A racism scandal rocks one of Canada’s biggest police forces

Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson and I host CBC's Daily News podcast, Frontburner. Every weekday, we sit out to have a conversation about the biggest Canadian and global issues that you want to know more about, from politics to culture to online stuff. We spend a lot of time on the show thinking about the best ways to have those conversations and searching for the smartest people to have them with. That's it. That's the cell. I hope you'll tune in. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Neil Kerkisal. Good evening. I'm Lisa Bryn Rundle, sitting in for Chris Howden. This is as it happens.

Tonight. A force and a reckoning. Montreal police investigate their own amid allegations of racial profiling, discrimination, and violence. A community organizer tells us people should be shocked, but she is not surprised. Offside, an Iranian-American.

football fanatic says he'll be in the stadium tonight in Los Angeles as Aran plays its first FIFA World Cup match, but he won't be cheering. Dealbreaker, while Donald Trump celebrates a ceasefire, a political scientist in Jerusalem tells us why Israelis from the left, right, and center are denouncing the agreement and the Prime Minister. The Great Divide. A six-year-old in Windsor Ontario has been visiting the site of the Gordy Howe Bridge nearly every week almost his entire life. now he has a message for the powers that be. National anthem, 15 years after its release, a Bosnian band's satirical song about immigrating to the U.S. is now a soccer anthem.

The band tells us why fans think the new version is pitch perfect. And radio gaggle. A store owner in Halifax tells us she can't keep her dapper porch geese in stock, thanks to an online revival of the Replica Bird Trend. As it happens, the Monday edition, Radio that appreciates.

a geese offering. Montreal's police force is embroiled in controversy after allegations of coordinated, racist, and discriminatory behavior by officers, in Moreale North. In a late-night news conference on Friday, police chief Fadi Dagger announced that 16 officers from a patrol team based at Station 39 have been removed from their duties

for allegedly racially profiling black and Arab residents during street stops. Here's Police Chief Dagger speaking to CBC's Daybreak, Montreal, earlier today. To be honest with you, I don't have a clear answer now because I'm looking into the whole part before they were a police officer, when they become police officer, they passed all the criteria. So what happened between when they left the academy

and what happened for the last week? That's what I'm trying to find out the whole history. Montreal Police Chief Fadilla Dagger. Cassandra Exume is the general coordinator of Hoodstock, a black-led community organization in the neighborhood that has been raising concerns about systemic discrimination for years. We reached her in Montreal. Cassandra, this is a lot for people there to process.

Shock is one word that the borough mayor used to describe how she's feeling about this. What words would you use to describe it? Shock wouldn't be one because we've been having or hearing these stories for years. I will say prostrated, really frustrated to kind of see the other side of a police brutality to hear that they are, using hair that they took from people and celebrating that is awful and outrageous. And for me, that's how I'm feeling right now. Not shocked, but frustrated about the full picture that we're having today. What you're mentioning there is one of the allegations, one of the most disturbing.

A source told our Radio Canada colleagues that officers were allegedly keeping people's hair, pieces of their locks in particular as, quote, trophies. And what I hear from what you're saying there is that certainly there was this piece that people have felt marginalized and targeted and are experiencing this. But to see it laid out like this so clearly, these allegations are shaking people deeply. You know, I'm in Montreal, not right now. People are pretty much saying that was a regular Friday for us. I think it's more shocking for maybe people from the media, from the outside world, who are not leaving those injustice every day.

But obviously it's disturbing. But sadly, it's part of their reality. And what's shocking maybe for me as a community leader is, like I mentioned before, to have to have the full picture, it's really awful. And to kind of relieve what I lived in 2020, you know, I wasn't at in Hustock since February 2020 and I was there just right after George Florida and the movement and the media coverage that we had and kind of having a hope that okay, something's going to change. But to have the conversation again with you six years later,

it's really discouraging. Yeah. How would you describe Monreal Nord to people who have not visited? You're not from there, but you've spent so much time working there. Obviously, you're very close to the community. So how would you describe it? That's where I met my husband. He was living in Montreal North. When we met, he was a volunteer just like me at Hoodstock. So it's really a place where I found love, I found solidarity, I found a career and a job that I really love that I feel I have a purpose with. For me, it's a neighborhood where every neighbor knows each other. They are taking care of each other. The work that community organization are doing is incredible. We're doing a lot with nothing. And we're always begging.

for more money because we have, our population are facing so many social inequalities, but yet we're doing a love with the leaves that we have. But the beauty of Montreal North cannot outshine also what we're hearing today, the fact that we have instances like the police who are targeting our youth and targeting people who are black and who are from racialized community and are doing their best to kind of make them like. less than human. That's the reality that we're living with also. The police chief pulled these officers from patrol duties. As we know, there's a criminal investigation underway. We'll play for you and our listeners a little bit more of what the

chief told Daybreak Host, our colleague Sean Henry, this morning. To be honest with you, what we did Friday night to dismantle the whole group, never happened in the history of the SPVM. So we are showing that we are very serious about our engagement. and this is going to be consequences. So there's some part of them are discouraged and the other part is like, okay, finally something's happening. Does it feel to you, Cassandra,

that finally something is happening, that the work you and others have done, that there's a change now? I will say that if there's an incomplete end to the process, if there's a full independent investigation where we'll have transparency. because for me that's just the first step because what I've learned and from my understanding some officers can go back to maybe not be close to the community but still keep their job

and for me that's unacceptable so I will talk about hope when the whole story will be completely shown and when more stories will come out not only from the PIDICUTNN but from other well, from the whole SBBM and also when justice will be really served because while I was walking outside, I was talking with other people who are saying, well, we're afraid to speak out. So for me, hope is a big word,

I will wait for the full process to be done. The fact that according to our colleagues reporting that this investigation, you know, in part, is coming now because of internal reports from other police officers, that fact, the fact that the borough mayor, Christine Black was quite emotional when she spoke about this as well. Some of that feels might feel different to people watching because we don't usually hear about that kind of internal reporting or seeing politicians get emotional.

Does that suggest to you that this time might be different? I think emotions are just a start. We're looking for action because we can cry, but if there's no action and full-on accountability and responsibility, behind those emotions for me is just pretty much noise. I was there during the weekend. I'm here today. People are doing their life. Like, they went to their school and people are talking and walking and driving.

For them, it's really just, like I said, their reality. For us, as community leader, we're talking about the fact that the police cannot investigate on the police. We need independent investigation. We need to recognize the fact that there are social inequality. that are related to economic inequalities. And if we're not taking care of those issues, the result is that people like the police officers have more power than the community.

Those are the same thing that we've been saying for almost 20 years. Cassandra, I'm very glad we could speak. Thank you for this. Same here. Thank you very much. Cassandra Egzoumet is the general coordinator of Hoodstock, a black-led community organization in Maureen, that's where we reached her.

Donald Trump is taking a victory lap, basking in praise from fellow Republicans for finally ending the war in Iran. He seemed less keen on talking about the war's toll in lives, dollars, and diplomacy. The framework agreement between the U.S. and Iran hasn't been officially released, but reportedly calls for hostilities to end

and crucially reopening the strait of Hormuz to shipping. For Israel, the main U.S. partner in the war, reaction has been far from positive. Benjamin Netanyahu's own supporters denounced the deal and many on the right urged the Prime Minister to continue the country's military action in Lebanon. Gail Tashir is a political scientist at Hebrew University. We reached her in Jerusalem.

He said that he and the U.S. president sometimes don't see eye to eye, and that even with this deal, quote, Iran will not have nuclear weapons, unquote. There were other things he said as well. But if the intended effect was to shore up his base and convince them that everything is all right, or as he intended, it would be in the aftermath of this conflict, did it work? There's a great distinction between his own media in which he will probably come out as the great leader and the main public media in Israel, which sees embarrassingly the lies that Benjamin Netanyahu actually told in his speech today. He sees himself as the savior of Israelis from a nuclear disaster, while at the same time he's saying that he does not even know the details of the Trump deal with Iran.

So this gap actually tells us that there is a problem. And the point that you raised that Benjamin Netanyahu says about himself that his relationship with Trump, our great relationship, is the weakest point in his argument because we know that Trump went publicly saying very degrading things about Benjamin Netanyahu. And Benjamin Netanyahu tried to basically explain this gap. But I think, you know, listening to what Trump was saying, it's clear that the relationship are at a low point. Given that specific part of that relationship, you know, when we hear Benjamin Netanyahu talking about military action in Lebanon in this latest speech saying troops are going to remain in what Israel calls, quote, security zones there. There were new strikes on Lebanon, rockets and drones fired at Israeli forces by Hezbollah as well. So how long do you think that can continue if that is the state of the relationship between Israel and the U.S. right now, or its leaders at least? I think Israel is at a crossroad, and I think Benjamin Netanyahu has to make a decision because it could turn a corner and go with President Trump into different set of relationship between Israel and its neighbors.

Given that Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is very, very extremist, it may be the case that his political survival is going to come in the way of that and not enable a different path of peace between Israel and Lebanon. And also because Benjamin Netanyahu himself is under trial and he has to remain a prime minister, it may mean that he is going to choose not the path of peace. peace but the path of continuous war. How do you see this being resolved, these conflicts, ultimately? I think that Trump has moved away from the military campaign against Iran, which could have been solved in a kind of a new Middle Eastern deal with the Gulf states and Israel, to an economic kind of campaign. campaign and his interest is in the economy and the oil prices.

So I think Trump is going to lose interest unless he can try to gain some sort of peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon. And I think, again, this might be some sort of opening Bill Gates for Benjamin Netanyahu to change the route that he was leading Israel so far. And since we have elections coming up in Israel, he may try to follow this path and to try to gain some sort of normalization with the Lebanese government, which is against the Hezbollah terrorist organization. And that could show some sort of future to Israel and its neighbors. I wanted to ask you about that fall election. What kind of a challenge is he going to be facing, given the moment we're in right now?

You know, Benjamin Netanyahu had a set plan for this election. He was supposed to have a very quick and resounding win over Iran with the U.S. And then have Trump endorse his election and then have an early election in which he wins. It felt miserably because the campaign with Iran actually deteriorated. Trump is now crossed with Benjamin Netanyahu, and therefore Benjamin Netanyahu is at his weakest political point ever in Israeli elections. But what is clear is that Benjamin Netanyahu understands that he is at the weakest point and he tries to retell the narrative of what happened between Israel and Iran as a narrative of a win. As it stands now, Benjamin Netanyahu is not going to win the next election and this is going to be the last term of Benjamin Netanyahu. Gail, I appreciate this. Thank you.

Sure. Thank you. Gail Telshir is a political scientist at Hebrew University. She was in Jerusalem.

On Thursday, Bosnia and Herzegovina will play its second match of the FIFA World Cup. And as the team meets Switzerland on the pitch in Los Angeles, soccer fans will hear the country's national anthem play inside the stadium.

But another song has made its way into the Bosnian zeitgeist, too, becoming the unofficial anthem for the World Cup. That's I Am from Bosnia, Take Me to United States by the Bosnian band Dubiosa Collective. The song is a remake of their 2011 hit, USA. In a matter of weeks, it's racked up almost 3 million views and can be heard in Bosnian pubs and on the streets during the World Cup. Brano Jakubovic and Vedran Mojigic are founding members of the band. We reach them in Sarajevo. Vedran, when you and the band put out the song in its original form 15 years ago now, did you ever imagine you would be talking about it as a connection to the World Cup?

Actually, no. We had no idea and no plan. Even though some of the people accuse us that we have some prophetic things in our songs and that we somehow, like Simpsons, managed to get the future right. So we didn't have any clue that 15 years later the song will have its second incarnation in this football context. And Bruno, how did it come to have this second incarnation? What changed? It had nothing to do with us, basically. It was just football and football fans during the game against Wales in Cardiff. this group of

hardcore football fans from Bosnia they just made this big banner and show it on the game and it said, I am from Bosnia, take me to America. They just use it as a joke for the audience and for the players because nobody really

kind of hoped that we'll be on the World Cup because after Wales, we had big Italy to win. So it was kind of, you know, semi-Bosnian dark humor joke. So basically we recorded it with mobile phone and just put it on social networks. That exact moment with the song underneath and it went viral from there. It exploded.

Yeah, from that moment on we don't have any clue how it ended up in this moment. No, actually, the important thing is that Bosnia won that game. So everybody was kind of in some kind of ecstasy. and they just pick up the song and this video and it went completely mental from that moment. It ended up after the Italy game it ended up like with football players crushing

the press conference of the manager, Barberis, singing this song and they took him out and they sung the song in the bus on the way to this big open-air celebration with tens of times of times. thousands of people who were also singing this song. So it basically became an anthem before like we knew it was happening. An accidental anthem that started as an anthem about something else. So Vedran, back in in 2011,

what was your intent, the band's intent when you first released USA? It's like we like to play with stereotypes a lot. And this was the very stereotypical and satirical take on immigration and migration. Because Bosnia is like the country of, in this moment, one of the biggest country of immigrants because like half of the population lives abroad, either for economic reasons or they left as war refugees in the 90s. So it is just like very naive story of the guy from the Balkans who is having his vision of American dream and he wants to escape the awful reality of his home country and have like beautiful life somewhere else. And during the course of the song, he realized that grass is not greener in the neighbor's

courtyard and that there is no place like Motherland. So he turns back and goes back home. So this was the original intent. So then this new version of the song, obviously, it focuses heavily on football or soccer. And one goal in particular that lets us into how fast. still feel. This was a 2014 goal. You scored against Nigeria. It was ruled offside. Bosnia loses that match. The fact that it's still in there in this song. Yeah, that's this, that what happened in Brazil that year and this particular non-existing offside, I have to say again,

it's kind of national trauma here. So we have to put it in a song and kind of heal that wound forever. Yeah. But I want to come back to the original song because I think Original song is now more precise than 15 years ago because right now there is a lot of Bosnians actually coming from states back home because, you know, it just gets worse and worsened every year for them because of the new administration there. So I think today song is more on point than 15 years ago. How did you both feel about the match with Canada and the team's chances this World Cup? I mean it was it was big big

psychological pressure just watching the game and I can imagine how the players felt on the field. I don't know. For me, it was very important that there was no non-existing offsides that I was hoping for. That was an achievement. It's true. And we watched that video. I think everyone's in agreement, is in agreement. But now with these referees with the Robocup technology, there's no way that offside going to be nonexistent. There is because If you watch the Switzerland game You could see the same thing

What are your hopes for the song now? Our song is out of our hands And out of our control Basically doesn't belong to us anymore This is the dream come true For every musician That your song becomes something else And kind of

You know, people's songs So We don't even even have a clue because there is possibility that our team will go to the second round which would be equal for us as winning the World Cup so if this happened

I mean I don't know I cannot even imagine what will happen in our home country Brano Vedran a pleasure speaking with you both thank you thank you very much for hearing us Brano Jakubovic and Vedrin Mojic are members of the band

Dubioza Collective they were in Sarajevo. Uncover is your source for the best in true crime. Home to over 30 critically acclaimed groundbreaking investigations. Somebody's going to find them, somebody's going to dig something up, or somebody's going to talk.

Fighting to hold criminals accountable. I have to tell people because it has to be stopped. Investigating cults, conspiracies, and scams. This is a perfect storm of conspiracy theories. Find and follow Uncompetters. wherever you get your podcasts. Tonight, for the first time in World Cup history, a qualifying country is playing a match

while at war with the nation hosting the game. Iran plays New Zealand in Los Angeles, or as it's known to its huge Iranian-American community, Tarangeles. It's a complicated moment with Iran's national team representing the hopes and dreams of some football fans and the repressive regime of the Iranian-Isla. Llamic Republic for others. And today, FIFA's ban on the pre-revolutionary flag of Iran was upheld

in a California court, meaning the flag featuring an emblem of a lion and the sun is officially barred from the stadium. Masoud Amadi plays in a 60 and over Iranian football league in Orange County, California. We reached him in Los Angeles. Masoud, there are protests, as you know, against the Iranian team happening today. Then that same team is playing its first match of this FIFA World Cup tonight. Where do you plan to be? Well, I'm going to be at the stadium in about one hour, and we're going to have a demonstration in the outside of the stadium. And along with at least minimum 3 to 4,000 people with 10,000 flags of lion and sun that were taken with us.

And then are you, what does that mean for the game? Are you going to the game? And then we're going to the game. And we're going to take the flags with us inside of the stadium. Why did you want to be at both? Because we want people to hear our voice and to see our flags and let them know this is. The team that is there right now is the government team. It's not a people team.

You mentioned the flag. What are your plans if you are not allowed to go inside? with that flag or that emblem on even, you know, your t-shirts? We're going to try to carry it in and we're going to hide the flag to take it inside. And if they take it from us, we're going to grab another one. We got about 5,000 people inside. So from all over the stadium, we have people sitting at different seats so we can show the flags. So much of the enjoyment, and I know obviously you play it, you love this sport, you love football.

Will you be cheering for any of the players, the Iranian players, when you're inside that stadium? No, I want. No, I want to be the voice of people that got killed with this government, voice of the people that were in the soccer field that got killed with the government. And this is not an Iranian true soccer team that's coming here today. What would you say to those who say these players are playing a sport they love? They may not agree with what the government is doing, but they're there in this situation. There are most of these people. They're from SEPA, which call one of the organizations in the government, everybody familiar with.

They went to the SEPA, and we have seen their video, we have seen their picture. If you're not with this regime and with this government, you will not. not play on that team. So you're saying if the choices between appearing to support this government or living out their own personal World Cup dreams, the decision for you is clear what they should choose? Absolutely. To not go with this government. As we've talked about before on our program, no diaspora is a monolith.

There's a range of opinions, certainly, and it's complicated for a lot of people in the Iranian diaspora as well, not just in the United States. When you speak to other Iranian Americans, football fans in particular, what kinds of things are you hearing, the range of thoughts on this? It's the sad story. It's a sad day for all of us. And we'll love to be cheering our team. But unfortunately, whoever is going there because the people that I know that I am in contact in Los Angeles area, they're all going there because they want other people in this country or other. country comes to the World Cup know that we're there to raise our voice and our concern,

this is not our team. For those who, for them personally, they can separate it, they want to go and try to enjoy the game as an Iranian-American, but they feel differently than you do. What kind of dynamic might that make for in the stands today? Well, I mean, this is a free country, as it should be, you know, I mean, you, you, you You are welcomed for your belief and go there and cheer if you like. No one going to tell you, do not cheer for them. But we are there to let FIFA know that there are not fair.

FIFA is not fair. FIFA talks about gathering people together and making politics and sport different things. But that's not FIFA doing now. FIFA is actually against that. FIFA is not letting people be free and, you know, voice their opinion. In terms of the timing, you know, as our listeners have been hearing in our other conversations on the show, this is the same day, this game is happening on the same day, that, you know, we're learning more about this potential deal between the U.S. administration and Iran. Does that change things for you at all on this day? How are you feeling about that deal?

Not at all. Not at all. because there is no deal that you cannot trust the Iranian governments. Iranian governments have never, ever came through something that you can trust on them. I know those, I know people in that government. I personally was promised to go back to my country and there's nothing is going to happen to me. And I went back to the country to visit my family and they took me and I was in jail for a month. just to go to visit my family, and finally they let me get out.

So was that the last time you went back to Iran? Yes. Yes, it was. This was 1998. That's a long time. Yeah. It can be so, all of these World Cup matches for people living in diaspora can be really emotional.

I know personally, in a good way, it can be fun. But when you're talking about this moment for you personally, you haven't been back since the late 90s, under different circumstances. I mean, this is the first World Cup match for team Iran on American soil, but you can't be excited about it in the way that you might have under different circumstances. Unfortunately not. And I am taking my daughter.

I want her to have a World Cup experience. But unfortunately, this is not a true enjoyment for us. But we cannot not go. We want it to go. go there because we want to hear our other people hear our voice, and my daughter is going to be part of that. I'm so thankful for that, that she can be with me during this hard time. I'm glad we could speak, Masoud. Thank you for this. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

Massoud Amadi is an Iranian-American football fan. We reached him in Los Angeles earlier today. Listen, garden gnomes are great. We've covered many a gnome on this show and are demonstrably pro-Kristi Noem. So remember that when I tell you that gnomes are out when it comes to hot front-of-house decor. And porch geese are in. Geese are taking over porches across Canada and the U.S., dressed up in all kinds of outfits and proudly showcased outside their homes. and now Porch Geese are making a particularly strong comeback in Atlantic Canada, where the ornaments were last popular in the 1980s. Veronica Ribble is a district manager at Wheaton's, a home decor chain that sells Portuguese. We reached her in Halifax.

Veronica, what do you think? Do you think this obsession, this frenzy, is going to end anytime soon? I don't think it's going to end anytime soon. I think the more people see them out there, and the hype, like our emails are still blowing up on the pre-orders. Wow. How many on the list for pre-orders? Well, we've gone through about a thousand.

We've got, we're averaging about 20 to 30 a day, and we've just pre-ordered another thousand. So we should hopefully be able to keep up with the demand through till Christmas. Well, let's hope. And you have some on display for sale in the store already, right? How many are there? We do, but as fast as we put them out, I think we start with 40, and I'm down to two. For our listeners who aren't aware of this madness currently, this love of these porch geese,

what do the ones you sell look like? They really do look like a real goose from a distance. So they're metal, they're not overly shiny. They've got a lot of details so you can see the, like a feather impression on the, side there. They stand about 22 inches tall, so if you actually get onto the porch, you could see his

lovely little orange feet and orange beak. Do they have outfits? Do people customize them buy them from you? It's kind of all over the place. So we haven't been able to stock as many outfits as we have geese, but again they keep coming

in. We've had a cowboy. We've had a bride and groom. We had a cute little one that look like a girl like she was getting ready for bath time, like with her terry towel and headscarf and stuff like that. We've got pumpkins coming and Christmas ones, so lots. But there is a lot of online groups, and there are people that are actually making, sewing, clothes, or their giddy to totally personalize it.

And giddy, giddy is the name of the geese you sell. Yes. Yes. giddy. Okay. And what do people get if they're getting a giddy as opposed to an unofficial one? Well, it's just that it's metal. It actually has, if I can say, an opening in the bottom.

It's a plug, actually. So for a lot of people, you can fill it up with sand. So it actually holds it down on your porch so it won't fly away. There are other ones out there that are plastic. We've seen some that are ceramic. So there are different mediums. They're just different, right? Our listeners heard in the introduction that there's a bit of history,

that there's been excitement around them before. Where did it all get started as far as you know? Well, as far as I know any kind of, I've been educated myself too. So from what I understand, they were saying that it actually, geese can be quite territorial. and geese drop a lot of, if we can say poops. So for a lot of people that didn't want that, you know, on their yards and stuff like that, that's how it started. They would place a fake goose on the lawn, which would keep the other geese, which would keep the droppings off their lawn. So I think from there it became, I think, just a decorative ornament because obviously not everybody had to worry about it, a geese.

Sure. So I think they just became sort of like how popular garden gnomes got at one time. We kind of equated to a little bit like everybody went through cabbage patch dolls. That's what give you the geese is. For adults or Laboooo we talked about before people hanging them on their purses. Yeah, families are loving it because a lot of parents are buying it because like we had one customer, she's got four boys. So she's got her, you know, her giddy the goose, and she's only buying boy outfits. And, you know, her kids are having a blast, dressing them up like a cowboy and whatever else they've got them.

I think she was trying to get a Spider-Man outfit for it. Like, do you know what I mean? So it's quite cute. Keeping up with the giddies. Why do you think it's making a comeback now and particularly in the Maritimes? I think everybody's looking for a little ray of sunshine. And there's not one customer who doesn't pick up their giddy and is just beaming. Like, I mean absolutely beaming with excitement.

It's just adding a little bit of happiness, if that's porch happiness. But these are not Canada geese, we should say. We know about their droppings and how territorial and tough they can be. And we have sold true Canadian geese that look live and they've always been very popular. But I think there's something about the white. It's just neutral. Giddy looks great on any porch, no matter what. but kind of door color or house trimming you have, the white seems to work with everything.

But you don't have a giddy yet. Is it just a matter of time or is this a decision you've made for yourself to stand out? I live in an apartment, so I don't really have. I guess I could put one on my balcony, but right now the staff were trying to stop them from buying them at the moment just to meet the demand through the public right now. But you're also going to start a contest if you haven't already. Is that right? That's correct.

So for online right now, we will ask people to showish or giddy dressed up. And we're actually going to draw one winner. We'll actually win four official giddy outfits of their choosing. Do you have any favorites right now of the outfits you've seen? I thought the bride and groom was absolutely adorable. The boy one, he's like a black tux. got the little black bow tie, and she has a little white lace dress. And I just thought for anybody that was getting married or engagement parties or stuff like that,

that'd be a really cute decor piece. Veronica, a pleasure speaking with you. Good luck, keeping up with all of it. Thank you very much. Veronica Ribble is a district manager at Wheaton's, a home decor chain that sells porch geese. She was in Halifax.

Knicks fans waited more than half a century, but in the end, it was well, well worth it. Off the mark, Ananoi the rebound. It's over. It's over. Nick fans, this is not a dream. Your long, long wait has ended. Go ahead and cry after 53 years. The Knicks are finally NBA champions once again. That's the moment the New York Knicks won the NBA championship on Saturday night, their first title since 1973. Ever since, the city has been buzzing with complete and utter jubilation. But for Long Island's Evan Fyfer, the win is especially surreal. In 2020, Mr. Fyfer was graduating from Smithtown High School West, and in his yearbook, beside his photo, he wrote one prescient phrase. in six,

2026 NBA finals. And though he was off by a game, the Knicks won it in five, his prediction ultimately turned out to be pretty spot on. We reached Evan Pfeiffer in Kings Park, Long Island. Evan has it fully sunk in for you yet, that this has happened and that your prediction came true? Not really, honestly.

Obviously, in six, it didn't come true, but the fact that they won, that is very surreal. And honestly, I don't think it's ever going to really hit for me as much as it's kind of hit everybody else that, wow, this kid predicted it six years ago. And then what the team achieved, too, you were watching, you know, what are you thinking as you're watching Game 5? Game 5.

So obviously in the first quarter, that was our lowest scoring quarter of the entire year. Same thing with the first half entirely. in my head and everybody was texting me like, wow, this might actually happen. This might go to six. And, you know, the Spurs weren't playing good as well. So I figured, you know, maybe. But I just really wanted a championship more than anything. And over the course of the game, it was very much surreal that it happened.

What did you do when it happened? So, funny enough, I wasn't feeling the best. So I was, you know, in bed watching it. and my parents and my brother were watching it upstairs. So in the final minute or so, I ran upstairs. And I saw, you know, the last couple of, you know, minutes, even though minutes for us was really like 30 seconds game time. So it was definitely a surreal moment.

You were there with your parents. Your mother was a little worried about you making this the entirety of, the blurb in your yearbook in 2020. What did you say? Did that even come up in that early part of the celebration? No. Funny enough, when game four happened, so an OG had the game winner. And that's, at that point, I was perfectly okay. So I was watching it with the entire family. And, you know, coming back from 29, my mom even said, wow, they might actually win in six. Like, this is crazy. and, you know, at the start six years ago, she was pretty pissed that I didn't put any of the, you know, achievements I had. But now she understands why I did what I did.

Back in 2020, what made you want to dedicate the entire blurb that you could write about anything, your hopes and wishes for the future achievements as your mom wanted you to do? Why did you want to devote this to the prediction? So the Knicks have been terrible my entire life pretty much. So for me, it was just a matter of speaking something into existence. And I just had a good buddy's house, said Nixon 6, 2026. His mom said, wow, that sounds really good. And then it was as simple as that. It was just that it had a ring to it.

You weren't looking at the lay of the land, the way the team was being built, who they might pull onto the roster. It was just vibes and a rhyme. Amen, exactly. That's literally all it was. So after the win, I mean, I imagine your feeds or also your messages are filled with other fans, you know, in your friend, friend group. But how quickly did that switch, if at all, from yay Nix, but also, dude, didn't you kind of call this? Yeah, no.

Funny enough, the amount of people that would comment on whatever posts that have already been out, like wow this guy got it wrong and then there's other people in the comments saying okay he got the games wrong he missed one game but he predicted the nicks to win so what's your problem so they're seeing that plus also how many people have different perspectives on it saying oh you should have just put nicks to win in 2026 not in six but either or i mean well that is that yeah that they're investing that much into it to tell you what you should have done all those years ago. Does it bother you at all that it wasn't a perfect prediction? It stings a little bit, not in a bad way, because we were so close.

And obviously, I wanted us to win game five, right? But in my head, it was, imagine how crazy you would be to close it out in the garden, game six of my prediction of six years ago. and how much more viral it would have went if that actually did happen. But I just wanted to win, obviously. Yeah. And when did the Knicks enter your life? When did you become the fan that you are? About third grade was my first introduction into basketball on the Knicks,

but I really started getting into it mainly in like sixth grade, so right as middle school started. And, you know, we've seen a lot of big fans who've endured the difficult decades and you have as well what kept you hanging on because I'm not a person to turn my back on anybody or anyone so for me I chose to be a Knicks fan I'm gonna ride it out I'm going to suffer with them and I'm also going to celebrate with them and that's how I am not just with sports teams with people as well and so is this do you need to predict ever again or would you know are you are you happy with to put this one to bed or do you want to put another prediction out there now i mean i'm not going to put another prediction out there right now because i feel like i would be going off of a high horse in a sense yeah but i do think uh the next next year could repeat definitely especially with you know this summer coming up with the free agents and how many veterans who water ring that have seen

seen how much this means to the city. Yeah. So I wouldn't be surprised if over the summer we're able to add a bunch of people. I know we're probably going to lose some, but I wouldn't be surprised if we add a bunch of really good free agents and then we repeat next year. Evan, I'm glad we could speak. Congratulations to you and all the next fans. Glad we could speak.

Thank you. Thank you. You as well. I appreciate it very much. That was Evan Pfeiffer. He was in Kings Park, Long Island. his story reminded us of another newsworthy, near-accurate yearbook prediction. In 2024, actress Lily Gladstone was nominated for an Academy Award

for her performance in Killers of the Flower Moon. And that led some of her high school peers to dig up their old yearbook, which voted Ms. Gladstone most likely to win an Oscar, alongside her classmate, Josh Ryder. Neil spoke to Mr. Ryder ahead of the Oscars ceremony that year. Lily and I had been in, I think, three theater productions of memory serves me correctly. Yeah, we've managed to stay in touch a little bit over the years and a little bit more now that she's getting all this recognition and this this photo is getting some hype. It's a classic high school photo.

Just the two, I mean, she looks kind of the same. You've changed over the years, but just that energy of drama, drama class. if I may so I think our joke that I think didn't carry behind us there is the American Gothic so we are trying to recreate the but yeah Lily is God she hasn't aged a day and I'm a cook and I got some city miles on me I did not mean to imply you've aged by any means it's just a photo that I think a lot of people can relate to when you heard that she'd been nominated how did you react? You know, I want to say I was surprised, but I wasn't particularly surprised. You know, I think we've always known

that Lily is a really powerful and gifted storyteller. So I was over the moon for her. You know, when she went the Golden Globes, like, man, that was such a cool moment. And like, imagining her winning an Oscar, ooh, you know, I don't feel euphoria very much anymore. But I definitely feel euphoric. Has this, all of this, you know, revived your dream?

Um, no, no, no. You know, I think here's, here's, Lily is really classy and I need to mimic her classiness. So, you know, this moment isn't about me. This moment is about Lily. Like, Lily has shown extraordinary resilience, staying active in performing. and, you know, I was, but it was not a good fit for me. And today I'm making ravioli, and I'm in a much better spot making ravioli. That's a beautiful thing.

Yeah, it is a beautiful thing. And I think as wonderful it was to be recognized in that high school photo and to get, you know, some of Lily's reflected glow, you know, I'm not the same person that I was 20 years ago. And I think that's part of just growing up is finding out what works for you. From our archives, that was Josh Ryder, speaking to Neil in 2024.

You've been listening to the As It Happens podcast. Our show can be heard Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 following your world tonight. You can also listen to the show online at cbc.ca.ca slash AIH or on the CBC Listen app. Thanks for listening. I'm Nora Young. And I'm Lisa Brewery. in Rundle. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.com slash podcasts.