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The AIH Transcript for December 19, 2017

Hosts: Carol Off and Chris Howden

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello, I'm Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden, sitting in for Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

CO: A failsafe failure. Investigators confirm that the Amtrak train that derailed yesterday was going far too fast. Our guest says that had its auto pilot system been activated, it would never have gone off the tracks.

CH: Quackdown. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration vows to get tougher on labeling and regulating homeopathic drugs, but a Washington state doctor says it doesn't go far enough to remedy the problem.

CO: Clearing her throat. After she was tricked into drinking acid, a Bangladeshi woman despaired of ever living without pain. But now, thanks to a Toronto doctor, she has a brand new esophagus.

CH: Based on concrete examples. Montreal is already like a giant game of Chutes and Ladders, but now there's building excitement around a board game inspired by all the constant construction

CO: All-points bulletin. Some residents of Bristol England are issuing sharp criticism, after a property management company responds to complaints about pigeon poop by installing anti birds spikes in trees.

CH: And… boom and bust. Fed up with so-called “porch pirates” stealing packages from his house. A Washington man creates a decoyed box that scares thieves off with a deafening bang. And as for what makes that bang. Well, you fill in the blanks. As It Happens, the Tuesday edition. Radio that guesses no one's going to steal his thunder.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Amtrak speed, acid attack patient, porch pirates

Amtrak speed

Guest: John Hiatt

CH: Before the accident, people who saw it hurtling down the track noticed it was going extremely fast. And now, there's official confirmation: according to investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Amtrak train that derailed south of Seattle yesterday was going nearly three times the speed limit, One train car was left dangling off the tracks onto a busy highway; other cars were strewn across the road and in the bushes. Three people were killed. After the derailment, Amtrak confirmed that a kind of autopilot system for trains was not operating moments before the crash. And John Hiatt says that rings major alarm bells for him. Mr. Hiatt is a former railroad engineer based in Puyallup, Washington, near where the derailment happened. That's where we reached him.

CO: Mr. Hiatt, What do you make of the fact that this Amtrak train was traveling nearly three times the speed limit for that stretch of track before it derailed?

JOHN HIATT: Well, there are several things that could cause this. The first thing that people are going to point out is as human error, obviously. And whether or not this engineer for some reason experienced what we call situational awareness, which means he kind of lost track of where he was at. That's one reason that that could have caused this. Another one could be failure of the train brakes. The NTSB, of course, will do their investigation and we'll find that out. Obviously it was the inaugural run of this train, but obviously, the locomotive did not make that curve. And at 80 miles an hour, it likely wasn't going to.

CO: All right, so we know the train is going too fast. And we also know that there was this technology that's meant to kick in when a train is going too fast. And it wasn't operating at the time. Amtrak has confirmed that. Do you know what that technology is that they're referring to?

JH: Yeah, the technology is called positive train control. There are some other names for it, but positive train control is a satellite-based system that detects the speed and the operation of your train at any given time, which the railroad companies have the ability to monitor that if they wanted to. And if in fact, you're not taking the appropriate action to slow a train down, the satellite will pick up that movement, and they will send a signal to begin to slow the train down.

CO: The technology itself will? It’s not like it’ll send you a notice to slow down. It will actually physically slow the train down to the speed limit?

JH: It will. Let’s just say for example the engineer becomes incapacitated, a heart attack or something, and this positive train control would pick that up and stop the train. So what it would have done in this event, hopefully, and theoretically, is to begin slowing the train when this individual didn't take the appropriate action. Now most people, most experts, will tell you that would prevent the accident. And in this particular instance, a brand new locomotive that they purchased for this train was not equipped yet to interface with positive train control that is set up on this track.

CO: We do know Amtrak has said the technology is installed, but not activated. Is it because it's not just what's on the train it’s what’s on the track. It's a kind of a marriage between two things that have to be working together?

JH: Right, the software on the train has to interface with the software and satellite system, and they feed off of each other.

CO: Why wasn't it activated? Do you have any idea?

JH: The equipment just hadn't been matched up yet, which doesn't make any sense. Bottom line is there there's always going to be an excuse why there wasn't positive train control yet. But the real excuse always ends up being money. They didn't want to pay for it. And the National Transportation Safety Board for 30 years has been saying it's their number one priority. Their number one priority is to get this installed and implemented. And they can't accomplish that. We know what technology can do these days. They can run these trains in some instances by themselves. Instead of spending the money to get this positive train control installed, they work on other things. They have inward-facing video cameras, they have outward-facing video cameras, they do operation testing, they spend all this money on all these things that puts more pressure on the person sitting in that seat, which in most instances is the only person in the cab of that locomotive.

CO: And there was a sign for the speed limit, but I guess it was two miles down the track before it got to this curve. Does that say that the engineer was distracted? Should he not have seen that and known that it was time to slow down?

JH: Yeah, I'll give you an example, these speed limit signs — they're called advance warning signs — and they're about the size of like a size 12 shoe. And they are off to the side of the track, and they list what your speed limit will be in two miles. And so they're going from 79 miles an hour. And then two miles away, they see this sign that says you need to slow down to 30 miles an hour in two miles, which is very doable. But here's the problem: like when you come into a town out in the middle of nowhere, and you're 75 miles an hour and all of a sudden, they want you out of 25. They don't go from 75 to 25. They go in increments they'll have 65, and maybe a 45, and I would highly suggest, and I would think it would be much more effective to have a little bit more of an advance and a slower speed to approach. Otherwise, you're looking at missing this one sign or losing sight of where you're at in the instance that you have train orders to look at, track orders to look at, whistles to blow, crossings to watch, speed control, air brake control. You can only do so much. It reminds me of a guy juggling plates. You know you can keep juggling plates, but you keep adding plates and sooner or later, unless you have a safety net below that guy juggling those plates, they're all going to break. And that's what positive train control is. It's just a safety net. It's just an angel on our shoulder. That's all it is.

CO: This backup — this positive train control — we understand that U.S. Congress has told railroad companies they have to install the technology by the end of 2018, but that may be extended to 2020. That's been going on for years, as you point out, this is decades-old waiting to get this. But we also know that the current climate in Washington and the Trump administration is to deregulate. There's no push to find more regulations. So can this accident actually inspire or provoke Congress to act on this technology?

JH: I would love to say yes, but I really don't believe that's true. I think that Congress, with every other major issue, will punt it. And you know that's to the disadvantage of the public who want to ride trains. If you're going to bring people on your trains, and you're going to bring passengers, and you're going to have employees, you are obligated to make that a safe operation. And unfortunately, there's going to be instances where it slips through the cracks. And when it does, if it's human, where's our safety net, you Know? It's disheartening, but that's not to put it on anybody politically because this is a pox on both their houses.

CO: You're a former railroad engineer, and you live very close to this derailment happened. How are you dealing with the news?

JH: You know for the northwest it's shocking, it's hard to take. But as a railroad expert, or as a former railroad engineer, it's disheartening because about 23 years-24 years ago there was a really bad head-on collision right an hour from this area. And five railroad employees perished; they had over 100 years’ experience between them. And as a result, the railroad companies came and promised the families that we will put positive train control in so this doesn't happen again. 24 Years later, thousands of deaths, it's not done. I do fear for the worse. Unfortunately, I do fear that we're probably moving further away from getting this implemented.

CO: Mr. Hiatt, very discouraging. But I appreciate you speaking with us and telling us about this. Thank you.

JH: You bet. Thank you.

CH: John Hiatt is a former railroad engineer based in Puyallup, Washington. That's where we reached him.

[Music: Jazz]

Acid attack patient

Guest: Toni Zhong

CH: For years, she suffered with excruciating pain. Today, Popi Rani Das has a new lease on life. In 2009, the Bangladeshi woman drank acid. She says that her abusive husband tricked her into taking the drink, but he was never charged by police. She was left with burns that reached down her esophagus and into her stomach. She wasn't sure that she could live a normal life. Then, one day in 2016, she met Dr. Toni Zhong. Dr. Zhong is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Toronto's University Health Network. Now, Ms. Das is ready to go home with a newly-reconstructed esophagus. We reached Dr. Toni Zhong in Toronto.

CO: Dr. Zhong, how did you first come to meet Popi Das?

TONI ZHONG: I came to meet Popi while I was on a international surgical mission to Bangladesh, when team members were interested in visiting the Acid Survivor Foundation. So we were actually touring through this hospital called the Acid Survivor Foundation when we came across Popi.

CO: How did you find her? What condition was she in when you met her?

TZ: Popi was very malnourished and very frail when we found her. So she had spent seven years as an inpatient. She rarely left the hospital. She had a lot of weakness, and also a lot of psychological anxieties when leaving the hospital.

CO: And what was the damage that the acid had done to her?

TZ: So what acid does is it erodes through whatever tissues it touches. So it eroded through the entire length of her esophagus, down to her stomach, and involved two-thirds of her stomach. And as a result of this, the scarring and the damage was so severe she was never able to swallow, not even her own saliva.

CO: How did she come to be tricked into drinking the acid?

TZ: She describes as she was actually feeling not very well one evening, and she was lying in bed in the dark, in the bedroom. And had asked her husband at the time for a glass of water, so her husband offered her a thermos, so she took a drink, and she described just instantaneous burning and pain so severe that she lost consciousness immediately after.

CO: What kind of medical assistance was she getting in Bangladesh?

TZ: I'd say that she was probably receiving as much as the Acid Survivor hospital had the resources to offer her. This was a near fatal assault. So the sheer fact that she even survived this was really a miracle to everyone. And she has actually had over ten surgical interventions to try to correct this condition, but without any success.

CO: So what were you able to do for her?

TZ: We were able to, first of all, bring her to Canada, and bring her right to Toronto at Toronto General Hospital. One thing we did want to make sure was we really didn't want to raise false hopes in this young woman. So before we even bring her here, we did a Skype interview with her. And our head neck surgeon, Dr. Ralph Gilbert, and our thoracic surgeon, Dr. Gail Darling, actually examined her to the best of their abilities over Skype. So we brought her here after much fund raising efforts. And the first surgery she had was to undergo a evaluation under general anaesthetic. And then she had a series of reconstruction for her esophagus. And it was a very, very complex. The first part was that they had to build her a new pharynx, which is basically a connection between somebody back in the mouth and their esophagus. So they made this pharynx out of skin from her forearm. Then the second stage was then they hooked up the bottom of this new pharynx that they had made for her, and pulled up her small intestine to finalize that connection. So that she's now finally able to successfully swallow to the back of her throat, and it goes straight into this pharynx, into her small intestine.

CO: And so she can digest food?

TZ: So, exactly. So now she can finally swallow and digest food.

CO: It bypasses the damaged stomach altogether?

TZ: Yes, exactly. And so that was what made the surgery so innovative.

CO: How's she doing now?

TZ: She's doing phenomenal. We saw her just at the end of last week, and she is eating, believe it or not, anything and everything she wants to eat. Her breathing has been improved. She described to us that before, she couldn't really take more than let's say 20 steps before being short of breath. Now, she's walking from the apartment that we rented for her you know about three-and-a-half blocks away, into the hospital, her and her mom are walking around Toronto, and she doesn't fear that she would be short of breath anymore.

CO: And so now she's going back to Bangladesh?

TZ: She's to go back, but in a very planned and organized fashion. So the first step is arranging for her doctor, the one who she knew very well throughout her entire hospital stay, to come from Bangladesh to Toronto. So Dr. Ferdous will return back to Bangladesh with them. And I've been in communication with Dr. Ferdous, and also the director of the foundation. She will stay in a shelter. And then you know I think it's essentially we've been in extensive talk with Popi to figure out what she wants to do. You know I think a big part of it is that we feel that we need to give her her health back. And our social worker has been working intensively; we need to give her her tools for her to be independent.

CO: And what about this husband who tricked into drinking the acid. What's become of him?

TZ: So that's the very, very unfortunate piece of this story, and unfortunately, too common of a scenario. So prosecution rates for men who commit crimes like that is only 10 per cent in Bangladesh. So he, like the 90 per cent others, was never brought to justice. So he's out there living, and from what I hear from the people who work at the Acid Survivors Foundation, they often go on, get remarried, get another dowry, and continue.

CO: Shocking, but as you say, far too common. And can you give Popi our best?

TZ: Absolutely, I will. You know I think one of the things has touched Popi the most is how many people care about her, and how many people have reached out and supported her.

CO: Strong woman. Dr. Zhong, thank you.

TZ: Thank you very much.

CH: Dr. Toni Zhong is a reconstructive and plastic surgeon at Toronto's University Health Network. We reached her in Toronto.

[Music: Ambient]

Listener Response: The Shepherd

CO: We've made our schedule, and checked it twice. Only three more sleeps until As It Happens takes flight over the North Sea. Because Christmas Eve falls on Sunday this year, our annual broadcast of Fireside Al Maitland's reading of "The Shepherd" will air on Friday, December 22nd. Ahead of the big night, many of you having been asking about the date, and sharing some of your stories about the classic Frederick Forsyth story. Last night, listener Paul Cranford sent us this email:

CH: "I'm a long time listener to your radio show — thirty-five years. I have an old friend of almost fifty years, Philippe Elsworthy, in Waterloo, Ontario. Two evenings ago we were chatting on the phone. He was telling me about some of his family history, stories of how his parents met just after World War Two in France.

CH: "His father had been an R-A-F pilot during the war, improbably surviving more than forty missions in a Lancaster, bombing German targets. Then he read me part of a memoir that his Dad had contributed to the Galt, Ontario newspaper in the early 1960's. The paper had issued a request for memorable Christmas stories from its readers, in the run-up to Christmas that year. His father — now deceased — had written of his most unforgettable Christmas Eve. It was 1944 when they departed on a bombing mission in the morning. They got over their target in Germany, only to be disabled by enemy fire, knocking out three of the Lancaster's four engines, just about the moment that they had dropped their load. They were able to stay over the target long enough to photograph the successful hit — before hobbling back to England over the channel, on one engine. Yes, they made it, having landed on an abandoned airfield near the coast."

CH: It was before dark. And they managed to eat their much anticipated Christmas Eve meal, albeit a tad later than previously expected. I could not believe the uncanny resemblance to the Forsyth story that is the grand tradition of your wonderful program. To think, I was told this story only two evenings ago.

CO: Wow! Thank you for your email, Paul. And for giving us another chance to remind everyone: this year, "The Shepherd" will air on Friday, December 22nd. You can also listen to it online at www.cbc.ca/aih on Christmas Eve or any other time you'd like.

[Music: Folk]

Porch pirates

Guest: Jaireme Barrow

CH: It's peak season for packages to be delivered to your home. Which means it's also peak season for those tempted to swipe those boxes. They've been dubbed "porch pirates." And, after having multiple deliveries stolen, one victim decided he'd had enough of their plundering. Since the police weren't able to stop the string of thefts, he created a device to scare them away. We reached Jaireme Barrow in Tacoma, Washington.

CO: Jaireme, at what point did you decide you didn't just wanna get mad at these porch pirates, you wanted to get even?

JAIREME BARROW: After they started taking my expensive Jeep parts is when I drew a line in the sand. And I figured I had to figure something out to make it stop.

CO: Well, tell us some of the things you'd have stolen from your porch?

JB: Like most people, I get everything delivered. I get everything from an expensive car parts to toilet paper. So they've pretty much taken everything.

CO: They stole your toilet paper?

JB: They did.

CO: That's crossing a line.

JB It is.

CO: You set up surveillance cameras at first. Why didn't that help?

JB: I think the police are just inundated with this kind of occurrence now. And you know you forward it to them, but if you have hundreds of them coming in, the manpower isn’t there for them to investigate all of them.

CO: All right. So let's move to the revenge part of this story because you developed something called “The “Blank Box”. What exactly is that?

JB: So it's just a decoy package. It's all self-contained. So what it is is it looks like a normal delivery. And if you set it out the day you know you expect to have a package delivered, or if you have a constant recurring package theft you leave on your front porch. And if someone comes up to pick it up, there's two blank shotgun shells inside of it, and it goes off with a loud bang.

CO: You’ve actually experimented with this. And you've captured some video of it. What's been the reaction to your Blank Box?

JB: Overwhelmingly positive. I think it's a way for people to get instant karma, and be able to see it in real-time. Them running off your front porch empty-handed is priceless. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see how effective it is.

CO: OK. So you and the others who watch the video are thrilled. What about the people who were attempting to steal The Blank Box?

JB: I haven't heard anything from them. I'm sure they're probably not very happy. Hopefully, they decide to change career paths after seeing themself on the news, and after having to go off on the front porch.

CO: But what did they actually do? Just describe a typical reaction of one of the video captures you've had?

JB: Originally, I didn't have a fence. But now that I have a fence, I’ve had a few people climb over my fence, walk up to the front porch expecting just to grab the box and run, when they go to pick it up, obviously, the 12-gauge goes off which, is an extremely loud noise. One guy, actually he was trying to run so fast, that he forgot that there was a step there, and missed it, and looked like he was trying to do the invisible box challenge in the air like Roadrunner, and hit the ground pretty hard. And didn't look back and kept burning for his getaway car.

CO: So this is giving you some satisfaction seeing this?

JB: Yeah, I mean how can it not, you know? Someone's coming up on your property, trying to take your property, and you get to witness them not only not get away with it, but also kind of get all of it a payback. And, like I said, it's safe, you know minus some scrapes and bumps, and all these people live to see another day. And I don't think there's any harm in it.

CO: How many porch pirates have you got?

JB: Gosh! Countless, I think as of right now, I probably have 15 videos on YouTube. And I haven't even put all the ones up of people I’ve caught.

CO: Sorry, how many porch pirates do you have in your neighborhood?

JB: A lot. More than I thought I was ever aware of. I do live on a busy street, and my porch is somewhat visible from the street. But I think these people make it a full time job, literally from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. just following around delivery trucks, seeing what they can get, and sometimes they get lucky.

CO: Now the Washington Post did a story about your Blank Box, and spoke to local police who say that what you're doing it might be illegal because you not supposed to assemble explosive devices and leave them on your porch, apparently.

JB: Well, it's not explosive. It's a loud noise, like a car alarm or any other alarm. It’s just a noise to deter theft. I mean I don't see the difference in what I'm doing a versus a car alarm. I talked to my local police department, and they didn't have any issues with it.

CO: But it does, definitely, sound like a shotgun shell.

JB: It’s a little bit quieter. But yeah, it's like a firework. It's a loud noise for sure it get’s your attention.

CO: What if the intruder is carrying a firearm, and decides that this they’re being fired, and they're going to fire back? They're going to stand their ground. What happens then?

JB: I guess I would just have to take that as it comes. Hopefully, I'm not home at the time. And that would just turn it from a misdemeanor crime of trying to take a package to attempted murder or assault in my eyes. So I can't determine how people react to what they're doing, but I doubt that will happen.

CO: Now you're saying this for you, but you are now marketing these devices, you are selling them, you're getting a lot of orders from people, like hundreds of orders of people who want to have one of these for themselves?

JB: I have a product release of liability, yeah. I mean you are taking the risk of whatever the case may be. Even if you don't have this device, if you catch someone trying to take your package from your property, and they don't like you trying to stop them, they can do whatever they want.

CO: We might have to move on to other kinds of things. There's a woman in Kansas City who’s also fed up with ports pirates, and she has put together boxes of pet poop, and put them on her porch. And neighbor neighbours are taking her pet poop boxes and having quite the effect. What do you think of that idea?

JB: Yeah, I actually considered doing that as well. I have a pretty big dog, so I’d have a lot of big boxes. My only problem with that I've run into is if they do end up taking it off my front porch, I have a feeling it’d end up in my neighbour's front yard a few houses down when they open it up in their car. I didn’t my community littered with poop.

CO: Or they might throw it back at your house?

JB: Exactly.

CO: All right, Jaireme. Well, best of luck to you, and I hope you get everything you want for Christmas. It doesn't disappear from your porch.

JB: Thank you, Carol. I appreciate it.

CO: Bye bye.

JB: Bye.

CH: Jaireme Barrow is the creator of The Blank Box, a porch pirate deterrent that fires blanks. He was in Tacoma, Washington. To see a video of how that works, go to our webpage: www.cbc.ca/aih.

Part 2: Homeopathic crackdown, spikes on trees, Montreal construction game

Homeopathic crackdown

Guest: Harriet Hall

CH: Some swear by it. But many medical practitioners consider homeopathy a modern-day snake-oil. And now, the US Food and Drug Administration is taking steps to crack down on how homeopathic products are marketed and sold. Today, the FDA said that it believes people may be buying products that bring little or no benefit, and could be consuming ingredients that can cause them harm. As a starting point, the FDA plans to target homeopathic products that are being sold as treatments for serious diseases, or to children. Harriet Hall is a doctor and former Air Force flight surgeon who runs a website that posts articles skeptical of so-called “alternative medicine”. We reached her in Puyallup, Washington

CO: Dr. Hall, do you think that more labeling and regulation is really going to change the public demand for homeopathic remedies?

HARRIET HALL: Actually, I'm not very optimistic that it will. Right now, we have all of those FDA disclaimers on dietary supplements that say this product has not been evaluated by the FDA, and is not proven to prevent or treat any disease. And people just blithely ignore that.

CO: What kind of labeling would you like to see those products?

HH: What I would like to see is a label that says contains no active ingredients; for recreational purposes only. We're not going to see that.

CO: And why not? If that's the case, if there is nothing, if there's no therapeutic benefit, no medicinal benefit to those medications, why doesn't the FDA say that?

HH: That's a good question. I wish they would. People think that the homeopathic medicines work without having any molecules of the original ingredient because they think the water remembers, which is nonsense.

CO: Can you explain what homeopathy is, and what a homeopathic medication is? What's the definition of that?

HH: OK. It was invented by Samuel Hannaman, who lived in the 1700s and early 1800s. And the way I like to explain it is if you take something like coffee, coffee it keeps people awake, right? So if you take coffee and dilute, it puts people to sleep. And the more you dilute it, the stronger the effect as a sleeping pill. And if you keep diluting it until there's not a single molecule of coffee left in the water, and then you get drip tat water onto a sugar pill and let it evaporate, the sugar pill becomes an effective sleeping pill.

CO: That's how they define it, or how you define it?

HH: That's how they define it. That's the principles of how homeopathy works.

CO: So you’re saying that there's nothing in it. There's no substance to what they're taking?

HH: Well, in most cases. Now, let me qualify that because there are homeopathic remedies that are not diluted out of existence. And one example of that is a teething remedy that was made with Belladonna. And, apparently, they left enough Belladonna that it caused seizures in some of the babies who used it.

CO: Belladonna is a Deadly Nightshade?

HH: Yes, Deadly Nightshade.

CO: Do you see no value at all to any of the treatments that homeopaths or homeopathic medications provide? Nothing at all, you've never seen anything where you say oh, that might be an effective treatment, or that might be an effective regime of treatment for somebody?

HH: No, not at all. There's no evidence that any of the homeopathic remedies are effective. The only benefit is the placebo effect, the psychological effect suggestion, and having a caring person working with you trying to make you better.

CO: I mean you know, we both know, many people who swear by these treatments. That believe that their health has been improved, or they have been treated for different kinds of things with homeopathic medications, or by homeopaths. They swear by it. So they believe that they're getting something out of it.

HH: Yes, and they're wrong. You get better after you take a homeopathic remedy, but that doesn't prove the homeopathic remedy made you get better. And the only way to find out is to test a large group of people, and find out if people get better faster with the homeopathic remedies than without it.

CO: Have controlled studies of that nature ever been done?

HH: Oh yes, many, many, many ones.

CO: And what did they conclude?

HH: There are occasional studies that purport to show a slight advantage with homeopathy. But you can't look at individual studies; you have to look at the whole record. And when you put it all together, there's nothing there. There is no benefit from homeopathy.

CO: This is now a three-billion dollar a year industry.

HH: Yes.

CO: And so there's bound to be pushback if the FDA is going to start regulating it. What do you expect to see happen?

HH: There have been lawsuits about homeopathic remedies being falsely advertised. And I think the companies have made some changes in response to that. But you know there's only so much they can do. Sure they're going to lobby and try to get things changed. But I think the FDA is going to prevail.

CO: And now that the FDA has said it's going to take steps to regulate, what do you hope they do? What would you like to see the FDA take?

HH: Well, what I would like to see is for them to start treating homeopathic medicines just like they treat every other medicine. That's not going to happen. What they're doing now they're starting what they call a risk-based enforcement approach, where they're going to concentrate on the products that they think are likely to cause the most harm. They're looking at things like the teething remedy with Belladonna in it, and things that are made from substances that we know to be poisonous. And they're looking at things that are intended to be used for the prevention or treatment of serious illnesses like cancer. And they're looking at products for vulnerable populations like children and elderly and pregnant women. And that's a good place to start. But it's only a start. And it really is a double standard. I mean we have specific requirements for medicines, and homeopathy is just outside of that altogether.

CO: All right. Well, I think our listeners will be interested in all of this, and have their own views on it. So we'll leave it there. Dr. Hall, I appreciate speaking with you thank you.

HH: Thank you.

CH: Harriet Hall is a U.S. doctor and former Air Force flight surgeon who publishes articles expressing skepticism about the efficacy of alternative medicine, including homeopathy. She is our second guest in a single program from Puyallup, Washington.

[Music: Ambient]

Spikes on trees

Guest: Paula O’Rourke

CH: You've probably seen them on the tops of buildings before: clusters of spikes, whose sheer pointiness is meant to deter birds from landing. Spikes like that are being used in a part of the British city of Bristol. But they're not being installed on buildings. Where they are being installed has ruffled some feathers. One critic tweeted that it's a "war on wildlife." Another, more simply, called it "idiotic." Paula O'Rourke is the city councillor for that area of Bristol. That's where we reached her.

CO: Ms. O’Rourke, first of all, where have they installed these spikes that’s got people so riled up?

PAULA O’ROURKE: The spikes are in two beautiful beech trees, which are on the boundary of houses converted into flats.

CO: So they're actually installed on them? Were they nailed to the beach tree limbs?

PO: Originally, when I looked at them, I thought that they were nailed. But it turns out that they're attached with wall ties, but in a very sinister manner. If you imagine a really very old, very large beech tree, and each single branch has these anti-bird spikes all the way along. So when you look at them, when I first looked at them yesterday, I thought oh, it looks like a little coating of snow, and it looks quite beautiful. And then it was only when I got closer to them that I realised that, actually, quite the opposite to them being this really lovely image. They were this really sinister, horrible, white, plastic spikes.

CO: These are generally put on the edges and the ledges of buildings to deter pigeons and other kinds of roosting birds. And so is that the issue? That they're trying to prevent birds from landing in the trees?

PO: Yes, so the tree is on the boundary of a house, in a garden. And the people own the tree, and they park their cars underneath it. So I think maybe people — the residents of that house that's been broken down into flats — have been a bit misguided. I think they probably just only thought about themselves, and didn't see the bigger picture, which is this you know all they wanted to do was to stop the birds pooing on their cars. But the thing is that all of the national press has picked it up, and I almost feel sorry for them now because I read in the national newspapers they're talking about them parking their Maseratis and their BMWs and their Audis. And I don't think they’re not that rich, but I think there is an element of schadenfreude, where everybody just thinks oh, how dare these people try to protect their cars by ruining our beautiful tree. And they do have a point.

CO: The management of this estate where these condos are admits that this is a prestigious development, and that these are expensive cars, and they are trying to protect people's property.

PO: I know I mean one of the quotes has even said that you know do you not realize that bird poo can damage the paintwork of an expensive car? But that just annoys everybody because you know the bigger picture is that the tree might be in their property, and it might be their tree, and they own it. But the canopy of the tree belongs to everybody in a sense, doesn't it? Because you walk down the road, and you expect to have an overhanging tree in all its purity and beauty you know with birds in it. And then you look up, and you see these spikes that are that you know to prevent that.

CO: To make a very large couple of trees hostile to birds is going quite a distance. I guess it’s better than cutting the trees down, which some might propose.

PO: Well, that's actually interesting that today what I've been trying to do is I've been speaking to our tree officer to see if we can now get a tree protection order put on the tree. Because I don't think it's unreasonable to extrapolate and think well you know if the people who are just so annoyed about the birds pooing on their car, and if they can't stop the birds being in the tree, and there's no tree protection order, it's not a huge leap of the imagination to think that what they'll do next is cut the tree down. And again, because they’re on boundary, there is public amenity issues, so you know I think that that's something that we will really pursue.

CO: Again, the estate management company has argued in its defence that it has tried using fake birds and noise deterrents, and with no success, and that they have these clients who have these nice cars, and the paint gets damaged I guess by bird poo, and that this is what they've been asked to do. Who do you blame? Who do you point the finger at ultimately for is having these trees spiked?

PO: Well, I don't think it's a question of blame. It's more to do with the media. Even as you report back to me the story, the point that comes into one's mind is this we've got a perspective wrong. You know this is an assumption by the management committee that their cars are somehow or other of more value, and they have more right to maintain the cars. Move cars, park them somewhere else, wash the cars, put a cover on the cars. You’re just completely disregarding what could be a really beautiful view for people who are just passing by. You know ordinary people; people who can't afford to live in those houses. And I think that disregard I think that's unfortunate.

CO: What are you hearing from your constituents? And I know you've gone down to take a look, what are they saying? What are people generally saying about the spikes?

PO: I'm almost at the stage now where I feel sorry for the residents. It needs to calm down a little bit. And I think it is that schadenfreud thing where you know people don't have a great amount of love for people who can afford to live in a small flat that costs half-a-million pounds, and drive fancy cars. I think it really does say an awful lot about the class issues in England. You know I think there's an underlying dissatisfaction. I’m getting a bit profound now, but I think you know we do live in a very polarized society. So I think people are feeling very hard done by. And in a way, this is just an outburst. I'm not quite sure exactly what aspect or element of this that really intrigues people. It's either the fact that you know to go to such an extreme nature is being so interfered with just for personal gain. Or perhaps, in a way, that there is something about the affluence, and the sense of ownership, and being able to control, and you know occupy something that is belonging to the natural world. Those branches are supposed to have birds just you know singing in them, not spikes.

CO: Well, I'm sure Canadians will have things to say about this. But we'll hear from them, and I appreciate speaking with you, ms. O’Rourke. Thank you.

PO: Great to speak to you, Carol. Take care.

CO: Bye bye.

PO: Bye.

CH: Paula O'Rourke is a city councillor in Bristol, England. That's where we reached her. And if you'd like to see some pictures of the spikes on the trees, visit our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Jazz]

Montreal construction game

Guest: David Loach

CH: When you're confronted by a traffic jam due to construction, it's easy to criticize. But when your commentary consists entirely of barely coherent swearing and honking, it doesn't really help — not you, and not your fellow drivers. David Loach, however, took a long look at the situation — under the circumstances, he had time — and decided to offer some constructive criticism. Mr. Loach has created a board game called "Construction and Corruption". We reached him in Montreal.

CO: David, was there a particular moment that inspired you to create “Construction and Corruption”?

DAVID LOACH: Yes, this summer the whole inception was just a joke I was sharing with my friend Frank, as we were sitting in traffic on the 40 West, leading Montreal to go to Saint-Sylvère. We all play a lot of board games very frequently, and it just seemed like a funny idea to try to think like well what if the situation was a board game? What would the Montreal traffic construction board game look like? We threw ideas back and forth. So yeah, we have the mayor card, we have the construction card, and don’t forget the bribery card, and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, it was sort of just a hoot at the time. And it sort of stuck in my mind.

CO: And that's what it looked like in your imagination. What does the game actually look like?

DL: It's a big map of Montreal. It's actually a wonderful design we got from this fellow, which basically takes most of the main streets, and then all the little burrows that are named on it.

CO: And how do you play the game?

DL: Well, each player is in charge of their work crews; they’re like a construction boss. At the beginning of each turn, each player gets a contract for one of the nine zones on the map. And they have to put a minimum of one of their own workers there at least to keep up appearances. But the thing is if you keep that contract for the next turn, then you get paid again for it. You get paid at the start of every turn. So, generally, the incentive is to not finish you work, and to hold onto your contracts.

CO: So how do you win the game?

DL: You win the game by having the most money at the end of the game.

CO: But if the game takes two hours to play, what are some of the ups and downs, the snakes and ladders, of this one?

DL: Oh, well it’s always investigation. People receive money from the city for the contracts. And to hold onto those contracts, the’ll often pay money to each other because it sort of makes sense. If you're going to lose 100,000 the game money dollars, then you might share some of that money just to keep it, so a friend doesn't you know sabotage your work. But each time you get paid, you pick up a construction counter. And then you don't have a player that could be there, because players can vote for each other as mayor, there's this thing called the “outsider mayor”. And that forces you to roll a dice for every single one of the corruption counters you picked up. If you roll bad numbers, you roll one or a two, then 10 per cent of all your money goes back to the city. So if you’ve got a lot of dirty assets on you, as it were, you can be in big trouble.

CO: Okay, so how do you trip up your opponents?

DL: You sort of have this karma thing. If you get enough of your contracts canceled, you can incriminate your opponent. And if you incriminate them at the right time when there's an outsider mayor, then they might have to return a lot of their money back to the city. So, generally, the incentives are set up that as corruption builds up, the better a time it looks like for you try to pounce on someone else.

CO: Okay, games are supposed to be fun. Isn't this one a bit too close to reality to make it pleasurable?

DL: Oh, I don't know, I don't know. Every Montrealer I’ve shared it with has just laughed out loud. They think it's hilarious. I designed it, initially, just as a fun thing to share with my friends at the end of the year, maybe in their holiday parties, and I thought it might be a nice addition to a little portfolio to like design a game.

CO: But Quebec and Montreal have just emerged, and are still emerging, from inquiries, investigations, charges, mayors going to prison, people arrested, union bosses, for the very thing you're talking about in this game. I mean if people find it amusing, do you think that there's a kind of cynicism that's crept into the city?

DL: Yeah, possibly. I mean if your daily life is reading this about the place you live, we do have I think a kind of a bit of a wariness of the scene of construction ailments along with political issues and all that. So you know making something kind of light to get a chance to laugh about it. You know pillory and skewer a lot of these kind of issues in a lighthearted way. It’s kind of a relief.

CO: Because if you don't laugh, you'll cry?

DL: Maybe, maybe. Well, I hope the competition takes care, so people cry for losing their chips , instead of the situation present.

CO: Now, you must have a “get-out-of-jail-free” card somewhere along the way in this game?

DL: No, there's a big emphasis on actually depending on the other players to help you out. I found the more I tested cards that would let you get a free pass diminished the interaction between players. And the more they needed to negotiate and try to keep up the reputation and the trust, the better it got.

CO: So in your version of “Construction and Corruption” people don't go to jail?

DL: No, it's only at the end of the game, basically. Everyone gets investigated, which ends the game. And the person that presumably has the most money has an ace up their sleeve. Maybe they flee to a tropical island or something like that.

CO: Well, the whole thing is just so sad. I mean, of course, it's funny, but it's so depressing. I mean you have ideas about this is based on Montreal, could you present this game in other cities? I mean have you considered that?

DL: People requested it for their cities. I've been getting messages and emails of people that think it's a hilarious idea. And they're like yeah, we really need this for our place over here as far as Atlanta, Georgia to New Jersey or New York or even Vancouver some people said to me.

CO: But this is a game that's actually for sale now?

DL: It's going up to be socially-financed, so its Kickstarter is going to start this week. We had some prototypes made. And some people were actually so keen to get it for Christmas that I provided the prototype manufacturer info, and they just printed the same prototype. But that's a model that will cost them maybe a 120 Canadian bucks. So the Kickstarter pre-order is going to be a 70 dollar game, and that's going to be online this week.

CO: Have you had any response at all from the real people, the construction industry, or the ones who I guess aren't in jail, mayors, politicians? What are they saying about your game?

DL: I haven't heard from too many politicians. I've had people tell me I should mail a copy to some politicians. I had, actually, the chance to meet the Montreal equivalent of the “Fifth Estate” at Radio Canada just this morning, which was a pleasure. They told me that it needs an investigative journalists card, so I’m going to try to heed that advice.

CO: Yes, that's a very good idea since it wasn't for the people at Radio Canada’s “Enquete” investigating this corruption, We wouldn't know the story that you're now making to a game.

Dl: There you go! They're really pretty incredible people.

CO: David, it's great to talk to you. Thanks.

DL: Thank you. Cheers.

CH: That was David Loach, who has created a board game called “Construction and Corruption”. We reached him in Montreal.

Part 3: Homeless hospice, Reading: To Everything There Is A Season

Homless hospice

Guest: Naheed Dosani

CH: Death may be the great equalizer. But dying often isn't. Not for the people Naheed Dosani aims to serve. Dr. Dosani is a palliative care physician with Toronto's Innercity Health Associates. His patients are among the city's homeless. Yesterday, Dr. Dosani joined Ontario's Health Minister to announce the creation of the creation of the Journey Home Hospice, the city's first palliative care facility for the homeless. We reached Dr. Naheed Dosani in Toronto.

CO: Dr. Dosani, what first made you aware of homeless people lacking this kind of end of life care?

NAHEED DOSANI: I think it really traces back to some of my first experiences during my residency training at the University of Toronto. I was providing care in a shelter, and I came across a gentleman who was in his early 30s. And he had presented to the shelter and in pain crisis. As I got to know him, I realized that he was diagnosed with a widespread head and neck cancer a year before. But due to his homelessness, due to his chronic mental health issues, including a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and his substance use, he wasn't able to follow up for follow up appointments or maintain a care plan to seek treatment. Over the period of a year, he started to experience symptoms, particularly pain. So he did what any one of us would do: he went hospital to hospital, E.R. to E.R., walk in clinic to walk in clinic, seeking that kind of pain control that any person should have access to. And unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, Terry, that was his name, he was denied access or couldn't get access to the kind of medicines that would help his pain. And we worked really hard to build a relationship with him. And I remember coming to the shelter excited one day because he had promised me was going to start some pain medicines and we were going to get him access to care so he could improve his quality of life. And I couldn't find him anywhere; I couldn’t find him in his room, or his cafeteria. And I learned later that he had overdosed on a combination of alcohol and street drugs.

CO: Oh my gosh! That experience and how many times is that repeated? We see homeless people or people who don't have proper shelters. And where do they go when they're sick, when they're reaching the end of their lives?

ND: Yeah, being sick, of course, is very hard. But being sick and living and then dying in the streets or in a shelter or a crowded rooming house is even harder. I think a reasonable place to talk about this is to talk about what happens to most houseed Canadians. Most Canadians, over 90 per cent, want to die at home. But where do you go when you have no place to call home? And given that our healthcare infrastructure is so built around the home or homecare, the homeless and vulnerable, despite them not wanting to be in a hospital, end up dying in hospitals, in emergency rooms, acute medical wards, acute surgical wards. In some cases, clients are dying in the streets; they're dying on park benches, definitely not an approach to their end of life care that emphasizes dignity.

CO: They've had a lifetime of difficulty, their bodies are broken in many ways, there’s addiction issues, they have so many different things they'll be wrestling with. How will you care for them?

ND: Yeah, the Journey Home Hospice Project is the culmination of over three years of work with the Innercity Health Associates, where we've been working as a team on the streets as an outreach palliative care program. And we've learned that there are particular aspects of care that are needed to support this population, for example, trauma-informed care. This is a population, as you mentioned, that has gone through so much, and has often experienced trauma. We need an approach to care which emphasizes a low threshold or low barrier approach. It should be easy, it should be accessible, because a system is often very difficult to navigate. A sensible or sensitive approach to substance use, which may involve harm reduction and using substances to support people's care at the end of life so that their quality of life is emphasized. Sensitivity to mental illness, and then having staff and volunteers are not just passionate about a social justice approach, but with specialized expertise in supporting the unique and complex needs of the homeless and vulnerably-housed population.

CO: Now you know better than I, but palliative care is not a treatment, it's a process, isn't it?

ND: That’s right.

CO: And it's not just for the person, it's also for the families of the dying person, who cannot be there, who can be supportive, you get instruction for how to be there for your loved ones. But what happens when you have people like many of the ones who have no family?

ND: Yeah, absolutely right. Palliative care is not a place, it's an approach, it's an approach to care which emphasizes the whole person, and not just physical or medical care, but their psychosocial well-being or sometimes even their spiritual well-being. And when dealing with individuals from the street or who are homeless or vulnerable housed, often they live in isolation. Wnd we definitely see that they deal with life-limiting disease in isolation. So those supports are just so, so important. And so we're training a group of volunteers through Hospice Toronto to be able to work with this population. The Journey Home Hospice will also be very welcoming to the street family, so that they will feel comfortable coming into this space. To make sure that the journey home hospice is a comfortable environment for all.

CO: These are people who as you know have suffered more than their share of life's indignities. So how do you find a way for them to die with dignity?

ND: You're absolutely right. This is a population that has experienced significant trauma, discrimination, social isolation, mental health issues, and barriers in accessing mainstream services. And when they access it, they tend to feel discriminated or stigmatized. So meeting people where they're at, and that can mean geographically, but that can also mean socially, supporting them and being non-judgemental about our approach to care. Particularly for individuals who have mental illness, or dealing with substance use concerns. I think that's a really key part of it. Also there is a sense of dignity that many of these clients actually do experience and have had in this life. It may be being involved in a community at a shelter. It may involve panhandling. It may involve moving from place to place. But that gets lost with the life-limiting illness. And so we try to provide that support to enhance that experience of well-being, particularly at the end of life.

CO: You're going to build a 10 bed hospice. Is that going to be enough?

ND: You're absolutely right. On any given night, there are 5,200 unique homeless individuals in the city. And for every one homeless person in the city of Toronto, there are 23 vulnerably house people. We do see this as an opportunity to start though, and it's an exciting partnership to start with 10 beds. We are actively looking for space. And so we are looking for the 10 bed project to be in a city somewhere, and there may be potential for much more. We're also launching a capital fund raising campaign early in the new year. And so I think that this is a seed for a nucleus for the beginning. And we're excited about the future.

CO: Well, Dr. Dosani, I wish you every success with this. And I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

ND: Thank you so much, Carol. I really appreciate it.

CH: Dr. Naheed Dosani is a palliative care physician with Innercity Health Associates in Toronto.

[Music: Cultural]

Delilah Saunders

CH: For the family and supporters of Delilah Saunders, it was a welcome sight. Last week, the Indigenous advocate was in critical condition in hospital with liver failure. She wasn't allowed on the list for a transplant, because she has a history of alcohol use disorder, and drank alcohol within the last six months. But despite not receiving a liver, today, from her hospital bed, Deliliah Saunders was able to sit up and speak to media. Here is part of what she had to say.

SOUNDCLIP

DELILAH SAUNDERS: There is a lot of moral dilemma around like who would be taking a liver from? I don't want to do that, you know? But because that demand is so high, and because people aren't registering as donors, it's making a difficult situation even more impossible. I'm lucky to have a big family, and I've had strangers from across the country say like how much of my liver do you need? Like that outpouring of support has been beautiful, and really, really encouraging. So far I've made amazing progress. My Kidney and my liver levels are going back to normal. It's going to take a long time to actually recover. I'm exhausted, I can't sleep, I'm experiencing auditory hallucinations because I'm not sleeping. It's exhausting. I'm not completely out of the woods. After this, the staff, the nurses, the doctors here have been amazing. The same with at Ottawa General; they've been amazing. My next step is to see a heptologist, and see what damage has been done for them long-term. Right now, it's going to take a long time to get back to normal. I'm usually like I'm a very fast walker, and I’m very active, and travelling a lot. So that is take some time to get back to that.

CH: That was Delilah Saunders, speaking from her hospital bed today. Despite not receiving a liver transplant, the Indigenous advocate has improved since she was in critical condition last week. Her situation has sparked a national debate over whether people who haven't been sober for six months should be able to receive liver transplants.

[Music: Pop rock]

2017 Reading: To Everything There Is A Season

CH: For tonight's holiday reading we head to the East Coast — Cape Breton Island. As his younger brother is just learning about the wonder and magic of Christmas, an 11-year-old boy finds himself going through a new phase in his life. Instead of pondering the mystery of the big bearded guy in the red suit, he's contemplating something bigger: the mystery of the Christmas spirit. The story is Alistair MacLeod's "To Every Thing There is a Season". And the reader is the late Canadian actor, Les Carlson.

SOUNDCLIP

LES CARLSON: I'm speaking here of a time when I was 11, and lived with my family on a small farm on the west coast of Cape Breton. My family had been there for a long, long, time, and so it seemed had I. And much of that time seems like the proverbial yesterday. Yet, when I speak on this Christmas 1977, I am not sure how much I speak with the voice of that time or how much the voice of what I have since become. And I'm not sure how many liberties I may be taking with the boy I think I was? For Christmas is a time of both past and present. And often, the two are imperfectly blended. As we step into its nowness, we often look behind. We have been waiting now it seems forever.

LC: Actually, it has been most intense since Halloween, when the first snow fell upon us as we moved like muffled murmurs upon dark country roads. The large flakes was soft and new then, and almost generous. And the earth to which they fell was still warm and as yet unfrozen. They fell in silence into the puddles and into the sea where they disappeared at the moment of contact. They disappeared too, upon touching the heated redness of our necks and hands, or the faces of those who did not wear masks. We carried our pillowcases from house to house, knocking on doors to become silhouettes in the light thrown out from kitchens. White pillowcases held out by whitened forms. The snow fell between us and the doors, and was transformed into shimmering gold beams.

LC: When we turned to leave it fell upon our footprints, and as the night wore on, obliterated them and all the records of our movements. In the morning everything was soft and still. And November had come upon us. My brother, Kenneth, who is two-and-a-half, is unsure of his last Christmas. It is Halloween that looms large as in his memory as an exceptional time of being up late in magic darkness and falling snow.

LC: Who are you going to dress up as it Christmas, he asks? I think I'll be a snowman. All of us laugh at that and tell him Santa Claus will find him if he's good, and that he need not dress up at all. We go about our appointed tasks waiting for it to happen. I'm troubled myself about the nature of Santa Claus, and I'm trying to hang onto him in any way that I can. It is true that at my age I no longer really believe in him, yet, I have hoped in all his possibilities as fiercely as I can. Much in the same way I think that the drowning man waves desperately to the lights of the passing ship on the high seas darkness. For without him, as without the man’s ship, it seems our fragile lives would be so much more desperate. My mother has been fairly tolerant of my attempted perpetuation, perhaps because she's encountered it before. Once I overheard her speaking about my sister Anne to one of the neighbours; I thought and would believe forever, she said. I practically had to tell her.

LC: I have somehow always wished I had not heard her say that as I seek sanctuary and reinforcement even in an ignorance I know I dare not trust. Keneth, however, believes with an unadulterated fervor. And so do Bruce and Barry, who are six-year-old twins. Beyond me there is Anne who is 13, and Mary who was 15, both of whom seemed to be leaving childhood at an alarming rate. My mother has told us that she was already married when she was 17, which is only two years older than Mary is now.

LC: That too seems strange to contemplate. And perhaps, childhood is shorter for some than it is for others. I think of this sometimes in the evenings, when we have finished our chores, and the supper dishes have been cleared away, and we are supposed to be doing our homework. I glanced sideways at my mother who was always knitting or mending. And at my father who mostly sits by the stove, coughing quietly with his handkerchief at his mouth. He has not been well for over two years, and has difficulty breathing whenever he moves at more than the slowest pace. He is most sympathetic of all concerning my extended hopes. And says we should hang on to the good things in our lives as long as we are able. As I look at him out of the corner of my eye, it does not seem that he has many of them left. He is old we think at 42. Yet Christmas, in spite of all the doubts about different ages, is a fine and splendid time. And now as we passed the midpoint of December, our expectations are heightened by the increasing coldness settled down upon us.

LC: The ocean is flat and calm. And along the coast and the scooped out coves has turned to an icy slush. The brook that flows past our house is almost totally frozen and there's only a small channel of rushing water that flows openly at its very center. When we let the cattle out to drink, we chop holes with the axe at the Brooks edge, so that they can drink without venturing onto the ice. The sheep move in and out of their lean to shelter restlessly stamping their feet or huddling together in tightly packed groups; a conspiracy of wool against the cold. The hens perch high on their roost with their feathers fluffed out about them, hardly feeling it worthwhile to descend to the floor for a few scant kernels of grain. The pig, who has little time before his butchering, squeals his displeasure to the cold. And with his snout tosses his wooden trough high in the icy air. The splendid young horse paws the planking of a stall, and gnaws the wooden crib work of his manger. We have put a protective barricade of spruce boughs about our kitchen door, and banked our house with additional bows and billows of eel grass. Still, the pail of water we leave standing in the porch is solid in the morning and has to be broken with the hammer.

LC: The clothes my mother hangs on the line are frozen almost instantly, and sway and creek from their suspending clothes pins like sections of dismantled robots. The stiff-legged rasping trousers and the shirts and sweaters with unyielding arms outstretched. In the morning, we race from our frigid upstairs bedroom to finish dressing around the kitchen stove. We would extend our coldness half a continent away to the Great Lakes of Ontario, so that it might hasten the Christmas coming of my oldest brother Neil. He is 19, and employed on the lake boats — the long flat carriers of grain and iron ore whose season ends any day after December 10^th, depending on the ice conditions. We wish it to be cold — cold on the Great Lakes of Ontario so that he may come home to us as soon as possible. Already his Cottons have arrived. They come from different places: Cobourg, Toronto, St. Catharines, Welland, Windsor, Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie. Places that we, with the exception of my father have never been. We locate them excitedly on the map, tracing their outlines with eager fingers. The cartons bear the lettering of Canada Steamship Lines, and are bound with rope knotted intricately in the fashion of sailors.

LC: My mother says they contain his clothes, and we are not allowed to open them. For us, it is impossible to know the time or manner of his coming. If the lakes freeze early he may come by train because it is cheaper. If the lakes stay open until December 20^th, he will have to fly because his time will be more precious than his money. He will hitchhike the last 60 or 100 miles from either station or airport. On our part, we can do nothing but listen with straining ears to radio reports of distant ice formations. His coming seems to depend on so many factors, which are out there far beyond us. And over which we lack control. The days go by in fevered slowness, until finally on the morning of December 23, the strange car rolls into our yard. My mother touches her hand to her lips and whispers thank god. My father gets up unsteadily from his chair to look through the window. Their longed-for son and our golden older brother is here at last. He is here with his reddish hair and beard. And we can hear his hearty laugh. He will be happy and strong and confident for us all. There are three other young men with him who look much the same as he. They too are from the boats, and are trying to get home to Newfoundland. They might still drive 100 miles to reach the ferry at North Sydney. The car seems very old.

LC: They purchased it in Thorold for two hundred dollars because they were too late to make any reservations. And they have driven steadily since they began. In northern New Brunswick, their windshield wipers failed. But instead of stopping, they tied lengths of cord to the wipers arms and passed them through the front window vents. Since that time, in whatever precipitation, one of them has pulled the cords back and forth to make the wipers function. This information falls tiredly, but excitedly from their lips. And we greedily gather it in. My father pours them drinks of rum, and my mother takes out her mincemeat and the fruitcake she's been carefully hording. We lean on the furniture or look from the safety of shelter doorways. We would like to hug our brother, but are too shy with strangers present. In the kitchen’s warmth, the young men begin to nod and doze; their heads dropping suddenly to their chests. they nudge each other with their feet in an attempt to keep awake. They will not stay and rest because they have come so far. And tomorrow is Christmas Eve. And stretches of mountains and waters still lie between them and those they love. After they leave, we pounce upon a brother physically and verbally. He laughs and shouts and lifts us over his head and swings us in his muscular arms. Yet in spite of his happiness, he seemed surprised at the appearance of his father, whom he had not seen since March.

LC: My father merely smiles at him. While my mother bites her lip. Now that he's here, there's a great flurry of activity. We've left everything we could until that time he might be with us. Eagerly I show him the fir tree on the Hill which I been watching for months. And marvel at how easily he fells it and carries it down the hill. We fall over one another in the excitement of decoration. He promises that on Christmas Eve, he will take us to church and the sleigh behind the splendid horse that until his coming, we are all afraid to handle. And on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, he shoes the horse, lifting each hoof and rasping it fine and hammering the cherry red horseshoes into shape upon the anvil. Later, he drops them hissingly into the steaming tub of water. My father sits beside him on an overturned pail and tells him what to do.

LC: Sometimes we argue with our father, but our brother does everything he says. That night, bundled in hay and voluminous coats, and with heated stones at our feet, we start upon our journey. Our parents and Kenneth remain at home. But all the rest of us go. Before we leave, we feed the cattle and sheep and even the pig all that they can possibly eat, so that they will be contented on Christmas Eve. Our parents waved to us from the doorway. We go four miles across the mountain road. It is a primitive logging trail and there will be no cars or other vehicles upon it. At first the horse is wild with excitement and lack of exercise. My brother has to stand at the front of the sleigh and lean backwards on the reins. Later, he settles down to a trot. And still later to a walk, as the mountain rises before him we sing all the Christmas songs we know and watch for the rabbits and foxes scudding across the open patches of snow. And listen to the drumming of partridge wings. We are never cold. When we descend to the country church, we tie the horse in a grove of trees where he will be sheltered and not frightened by the many cars. We put a blanket over him and give him oats.

LC: At the church door, the neighbours shake hands with my brother. Hello Neil, they say. How is your father? Oh, he says just oh. The church is very beautiful at night with its festooned branches and glowing candles and the booming, joyous sounds that come from the choir loft. We go through the service as if we are mesmerised. On the way home, although the stones have cooled, we remain happy and warm. We listen to the creak of the leather harness and the hiss of runners on the snow and begin to think of the potentiality of presents. When we are about a mile from home, the horse senses his destination and breaks into a trot. And then into a confident lope. My brother lets him go and we move across the winter landscape like figures freed from a Christmas card. The snow from the horse's hooves falls about our heads like the whiteness of the stars.

LC: After we've stabled the horse, we talk with our parents and eat the meal our mother has prepared. And then I am sleepy, and it is time for the younger children to be in bed. But tonight my father says to me we would like you to stay up with us awhile. And so I stay quietly with the older members of my family.

LC: When all is silent upstairs, Neil brings in the cartons that contain his clothes and begins to open them. He unties the intricate knots quickly, their whorls falling away before his agile fingers. The boxes are filled with gifts neatly wrapped and bearing tags. The ones for my younger brothers say from Santa Claus. But mine are not among them anymore, as I know with certainty they will never be again. Yet, I'm not so much surprised as touched by a pang of loss at being here on the adult side of the world. It is as if I have suddenly moved into another room and heard a door click lastingly behind me. I am jabbed by my own small wound. But then I look at those before me. I look at my parents drawn together before the Christmas tree. My mother has her hand upon my father's shoulder. And he is holding his ever present handkerchief. I look at my sisters who have crossed this threshold ahead of me. And now, dach day journey farther from the lives they knew as girls. I look at my magic older brother who has come to us this Christmas from half a continent away, bringing everything he has. And all of them are captured in the tableau of their care. Every man moves on says my father quietly. And I think he speaks of Santa Claus. But there is no need to grieve. He leaves good things behind.

CH: That was Les Carlson, reading Allister MacLeod's. To Everything There Is A Season”. And we'll have more holiday readings this week, including our annual reading of “The Shepherd” on Friday, December 22nd.

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December 19,2017 episode transcript

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