The Current

The Current for April 21, 2021

Today on The Current: Former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd; third wave of COVID-19 posing increased risk to pregnant people; Montreal-born engineer helped NASA fly helicopter on Mars; and life is inching back to normal in Gibraltar.
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Full Episode Transcript

Today on The Current

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of 2nd-degree unintentional murder, 3rd-degree murder, and 2nd degree manslaughter on Tuesday, in the killing of George Floyd. We discuss the significance of the conviction, and the wider problems of police brutality and structural racism, with journalist Georgia Fort, and Ricky L. Jones, professor and chair of pan-African studies at the University of Louisville.

Plus, Danika Jorgensen-Skakum caught COVID-19 during her pregnancy and wants other pregnant Canadians to know what that was like. We hear her story and discuss the increased risks in the third wave with Dr. Tali Bogler, chair of the family medicine obstetrics team at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and co-creator of the pandemic pregnancy guide on Instagram; and Dr. Deborah Money, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia.

Then, NASA just flew a helicopter — on Mars — and controlled it from here on Earth. Montreal-born engineer Farah Alibay helped to make that happen. She tells us how.

And life is inching back to normal in Gibraltar, where over 90 per cent of eligible adults have received a shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. Gibraltar's Health Minister Samantha Sacramento tells us how they did it.