.

CO: Great on you, Liz. Thank you.

LC: Thanks so much, Carol.

CO: Bye.

CH: Liz Crocker is the co-chair of the Chester, Nova Scotia playhouse. She spoke to us from Halifax.

[music: banjo]

Slip 'N' Slide And Slip

SOUNDCLIP

ANNOUNCER: OK, everybody, come outside. Everybody ready for a wild, wet ride?

CHORUS: [sung] Slip and… Slip' N' Slide! You can put it on your lawn, turn the water on, then you run, run, run, and you're sliding on your tum. Slip and… Slip' N' Slide!

CH: A 1986 commercial for Slip' N' Slide. And that's a rhetorical question, of course: when someone hauls out the Slip 'n' Slide, everybody's ready for a wild, wet ride. But there are limits to the wildness. As in: you want to have a wild experience outside. Not inside. And definitely not inside yourself. It's not clear how you make a whole reality-TV competition out of people throwing themselves down a long, slippery plastic sheet. But somehow, a show called "Ultimate Slip' N' Slide" got greenlit by NBC. And if you have a certain gut reaction to that idea, well, unfortunately, so did a lot of people on the set. At the start of this month, production on the show was abruptly shut down. For reasons that won't surprise the neat freaks among us. Who know full well that if you don't sanitize a large piece of plastic that's just hanging out in the sun full of standing water after lots of filthy humans have slid down it, things multiply in there. And if you come in contact with those things, they multiply in you. And that is how giardia -- better known as "beaver fever" -- spread throughout the crew on the set of "Ultimate Slip' N' Slide". I'm not going to put too fine a point on it, but let's just say the competitors weren't the only ones with fire in their belly. The situation really gives an unfortunate second meaning to this 'sixties-era Slip 'n' Slide commercial.

SOUNDCLIP

ANNOUNCER:: It's fast, it's easy. You glide on a thin film of water, and it makes you go like a jet.

CH: Get well soon, everybody.

[music: horns!!!]

Part 2: Cory Cardinal Obit, Nero Exhibit

Cory Cardinal Obit

Guest: Sherri Maier

CH: When inmates are released in Saskatchewan and fall through the cracks, Cory Cardinal would often try to help. But last week, the Saskatoon man was the one desperately needing help. Cory Cardinal was a tireless advocate for prisoners' rights, and spoke out about the inhumane conditions facing inmates during COVID-19. Last week, he died of a suspected overdose, two months after he was released from the Saskatoon Correctional Centre. He was 38. Carol spoke to Mr. Cardinal in April, days after his release. He told her about the crowded conditions at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, the hunger strikes he'd planned, and the lack of support inmates get when they're released.

SOUNDCLIP

CORY CARDINAL: Caseworkers need to start, you know, recognizing when people are getting out and start diverting all the resources trying to make those calls. I know for a fact when I was incarcerated, there's very minimal that caseworkers do. I know it's very common scenario that they just cut them loose and say, see you later with whatever funds are left in their accounts, whatever… even if they have nothing. They give them a bus ticket, and that's it.

CO: Wow! Cory, I appreciate speaking with you. I… I... this is important to get... to get these stories and these issues out in the public. And I thank you for that.

CC: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like, I have profound insight into, you know, the inner workings of the correctional system. I've done 15 years, you know? And I'm a product of that system, you know? I grew up in foster homes, you know? I was a part of gangs for a large part of my life. You know, I've been doing this for a long time. I've been advocating for inmates for a long time, you know? And because of the suffering that I've seen around me, you know, and the lack of action. I really think it's important that the public has a right to know.

CH: That was Cory Cardinal, speaking to Carol in April. Sherri Maier worked with Mr. Cardinal. We reached her in Regina.

CO: Sherri, first of all, I'm sorry for your loss.

SERRI MAIER:: Yeah, it’s a big shocker. I got the call from his sister or text message, and I was like, what, really? And then when she confirmed it, it was... it was a really big shock because, you know, he's very influential in advocating for inmates.

CO: I'm also really sorry that on that day we interviewed him that I didn't get to know more about him, what he was like. Tell us about Cory Cardinal.

SM: Cory was a great voice for prisoner advocates, you know, through his poetry, through writing, through his art. He really advocated, and he was not about himself. When he knew the struggles that inmates were facing, he would do things like a hunger strike or a protest. You know, even when we got knowledge of what the girls at Pine Grove girls were going through with, you know, COVID-19 and how their grievances and that were being disregarded, and they were going through all these horrible conditions. He started the hunger strike. And when they went on that hunger strike, he had got me to convince them to stop because it was, you know, he says they're not as strong. They need to stay strong. They need to eat. They need to stay healthy. A lot of them have compromised immune systems. So he would do it.

CO: And you're referring to the women's prison where the women were also dealing with... after he was out of prison the last time. And he knew how bad the conditions were, especially with COVID, and how everyone was in overcrowded conditions. It was unhealthy. He was worried about them, wasn't he?

SM: Oh, yeah, a lot. I know once I finally got contact with the women, he would ask daily, have you heard from the girls? Even when he got out before I lost contact with him, he was always, you know, how are the girls doing? Have you heard from them? And some of them were going through harsher things than what the men were exposed to.

CO: He also, in that interview that we just heard a part of, he talked about the case of Kimberly Squirrel, a Saskatoon woman whose body was found frozen. And she died of an overdose after she was released. That was one of the stories he was telling about how few supports there are for people when they get out of prison — just given a bus ticket, as he said. And go on your way. Tell us a bit about what Cory went through after he was released this last time.

SM: Cory struggled because I know when he was released, he didn't really have, like, a place to really go. I know he was staying with a friend of mine. I know he struggled to, you know, get things like assistance. It is hard when you're released to... some people don't have a phone. So then you have to find a phone to go apply for social assistance, and you wait on hold for a long time. You know, it's challenging. And then you can't cash your check because you don't have I.D. So then you have to go to the bank. Or you got too, like, you know, Vital Statistics or whatever to get I.D. These are things that prove to be challenges for people who have been incarcerated for quite some time. And a lot of people just don't know how to get them. So they should be helping with these things.

CO: The other thing he talked about, and he advocated on behalf of those who... who had addiction issues, who needed to be able to go someplace where it was safe, they needed safe injection sites. He didn't have that, did he, in his final days?

SM: No, he didn't. And that's something his sister had brought up. Perhaps if there was something like the, you know, 24-hour safe injection site, possibly this wouldn't have happened. And, you know, I… i blame the system just like we blame the system with the Kimberly Squirrel tragedy. It's not like they didn't know that Cory was an addict. You know, Cory had been on the Saskatoon paramedic show for overdosing on fentanyl before he went into jail. They knew his past. They knew his history.

CO: Where was he living when he died?

SM: He was living with my friend in Saskatoon at some point, but she hadn't seen him for a while because he would, you know, come and go. From what I've read, he died in a door... well, I guess they found them in an old building that he used to stay in before when he was experiencing homelessness.

CO: When was last time you spoke with Cory?

SM: I would say about a week or two after he got out, probably. Like, It'd been a while. I know Cory had tried to get help before, but it was, oh, well, we have no room right now and no beds for treatment. I know he had tried talking about getting treatment or going to a treatment centre, I think even in BC, but that never happened either. He couldn't get out there.

CO: What he was saying in the interview is that... that he had these profound insights into the system, into the prison... how prisons work, what they do to people? He wanted to share that. He thought he had something to offer. He wanted to make the world aware of what inmates are going through and believing that if we did know that, we would care. What do you think he achieved in regards to recognition for the conditions of prisoners?

SM: I remember Cory constantly calling me before he got out. All his letters that he would dictate them to me, and I would send them off to the media or to Christine Tell. And he was very... I think he was very vocal and very influential on exposing what prisoners go through because I always thought they were just in cells like Regina Correctional. But no, In Saskatoon, they're in a dorm, you know? A bunch of beds, a bunch of guys. They're all in close contact, and there's guys sleeping on the floor, urinating in garbage cans. These are conditions that I knew they were bad, but I didn't know they were that bad, you know? And he did a lot for inmates, you know, like he got them their Skype visits. Saskatoon got them first. You know, he really pushed for that. And, you know, right now, with all this happened with him, I'm hearing in the back of my head, you know, if this was anyone else, Cory would be like, hey, you know, we got to give condolences to the family. We've got to do something. We've got to change this because too many people are coming out of jail, and this is what they're getting. You know, this is... this is wrong.

CO: He wouldn't want this interview to be about him. He'd wanted to be about those who he was trying to help.

SM: Yes, absolutely, 100 per cent, yeah. He's never made anything really about him. It was always about improving things for everyone out there. And even up until his release, like every hunger strike he had, he ended up going to the hole for it. And he was released from, you know, the hole or segregation for the last hunger strike he did. But he still... he still went down there. You know, even when he was in the hole, and all the other guys stopped their hunger strike because Cory was gone, Cory still went. Like, I think he went like 22 or 25 days or something like that at one point, right? You know, he could have stopped, he could have said, oh, I'm not going to bother. I'm in the hole. He continued.

CO: What an extraordinary man. What a loss. The tragedy that this is. And Sherri, thank you for telling us about him.

SM: You're welcome. Have a good day. Thank you.

CO: Bye-bye.

SM: Bye.

CH: Sherri Maier is a prisoners' advocate in Regina who worked closely with Cory Cardinal — a former inmate dedicated to improving jail conditions. Mr. Cardinal died last week. He was 38.

[music: ambient]

Kenney COVID Lottery

CH: Jason Kenney is hoping that a gimmick from Ohio might work in Alberta. The premier is trying to coax people who still haven't got their first dose, in particular, to roll up their sleeves and get the shot. And the gimmick is a million-dollar lottery meant to entice people to get vaccinated. The governor of Ohio launched a similar scheme a few weeks ago, to much fanfare. Over the summer, there will be three jackpots up for grabs in Alberta. The first one will be open to anyone who's gotten their first dose. And to win the second two, you'll need to get your second shot. Here's Premier Kenney making his pitch to Albertans today.

SOUNDCLIP

JASON KENNEY: We're not quite there yet. And we need everyone who's on the fence or those who want to get a shot but have just been putting it off for a while, to... to get their dose now. We've seen a real drop-off in the past week and a half of first doses administered and bookings being made. We knew going into this that there are some — and there always will be some — who will never get a vaccine of any kind. No fact and no plea to civic responsibility will sway them. And that's just how it is. But we also know that there are lots of people who want to get vaccinated or are thinking hard about it, but they just haven't taken the plunge yet. In fact, in our polling, we estimate that upwards of about 85 per cent of Albertans are open to getting vaccinated. Right now, we're just below 70 per cent. So that is that... we really need to push hard to encourage the 15 per cent who want to get vaccinated or are open to it but have not yet gotten around to it. That's 600-and-some thousand people. And those are the folks we're really reaching out to just strongly encourage them to get vaccinated as soon as possible. So we will step up with our information campaigns, and we'll keep doing everything we can to make vaccines as... as accessible and just convenient as we can. But we also need to get creative at this point. And that's why we've announced the start of Alberta's Open for Summer Lottery. It'll include everyone who has taken a... at least a first dose, plus those who do so in the weeks to come. If you have not yet got your first… first dose, then now is the time. By not getting vaccinated, you're not only saying no to the best health protection available, but you're also saying no to a chance to win a million dollars.

CH: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, trying to convince Albertans to get their COVID vaccinations by announcing a lottery for the vaccinated.

[music: island rock]

Nero Exhibit

Guest: Thorsten Opper

CH: It's easy to understand why Nero has such a nasty reputation. A quick Google search will give you a succinct rundown of the Roman emperor's tyranny. You've probably heard about him setting Rome on fire to clear space for his palace — and playing fiddle in delight as he watched the city burn from a distance. You might also know he then blamed it on Christians and burned them alive in pits. He also murdered his mother, his brother, and two of his wives...often in absurdly gruesome style. And those are just the Coles notes. But a new exhibition at the British Museum is raising some eyebrows. The exhibit portrays Nero in a new and different light — suggests some of those stories are false and that he wasn't the monster he's made out to be. Thorsten Opper curated the new exhibition. We reached him in Oxford, England.

CO: Mr. Opper, did the Emperor Nero get a bum rap?

THORSTEN OPPER: I think you could say that. In common parlance, I think it's all fake news. He's described extremely negatively in the sources, and they're brutally partisan. They're extremely hostile. If you look at current political discourse south of your border, I think it would be a small step from... from lying Hillary and Sleepy Joe to fiddling Nero.

CO: Oh dear! And so… but [chuckle] he did have quite the nasty reputation, though, right.? He was known as a tyrant. He was cruel to his family. He killed his mother. He had an incestuous relationship with her before that, megalomaniac, prone to excess. I mean, a bit more than you normally find south of the border, right?

TO: True. Well, I mean, let's not go into details too much. It depends on your point of view. The reputation is exactly as you said; it's extremely negative. But there have been lots of studies lately... they really... it really rests on a narrow range of elite sources, and they're just uniformly hostile. They're not just some... some distortions and a factual basis underneath. They just out to get him.

CO So tell us, what are the redeeming qualities of the emperor that you are trying to bring to light?

TO: Why is he positive? What's redeeming? A lot of the negative stuff is invented. It's really made up, for example, that he had an incestuous relationship with his mother. I mean, that… that really talks about the misogynistic attitude of... of the Roman elite, the male elite and these writers. You know, Nero implemented huge reforms, tax and currency reforms, that were kept by his successors. He was a patron of... of breathtakingly new architecture after the fire of Rome for which he was probably unjustly blamed. He led the rebuilding. And that was all very forward-looking.

CO: And you say he was a patron of the arts as well?

TO: He was, he was. He was involved himself. And that's... that's another of the stereotypes that's used against him, the first emperor to take to the stage. But that, too, has to be seen within a sort of nascent cultural revolution in the Roman world. So he was not the only or first member of the elite to... to be interested in the arts and perform himself.

CO: [chuckle] But, I mean, the Nazis loved arts and culture, but that's not really a mitigating factor, is it?

TO: No, it's not. I mean, Hitler was a vegetarian. You know, that doesn't make him anything less evil than he was. And that's not the point. The point is that Nero was very young. He was, in modern terms, maybe he was some sort of disruptor. And there was a very again, if you use the term with a bit of caution, a very reactionary element of the traditional elite, and they didn't like what he did. They were mostly senators who thought they should be emperor instead of Nero, in a nutshell.

CO: OK, so who were the ones who crafted and who were the purveyors of the fake news around Emperor Nero?

TO: It starts right after Nero's death, people who are close to the senatorial opposition or these rebellious people. And then, about a generation or two later, its authors, well-known authors like Tacitus and Suetonius, who redact these sources and really shake this negative image of Nero. I mean, the interesting thing really is that the sources are negative in the extreme. But even Tacitus and Suetonius and Cassius Dio, another name of a senatorial writer. They tell us that the plebs, the common people of Rome, honoured his memory, put flowers on his tomb shortly after his death. And there were even a whole series of impostors or fake Neros, false Neros in the Greek east that attracted a mass following. So there's a clear contrast between Nero's popularity with the common people and these elite sources. And that's really interesting. I mean, you really want to know more. You want to explore why that was.

CO: But if there was such an extreme smear campaign against him, I mean, there must have been some basis to it, right? I mean, of course, this is the argument they give all the time about fake news is that, well, there must be some truth to it. But... but there is some… [chuckling] there's some basis of truth to what people understand about the emperor, Emperor Nero, right?

TO: Yeah, there's no... to... to stay topical, there's no smoke without a fire, you know? And the fire of Rome obviously is the seminal event to pick to explain Nero. In that case, we know he wasn't even in the city when it started. I mean, how did that story come about? There was a stage play where they had a real house prop burn on the stage, and Nero watched it. Nero also composed a poem on the fall of Troy. And then, as a hostile writer, put the two together. You have Nero on the roof of his palace fiddling as Rome burns. They're real elements, but they're taken out of context, and they're distorted often.

CO: So the idea that the Nero fiddled while Rome burned is not true?

TO: Probably not. As I said, he wasn't in Rome when the fire started. It destroyed parts of his own palace. He rebuilt Rome. Had he ruled longer, he would have been known as the great rebuilder of the city. I mean, we know that he... that he sheltered the population, the homeless population, afterwards. That he made sure they got supplied properly. He mingled with them immediately after the fire. If everybody had suspected of having started that conflagration, I'm sure that wouldn't have been possible. The interesting thing is that he had to... he had to find the culprit. That was just the way it went. And he pointed at a particular Jewish sect, a sect that we now know as Christians. And that led to... to this Christian tradition that made sure that the image of Nero as the arch evil, the Antichrist, survives from late antiquity through the Middle Ages into the present. So he's… he's this particularly bad, infamous emperor.

CO: What then is the story that your exhibition tells?

TO: Well, the interesting thing is not to rely only on the literary sources. We have about 220 objects in the exhibition. And there are many that talk about everyday life. The cities of Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum, they all perished 11 years after Nero's death. And they have things preserved there like graffiti that mentioned Nero's name in very positive terms. So, again, we get a sense, a bottom-up history, if you like, that among the common people, he was a lot more popular. And it's really, later on, these elite sources that changed the story.

CO: It's good to talk to you, Mr. Opper. And good luck with your exhibition.

TO: Brilliant. Thanks so much for having me on the program. Thank you.

CO Bye-bye.

TO: Bye.

CH: Thorsten Opper is a curator in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum. We reached him in Oxford, England.

[music: ambient]

Blue Ball Gown Vaccination

CH: Joanne Cholak says her vaccine outfit was an expression of hope — and a tribute to her mother. The Edmonton woman's 70-year-old mother died of COVID-19. To honour her, Ms. Cholak decided to show up to get her second dose in a big, blue ball gown. She told CBC Edmonton about the look.

SOUNDCLIP

JOANNE CHOLAK: The gown, it was a giant ball gown that I had in my closet from events that I've attended in the past. It was this big floofy dress with peacock feathers in the front and... and beading. And quite an exquisite piece. My mother was an incredible woman. And the reason for this as well is when she passed away from COVID, we have not been able to have the closure that we... we really, really need because of the restrictions. And I come from a Ukrainian-Romanian family, so it is huge. My father and my mother own a convenience store out in southern Alberta. So the community was truly impacted when she passed away. It was fast. She was put on a ventilator, and she... that was... that was the Sunday. The Friday, she passed away. They had to take her off the ventilator. Her organs were strong. Her lungs were not strong enough. Give me a moment. [sniffling] The worst part is getting the call from the doctor, letting you know, advising you that he didn't have the heart to phone my dad, so he phoned me to let me know that they had to take her off of the ventilator. And I had to arrange a Messenger chat visit with my brother, his children, my father, who at that point wasn't very well, and somewhat delusional, and myself to say goodbye to my mom over a computer. And nothing is worse than that because it's surreal. So for me, I needed to do something for her. The reason I did... I decided to get dressed up. I thought, you know, it's a celebration in a sense, and it is an occasion. And I would love for ladies to put on their... their best dress. Gentleman, throw on a tuxedo, wear whatever you want, like, and make it into a thing.

CH: That was Joanne Cholak speaking on "Edmonton AM" about why she wore a ball gown to her vaccine appointment.

[music: jazz]

Part 2: Lebanon Medication Search, Monarch Butterflies Research

Lebanon Medication Search

Guest: Hadi Mourad

CH: Lebanon's once-celebrated health sector is crumbling. Inflation, poor management, and corruption have left the country short of even the most basic medication. People have been forced to rely on Facebook groups to get leftover drugs. And in hospitals, medical equipment is running low -- to the point where doctors are turning away patients. Dr. Hadi Mourad is a physician and a researcher in epidemiology. We reached him in Beirut.

CO: Dr. Mourad, can you just paint a picture for us of how... how bad and how widespread is this medicine shortage in Lebanon?

HADI MOURAD: Actually, this government in Lebanon, after killing the people in 4 August explosion, right now, those people are trying to kill... to kill people's health very, very slowly. So they hit the health sector from all its sides. I mean, right now, doctors are immigrating. Now, the pharmacies have no medications and pharmacists. Nurses cannot inject medications for people in the hospitals because of the lack of the medications. Now, the lab technicians cannot even do labs for the patients because lab kits are not available. So right now, all the medical sectors and the medical sector entities and pillars are being in need and in very, very, very shortage for everything.

CO Now, the medications began... there was a shortage after the explosion, you just mentioned that to remind people what happened in Beirut.

HM: Exactly.

CO: And... but it's worse than that. What has happened since that explosion that's made the drugs even less available?

HM: The main problem in Lebanon is the central bank issue because, you know, the central bank is subsidizing those important and essential needs for the Lebanese people. And medications is on the top of the list. And now, because those medications were subsidised on the Lebanese currency, however, outside Lebanon, those medications, the prices of those medications, is 10 times and 20 times the price in the country. That's why many of those medications, essential medications, have been lost from the Lebanese market because they were being exported illegally between quotations. They were smuggled outside the country through the illegal borders from Lebanon to Syria and then to Iraq. And the people suffered the lacking and suffered the death of their relatives, families, parents and even kids. Because we have no access on those medications. Even the milk for the kids have been shortened so much. People right now, mothers, are crying hard in order to get one box of milk for their kids, for their babies.

CO: Who is doing this? Who's who is taking the drugs and things and the medications and smuggling them out of… out of Lebanon?

HM: Yes. Unfortunately, there is a cartel of medications in Lebanon. And those are the dealers who are being actually governed and covered and protected by the mafias of the government, especially the Ministry of Public Health. When the Ministry of Public Health is being governed by a... by a political party, and those try to to gain the profits on the expense of the people's health. For example, the minister of public health right now cannot sue any smuggler, cannot sue any of those people who... who are killing the Lebanese people's health. So they are dealers that are doing so in order to gain the profits and actually getting benefit from the hyperinflation of the leader. And in addition, making benefit from the ability of the central bank, again, to subsidise those medications, because the central bank right now lack the funding actually for... for helping people, for the aim of helping people and subsidising their needs.

CO: I know you doctors, many of them are protesting against this and trying to get the ministry to do something. How has the health ministry responded?

HM: Right now, the Ministry of Public Health has done nothing, has done literally nothing. Actually, they are putting the blame right now on others. They are putting the blame on the Central Bank. They are putting the blame on the syndicates, on the agents. They're putting the blame on everybody, but not holding responsibility for the… for the major catastrophic event that's happening right now. In addition to that, they have no precise emersion to plan for putting a specific list of the 70 chronic medications that everybody needs in Lebanon in order to decrease the overload on the Central Bank.

CO: I can hear the frustration and anger in your voice, Dr. Mourad. It's absolutely understandable from what you're saying. Can you give us some examples of the kinds of drugs your patients need and you can't provide for them?

HM: Of course. Of course. I can give you many, many drugs. For example, people who are suffering from diabetes, they cannot find the Glucophage or Metformin or Janumet. People who are suffering from dyslipidemia, high cholesterol, at street level, They cannot find Pontin or Lipitor. People who are suffering from heart medications, they cannot find their drug. P:eople who are suffering from cancer, imagine, cancer patients they cannot get their medication. Cancer patients who are suffering from blood cancer, leukaemia or lymphoma, their medication, which used to be subsidised by the Ministry of Public Health and the Central Bank right now is 10 times the price before. So, the cancer patients can die right now without getting their chemotherapy.

CO: Any examples from your own patients? Just specifically, what are some of the worst stories you've had from people you can't help because of this?

HM: It has happened one week ago. I have a patient of mine who visited me in the clinic, and I diagnosed her with from the physical exam with Cholecystitis — it's an inflammation of the gallbladder. And I asked her to rush directly to the closest emergency room. She went to the closest emergency room, and after doing the imaging, they want to do a cholecystectomy for her, which is the removal of the inflamed gallbladder in the surgery. However, they could not find anaesthesia. They could not find the Propofol or the ketamine. These are the drugs which are used in the country. They cannot find it. That's why they tried to postpone her... her urgent operation for two days in order to get this medication or this anaesthesia, in addition to the lack of the... the kits for the haemodialysis, you know, people who are suffering from chronic kidney diseases. I have a patient of mine that does haemodialysis three times per week. Right now, he is postponed for two times haemodialysis. He can die because, you know, the haemodialysis works as the kidney, as an artificial kidney, and you need to do it on unusual basis. But now, we don't have the kit for the kidney haemodialysis. And those patients are really dying. He is like 70-year-old, and he is begging me to do for him a favour and I can do nothing. So this is what the doctors right now are doing in Lebanon. They are just hearing the trouble of the of the patients, but can do nothing for them.

CO: Dr. Mourad, you are a passionate advocate for your patients and for your country. And I appreciate hearing from you. I hope you are able to do something about this appalling situation. But thank you for speaking with us.

HM: Thank you so much all for shedding the light on this catastrophe. I wish everybody can hear our call right now. This is a humanitarian call that everybody has to put his hands on. Thank you so much.

CO: Yes, we hear you. Thank you, Dr.

CH: Dr. Hadi Mourad is a physician and a researcher in epidemiology. We reached him in Beirut, Lebanon. And you can find more on our webpage: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[music: Glassy guitar]

FOA: Aaron Berhane

CH: Until the last day of his life, Aaron Berhane fought for freedom of expression. That's how a colleague remembered the Eritrean-Canadian journalist in an article on PEN Canada's website. Mr. Berhane was the chair of that organization's Writers-in-Exile Committee. He also taught at a college in Toronto. And published a paper for the Eritrean community in the city. And those were just some of the many contributions he made over his career. Aaron Berhane died last month at the age of 51. Decades ago, while living in Eritrea, Mr. Berhane co-founded Setit — the country's largest independent newspaper. Which made him a target of the government. And in September of 2001, officials showed up at the homes of a number of journalists and editors and made arrests. Mr. Berhane was able to escape -- eventually fleeing to Sudan and later ending up in Canada. In September of 2011, on the 10-year anniversary of that crackdown, Aaron Berhane joined Carol in the "As It Happens" studio. He reflected on that time a decade before — and talked about how he evaded arrest.

SOUNDCLIP

AARON BERHANE: You know, once they shut down my newspaper, I was very conscious. So I never slept at my home. I didn't go to the place that I used to hang out. I got very good sources, and I got some advice. So I was very conscious. I was aware about what could come. So I never slept at my home. And my paper were shut down on September 18. And fortunately, when they came at 5:00 in the morning, I was not at home. So they interrogated my wife, they create some chaos to my kids.

CO: How many kids do you have?

AB: I have three.

CO: They were small?

AB: Oh, yeah. The youngest one was only three months old at that time. And they didn't know what was going on. So they just searched in every room, including the closets. But she told them he's away. So I don't know where he's going to come back? So, but they asked her where did he go? She just told them he left to the company, which is 40 kilometres away from the capital city. So in the morning, since there was a wedding that they had to go, so I just called to my wife simply to prepare me my clothes. And she told me I was being searched. So the police were here. The security agents, they are looking for you. Then I realized things are getting worse. So I thought whether they were looking for me or they are looking for every editor of the independent papers? So I had to check because there was no way that I could drive my car at that time. So I took my relative's car, and I visited one of my close friend, who is an editor. When I went to visit him, so I met his sister. She told me they just took him this morning.

CO: He had already been arrested before?

AB: Yeah, he was already arrested.

CO: She must have known at that point that this wasn't just you. It was a wide arrest sweep they were making. How many journalists did they round up? In that arrest.

AB: On that night, they arrested nine journalists. And the next day, they arrested the rest. So in total, 10 journalists were arrested. Since that day, there is no news about them.

CO: And we never saw any of those 10 journalists again. Their families know nothing about where they are?

AB: Exactly. So they are not allowed to be visited by their family members. They are not allowed to be visited by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, any organization that advocates for writers. Four of them already died in prison. And we don't know exactly about the rest, whether they are alive or not.

CO: You yourself managed to escape the fate of these other journalists because of... you got a tip, but now you're in the campaign with others. And this tenth anniversary of what happened to all of you is an opportunity to raise awareness for this. What are you trying to do? What are you... what kind of pressure do you hope the international community might put on the Eritrean government to release the remaining journalists, if they are even still alive at this point?

AB: You know, the Eritrean government is not able to understand the language of the international community because the international community has been putting pressure on the Eritrean government to release those journalists. And if they did anything wrong, to bring them to justice. But he hasn't to listened. So what we are trying to do is to increase awareness, and to remember those colleagues. And still, put pressure against the Eritrean government that we... we really want to tell the Eritrean government we haven't forgotten them. We are still looking for ways to get them released, even if they are not alive. We really want to see.

CH: From our archives, that was the Eritrean-Canadian journalist Aaron Berhane speaking with Carol back in September of 2011. The Globe and Mail has reported that Mr. Berhane died last month of COVID-19. He was 51.

[music: electronica]

Monarch Butterflies Research

Guest: Ryan Norris

CH: Anyone who's witnessed a monarch migration will tell you that watching thousands of the orange-and-black butterflies descend on their winter homes is an astonishing sight. But it's also an increasingly rare one. The number of monarchs arriving in Mexico and California has been dwindling steadily since the mid-nineties. And conservationists across North America have started raising butterflies in captivity in order to help. Unfortunately, some studies have shown that those captive monarchs lose their ability to migrate once they're released. But new research out of Ontario flies in the face of those findings. Ryan Norris is an Associate Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph. We reached him in Campbellford, Ontario.

CO: Ryan, what did your captive butterflies do when you released them into the wild?

RYAN NORRIS: Well, after we reared them in captivity, we attached a very tiny radio transmitter to them, and we released them. And we found, when they got detected, they were all flying southward towards their wintering grounds in Mexico. We didn't track them all the way to Mexico, but we tracked them a fair distance, and they were going in that direction.

CO: How much of a surprise was that?

RN: Well, it was a bit of a surprise because a previous study found that captivity reared monarchs, in fact, didn't orient properly. So we were interested in... in... in testing that and retesting it.

CO: But you had a situation where you... you had a comparison, right, with another group of butterflies that had… they had more trouble orienting. Can you just describe the two sets of monarchs and how they reacted when they were set free?

RN: Yeah, that's right. So we raised two sets of monarchs in captivity in Guelph, Ontario. And the first set we tested similar to that previous study. And we tested their orientation in what we call a flight simulator. It looks like a big barrel with an open top. And we know if we take wild monarchs and we put them in this flight simulator, they fly south — southwest — towards the wintering grounds. Well, when you take captivly-reared monarchs, and you do the same thing, they show a very kind of sporadic orientation, not a strong directional orientation to the south. So that was one set. And the second set we did, we did just as I had described. We put a radio transmitter on them and released them in the wild. And that's the group we found that flew south.

CO: OK, so what was the difference? Why was one group able to orient so much more easily?

RN: Well, I think that by releasing them in the wild, those monarchs had a chance to essentially reorient to natural conditions, natural sunlight conditions, natural magnetic conditions that they may not have experienced when they were raised in captivity. So they may... when we released them, we don't know this for sure, but they may not have started migrating right away. They may have stayed locally for 24 or 48 hours and then gone south.

CO: And so obviously, that orientation has to be done. They just... they just sense it. They have to know that in their DNA and also in their environment.

RN: Yeah, it has to be innate for them to get there. There's multiple cues that they use. And what our study suggests that if they're tested immediately, they may not have that ability. But if you give them a chance, they likely do.

CO: What's the significance of this discovery?

RN: So a couple of years ago, when the initial study came out that provided some evidence that captivity-reared monarchs may not properly orient itself. There was a big, let's say, curfuffle about it. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, that raise monarchs, many of which raise monarchs indoors. So there was some, I guess, shall we say, angst about it. A lot of people raise monarchs in the hopes of that they're contributing to the population to boost the population. So really, a lot of people, you know, weren't sure what to do. And I think our study suggests that, well, maybe that after all, it is OK to raise monarchs in captivity. And after all, some monarchs that have been raised in captivity, we know from tagging via stickers that they have been found in Mexico over the years. So we know at least some do make it that are raised in captivity.

CO: Huh. Have you ever witnessed the arrival of monarchs in California or Mexico?

RN: Yeah, certainly I have. I've been down to the overwintering grounds in Mexico a couple of times, and I've seen some of the… they overwinter in smaller colonies in California. So I've seen a couple of those, too. It's absolutely, I mean, it's one of the wonders of the world. Even at their low population numbers now, monarchs are dripping from trees when they overwinter. And they're so numerous that they're counted by the area they occupy, not the actual numbers, because they're too many to count.

CO: We have had... we've spoken with people who study the monarchs and say that even though that it’s so encouraging their numbers are returning when you see them in Mexico. It’s great, they describe what you're saying. But it's still... it's still not enough. I mean, it's lots, it's encouraging, but it's... it's not in the sort of exponential numbers that are really needed for this species. Is that the case?

RN:: Yeah, it certainly is the case. This past year, they were only estimated to occupy about two hectares of land on the overwintering grounds in Mexico. And you referenced the California, the West Coast population that overwinters in California. That population is in even more dire straits. So, no, this is far from over, and we should be very concerned. There's a lot of things that people can do above and beyond rearing monarchs. Arguably even more important is planting milkweed, planting native flowers so that monarchs can feed on those flowers. And frankly, citizens have been amazing in contributing to monarch conservation throughout Canada and the U.S.

CO: You can see it even in tiny yards and little front yards, little plots, this milkweed poking up among the vegetation. So, yeah, people are really rooting for these monarchs, aren't they?

RN: Oh, yeah. I mean, if you think, like, so much has changed over the past five to 10 years in... in how people have contributed. It's just been absolutely wonderful. You see milkweed in people's yards. So I say keep at it, [slight chuckle] and we'll... we'll get back to you on the captive rearing part.

CO: Well, thank you for a little bit of good news on this day, Ryan.

RN: Thank you for having me.

CO: Take care.

RN: Bye.

CH: Ryan Norris is an Associate Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph. We reached him in Campbellford, Ontario.

[music: ambient]

Ideas Promo: Valzhyna Mort's Poetry

CH: Tonight on "Ideas":, in Valzhyna Mort's poetry, trees bear witness to mass murder, and music becomes a way of burying the dead. Ms. Mort was born in Belarus — a country that has lived through Stalinist purges, the Second World War, the Chernobyl disaster, and 27 years of Alexander Lukashenko's autocratic rule. She grew up listening to her grandmother's stories of survival... and to the radio.

SOUNDCLIP

VALZYNA MORT: I grew up with the radio always on. World War Two was announced on the radio — its beginning and its end.

RADIO ANNOUNCER: [speaking: Belurusian]

VM: And my grandmother, who was the survivor of the 20th century, had this pathological relationship with the radio. It had to be always on and nobody could speak over it.

[music: old-time recording of piano]

VM: On the radio, there was a lot of music. I realized just how much that music helped me. Just how much it helped me cope with her stories of survival, for which that music became not just a soundtrack, but also, I like to think of it as a kind of dilatant because what she was saying was so intense. Right? It was that kind of appeal [chuckling] or a vitamin that has to be thrown into a glass filled with water so that it could be diluted in order to be consumed.

CH: Valzhyna Mort's new poetry collection is called "Music for the Dead and Resurrected". Music, memory, and reckoning with the discovery of a mass grave, coming up on "Ideas", after "As It Happens".

[music: sombre]

Accidental Water Tower Sale

CH: Everybody makes mistakes. It's just sometimes those mistakes are really big. And tall. And hard to understand. And involve a small community's water supply. The headline pretty much says it all: "Florida Town Accidentally Sells Municipal Water Tower." And yet, in a very important way, it doesn't say nearly enough. Because while each of those words makes sense individually, together, they are very hard to understand. At least, when members of the Brooksville, Florida city council realized that a deal to sell the municipal building under the water tower had inadvertently thrown in the town's water tower as well -- they took ownership... of their mistake. Not of the tower. Because that legally belonged to the businessman who would be converting his new building into a gym. It was a surprise to everyone, including the new owner, when they all accidentally discovered what he had accidentally purchased. According to one city councillor, quote, "I don't know where the blame falls here. We rely on the city manager." Unquote. And according to the City Manager, a bad legal description was to blame. Whatever the case, the buyer agreed to return the enormous tank on stilts he never wanted in the first place. So the town can stay hydrated after all. And everyone has promised to hang on to that tower from now on -- come hell or high water.

June 14 Episode Transcript

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