28 Burst results for "Jordan Heath Rawlings"
The Big Story
How Canada and the Western World Failed Afghanistan
"I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Stephen save holds the patterson chair and international affairs at carleton university. Among the books he's written is adapting in the dust. Lessons learned from canada's war in afghanistan. And he also co hosts a podcast about canada's national security called the battle rhythm hasty. Hello i'm doing all right like many canadians. I kind of spent the weekend. seeing progressively more and more disturbing images coming out of afghanistan especially kabul and. I'm i'm wondering if you could maybe describe what we're actually seeing and hearing about in afghanistan right now. Well it's the collapse of the government that we've been trying to build for the past twenty years The taliban were kicked out of the country by american forces and then in two thousand and two There developed a un effort that became a nato effort called isaf the international security assistance force along with a variety of other international partners to try to build a self sustaining afghan government. And then two thousand fourteen. Nato largely pulled out three years. After canada pulled out of combat and for the past seven years there was a nato effort to train the afghan army and last year. Donald trump Negotiated deal the taliban that would vote the remaining few americans that were left in afghanistan out before this summer there about two thousand five hundred americans soldiers mostly doing training and doing coordination type stuff and So that was Trump's decision last year and then when it became president there was a question about whether he would live by the deal which had a deadline of may fifth at all. Americans are supposed to be out by may fifth and the by racial thought. That would be too fast. That that we would be able to get our stuff in our people out in his In his mind and so they sent the data september eleventh and over the course of the summer The taliban made a series of deals with a variety of actors within afghanistan that led to the collapse of the afghan national army forces that were guarding a variety of places around the country until the only thing that was left was couple which fell this weekend.
The Big Story
How the IPCC Report Is About More Than Just Climate Change
"I'm fatma fitting in for jordan heath. rawlings this is the big story. Brick smith is the president of the canadian institute for climate choice. Herrick thanks for being here. It's pleasure so what was your first reaction when you read the report while i mean. Let's let's just acknowledge that this thing is massive minutes thousands of pages. Hundreds of scientists around the world have been working on this thing for the last many months of fourteen. Thousand studies were incorporated and summarized and synthesized in this reports enormous amount of information. This is the most significant update to what we know about climate in in many years over half a decade. There's a lot of stuff now does not surprising me for anybody. That's been keeping track of climate change science and the the notion that warming is getting is happening more quickly than expected. would not be news. I think one of the more significant aspects of the report is the unequivocal linkage. Based on the best available science that recent extreme weather events are being driven by climate change in the idc has never been that explicit before. And of course there's this whole new discipline called attribution science that's That's quite new. This new kind of science is makes it possible for us to say yeah. This particular heatwave is being driven by climate change that is a. That's a very new Development in the climate change debate. And i think very powerful because long story short what this report does is. It brings climate change home for people. Climate change is a health concern.
The Big Story
How to Talk About the End of the World
"In for jordan heath. rawlings this is the big story. alex steffen award winning environmental writer and climate futurist. Who has spent the last thirty years or so exploring the growing planetary crisis and what lies ahead for humanity. His newsletter is called the snap forward which is also the title of his forthcoming book. He joins us from the san francisco. Bay area hey. Alex thanks for being here so this this may sound like a very basic question to start but in light of everything that's happening in the world pertaining to the climate crisis. How are you doing. are you coping. Okay how has news been hitting you lately. Well i mean there's so there's a there's upside downside for having covered the apocalypse speed for thirty years you know The downside is i've covered the apocalypse. Beat for thirty years. The upside is that. I have you know a little bit of a harder skin. Perhaps than some. But i've also learned to set of skills for coping with the bad news and the farther i go into understanding. What's going on around us now. Actually the more enthusiastic and optimistic. I i i feel. I think there are lots of reasons to feel like the best is yet potentially to come right. It's not too late and the best future. We can still win is better than what we have now. So it's a mixed bag. I guess you know are alternating between apocalyptic despair and enthusiasm for the new. I'm excited for
The Big Story
Can Toronto Police Itself out of a Homelessness Crisis?
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Leilani fara is a former un special reporter on the right to housing. She is currently the global director of the shift which is a movement to secure the right to housing. So the perfect person to talk about what's going on in toronto recently. Hello alani hi there. Thank you for taking the time. Maybe we could just start for people outside of toronto and people who haven't been following it. Tell me about how the city has been handling encampments of an housed people that have formerly at least existed in parks across the city. Yes so with. The pandemic came actually a significant increase in the number of people living in parks across the city of toronto actually across canada. But we're talking about toronto. So i'll keep. I'll keep my comments there. And there are a number of reasons for that but one of them was of course the downsizing of shelters because of the social distancing rules that were part of the prescription to Try to curb the pandemic and so you know. Big shelters became smaller shelters. So let's say there were thirty beds. It might have gone down to fifteen beds. Hundred beds might have gone down to thirty beds and with nowhere to go. A lot of people ended up in parks. There are other reasons as well. As the pandemic ruled on it became increasingly clear that congregate or you know settings where a lot of people reside were becoming Hotbeds of Spread of covert and so a lot of people. Were thinking wait. I think i'm better off even though as really tough living. It's actually some of the living in parks. I actually might survive in a park. Whereas i may not in a shelter and of course we all know. Shelters are really hard places to live at the best of times so so toronto. The city of toronto saw this steep increase in the number of people living in parks and many parks park cats and bigger parks across the city.
The Big Story
Will We Still Use Masks When All the Mandates Expire?
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Dr mitsukoshi hori is a professor of schumann university in japan. He's currently working at its overseas campus chaucer college and canterbury in the uk. He has a phd in sociology and has studied the history of mask wearing in japan. Hello professor horry. Hello hi before. We talk about eastern versus western views on the practice of mask-wearing. Maybe you could just go way back and explain. When did public mask wearing for health reasons originate. Yes three shows. It's only tonight's in the west. The practice of muscle building was by the carey out in the especially medical institutions across the west also in japan. I think the musk willing was popularized during the spanish flu onto make then i think public. Musk willing encouraged in the west Both in europe on the north america in the case was a ban it was introduced to the japanese authorities during the time at the practice commodity carried out in the in the west. Then his authority impetus Japan so that was kind of the footage of mosque wearing and after that pandemic past. Where did the practice remain in. Where did it vanish. It remained in japan. But somehow it's disappeared in north america and europe and i stood on though why disappears. So that's the kind of you know the big mystery. Probably we need further research on will and that's
The Big Story
Meet the Invasive Species Rampaging Through Ontario Forests
"I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story david. Uk vetch is the entomology technician at the invasive species center. Hey david fellow. Can you start just for the folks like me who haven't really thought about this problem until it reached a critical mass. I guess what are these. Moths that we're talking about today. Well they're a moth that has been in ontario for a number of years now almost forty years now however a lot of people don't really recognize them more or see them too often until they get to these larger outbreak status. We have had about three or four Sort of larger outbreaks since nineteen eighty five nine hundred ninety one as well as in two thousand and two. They were all outbreaks over One hundred thousand hectares of defoliation to put some of that into perspective. One hectare is equal to about the same size as the soccer field. So that's a large area That has been defoliated by these gypsy moth species. It's a type of lep adopter or a type of moth and butterfly and this moth has come over from. Europe was brought over by a french scientist and he was basically trying to mate are native silkworms species With this gypsy moth in order to try and create a new species that can produce silk. So that's really what how the moth got here. And why became a problem is because that scientists at the moth got away from him and started many issues in the massachusetts area and is slowly expanded from there
The Big Story
What Stories Should We Tell on Canada Day?
"I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story i today. We welcome either. Ju an associate fellow at the yellow head institute. Eva is initially bakeware from desch. Kenzi chippewas of the thames. First nation. you've let's just start with this. What if anything has candida day historically meant to you well. It's always been a day of celebration for a settler colonial state that has never included me or my community or indigenous peoples more. Broadly and i've never celebrated canada day. So i was raised by my parents as inish knob. A on. my mother's side in an ongoing way on my father's side and my dad was very adamant that we are not citizens of the state but in fact were members of our pre existing nations and so things can today was not really in our family celebrations. And it actually wasn't until nineteen fifty that first nations people were even granted canadian citizenship. So candidate hasn't really ever been Something that i don't think anyway in my immediate family and circle has been celebrated and canadian citizenship by need to remind folks is not actually something that our leaders even desired at the time. It was something that was a. It was an involuntary enfranchisement to the state because our leaders had always asserted that we are nations.
The Big Story
What Does the Future of Money Look Like?
"Jordan. Heath rawlings is the big story. Michael doyle is a freelance reporter and journalist based in toronto who examined the future of money in canada for the globe in mail. Hi michael jordan. Can you start us off. Just because it's such a useful way to think about this. At least i found it useful by telling us the story of money on the island of yap certainly Yup is a tiny island. That is now part of micronesia in the south pacific and for hundreds of years. They had a very unusual form of currency and that was these gigantic limestone rocks and the bigger they were the more valuable they were and also of course the bigger they were the more difficult they were to actually physically exchange with each other so over time they Just left the rocks where they were and In order for them to figure out who owned which rock which note of currency for lack of better term. They created basically a form of a ledger. And in the form of an oral history of who owned each rock and how the rocks transacted from person to person on the island and so that's how they effectively did business. That's how they exchanged Goods and services for hundreds of years. Now tell me how that relates to wear. Our use of money is heading certainly It's actually a really great analogy. Because in one example it sort of captures a snapshot of what money has been for hundreds if not thousands of years since the since we came up with the idea of money however long ago that was And at the same time it also short sort of shows us where technology is going to change money in the near future so the question of what money is a really weird thing. it's kind of like a philosophical rabbit hole. You go down but at it. Sort of core form money is
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"You're listening to a frequency podcast network production. I don't know how to describe us other than to say that. This week canada's reckoning with its racist. History was interrupted by its racist present. Get evening. We begin in london ontario tonight to our memorial grows muslim family struck and killed in what police say was a targeted crime motivated by hate alone. Male driver struck a family of five. Were out for a walk on sunday. Evening for were killed. The only survivor a nine year old boy. The murders in london ontario are shocking. But not surprising. This isn't the kind of thing that just doesn't happen in canada. This isn't unthinkable. It happened in quebec city in two thousand seventeen. It happened outside a toronto mosque last summer. It'll happen again. And some less deadly version of it is probably happening in canada. As you're listening to this and it'll happen tomorrow unless a whole country stops it. I was speaking with my muslim neighbor on wednesday. I just wanna share one thing that she said we were talking about racist canadians who take out their hatred on members of her community on families like hers and she said we can make them change their minds and that broke my heart because that is not her job. That is my job and your job and the job of every white canadian. Who cares that. Some of their neighbors exist in this country afraid for themselves and their families and yet still feel that somehow making the worst examples of canadians not kill them is their responsibility. There are signs too small so far to say that they are meaningful that some of our fellow canadians have realized this. Finally a statement from a conservative candidate in london about accepting reduced support in the past a call from a prominent federal conservative for her own party to do better to take action with more than words and thoughts and prayers small signs so far. So i usually end these intros with a bunch of questions today. I only have one. We're gonna finally do this or not. Nothing else matters. Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Fatima siad is an occasional guest. Host of this podcast. She's an excellent journalist. She hosts another political. Podcast called the backbench herself. She's also our friend and muslim canadian jordan. How are you are you. Okay i just am this week. I It's a gamut of emotions But i'm standing somehow and were sitting and talking to you right now and i sincerely appreciate it. I know our listeners. Do to where you At the vigil in london. On tuesday. Night i was i am reporting for. I'm a freelance reporter. So i'm i'm working with the guardian on on coverage of this and i felt like i needed to be there both as a person and as a journalist. I don't usually go to the joel's jordan. I don't know if you've ever been to many vigils. But i don't like going to vigils um because it's very emotional. Very heavy In an alike to mourn and grieve in private but it's it can also be very political sometimes depending on what kind of vigil you're going to and this one was very political all eight politicians so four of the federal leaders and for of the ontario leaders where there had turned a friend who went with me and i said it almost feels like an election. Stop which of course it could be because you know this could be an election year but the fact that all eight politicians were there and they were all using similar language denouncing the attack on this family and denouncing terrorism and denouncing hate and islamaphobia..
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"You know i like i said before. It's it's real life. Some people have been in the same job since season one so have been working five years at a company and doing brilliantly. Some some of the job positions didn't work out and some were able to move on to other positions because of the show. We've actually even had employers reach out to us after watching the series going. Oh my goodness. I need to get in touch with this person. Because they'd be amazing at editing my book so so that's been really really nice and not seems to be happening more and more as the series goes on just to quickly get back to the issue of of making employers. See this as a financial decision and not Charity or something. You know that they're supposed to do to be a good citizen. How do you lay that out. Baldly in terms of you know these are the accommodations you would have to make but these are the reasons that you know person x would be so much better for your business than anything else. Yes i always reference in individual named mark wafer. He was probably one of the first people that i met with. When we started developing this series he has hearing loss and he owned believe. It was six. Tim hortons franchises. Are you know he created this very strong business. Case for hiring people with disabilities he decided when he started to buy his franchises. He was going to hire as many people as he could with disabilities. And just really look at how it affected him business wise and he found that his business grew massively. The more people with disabilities that he hired a lot of that had to do with people. I never leaving. He found that most of the time when he hired someone with a disability that they were the best employees that he would ever have. They were always on time for work and so he's to started finding that like this is. This is a better business model for me and his business just kept growing so i always say look at look up mark wafer. 'cause i think he really presents the argument for that case. The last thing. That i wanna ask you and i'm glad that you've been on the show since the very beginning is what you've personally learned in what your own preconceptions were as you were developing this show and you know now that you're on season four And have worked with so many job seekers. what have you learned from them. I'll tell you this. I had never worked on camera with anyone with a disability or neurological condition before. This was the first show that i had ever done that in through it. I have learned so much. And you know i i would if i was running a company now or the next show that i go onto produce. It will be a priority for me to hire someone with a disability or neurological condition it will. It's completely change. How i think of a workforce and they've also you know. I think a lot of our job seekers have taught me the importance of really Owning who you are an going for what we want. We have a job seeker this season. Who is a visual artist with vision loss. Which is a pretty complicated cell. She graduated from oak had. She's so talented. She has never had a job in the art field because she didn't feel comfortable disclosing and so she often would end up doing jobs as a dishwasher or you know hiding a little bit behind her vision loss and what happened through the show. This season was. She started really owning who she was. She's like you know what she went into her job interview. She disclosed for the first time ever. She's like i am. I am a visual artist with vision loss. But you know what i have a different perspective than anyone else on this team and i think seeing her own who she wasn't seeing the employers go wait. You're bringing something really neat here. You're gonna tell our community that are is for everyone are is accessible to anyone. You don't have to fit a certain mold. And so i think it makes me watching our job seekers. Do that in being enough to do that on camera has made me just really recognize the the importance of just owning. Who you are in going for what you want. Even if it doesn't necessarily make sense to everyone katie. Thank you so much for taking the time. And i'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the season. Excellent thank you so for having me. Katie lafferty a producer on employable me. That was the big story for more from us head to the big story. Podcast dot ca. Find us on twitter at the big story. Pin as always email us. The big story podcast all one word. All lower case at our dot rogers dot com. And of course we are as always and your favorite podcast player apple. Google stitcher spotify amazon. You're smart speaker doesn't matter anywhere that plays digital audio. You can probably get us. Thanks for listening. I'm jordan heath rawlings. We'll talk tomorrow..
The Big Story
Why Hiring Canadians With Disabilities Is a Competitive Advantage
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Katie lafferty as a producer on employable maecenas season. Four of which launches today wednesday. June ninth at eight pm eastern on tv. Hey katie hi there. Thanks for joining us. Why don't you start on. Because i am kind of ashamed to admit. I didn't know the show existed until i learned about season four and and i've watched a couple episodes now and it's really insightful. And i just i guess. I'm glad that it's a hit now. But i want to know where the idea came from at the beginning and what you guys were trying to achieve absolutely so. I think it was fine years ago that we started in development on this series. And it's actually a bbc format series that we brought over to canada with a m. I and so you know. I think the main focus of the series Were were following people with disabilities and neurological conditions. Who are trying to enter the workforce all of our job seekers have unique talent and abilities but have had a really hard time getting their foot in the door and so the real purpose of this series is to educate employers in the general public on. What is a very untapped job market of of people who could bring so much to the workforce can you give me some examples of how Underappreciated and underemployed employed people who are neuro divergent or people with disabilities are absolutely. I mean i think. I noticed it the most when i started casting for this show. It was one of those situations where i thought okay. Let's let's see if we can pass this show. who knows. It's a really really interesting and important concept but are we going to be able to find job seekers who really fit the description
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"Are not completely divorced from government. They are entirely or almost entirely funded by various arms of government operate based on regulations set out by health canada and those regulations specifically allow and actually sort of opened the door for health canada and the minister of health to set or remove policies. That are no longer needed or that may be needed. What's more there is a very good argument to be made that as basically agents of the government of canada they are beholden to both the charter of rights and freedoms and the federal human rights. Act and the very very good case to be made that they are breaching both of those things because they're discriminating against gay men and men who have sex with men. This has sort of been tried in court already and it didn't go tremendously well. But they're at the very least. An organ fee made that the federal government has an obligation to make sure that its own agencies do not discriminate based on sexual orientation. And that's exactly what they're doing. So frankly the government throwing his hands up and saying well. There's nothing we can do is is really really weak. And it's always been weak and the government has recently received a ton of scrutiny for this and that has been there refrain every time there. Refrain is basically. Well we're the government. What could we possibly do. What do canadian blood services and heyman quebec. Say about why they haven't regardless of what the government tells them to do why they haven't ended this ban. Also here is where i believe. You've done some accessed information work right. Yeah that's exactly right. I mean you know publicly. The canadian blood services in hammock have been very very defensive about this. they're repeated insistence is That their obligation is to protect the blood supply and therefore they can't make any kind of risky movements but then argument really falls apart. Pretty quickly when you look at their own internal documents which basically alleged that the risk of opening to more You know gay men or men who have sex with men is pretty small and their internal memos actually knowledge basically two things. The first is that they're screening is incredibly good and that the risk of most Queer man. I is quite small The other part of that is. They acknowledged that when they've made changes in the past reducing that deferral period from five years to a year to three months of of celibacy That it actually hasn't made a large difference in many regards. It hasn't actually opened the door to amount of men who have sex with men donating blood be very discriminatory and disqualifying Policy but they also acknowledged that it hasn't led to any noticeable supply even raw numbers of hiv positive blood entering the blood supply or being attempted to be donated. What the internal memos do sort of recognize is that the k. Blood services and hammett quebec are operating based basically at a very conservative basis. They don't want to spook their long-term donors and that seems to be fundamentally one of the biggest problems at hand you know there's also a question of cost it is very can be very expensive Or sleep at least more expensive To to more adequately an aggressively screen blood four for hiv or two more individualized testing So so fundamentally the the conversation and the defense to hear from the canadian blood services and a hamid quebec is that this is about safety. It's just about safety. But that's not entirely true because we actually know. Based on other countries that have moved more aggressively on this we know from the their own modeling and we know from Other jurisdictions experiences that the risk is very low here And and fundamentally it is more about kind of entrenched positions that it is about any sort of risk aversion. The big story will be back in just a minute. What's at stake in terms of both a the stigma on the queer community obviously Remaining in place with this official policy and also just like there's actual benefits of blood to enter the system here if we got rid of this right like there's there's real tangible gains at stake. Yeah i mean we. We've actually faced blood. Shortages in many instances in recent years. Such that canadian blood services has come out and begged people to donate larger numbers. Even as it runs this disqualifying and discriminatory policy and defenses consistently. It's it's really frustrating in that regard because We'll an inadequate or unstable. Blood supply is a real public health problem And what's more i think. There is a general risk that covid nineteen has impacted the blood supply in a in a more substantial way such that detained blood services needs to expand their donor pool significantly in the next few years. They acknowledge based on these internal memos that i got that their donor base is currently too old. They need to recruit more youth. They actually acknowledge that Both disqualifying queer people men who have sex with men and you know the kind of homophobic backlash they've gotten from that has actually impacted their ability to find donors amongst youth which they desperately need right now. So this is a public health problem. This discriminatory policy is substantially Risking our long-term blood supply the and. Of course the the stigma that comes with this is you know is is really significant. It is not even correct any more to say that it never was correct but it's particularly today to say that. Hiv is a gay disease. You know that has always been thrown at queer people as as as a way to discredit and to sort of vilified them but we a lot of new transmission of hiv come from heterosexual people. In fact gay men are more likely to know their hiv status than a heterosexual person again. This is noted in the canadian. Blood services memo's ming knowledge. Gay men do a better job of getting tested of knowing their hiv status and of course their status and not donating blood whereas heterosexual people are less likely to go get a test. They're less likely in some cases to wear condoms or less likely to be on things like prep which can prevent hiv transmission so the stigmatization again of gay men as being vectors of disease is something that we've had to fight against for decades and this policy only entrenches that stigma long term and it cloaks set in medical terminology and cloak set and medical science as though it actually based in any sort of good research. And it's not. This is literally inertia. The only reason this policy exists is because it has always existed or at least always since the eighties. If you were to start from scratch and rewrite these policies devoe you would not ban gay men from donating blood. You would have a more effective lifestyle questionnaire right if you were to tomorrow. Start a new blood donor regime. You would ask. People are you monogamous. Do use condoms when you have sex. Are you on a prep are you. Do you get tested regularly. Those are the questions that would be really effective in making sure that people they don't don't accidentally donate blood and making sure also that you're donors know their own status instead. We don't do that. We just say no game and allowed. Them's the breaks. I hesitate to ask this in a way. That sounds optimistic. Just because the inertia on this has been so strong but is this coming to ahead. I mean trudeau is now going to face another election. This is gonna be on the list of promises he hasn't kept the conservatives are now looking to court beyond their traditional base and the evidence is overwhelming. Like how much longer can this thing. Hang on for you. I think. I think eventually canadian blood services amick quebec will come around. I think it is a matter of time. Like i said the other jurisdictions have done this. I the statistics to speak for themselves and there is a more effective way of doing this eventually. Became lead services are going to realize that the question is whether the federal government will get involved. I and and frankly i don't think so. The federal government has dug its heels in and said. We're not doing it. We can't do anything you know. Please keep giving us money game. But you know tough luck But like you know. The conservative party has recently got aboard this train. In a in a very very big way at it's thanks in large part to eric duncan the parties i ever openly amp and michelle ripple the conservative health critic who has always been the generally speaking a firm supporter of lgbtq writes They of course join the and dp the greens and the baloch who have always called for an end to the blood ban and it's now increasingly difficult for the liberals to come out and say they're the only party that's gonna go and fight for lgbtq rights when they're facing the opposition from every other party in parliament telling them to get a move on this and the refusing to do it It is really. It's it's frankly really insulting as well to watch this government. You throw his hands up and say well we. We couldn't possibly because if this discrimination were against really any other group. It's not hard to believe. The federal government would move heaven and earth to get rid of that policy whether it would be through a court challenged through their own system whether that would be through a new law. New regulation that you know more aggressive funding. Whatever it's hard to imagine discrimination and discriminatory policy against indigenous women or refugees or You know tree any other group medicalising in the sense. It's hard to imagine the federal government not fighting tooth and nail to get rid of it yet. The government in this case is going. Well we we just can't do anything even as every other party is giving them. This huge kind of political cover to do it. It's it's really really frustrating. But as you know it it's also heartening to see the conservative party which is not always been a friend to queer people. I think it's fair to say coming around on this getting on the right side of history and you spending some of that political capital to try and make change. Yeah the last thing also is. It's just it's really interesting to me even just to look at it from a totally cynical point of view from the liberal side and say like this is a really easy wind guys like. Why not. yeah. I i don't know what else yes. The answer to that is yes. If people ask me why haven't they done it. And it's a really tough question to answer. Because i don't know i don't know if it's just they don't want to overrule the bureaucrats they don't wanna look like make it look like they're You know risking the blood supply. I suppose i really think that. At the end of the day the biggest reason why the government has not done. This is that they just don't care enough. I don't care enough to do it. Hasn't that's fundamentally the problem. I think that is a appropriate damning place to end it. Thanks justin thanks. That's justin ling. Who i hope one day gets to stop writing about this issue because it actually gets done. That was the big story for more from us head to the big story. Podcast dot ca. Find us on twitter at the big story f. Pin email us anytime. You like the big story. Podcast all one word all lower case at our cio dot rogers dot com and at your favorite podcast player or your second or third favorite podcast player search. Our show hit follow. hit subscribe. Hit like whatever they tell you to do if they ask. If you'd like to leave her of you please say ass. Thanks for listening. Jordan heath rawlings. We'll talk tomorrow..
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"Youth which they desperately need right now. So this is a public health problem. This discriminatory policy is substantially risking our long-term blood supply. The and of course the the stigma that comes with this is you know is is really significant. It is not even correct any more to say that it never was correct but it's particularly today to say that. Hiv is a gay disease. You know that has always been thrown at queer people as as as a way to discredit and to sort of vilified them but we a lot of new transmission of hiv come from heterosexual people. In fact gay men are more likely to know their hiv status than a heterosexual person again. This is noted in the canadian. Blood services memo's ming knowledge. Gay men do a better job of getting tested of knowing their hiv status and of course their status and not donating blood whereas heterosexual people are less likely to go get a test. They're less likely in some cases to wear condoms or less likely to be on things like prep which can prevent hiv transmission so the stigmatization again of gay men as being vectors of disease is something that we've had to fight against for decades and this policy only entrenches that stigma long term and it cloaks said in medical terminology and cloaks it and medical science as though it actually based in any sort of good research. And it's not. This is literally inertia. The only reason this policy exists is because it has always existed or at least always since the eighties. If you were to start from scratch and rewrite these policies devoe you would not ban gay men from donating blood. You would have a more effective lifestyle questionnaire right if you were to tomorrow. Start a new blood donor regime. You would ask. People are you monogamous. Do use condoms when you have sex. Are you on. Prep are you. Do you get tested regularly. Those are the questions that would be really effective in making sure that people they don't don't accidentally donate blood and making sure also that you're donors know their own status instead. We don't do that. We just say no game and allowed. Them's the breaks. I hesitate to ask this in a way. That sounds optimistic. Just because the inertia on this has been so strong but is this coming to ahead. I mean trudeau is now going to face another election. This is gonna be on the list of promises he hasn't kept the conservatives are now looking to court beyond their traditional base and the evidence is overwhelming. Like how much longer can this thing. Hang on for you. I think. I think eventually canadian blood services amick quebec will come around. I think it is a matter of time. Like i said you know other jurisdictions have done this i The statistics to speak for themselves and there is a more effective way of doing this eventually. Became lead services are going to realize that the question is whether the federal government will get involved. I and and frankly i don't think so. The federal government has dug its heels in and said. We're not doing it. We can't do anything you know. Please keep giving us money game. But you know tough luck But like you know. The conservative party has recently got aboard this train in a in a very very big way. It's thanks in large part to eric. Duncan the parties i ever openly amp and michelle ripple the conservative health critic who has always been the generally speaking a firm supporter of lgbtq writes They of course join the dp. The greens and the baloch who have always called for an end to the blood ban and it's now increasingly difficult for the liberals to come out and say they're the only party that's gonna go and fight for. Lgbtq rights when they're facing the opposition from every other party in parliament telling them to get a move on this and the refusing to do it It is really. It's it's frankly really insulting as well to watch this government you throw it hands up and say well we. We couldn't possibly because if this discrimination were against really any other group. It's not hard to believe. The federal government would move heaven and earth to get rid of that policy whether it would be through a court challenged through their own system whether that would be through a new law. New regulation that you know more aggressive funding. Whatever it's hard to imagine discrimination and discriminatory policy against indigenous women or refugees or You know tree any other group medicalising in the sense. It's hard to imagine the federal government not fighting tooth and nail to get rid of it yet. The government in this case is going. Well we we just can't do anything even as every other party is giving them. This huge kind of political cover to do it. It's it's really really frustrating. But as you know it it's also heartening to see the conservative party which is not always been a friend to queer people. I think it's fair to say coming around on this getting on the right side of history and you spending some of that political capital to try and make change. Yeah the last thing also is. It's just it's really interesting to me even just to look at it from a totally cynical point of view from the liberal side and say like this is a really easy. Win guys like why not. Yeah i i don't know what else yes. The answer to that is yes. People always ask me. Why haven't they done it. And it's a really tough question to answer. Because i don't know i don't know if it's just. They don't want to overrule the bureaucrats they don't wanna look like make it look like they're You know risking the blood supply. I suppose i really think that. At the end of the day the biggest reason why the government has not done. This is that they just don't care enough. I don't care enough to do it. Hasn't that's fundamentally the problem. I think that is a appropriate damning place to end it. Thanks justin thanks. That's justin ling. Who i hope one day gets to stop writing about this issue because it actually gets done. That was the big story for more from us head to the big story. Podcast dot ca. Find us on twitter at the big story. Email us anytime you like the big story podcast all lower case at our cio dot. Rogers dot com. And at your favorite podcast player or your second or third favorite podcast player search. Our show hit follow. hit subscribe. Hit like whatever they tell you to do if they ask. If you'd like to leave her of you please say ass. Thanks for listening. Jordan heath rawlings. We'll talk tomorrow..
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"Youth which they desperately need right now. So this is a public health problem. This discriminatory policy is substantially Risking our long-term blood supply the and. Of course the the stigma that comes with this is you know is is really significant. It is not even correct any more to say that it never was correct but it's particularly today to say that. Hiv is a gay disease that has always been thrown at queer people as as as a way to discredit and to sort of vilified them but we a lot of new transmission of hiv come from heterosexual people. In fact gay men are more likely to know their hiv status than a heterosexual person again. This is noted in the canadian. Blood services memo's ming knowledge. Gay men do a better job of getting tested of knowing their hiv status and of course their status and not donating blood whereas heterosexual people are less likely to go get a test. They're less likely in some cases to wear condoms or less likely to be on things like prep which can prevent hiv transmission so the stigmatization again of gay men as being vectors of disease is something that we've had to fight against for decades and this policy only entrenches that stigma long term and it cloaks set in medical terminology and cloaks it and medical science as though it actually based in any sort of good research. And it's not. This is literally inertia. The only reason this policy exists is because it has always existed or at least always since the eighties. If you were to start from scratch and rewrite these policies devoe you would not ban gay men from donating blood. You would have a more effective lifestyle questionnaire right if you were to tomorrow. Start a new blood donor regime. You would ask. People are you monogamous. Do use condoms when you have sex. Are you on. Prep are you. Do you get tested regularly. Those are the questions that would be really effective in making sure that people they don't don't accidentally donate blood and making sure also that you're donors know their own status instead. We don't do that. We just say no game and allowed. Them's the breaks. I hesitate to ask this in a way. That sounds optimistic. Just because the inertia on this has been so strong but is this coming to ahead. I mean trudeau is now going to face another election. This is gonna be on the list of promises he hasn't kept the conservatives are now looking to court beyond their traditional base and the evidence is overwhelming. Like how much longer can this thing. Hang on for you. I think. I think eventually canadian blood services amick quebec will come around. I think it is a matter of time. Like i said the other jurisdictions have done this. I the statistics speak for themselves and there is a more effective way of doing this eventually. Became lead services are going to realize that the question is whether the federal government will get involved. I and and frankly i don't think so. The federal government has dug its heels in and said. We're not doing it. We can't do anything you know. Please keep giving us money game. But you know tough luck But like you know. The conservative party has recently got aboard this train in a in a very very big way. It's thanks in large part to eric. Duncan the parties i ever openly amp and michelle ripple the conservative health critic who has always been the generally speaking a firm supporter of lgbtq writes They of course join the dp. The greens and the baloch who have always called for an end to the blood ban and it's now increasingly difficult for the liberals to come out and say they're the only party that's gonna go and fight for. Lgbtq rights when they're facing the opposition from every other party in parliament telling them to get a move on this and the refusing to do it It is it's. It's frankly really insulting as well to watch this government you throw it hands up and say well we. We couldn't possibly because if this discrimination were against really any other group. It's not hard to believe. The federal government would move heaven and earth to get rid of that policy whether it would be through a court challenged through their own system whether that would be through a new law. New regulation that you know more aggressive funding. Whatever it's hard to imagine discrimination and discriminatory policy against indigenous women or refugees or You know tree any other group medicalising in the sense. It's hard to imagine the federal government not fighting tooth and nail to get rid of it yet. The government in this case is going. Well we we just can't do anything even as every other party is giving them. This huge kind of political cover to do it. It's it's really really frustrating. But as you know it it's also heartening to see the conservative party which is not always been a friend to queer people. I think it's fair to say coming around on this getting on the right side of history and you spending some of that political capital to try and make change. Yeah the last thing also is. It's just it's really interesting to me even just to look at it from a totally cynical point of view from the liberal side and say like this is a really easy. Win guys like why not. Yeah i i don't know what else yes. The answer to that is yes. People always ask me. Why haven't they done it. And it's a really tough question to answer. Because i don't know i don't know if it's just. They don't want to overrule the bureaucrats they don't wanna look like make it look like they're You know risking the blood supply. I suppose i really think that. At the end of the day the biggest reason why the government has not done. This is that they just don't care enough. I don't care enough to do it. Hasn't that's fundamentally the problem. I think that is a appropriate damning place to end it. Thanks justin thanks. That's justin ling. Who i hope one day gets to stop writing about this issue because it actually gets done. That was the big story for more from us head to the big story. Podcast dot ca. Find us on twitter at the big story f. Pin email us anytime. You like the big story. Podcast all one word all lower case at our cio dot rogers dot com and at your favorite podcast player or your second or third favorite podcast player search. Our show hit follow. hit subscribe. Hit like whatever they tell you to do if they ask. If you'd like to leave her of you please say ass. Thanks for listening. Jordan heath rawlings. We'll talk tomorrow..
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"Conservatives on lgbt issues jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Justin length is an investigative reporter. The canadian journalist who has been covering the blood banned for how long now just Like six years. Maybe longer many many enough years too many years i think. Why don't we just start at the beginning For people who heard this of like a talking point in a political fight over the last decade or so. How old is the blood band. And where did it come from right so you you go back about four decades in and you've fair confronted with the really disquieting reality of the blood of the tainted blood scandal right. You had cases the hundreds of cases across the country Where folks received blood transfusions that were not adequately screened that ultimately led to sero conversion for hiv that ultimately impacted them With other new hepatitis diseases as well as other infectious diseases And it was a national scandal. It was absolutely shattered. People's illusions about the blood system a better health system right it. It it fundamentally you know weakened trust in a meal what governments ought to be doing to ensure the health and safety of people who rely on government services so you go back to that point and you realize the sort of risks inherent in what protecting the blood supply you know actually means and unfortunately from that you know there was a good thing came from that. Which was we actually had a conversation about what Ensuring safety of the blood supply actually means but on the flip side you also started to see This really sort of reactionary and knee-jerk blame placed on the queer community in canada. Who of course have historically faced higher hiv rates of that other populations and even going back to the initial outbreaks. The initial scandal was sort of unfounded You queer gay. Men were largely blamed for The prevalence of hiv in in the blood system and not altogether fairly. You know the health candidate at that point was doing an incredibly inadequate job of screening the blood supply and actually was sourcing blood from very shady sources. In some cases the suggestion the health candidate was actually buying blood from us prisoners so suffice it to say gay men from the very beginning were sort of scapegoated as to why this initially happened. But in the years following that the canadian government sets up the canadian blood services and it's quebec counterpart hamid quebec and they're tasked with running at an arm's length process running the blood donation system and the and the blood collection system and day as part of their new mandate. Drop all these rules designed to make sure the blood supply is safe and one of those rules from very very early on. Is that men who have sex with men are forbidden from donating at all and that is largely the the the the the question that the you know the the ban that exists till today. It's been weakened time in the past decade or so. You've seen that. Outright prohibition dropping to drop down into a time based bands so if you haven't had sex in the last five years and then one year and then three months and then you can can donate but of course that applies to an incredibly small number of people because the reality is lots of folks are sexually active. It's quite a an overbroad waves of screening donors. there is no exemption if you're monogamous there's no exemption if you're a long term committed relationship If you are on prep which can which can prevent transmission of hiv. There's no carve out. If you religiously use condoms for example it really is a ban targeting gay men in some cases trans women as well and trans men And it is discriminatory and it's very face and this is something that prime minister justin trudeau said when he was in opposition it is a discriminator discriminatory and homophobic policy. That is a vestige of of a government scandal of of of the inadequacy of government. Procedures and gay men have always been sort of forced To to bear the consequences of that. We're going to talk about the homophobia and discrimination behind why this band persists in a minute but i you know that was four plus decades ago and the screening was horrible and there was a scandal. How much better has the science behind. Blood screening become a over the last four decades. And how good are we now at finding this stuff when it's in there i mean it's so remarkably better i mean i. It's tough to underscore. How drastically better screening has become Four hiv for habit for the hepatitis viruses for syphilis. And so on You go back to the eighties and actually governments. And and and health agencies were capable of screening for. Hiv wasn't obviously as good as it is today and by large. They chose not to do that or they failed to do that. but you know you go into today and actually for the last five six seven years. are screening is good enough such that You're the the tests are able to catch. Hiv positive blood Within a few days of cerro converting which means basically that. The vast fast majority you maybe. Even in every single case where a obliteration would be infectious disease. Screening procedures will catch it so the actual risk of hiv positive blood being donated is quite small. And we've seen it. We have not seen a single case in the last several decades of hiv positive blood Being donated or leading to a transmission of hiv from the blood system even though we know that hiv positive people who were not gay of course do donate blood. It does happen it is caught it is the screening is is so sensitive that ensures that any issue positive blood donated through the came blood services. Rival quebec is flagged and is removed so the screening is nearly perfect. Been forty plus years You just mentioned at the end of your previous answer. That opposition justin trudeau. Who is now. Prime minister called it discriminatory and said it needs to end. Justin trudeau has been in power for five plus years. Now.
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Justin length is an investigative reporter. The canadian journalist who has been covering the blood banned for how long now just Like six years. Maybe longer many many enough years too many years i think. Why don't we just start at the beginning For people who heard this of like a talking point in a political fight over the last decade or so. How old is the blood band. And where did it come from right so you you go back about four decades in and you've fair confronted with the really disquieting reality of the blood of the tainted blood scandal right. You had cases the hundreds of cases across the country Where folks received blood transfusions that were not adequately screened that ultimately led to sero conversion for hiv that ultimately impacted them With other new hepatitis diseases as well as other infectious diseases And it was a national scandal. It was absolutely shattered. People's illusions about the blood system a better health system right it. It it fundamentally you know weakened trust in a meal what governments ought to be doing to ensure the health and safety of people who rely on government services so you go back to that point and you realize the sort of risks inherent in what protecting the blood supply you know actually means and unfortunately from that you know there was a good thing came from that. Which was we actually had a conversation about what Ensuring safety of the blood supply actually means but on the flip side you also started to see This really sort of reactionary and knee-jerk blame placed on the queer community in canada. Who of course have historically faced higher hiv rates of that other
The Big Story
Trudeaus Liberals Promised to End the Blood Ban
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Justin length is an investigative reporter. The canadian journalist who has been covering the blood banned for how long now just Like six years. Maybe longer many many enough years too many years i think. Why don't we just start at the beginning For people who heard this of like a talking point in a political fight over the last decade or so. How old is the blood band. And where did it come from right so you you go back about four decades in and you've fair confronted with the really disquieting reality of the blood of the tainted blood scandal right. You had cases the hundreds of cases across the country Where folks received blood transfusions that were not adequately screened that ultimately led to sero conversion for hiv that ultimately impacted them With other new hepatitis diseases as well as other infectious diseases And it was a national scandal. It was absolutely shattered. People's illusions about the blood system a better health system right it. It it fundamentally you know weakened trust in a meal what governments ought to be doing to ensure the health and safety of people who rely on government services so you go back to that point and you realize the sort of risks inherent in what protecting the blood supply you know actually means and unfortunately from that you know there was a good thing came from that. Which was we actually had a conversation about what Ensuring safety of the blood supply actually means but on the flip side you also started to see This really sort of reactionary and knee-jerk blame placed on the queer community in canada. Who of course have historically faced higher hiv rates of that other
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"End to share vaccines. They actually sent thirty. One thousand doses with another seventy four thousand on its way and also the european union and the united states have also promised to share one hundred million and eighty million doses respectively with low income countries. The end of the year but the reality is regions in for example africa urgently. Need at least twenty million doses of the astra zeneca vaccine in the next six weeks to administer second doses to everyone who received their first within the eight to twelve week recommended interval between doses. So we have to remember that africa you know. They're largely relying on india through the serum institute to give them vaccines but because of the situation in india right now and rightfully so india has decided to not export any vaccines until the end of the year. So here's the question. This is a prime opportunity for wealthy countries such as canada the us. You're nations and the u. k. To come forward and to see if they can band together and send those doses. You know that is heavily needed by africa. And yet there's no concerted efforts happening right now and it was really ironic to me that we had about forty five thousand astrazeneca doses were about to be expired and magically now they can be used until july life i and again losing these opportunities that we have to send doses to countries that are low income to help prevent deadly waves to come to protect the most vulnerable such as health care workers and older people. It's not happening and and it's really really really disappointing to see the level of vaccine nationalism. That is happening. And also the competition and that is happening between the us and canada as we've seen in the media countess consistently boasting how much they're trying to get head of the vaccine game compared to the us. I wanted to ask you that because I guess a few people have by now. But you know you posted on twitter that this shouldn't be the vaccine olympics. Explain that to me. It's really disheartening. To see our country particularly our government leaders and different media sources keeping track to see if canada is beating the us in terms of how many people are getting vaccinated and again it really shows how close minded as a country we are and that we are very ignorant in terms of what is happening outside our orders and having the media in particularly reinforce these messages are extremely dangerous because if fails to acknowledge and as you know the greater canadian population got we're actually not going to be a name this pandemic unless the pandemic ends globally and we can't frame the global vaccine rollout as the olympics. It's it's absolutely not fair especially when we know that low income countries are unfortunately having to wait for countries like our cells in canada to be fully vaccinated until we can start sharing doses with them. I don't know about you jordan by. I don't feel very proud to be canadian right now. And there is definitely does not seem that we are all in this together. Globally and that canada's actually being very selfish right now and really putting themselves at first which is frustrating because we are going to be fully vaccinated in the months to come. It's going to happen and it's really unfortunate that they are not thinking more broadly and really working right now in terms of how do we make sure that everyone in this world is protected from the virus and not only us. It certainly seems like and i can understand it from the point of view of just an individual canadian citizen. You know you're you've been scared for more than a year. You're desperate to get vaccinated but what i wonder about is if the governments are seeing the same data your looking at we're all seeing it. Has it just become politicized with the provinces complaining about the number of vaccines were getting and the federal government blaming the provinces for the rollouts and is that. What's making prioritizing only canadians until we're all done such an important part of the government's plan absolutely the vaccine rula has been extremely politicized end. It's also you know ensuring that the economy doesn't also get affected and it has already been affected by trying to really see. How much more can we see the economy through this rule. And we've seen it here in canada we've seen across provinces and a release speaks to the fact you know who was in line i to get vaccinated vaccination particularly during the second phase rollout and you know a classic example was that we knew that the vaccine should go to essential workers and health workers and seniors. I and we didn't see that happening. I mean needless to say we're in a better state right now. I still don't think kids should be accent being vaccinated right now. I think they should have been able to wait longer. They can afford to wait longer. 'cause we know that the rate of having covid in younger children is only one point two percent and we are reaching that mark for many priority populations that they need their second vaccine right now in order to have the full effect protection against the virus having candidate and also the us been vaccinated at the sing ray. We need to also think about. Why is this happening in yesterday's Competition but it's also to make sure that we can open the borders Up again between the. Us and canada for trade purposes to help boost the economy again. So i think we have to always be mindful of that when decisions are being made. It's at the point where it's actually about ensuring that we save the economy and unfortunately does take presidents in terms of. How do we save lives. Will this is the last thing that i want to ask you. I mentioned i would ask it a little while ago if we can't do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing and helping countries around the world convince me or the listeners that we should do it for our own self interest. You know that. Why won't this pandemic end until the pandemic ends in africa or southeast asia. The reality is that everybody deserves getting vaccinated across the world. We cannot be happy if we continue to see others suffer because they're not getting access to the vaccine so equity in vaccine access is the right thing to do. It's the moral thing to do. We need to care about saving lives and all countries not just our own also understanding that health is a fundamental human right. Vaccines are like essential medicines and really need to be an integral part of ending the pandemic globally. If we are all as canadians pushing for global vaccine equity it really showcases that canadians are part of expression of global solidarity and compassion at suns clear. Message that we are in this together and that this pandemic will not be over four canadians until it is over for the entire world also. It's a smart thing to do. Having global vaccination coverage really offers the quickest path to ending this global pandemic and also reaching global population immunity. We can't just focus in on herd immunity in canada. Because none of us will be safe until we are all safe. Dr banerjee thank you so much for opening up on this issue with us today. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Really appreciate dr a nine. Tina banerjee of mcgill university. That was the big story for more from us. Head to the big story. Podcasts dot ca. Find us on twitter at the big story f. p. n. you can talk to us anytime on email the big story podcast all one word all lower case at our cio dot rogers dot com as always every podcast player in the world. You will find our podcast in same thing with smart speakers. Just ask them to play. The big story podcast. You can do it in that voice if you want. Thanks for listening. I'm jordan heath rawlings. We'll talk tomorrow..
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Stephen brent is one of canada's most acclaimed sports writers. He writes at sports net. New posts writer's block on sports net five ninety-two fan and stephen. You didn't say how many this is. You're asking memory. Work is not my strength right now. But i th eleven or twelve somewhere in the neck. There was the first one was calgary. Nineteen eighty eight. And i wasn't. I haven't been in everyone since then and i haven't been one since london. twenty twelve. But most of the ones between calgary. London i i attended. Which is it was a tour of the world among other things still before we start talking about a tokyo and the olympics. That are set to start in less than two months. What is the vibe of the olympics. What makes them a special to cover or special to be at i. It's that's all the cliches apply right. It's the entire planet gathering In one place every well every two years every four years depending on how you want to interpret the the the cycle of winter summer games. And you don't no matter what the actual individual sports are. It's wet links. It together is that idea of well. The the nineteenth century ideals of olympism which you know in a lot of ways are utterly phony and where phony in the nineteenth century but we. It's we we happily will give ourselves over to them. Which is the idea of fresh-faced people competing for For home and country and for the glory of it and it's not about money accepted is about money but it's not about money it's not about you know kind of its above politics and above all of the things that separate us. It's a it's a. it's the great moment of unification. that's that's the vibe. And sometimes that requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief. Sometimes it requires an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief but the formula always works bear the cooper. Dan was onto something. And as we're speaking. Now what are the plans for this. Summer's olympics which. I guess should have been last summer's olympics. Well the plan is that they will happen that they will go ahead no matter what and i think. We're almost pass the word look or not. We'll get into it but we're not passed the absolute The moment when you when you could not cancel they could always be cancelled but it is at this point you know. I think last year when we talk to people like dick pound about what the what the day was when they had to make a call on whether the games are going to go last summer. It was april first and they cancelled before that Obviously you know. That's a rare view mirror this year. And they they are on so unless the japanese government changes its mind and that's really the only body that could change things The olympics will happen as scheduled in in tokyo environs this summer now without fans and you know in a very different kind of with a very different kind of than any other olympics before but as of now. That's what's going to happen. And what's the situation in japan right now you know. I think we're so focused at least most of us are on the covid situation in our neighborhoods or cities our country. What's it like over there Again i will. Here's my qualify. I'm neither an epidemiologist for an expert on japanese politics. But i'll do my best okay Up play one on the On vodka's for today it they. Are you know the the situation. There is that Japan for one reason or another has a very very low back a vaccine vaccination rate. It's somewhere at this. Point is between two and three percent of the population which is incredibly low compared to here or the united states or the uk or almost anywhere else in the world we would talk about so They have dodged some of the worst of the covid pandemic. but they're you know they are at a point right now where they're certainly significant amount number of cases but there's there is so much invested in this olympic games in terms of political capital in terms of capital capital in terms of money that you know having deferred you know having pushed them back by a year. They're left really with only with only two options in. You know one is to hold the games down. Wants to cancel. And there's no you can't push them back another year so and there's all kinds of reasons to believe that the japanese public has not onside with this right now though every public opinion poll would tell you that that's that's coming out of japan And i think you know. One of the most significant kind of signpost of the last couple of weeks was that the one of the major newspapers in japan national newspaper the asahi shimbun which is also an olympic sponsor in an editorial called for the games to be cancelled so that somebody was skin in the game. That's an organization with a lot of skin in the game coming out and saying oh they should be cancelled. So they're right now. What seemed to be a disconnect between what public sentiment is in japan and what the government is going to push ahead and do has the government said anything publicly about These opinion polls in the editorial in the concerned. I nothing that i've seen again. I'm not gonna tribe pretend evidence cyclope ignoring of what's going on japan right now but it every every message. That's come out of the government. Is that it that it's going to go ahead. They've just begun Vaccinating olympic athletes for instance like there there no signs that this that these olympics w- the double negative here. There are no signs that they will not happen. everything points to the fact that the games will start on schedule this summer. Now i'm gonna ask you to stop playing epidemiologist and political reporter. Thank come and get back to. Yeah you're welcome. We just needed to set the scene to kind of have this discussion because why we wanted to talk to you is. You've written a lot and spoken a lot about the ioc and how it works. And what's at stake at the games. Can you give us a picture of just when you say capital capital How much money is at stake here. Like how big is this. Well it's enormous i. I'm not sure. I could put a dollar figure on it but you know you imagine the global olympic business run by the out of lausanne. Imagine all of those corporate sponsors. Imagine all of those broadcasts and content rights deals that the stuff that actually fuels the games. you know the imagine ticket sales although the local organizing committee is gonna take the hit on that because they're not going to be able to sell any tickets are gonna have to refund money to anybody who bought a ticket so the local organizing committee is gonna take a bath no matter what And japan is gonna take us bath on this no matter what but the ioc similarily going to have a huge a huge drop in. Its you.
The Big Story
"jordan heath rawlings" Discussed on The Big Story
"Parade. You know everyone who stays home and you also know the people who show up to protest for young people in what are often very religious communities who have just come out or who are wrestling with that decision. What does small town pride me. What does it mean to these towns. And what do these towns need to make their pride celebrations bigger. I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Sheltering is the co director producer and editor of a new dock from extra called small town fried facial jordan. Before we get into the details. Maybe just tell me. Which small towns did you guys go to absolutely so we went to taber alberta Which has a population of about nine thousand people We also visited annapolis royal in nova scotia and they have a population of about five hundred people and Our last location was in norman wells in the northwest territories and they have a population of about eight hundred people. This documentary is fascinating And i love the idea behind it and we're going to get into the specifics of where you went and what you saw. But can you just start by explaining in general what is so fascinating and meaningful about pride in small town. Canada so My partner of twelve years Grew up as a closeted queer teen in the mid nineties. Much like myself Only she grew up in a small town nestled in the also in the ottawa valley This would have been in the mid nineties when You know the internet and gsa's and all of that good stuff. wasn't readily available to us and In two thousand eighteen her small town Called smiths falls celebrated their first Pride event. I think it was about fifty. People may be that what walked down their main street with their rainbow. Flags and Her mom was there and she got very emotional. And i asked her if she was okay and she said i just never thought i would see this happen. here in my small town and Struck me as someone who's grown up in a big urban center With a wealth of resources available to me That wasn't the case for Other people my generation and it made me curious to know what was going on in other small towns across canada and we had seen in that particular summer an uptick in a trend that a lot of small towns across the country were starting or having their second or third Pride events and so we saw that as an opportunity to go and try to speak to some of these folks and see what they're doing now and how different the work that they're able to do is now than it was just a shortest twenty or thirty years ago right and that's kind of the next thing i wanted to ask is is. This is a really recent phenomenon right. And how and. When did the shift happen or is it just different for every town. Kind of reaches the level where you know they. They're ready to take the step if that's a good way to put it totally. I mean i think there's a lot of factors involved right. It's like you can have Let's take a look at some of the towns in our documentary lake. Norman wells has a population of about eight hundred annapolis. Royal has a population of about five hundred But they had the the the people in the willingness to get the work The important work done there And then you have a place like taper which has a population of nine thousand people and you know they. They also have their their communities that are trying to break through but then you know they. They receive a lot of resistance from their Their local council Some of the other people in their community. And so you know size doesn't really it's not like there's a threshold where you hit okay. We're at this population and so now this is something we can do. I think a lot of these changes are happening organically and we just wanted to highlight the work that these people are doing it. It doesn't look unlike a lot of the political activism that You know the bigger cities have done like in the seventies and eighties and i found that That comparison and the similarities. They're very interesting. I think like most things. In small towns the change just comes. They're a little bit later And so they seem to be experiencing Kind of that. That sea change now. It seems which is fantastic. And you know. I think part of making the film is to draw attention to these small places And to let these communities know that they're supported by us and by everyone I think a lot of people to can. I think there's a lot of people especially canadian experience Much like my partner who grew up in small towns and then Move into big cities and because they think that that's perhaps the only option they had but that you know we want to. We wanted to showcase that. These small places are trying to create inclusive spaces. Not everyone has the privilege or the the resources to leave their towns and so you know they're staying and trying to make these places places where they feel safe not just for them but for generations that after them. Can you tell me more about how. These events are similar to the earlier prides in the big city. We had Extras editor in chief. Rachel giza on the program. I think a couple of years ago to speak about how well pride and places like toronto or new york is now like this huge colorful.
The Big Story
What Does Pride Look Like in Small-Town Canada?
"I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Sheltering is the co director producer and editor of a new dock from extra called small town fried facial jordan. Before we get into the details. Maybe just tell me. Which small towns did you guys go to absolutely so we went to taber alberta Which has a population of about nine thousand people We also visited annapolis royal in nova scotia and they have a population of about five hundred people and Our last location was in norman wells in the northwest territories and they have a population of about eight hundred people. This documentary is fascinating And i love the idea behind it and we're going to get into the specifics of where you went and what you saw. But can you just start by explaining in general what is so fascinating and meaningful about pride in small town. Canada so My partner of twelve years Grew up as a closeted queer teen in the mid nineties. Much like myself Only she grew up in a small town nestled in the also in the ottawa valley This would have been in the mid nineties when You know the internet and gsa's and all of that good stuff. wasn't readily available to us and In two thousand eighteen her small town Called smiths falls celebrated their first Pride event. I think it was about fifty. People may be that what walked down their main street with their rainbow. Flags and Her mom was there and she got very emotional. And i asked her if she was okay and she said i just never thought i would see this happen. here in my small town
The Big Story
Does Your Home Have Dangerous Levels of Radon?
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Declan keogh is a reporter at the investigative journalism bureau which combined with toronto star on this investigation. Hey declan hi how are you. I'm great. thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Why don't you start with some basic science and explain what is right on Rate on a naturally occurring gas The comes from the breakdown of uranium in soil. Its presence across the globe when it's outside it just kind of dissipates into the air and when it's in your house it gets trapped inside. How does it end up in homes in the first place. It comes from the ground often through the foundation whether it's cracks in the foundation or newer foundations. It just it just comes up out of the ground. We'll get into the details of this in just a second. But what does it do to somebody Living a house over you know decades or a life span With high levels of radon. I think it depends But but the general consensus is. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer in canada. it gets in your lungs it. It messes with your dna and If you're unlucky it can turn an lung cancer which is of course the deadliest form of cancer. So that's the main thing It it levels. And and the length of time all play into it lifestyle but there's estimates that for an increase of one hundred. Becquerels per meter cubed which is the unit they measure the in It can increase your your risk of lung cancer by sixteen percent. wow how did this story start For you guys. I guess it started with the data. You got your hand you want to sort of. Tell me the process here. Yes so I work at the investigative journalism bureau. And we're a pretty new nonprofit newsroom and were based at the school of public health at the university of toronto
The Big Story
What Happened to the Wage Subsidies the Government Gave Businesses?
"I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Patrick breath our is the tax and fiscal policy reporter at the mail and he along with several of his colleagues worked on this investigation. Hey patrick jordan. I for those who didn't encounter it during the pandemic. Can you just explain what the emergency wage subsidy is. It's the candida emergency wage. Subsidy is one of the big programs. In fact the biggest program that auto was rolling out to about this time last year to help a businesses as the pandemic release sent the economy into a tailspin. And the idea was rather than you know. Pay money to people after they had lost their job to try and keep them from losing their job in the first place by subsidizing their employers and the deal was if you keep people on staff the government will subsidize up to seventy five percent of their salary in order to avoid layoffs which businesses qualified for. That was kind of anybody who could apply pretty much. Everybody i mean the were. You know there's sort of were. Businesses added along the way So the very first duration of this was a very small subsidy only for small business that lasted about a week before an uproar pushed the government to lodge the the candidate emergency wage subsidy so any company then that could show that it had a thirty percent revenue. Loss for comparable period could qualify. And then once you've qualified you could get as they set up to seventy five percent of wages subsidized. Not just for employs. You might have laid off before in the company.
The Big Story
From the UK, a Glimpse of Canadas Future
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story ebony. Renee baker is a freelance canadian journalist. Living luckily for her she in london. England ebony rene joined in how you doing. I'm doing okay. But i bet given the news. I'm seeing coming out of london that you were doing better. Yeah i constantly. I'm feeling a bit ask. What's the word guilty. When i talked to my canadian friends and family because we definitely somehow at the beginning of the pandemic we were not in the best place but somehow we have ended up where we are actually going out and kind of enjoying life right now. So it's been good. Well that's what we're talking to you about today. Because i feel like we're about six weeks or so behind you so the real thing that i i wanna know is just. What's the first thing that you did upon a lockdown lifting. I mean the thing is. It's been such a and it's been the same in canada as well. Such a staggered approach to lockdown lifting don. I'm kind of like when did things open again. Like it was kind of like one role in lockdown. But i guess as of march things started to reopen slowly but surely honestly. I think the first thing i did was. Walk around to find a walk-in stay said an outdoor patio and find a spot. I wasn't really like i wasn't too optimistic. I wasn't booking tables because a lot of people were doing that ahead of the announcement that was meant to be made last month. So i wasn't optimistic and then i kind of credit so the first day things open so that was april twelfth. I found myself and my roommate just walking to find anywhere that would serve me alcohol much more expensive price that i have been drinking at home so i think that was definitely the first thing upon actually finding a place it was just like. Wow have not done this for like what. Maybe six months may be more.
The Big Story
Why Public Health Communications Are an Utter Disaster
"I'm jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Matt gurney is a columnist with tv ontario and with the national post he writes a newsletter called code. Forty seven which you can find on sub stack. Hey matt hey good here. thank you so much. if. I had to ask you to describe canada's public health communication during this pandemic in one word. What would you come up with bad. And if you allowed me more words and if this was not family friendly podcast i could add at least one qualifier before bed but for our purposes now bad will do what are the hallmarks of again just for everybody listening. Who who didn't get it from the insurer. We're not talking about specific policy today. We're talking about how that policy's been communicated To the public what makes for bad public communication. I think maybe it's easier to answer the question in the reverse what what makes for good bubba communication which is Clarity accessible language free of jargon are strong communicators. Whoever your chosen person is doesn't have to be the policymaker doesn't have to be the expert but there needs to be someone who's actually communicating the policy in a way that they are comfortable with it. I mean even if they're not themselves an expert there are. There are many good communication professionals in this country who who are not originally either by by workplace experience or education actually experts in the topic but they they learn they mastered so. I would say it's clarity. It's simple language. It is consistency. There are complications. Are come into it because we were. We live in a big diverse country right. And then you kind of have to figure out okay. Having communicated effectively english and french then we gotta go out and start getting these Messages out to people who are new canadians and speak other languages. But even in in the core official languages we have not been clear. We have not been consistent. We have not had effective communicators. Actually doing the job of the communication
The Big Story
How Will Babies Born During the Pandemic Meet the World?
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Dr sherri madigan associate professor psychology. Department of the university of calgary she holds a candidate research chair in determinants of child development. Hello dr megan. thanks for having me. You are most welcome i will tell you. We got the idea for this episode. from a listener. Who wrote us with a question. Can i begin by asking you that question. Yes sounds great. So this is a listener unnamed. Diana who wrote that. I've had a baby during the pandemic and he is about to start daycare. He has not been held by anyone. Outside of our household no other adults have ever cared for him although my parents would have loved to help travel restrictions during the pandemic prevented them from visiting. I'm worried for what this means for his socialization. So should she worried. Well it's a really good question actually a common one so this has been a topic. I've been asked to actually speak on a few times. Because i know that parents are thinking a lot about this and worried i guess what i would say is that it is going to be a little bit difficult for kids to transition into a daycare environment. Because it's going to be so new and novel to them now. The reality is that kids always find it hard transition into a daycare environment because it's new and novel to them so that's not different than how life was pre pandemic but i think the big difference now when kids are are doing that switch over into day care is that they haven't had a lot of interaction with other people and they're going to be thrusted into an environment where everything is really really knew and the interactions are really new.
The Big Story
Canadas Vaccine Hunters Have Tips for Booking Shots
"On jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Josh calvin is a software engineer. But that's not why you know him. He is one of the people who developed the vaccine hunters twitter account and discord server and anything else. Josh facebook page facebook page. Where did this all start. Why and when and how. Yeah so vaccine hunters candidate started our creator. His name is andrew and originally he was just looking for to get his parents like a vaccine appointment and he was able to eventually do that but he realized that like this was really challenging to do and he's pretty computer savvy being a software developer so he found vaccine hunter dot org which is a website in the states and was doing a lot of vaccine awareness. They did a lot of like leftover vaccine things but he he founded. That would probably be something. We could use in canada regardless of how or vaccine rolex going or anything like that so he created vaccine hunters dot ca and also created the twitter account back centers can and created a discord servers. Well which is for those. That don't know what that is. It's kind of like a chatting tool similar to like an instant messenger. You might have at work with different chatrooms and things like that and that's how it really got started In the focus was on real time information Mainly around vaccine awareness where people could book appointments how they could book appointments and helping people book appointments. We do not hang around outside vaccine clinics or s health workers. We have zero tolerance for any of that behavior Looking for leftovers. Were trying to just help. Fill every possible slot with a vaccine. How long ago was that. That andrew started this He started at church so it hasn't really been that long. It's only been really maybe a month. Maybe just over a month at this point.
The Big Story
What About Canada's Blueprint for an Amazing Health Data System
"Jordan heath rawlings. This is the big story. Justin ling is a freelance writer based in montreal who reports four among other places vice the globe and mail. And for this piece mcclain's justice adrian. Why don't you start with What's going to make every canadian listening to jellison. And tell us how israel got so many vaccines and why right so going back news at the start of the vaccine conversation really last summer or thereabouts. When a bunch of countries we're going around to various vaccine manufacturers and trying to figure out You know how much they're going to pay per dose when those doses are going to arrive which company they're going to go with so on and so forth. Israel did something very very clever and it's something that israel has sort of been delivering up towards for a long time. They went to pfizer for the most part. But also madonna and some others and said listen. We're gonna pay you a really good price for these vaccines and we want them fast and we want them in large quantities. And here's our proposition to you. We'll collect all the data you need. All the data on efficacy on adverse reactions on you know how long This immunity might last four on how quick it might come about Whether one shot is better than two shots whether there's some people who shouldn't get it whether there's some people who should get one dose and not the other israel basically said we can collect that data and we can give it to you and that for a drug company especially in the midst of all of this is extraordinarily valuable. Wild really be concerned at all about the safety of these vaccines. It is accurate to say that this entire process was truncated to allege degree. We went through the clinical trials of these vaccines much faster than we would normal circumstance. So israel's offer here was this sort of meant and sort of finish up and provide a really long look About the data of these vaccines and sort of a real life. Clinical trial