With China now being appointed to the Human Rights Council and the ‘consultative group’ there is concern by several countries that human rights abuses will not be investigated or properly condemned. China has itself has regularly been accused of abuse and this could now further increase concerns that the Council has become as politicized and ineffective as its predecessor. Colin Robertson is a former Canadian diplomat to China and to the U.N. Listen EN_Interview_1-20200504-WIE10 Critics of China...
May 04, 2020•9 min
Stock markets are tumbling, people are losing huge value on their investments as panic selling sets in. The drop in value is such that automatic systems have halted trading on at least a couple of stock markets. But what should people do in this most unusual situation? Jessica Moorhouse (AFCC) is Millennial Money Expert, Financial Counsellor & Podcast Host AUDIO HERE Listen EN_Interview_1-20200316-WIE10 Several situations have converged in the last many months. Jessica Moorhouse, financial c...
Mar 17, 2020•6 min
With the declaration of a Covid-19 pandemic, and the first recorded death from the virus in Canada, the federal government pledged a billion dollars to both fight the virus and mitigate the effects on society. Ian Culbert, is the executive-director of the Canadian Public Health Association . He explains how the money will be used, and the unique aspects of this ‘new’ virus. Listen EN_Interview_1-20200312-WIE10 The government plan includes money sent to the provinces to purchase medical supplies ...
Mar 12, 2020•8 min
For a biology professor in Winnipeg, an interest in history has become almost equivalent to a full-time passion. Gordon Goldsborough (PhD) is a professor of biological sciences at the University of Manitoba, and president of the Manitoba Historical Society. Away from the university he’s usually on the road to obscure places in the western province to record vestiges or ‘ghosts’ of the past. Either that or he’s in the archives somewhere trying to discover more about a once important or popular pl...
Mar 11, 2020•8 min
For too long, women’s voices and perspectives have been silent in much of world. The Canadian group Journalists for Human Rights is changing that. The group is launching an ambitious multi-year programme in several African countries to train female journalists and to get their voices heard in editorial decision making. Rachel Pulfer in Toronto is the Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights. Listen EN_Interview_1-20200310-WIE10 The programme is called ‘ Canada World: Voice for Women an...
Mar 10, 2020•9 min
As the world fights a battle with the Covid-19 virus, researchers point out that deaths from air pollution constitute a lesser realised but very serious chronic threat worse than most diseases. Researchers estimate that some 8.8 million premature deaths annually are due to air pollution. The study says the loss of life expectancy (LLE) exceeds that of tobacco smoking. Breaking it down further, they say that about 75 per cent of that figure is due to human-generated pollution, or some 5.5 million...
Mar 09, 2020
A U.S.-based conservation group has chosen a site off the Nova Scotia coast to build a retirement home for entertainers who have brought joy to hundreds of thousands at the expense of their own mental and physical health. Ladies and gentlemen, those entertainers–beluga or orca whales–will now have a place to live out their days in relative peace–i n a place where they belong, not in an aquarium. It will be the first whale sanctuary in North America and a million light years from the lives the wh...
Mar 06, 2020•5 min
Turkey has said it can no longer support the mass influx of migrants from Syria and elsewhere. It says it will no longer keep them from attempting to cross into Greece and Bulgaria as they seek to head into European Union countries. Paul Heinbecker is the Deputy Chair of the The World Refugee Council, and a former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and Germany. Listen EN_Interview_3-20200305-WIE30 As the mass at border crossings with Greece, or attempt to cross the Aegean to Greek islands, the Greek...
Mar 05, 2020•7 min
The agency which tracks all types of fraud in Canada estimates the cost of mass marketing fraud, (phone, internet, mass mailing, e-mail, personal contact) to be almost $130 million per year. This is what is reported, but apparently only a small percentage is actually reported. Still The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) says that’s about a 30 per cent increase since 2017. They also say some 27,000 Canadians are victims of identity theft annually, another number that’s likely under-reported. A re...
Mar 04, 2020•8 min
In Canada where the often bitterly heated debate about firearms has been raging on and off for decades, a federal politician decided he needed to be informed by fact, not opinion. Tako Van Popta is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Langley-Aldergrove in British Columbia Listen EN_Interview_1-20200303-WIE10 Van Popta says he had never held a firearm before taking the required course (and other processes) to obtain a “possession and acquisition licence” (PAL) for firearms. Th...
Mar 03, 2020•9 min
It has been revealed that facial recognition technology is being ‘tested’ by many police agencies in both Canada and the U.S. There are concerns that its use may contravene Canadian privacy laws, and who may be using it beyond police forces. Some have even hinted at a approach towards an Orwellian future. Teresa Scassa PhD is the Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy and Full Professor, Faculty of Law, Common Law section at the University of Ottawa. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200302-WI...
Mar 02, 2020•9 min
Canadian research and development of a new drug has shown great potential to help patients in their recovery from stroke by reducing brain cell damage. Dr. Michael D Hill (MD MSc, FRCPC) is a professor of Neurology at the University of Calgary and lead author of the study. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200227-WIE10 A double-blind randomized trial led by the Cumming School of Medicine’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Alberta Health Services involved additional research and an international trial of 1,105...
Feb 27, 2020•11 min
Do you trust government to do the right thing for their citizens? Do you trust the media to tell the story truthfully and fully? Do you trust business on environmental issues, or NGO’s on their claims and efforts. The latest annual Edelman ‘trust barometer’ survey shows Canadian trust in such institutions has declined. The American-based Edelman firm is an influential public relations and marketing consultancy firm with offices in many countries around the world. Lisa Kimmel is Chair and CEO of ...
Feb 25, 2020•11 min
Some of the mysteries of the red planet are going to be uncovered as part of a NASA mission to Mars. A large rover will be sent into space this year with the goal to collect rock and soil samples. As part of the team to decide what samples to collect, Canadian geologist Chris Herd (PhD) has been selected as the only Canadian on this elite team. He is a planetary geologist professor in the Department of Earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Alberta. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200224-WIE...
Feb 24, 2020•8 min
Where does food come from? Do kids really know? It’s an interesting question and the fact is that as society becomes more urbanised, more children don’t realize that food, their hamburgers, bread, eggs, milk, breakfast cereal etc, originates on a farm. For more than 20 years, Conny Kappler who farms vegetables in Newell County, Alberta, and at her parents farm in Cypress County has been travelling to schools in the region to talk about agriculture to young children. That experience has led to a ...
Feb 20, 2020•7 min
Open-office and unassigned work desks, i.e., not dedicated to a particular person but open to anyone who needs a spot, are relatively recent office trends. A new survey finds that a majority of workers find such ideas unappealing and that it lowers their productivity. Kane Wilmott, CEO and founder of iQ Offices co-working space explains. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200218-WIE10 The survey of over 1,500 Canadians by Maru/Blue for iQ found that 57 per cent of employees felt that distractions at work me...
Feb 19, 2020•7 min
Toronto resident Desmond Cole, is an activist and journalist. He wrote an article in 2015 about the many times he had been stopped by police and interrogated on the street. The article in Toronto Life was a spark that brought both himself and his concerns into national prominence. But he says, that hasn’t stopped either police or the public’s general attitudes against black people. His book is an expansion on that article and chronicles a year of police violence against blacks and other minoriti...
Feb 17, 2020•14 min
In 2011 UNESCO declared February 13th to be World Radio Day, which was adopted by the U.N General Assembly as an ‘international day’ the following year. This year the theme is diversity. Radio Canada International joined with four other broadcasters in Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Romania to talk about diversity in their countries, and how they were reflecting or promoting that both within their respective stations, and in their countries. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200213-WIE10 UNES...
Feb 13, 2020•20 min
Its seems that as climate changes, particularly warming in the northern hemisphere, new diseases are also appearing to infect humans. But climate change is not the only reason Dr Courtney Howard (MD, CCFP-EM) is president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and an emergency room doctor in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories ListenEN_Interview_1-20200212-WIE10 The current ongoing concerns of the deadly CoViD-19 (coronavirus) has again raised concerns about the spread of ...
Feb 12, 2020•8 min
Does it seem like our politicians are more than ever dressing for a theatrical effect, or have you seen them using props, or employing theatrical gestures and language? In Toronto, Laura Levin (PhD), associate professor in the Theatre Department of York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design thinks so. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200206-WIE10 Professor Levin notes that theatrics to some extent has always been a part of politics, but its changing. Laura Levin (PhD), professor...
Feb 06, 2020•10 min
Apparently a fungus is attacking coffee trees and reducing the harvest. This is mostly in central and south America where some of the best beans come from. Stuart McCook (MS, PhD), a professor of history, and assistant vice-president international at the University of Guelph, and author of Coffee is Not Forever: A Global History of the Coffee Leaf Rust. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200205-WIE10 The coffee rust fungus apparently has always been around but is being made worse by changing climate conditi...
Feb 05, 2020•8 min
Around the world countries and companies are rushing to embrace and develop the so-called 5G network. This will be needed for the massive amounts of data transfer as more and more devices become connected to the internet, from cars, to refrigerators. Dr. Anthony Miller (MD, FRCP, FRCP (C), FFPH, FACE) is a specialist in internal medicine and Professor Emeritus of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. He is among a group of concerned medical experts and individuals that t...
Feb 04, 2020•9 min
Uses natural antibodies, not drugs A small-scale trial study has shown promise in the fight against HIV. The study involves use of natural white blood cell antibodies to help fight the virus. Dr. Daniel Kaufmann (MD) is a professor in the Department of Medicine at they Universite de Montreal, and a researcher at the Centre de Recherche, Centre Hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal (CRCHUM) ListenEN_Interview_1-20200203-WIE10 People infected with HIV must take anti-retroviral drugs (ART) for li...
Feb 03, 2020•8 min
An independent panel reviewing electronic media in Canada has released a long awaited report. Canada’s Broadcast Act hasn’t been updated since 1991, well before the arrival of the internet and streaming services like Netflix, Prime, Crave, Apple, Spotify and Amazon etc. The just released report, Time to Act' seeks to make recommendations concerning a variety of current technologies and situations including streaming services, the public broadcaster, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Ca...
Jan 30, 2020•7 min
The U.K. has just announced it will permit a partial use of Huawei technology in development of its 5G network. Other countries have banned Huawei over security concerns. Canada is still debating its position on Huawei. Stephanie Carvin (PhD) is an assistant professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa. She notes security alone may not be the only consideration ListenEN_Interview_1-20200129-WIE10 The so-called 5G network is going to represent ...
Jan 29, 2020•10 min
This week saw the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the biggest of the Nazi death camps, camps where a total of about six million Jews were murdered. The hope was that the lesson was learned that myths, mistrust, and misunderstanding leads to hate which leads to violence and murder. It seems that lesson is being forgotten and that anti-semitism may be on the rise. Tina Fetner (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. ListenEN_Interview_1-...
Jan 28, 2020•8 min
While several studies in recent years have highlighted dangerous levels of fishing on many ocean species, they do not include the effects of recreational fishing. A new study by an international team of scientists estimates some 900,000 tonnes of fish are taken from the oceans yearly. Daniel Pauly (PhD, FRSC) heads the research project called The Sea Around Us, named in honour of Rachel Carson’s 1951 book. ListenEN_Interview_1-20200127-WIE10 The study is published today in the journal Frontiers ...
Jan 27, 2020•5 min
While many average earners complain of taxes, a group of the world’s wealthiest is saying they should be taxed more. The disparity in earnings between the wealthiest and the middle and lower classes is such that some of those uber-rich are becoming concerned about social upheaval. Jeff Rubin is the former chief economist at CIBC Markets and the author of the forthcoming book by Penguin Random House The Expendables: How The Middle Class Got Screwed by Globalization ListenEN_Interview_1-20200123-W...
Jan 23, 2020•8 min
Announced this week, Canada has a new agency to look into the various issues of climate change. Non-partisan and arms-length from the government which is funding it, the agency will partner with experts in a variety of fields of research to suggest policy and actions to all levels of government working toward reducing emissions and mitigating the effects of climate change. Dave Sawyer is the Chief Economist at the new institute, and I reached him in Ottawa this morning. ListenEN_Interview_1-2020...
Jan 22, 2020•6 min
As usual, he was right on the edge, but in the end he prevailed--pretty much like he always did on a baseball field. Walker becomes the first position player from Canada ever to be elected to the Hall and the second Canadian, following pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, from Chatham, Ontario, who was voted in in 1991. https://twitter.com/fergieajenkins/status/1219764866422136832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1219764866422136832&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rcinet.ca%2Fen%2Fwp-admi...
Jan 22, 2020•11 min
