Why so many Americans are calling New Brunswick’s archivist

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This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Neil Kerksel. Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is as it happens.

Tonight, springing to their defense, Canada announces new military funding for Ukraine, and one analyst tells us that infusion of cash is timely, given Russia's faltering campaign. The big uneasy researchers say, that by the turn of the next century, New Orleans would be a vulnerable island in the Gulf of Mexico. So now is the time to relocate the entire city. Taken to its genealogical conclusion, Ottawa's new law restoring citizenship to so-called lost Canadians is prompting a flood of calls from Americans looking to get proof of their Canadian citizenship. Heads up. Palestinian-Canadian artist Samar Hezazi is the designer behind 200 very shiny mannequin heads on display at tonight's MetGala exhibit.

We're continuing to provide it. It's part of a bigger puzzle in a conflict where Ukraine is gaining some have vanished. Prime Minister Mark Carney speaking to reporters today. That pledge comes as Ukraine seeks to not just defend itself against Russian drone strikes, but to turn the fire back on Russia. Today, a Ukrainian drone hit an upscale Moscow residential apartment building damaging the facade. Maria Zulkina is the head of regional security and conflict studies at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation. We reached her in Warsaw. Maria, you heard Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney there say that in his view, Ukraine is gaining some advantage at this stage. Is that how you see it? Yes, I think that's how we

relayed the situation on the ground because the Russian so-called spreen offensive has collapsed even before we noticed it started. It means that the regular tactics which were used previously is not as successful as it was when it comes to Russian tactics on the battlefield. However, Ukrainian side, due to asymmetric responses and due to advances, when it comes to drone technologies and capabilities underground has significantly strengthened its position on the ground. I think that we are in a much better speaking from Ukrainian side, we're in a much better military position than Ukrainian side wars at least last year. The Kremlin announced recently that it's an upcoming Victory Day parade.

It's a big national holiday. It's going to be significantly scaled back, no military show really at that. We know also that there are reports that Vladimir Putin is going to announce a temporary ceasefire on May 8th and 9th. What do you take away from those developments? My takeaway that Russia hasn't managed to reach their goals, military and battlefield and on a diplomatic front as well, because this is the first time Russia is initiating so-called ceasefire, which is needed for Russia. rather than for Ukraine and U.S. and whoever else. And right now, Russia really need this

because the asymmetric tactics of deep strikes with Ukraine-produced drones and missiles became really a game-changer when it comes to Russia-Ukrainian war. Recently, Ukraine has reached the military capacities of Russia and military plan, which is 1,750 kilometers away from the state border of Ukraine, in Republic of Komi, which is part of Russia. And it means that Moscow, which is on the halfway of this long distance, is much easier

a goal than it was before. And the air defense of Russian state, including in Moscow, is weaker than it was previously. So Russia is also suffering from being exhausted when it comes to air defense. In terms of scaling back the Victory Day parade and all of that, the Washington Post is reporting the Kremlin is blaming, quote, Ukrainian terrorist activity, unquote, as the reason for the changes to that parade. In terms of Ukraine hitting Russia, our listeners heard about the strike on the residential building. There are reports Ukraine's recent strikes on a Black Sea oil refinery have caused a toxic black rain to fall on civilian areas. Are you concerned at all about those kinds of tactics and where they might lead your country?

I think that the strikes on military capacities deep inside Russia and oil refineries when it comes to seaports of Russia on the Black Sea and from recently on the Baltic Sea is a necessary step which Ukraine was just cornered to do because with no longer range missiles, at least in sufficient quantities supplied by our Western partners. We have just storm shadows and scalps from France and UK, respectively. We still don't have Tomahawks and probably will not have them in the foreseeable future from US. And the only way for Ukraine to limit Russian ability to produce missiles and to earn money for their budget was just to strike these two specific sites. And I think that's pretty understandable right now. But the apartment building in Moscow, the residential building? if it was striking by the by the by the by the by the by the drone or probably it was the air defense the air defense response i i don't have an idea what what was that but unfortunately

that's that's just the face of of the war you were on our show back in 2020 there were early peace talks going on at the time did you think that this is where we would be, where your countries would be four years later? There were too many things Ukraine was not capable of making an impact on or changing independently when it comes to how the war was going on. The only thing Ukrainian was responsible for and could really have an impact on was the way Ukraine build up its defense. And I think Ukrainians did

militarily and politically better than anyone could have expected from us. However, I think that our successes in Wickening Russia could be much greater if the weapons

and the political support and the financial support we are receiving right now in 2025, in 2026, could be delivered to Ukraine two or three years earlier. Do you feel closer to an end to this? I'm not optimistic with this. I am originally from the very east of Ukraine from Donbass. It's a war where with if no strategic changes in position of our vis-a-vis if Russia is not making any compromises like they

are not making them, at least up till now, until now, we won't have any constructive ceasefire, we won't have any sustainable pause in the war and we won't definitely have a final resolution of the war. It will be dragging on, taking different stages and being at different stages of intensity

when it comes to the warfare underground. At this stage, I don't see that we are any closer than we were to anything, but probably to just incremental decreasing of intensity of the warfare with no deal and with no modalities agreed when it comes to a ceasefire.

Maria, I appreciate this. Thank you. Thank you. Maria Zolkina is the head of regional security and conflict studies at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation. We reached her in Warsaw.

Normally when people inquire about their ancestry, it's out of curiosity, or maybe to add some branches to the family tree for a school project. But for the people calling archivists across Canada lately, the stakes are much higher. Last December, the government passed a law for people known as lost Canadians. Essentially, the law gives Canadian citizenship to certain people born abroad if they can prove their ancestors lived in Canada. And now archivists say they're receiving scores of calls from Americans, requesting their families. family records. Joanna Aiton Kerr is the provincial archivist for New Brunswick. We reached her in St. John. Joanna, normally, you know, in the usual month, how many of these specific kinds of requests would you be getting? Before the law changed in December of last year, we might get one or two. That

would be the norm for this type of request. And now? Now we're getting three, to 400 a month. So it, and there's no sign of it stopping. And every indication is that the numbers will just continue to go up. And you're in a backlog situation at this moment. We are definitely, we are definitely in a backlog situation. We've got about 1,500 of these requests in the queue waiting for response. Right now we're working on requests from February. And when the, the legislation did pass back in December, and you know, and you saw the stories, you heard, heard about the law. Did you, I mean, were you bracing for this kind of onsla? No, we did not expect it. We didn't expect it. And I don't think that any of my colleagues

from across the country was really expecting it either. The first indication that we had was when we just started to notice more and more people saying they were looking for birth records and other vital statistics to support citizenship applications. You mentioned the other archivists across the country. Do you all have an email chain or a group chat talking about all of this? What are they saying? So we actually, provincial and territorial archivists meet every month as a group, and I'm the chair of that organization.

So we touch base fairly regularly. And we also recently did a survey of archives across the country because it's not just provincial and territorial archivists who are experiencing this. It's also religious archivists. It's municipal archives. It's university archives. So people who are looking to prove Canadian citizenship by dissent are reaching out to all kinds of archives from across the country. There's a lot of detective work, I would imagine, in this, for the people who are applying, but also for the members of your team.

What is the fulfillment of a request? What does that look like in practice? So it depends. It depends on whether the client is pointing to a record that is already available on our website. So if it is a vital statistic record that is on our website, so we have births that are 95 years old, marriages and burials when they're 50 years old. So many researchers are going in, identifying the record and saying, I would like a certified copy of this.

It still means that we need to go retrieve the record from the website. print it, stamp it. We've now stamped so many that our stamp is broken. So we rigged something up to make it work. Then I sign it. Payment is collected. And then we mail it off. Those are the easy ones. And they can still take 30 to 40 minutes per request. Then there are the much more complicated ones where the client doesn't necessarily know a whole lot about their family's history. They may say, my great-great-grandfather, It could be a very common name, may have lived in this area, and he could have been Baptist or Methodist. And so those ones can take a fair bit of time.

And sometimes we really can't proceed unless we are able to narrow it down a bit more. It's a lot more work for you and your team. But is it satisfying? And is there part of you that's celebrating that people are taking, you know, an interest, taking advantage of this? service and what the archives have to offer? Well, archives exist to serve the public. That is why we're here. And every now and then, we get a curveball like this one.

So do we celebrate it? Well, we're busy. We'll figure out ways to cope. But it is always a pleasure to be able to connect people with information that they're seeking and in a way that has the potential to change their life. I know you're not a politician, but are you surprised at this stage that so many Americans are interested in exploring this and becoming a Canadian citizen? I am not. And some clients like to tell us a bit about their story.

Others are much more circumspect and some don't discuss at all. But we keep hearing the same things over and over from those who want to share. So we keep hearing the phrase, it seems so peaceful. up in Canada. Or, you know, I'm just wanting to keep my options open, or I want my children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to go and live where my parents lived. So I feel my roots. My roots are calling.

Those are the things that we're hearing fairly often. How are you going to get through that backlog, do you think? What's the strategy there? We are actually, we're starting to work with the digital transformation team that part of our department to look and see if there is some opportunity to be able to automate some of those easy ones because they are already digitized and they're in a database. There should be a way that we can make it so that fewer human hands have to touch those types of requests so that we can spend more time on the difficult ones. You'll get there. Joanna,

thank you for this. You're welcome. Always a pleasure to talk about archives. Joanna Aiton Kerr is the provincial archivist for New Brunswick. She's in St. John.

beautiful May evening at last. Time for a stroll at golden hour, maybe a bike ride at dusk. The sun yawning and drifting sleepily below the horizon. The spring breeze gently caressing your face. They are, oh, gross. They're in your mouth. They're in your mouth. Yes, it's a classic face full of Mayflies situation. You've got one in your ear, a couple under your eyelids, a few on your tongue, they are totally unpleasant. Or so I thought. Turns out, there's a cohort of scientists who are captivated by the movements of mayflies, especially the quick maneuvers of male mayflies, so much so that they set out to decode the mayfly dance. Samuel Fabian is an entomologist and the first author on the new study, published in the

Journal of Experimental Biology. We reached him in Oxford, England. Samuel, you've spent a lot of time looking at the way male mayflies are dancing. What kind of moves do they have? Well, it's a really quite peculiar dance. So what all the males do is they gather together in a field and they'll be hanging out near some bright region of contrast. It could be pretty much anything, a bush and kind of weird bit of grass, something like that. And they'll start doing this bobbing performance where they go up, straight up in the air, climbing vertically, and then they descend down. And during that descent, they're actually totally parachuting. So they've just got their wings outstretched and they're just sailing down through the air

before climbing back up. So it's this perfectly vertical, rhythmic, up and down motion. And they're together together in hundreds, thousands. In some cases, even in Canada, you have mass mayfly swarms and millions of them will get out and come and do this behavior. And what was it about that behavior? At what point, we've all maybe seen some of this unfolding, but what about that sparked your interest scientifically? Well, I'm a big fan of behavior, especially insect behavior, that you could see all around you, and yet we still don't really know why it happens. And this was a particularly weird thing to do. Mayflies are very weird insects in many, many other different ways.

But this particular behavior, they don't feed as adults. They're not taking any more fuel in. And yet the males are still choosing to go and do this performance. So it must be very important for them. If they're going to spend this energy that is all the energy they have to find a mate and kind of make the next generation, why would they spend it doing this vertical thing? We really just didn't know. And, you know, we've heard of mating rituals, sometimes down.

are involved in that, but you're saying that is not what's happening. This isn't to impress potential mates. No, we don't think so. And that's because to impress your mate, she has to be able to see your dance. And it's not clear that with the mayflies, that that's what's going on. The females fly quite high over the swarm. They're not kind of sitting on the sidelines judging which male looks the best. And even if they did do that, how are they picking their males?

It's not really how the whole mating system works. So we set out to go and record this and recording it with these high-speed cameras and trying to work out and break down what's going on in this behavior. The vision of mayflies and many insects, I wouldn't say it's worse. It's much faster than ours, but it's much worse resolution, much poorer resolution. That means they're less able to see fine details. So it's unlikely that females are able to sit on the sidelines and look at males and really assess who's who and keep identities. That's just not how they work. It's how we work, but it's not how they work.

So we were looking for maybe another explanation. And perhaps maybe this isn't about showing off, but it's about signaling to other males. So it is still mating related, but what are they doing then when they're flying vertically? So, I mean, everything these adult mayflies is doing is mating related because that's all they're going to do for about a couple of days before it times up. If all these males are gathering in an area, they should really be able to work out which are the other males and which are the female mayflies. and we've just been talking about how their vision isn't that great for kind of that resolution and seeing exactly what something is by its shape. But we thought maybe they have a really sensible, smart, really sharp cue that they can use,

so something that they can measure with their eyes. And so we thought maybe it would be colour, maybe it would be pattern or something like this. The females to our eyes look pretty similar, but maybe there's something special going on. The problem with that is if you take a tennis ball or any kind of ball and you throw it over a mayfly swarm, all the males will take off after it and try and make with it. They try to mate with the tennis ball. Oh, yeah. Oh, no.

You can have, you know, we can have a sphere, something like five centimeters on a stick. We move it over the swarm. They'll go up and all the boys will try and mate with it, which is not a very finely tuned filter for what a female may fly looks like. You've got this really, really loose filter. They'll chase anything that moves pretty much and literally. But they're not chasing each other. The males hardly ever go and catch each other. And we think that this vertical behavior is what that's about.

So the males will chase anything that travels in a horizontal line over their heads and this kind of silhouetted against the sky. But if all you and your other males, if you all travel vertically up and down in a straight line, you're not flying over each other. So you never trigger another male. You never look like a female flying overhead because you're always traveling up and down. And the few cases where we do have recordings of the males chasing and catching each other, that is when a male has been going up and down and he starts going sideways and then all of the other boys take a look at him and go like let's get it

what is the soundtrack you're hearing in your head when you're watching all of this unfolds dare I ask well it kind of switches around I think the top gun soundtrack would work quite well because you know it's it's got some sort of you know smooth sort of more sexy stuff and then it's also got the action and the action happens when that chase starts these mayflies in Mayflies in general, their predecessors have certainly been around for a very, very long time. What other questions do you have about them now that you seem to have answered this critical one? Well, there are lots of other questions. It's this pattern that we see, this vertical rise and fall. It's not the only pattern that's known in Mayflies, but it's definitely the dominant one.

You're right to say it's crazy ancient. I mean, Mayflies as a group are much older than dinosaurs, you know, dinosaurs are kids to them. And actually, when you see this vertical behavior, we obviously don't have fossils of aerial behaviors that happen, but it's a reasonable guess that the behavior you're looking at is older than the continent that you're standing on. And so there's probably all kinds of other secrets buried in mayflies that they're a really understudy group for their behavior, because until now, it's been quite hard to study the behavior. You can't take mayflies into the lab very easily and have them behave. They won't do their performance. The stage isn't right. They're prima donnas.

This won't work. You have to take your cameras out to them. And so I think there's all kinds of different patterns that are going to start seeing. And also, we don't know that much about their vision. There's lots and lots of visual questions. They have these very, very long tails that they kind of stream out behind them. And they seem to be using them as air brakes. So I'm quite interested in the aerodynamics of how they activate their air brakes.

And when they choose to kind of splay out these tails, because I spread them, slow down as they're chasing things. and how that works. Samuel, I'm glad we could speak. Thank you for this. Oh, no, thank you very much. Samuel Fabian is an entomologist at the University of Oxford. That's where we reached him.

Hi, it is far, it is gone. If you heard those words on a weekend afternoon, it meant two things. One, that the New York Yankees had just hit a home run. And two, you were listening to Play-by-Play announcer John Sterling on the radio. Mr. Sterling died today at the age of 87 after serving as the radio voice of the Yankees for 36 seasons. He was known for his wit and enthusiasm, which he expressed by assigning personalized nicknames and catchphrases to every player, including Burn Baby Burn for Bernie Williams and a spirit at all rise. for the judge whenever Aaron Judge came up to bat.

Today, in memory of John Sterling, the New York Post, compiled a selection of his all-time great home run calls. That ball is high. It is far. It is good. Bernie goes boom. He drills a home run the short way in the right peel seats. Burn, baby, burn! And the Yankees tie the ball game at one. We're tied at one, and this place is going nuts. Two away, and the Yankees down to their last out. And here is Tino.

One on, two out. Pitch has swung on and drilled. The deep right center. It is high. It is far. It is gone. The Bam Tino with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. He drills a game time to run home run.

Oh, the Bampino delivers big time. And the Yankees on the precipice of defeat. Tie the game at three. He is at 2,999 as he stands in. And there is the chant, which you can hear in the background. Derek Jeter. Here comes the 3-2 from Price. Swung on and hit in the air to deep left.

That goes high. It is four. It is gone. He's homered. Derek Jeter homers to tie the game. And there it is. Hit number 3,000. Derek Jeter has achieved another milestone in his Hall of Fame career.

Swung on. There goes. Deep left, it is high. It is far. It has gone. Number 62 to set the new American League record. Aaron Judge hits his 62nd. All the Yankees out of the dugout to greet him.

Just think of it. Three Yankee right fielders. The Babe hitting 60 and 27. The Jolly Roger hitting 61 and 61. And now Aaron Judge hits his 62nd home run. The most home runs any American League has hit in a single season. And the American League has been alive for 120 years. This is Judgment Day.

Case closed. The late great Yankees radio announcer, John Sterling, with some of his greatest home run calls as compiled by the New York Post. Mr. Sterling died today at the age of 87.

We have to take a quick break now. When we return, a new study suggests that by the year 20, 2100, much of New Orleans will be engulfed by the Gulf. Researchers are proposing a very straightforward but wildly complicated solution that the entire city be relocated. And the coolest heads prevail. Neil talks to Palestinian Canadian artist Samar Hezazi about the 200 reflective mannequin heads that she contributed to tonight's Metgala exhibit.

And we'll find out what she's wearing to the fanciest event in fashion. Stay tuned. I'm Chris Howden. And I'm Neil Kukesaw.

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New Orleans has reached the point of no return. That's the assessment of a new paper published today, which finds, that due to climate change and rising sea levels, the city could be completely surrounded by water within a few generations. And the researchers are warning that because of that, the relocation of the city needs to begin now. Jesse Keenan is an expert in climate adaptation

at New Orleans's Tulane University. He's one of the papers co-authors. We reached him in Philadelphia. Jesse, when we talk about warnings, this is a pretty stark one. How are people in New Orleans reacting? Yeah, I think that, that New Orleans is one of these cities that has endured a lot over the course of decades and

centuries to be able to maintain its culture and persevere through hurricanes and floods and everything else. So on some level, this might come as a shock for some, but I think across the board, this is a bit of an exhale because this is a conversation that people have privately, that people talk about a good bit, but very rarely do we see any public recognition of the challenges and opportunities ahead of us. So I think on some level, well, one, we haven't gotten any death threats today, so that's a good thing so far. Did you think you would? Oh, for sure. Yeah, we would fully anticipate that we would have harassment threats and the like. It's not uncommon working in an oil and gas state in an oil and gas country in this part of America.

So I think in many fundamental ways, it's a bit of an exhale and a recognition of what is to come. And I hope maybe that this attention will come and attention will be paid. Yeah, I think that's right, particularly because there's an opportunity here as we cite in our work that we can buy a lot of time by different types of things like river diversion, which creates sediment and adaptation investments by the public sector that can help. rebuild land that's being very much rapidly lost. The data that you and your colleagues were looking at, what does it suggest New Orleans will look like, you know, maybe not in 10 years, but certainly within decades? Yeah, you know, the timeline here is a major challenge for science. We know that the temperatures today are roughly where they were during the last

interglacial, about 125 to 150,000 years ago. At that point in time, sea levels were much, much higher than they are today. And the question is, what's that lag, or how long is it going to take decades, generations, what are we looking at? We just don't know at this point. But we can begin to imagine that we need to start the planning process much sooner than later, certainly in the next few generations. So we're looking at more intermittent flooding. We're looking at the greater risk of total inundation. And ultimately what we face in the coming decades and certainly many, many generations ahead of us,

nothing in the short term. But in the long term, what New Orleans faces is inundation from the seas. And so to be clear, uninhabitable at that point and underwater, New Orleans would be gone. It's hard to imagine an engineering solution that could respond to being surrounded on all sides by open water in the light of what we would fully anticipate. to be sea levels in the future. And there are things you can do. They could do. You're suggesting as part of the research as well.

But ultimately, is it just postponing the inevitable? That's right. But buying time matters. Because for as much as we talk about the mobility of the current population to move businesses and populations and small jobs and, you know, small business jobs and everything else, there's also a huge segment of the population that's really deeply immobile and impoverished on some fundamental level. And so in that context, buying time, that is, investments that help build land, divert sediment from the Mississippi River, are quite meaningful because they allow

for longer-term investments to stabilize things and to help transition these populations. The governor of Louisiana, Republican Jeff Landry scrapped a project last year that was set to restore a more natural flow in the Mississippi Delta, it would allow sediment to build up in coastal areas and essentially create a new landmass, if I'm understanding it correctly. But ultimately, you said it was too expensive and would threaten the state's fishing industry. Where does that kind of messaging leave you in terms of whether this research will spur the kind of precautions you're suggesting? Well, interestingly enough, even today,

it was cited by a former Republican member of Congress that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. And so we're hoping that there's a fundamental re-evaluation of that and other decisions that can actually remobilize these coastal master plans

and sediment diversion opportunities. And yeah, there are going to be impacts locally among the fishing economy and fisheries and recreational fishing and things like that because you're building land in the face of water rising waters that is but at the end of the day there's an enormous population that's at risk here and a very a very significant portion of our economy i mean the new Orleans in the area moving up river

the Mississippi river is the largest bulk loading ports in the United States we are exporting food and fuel all across the world so this is a this is a key part of the global economy here. And every day, hour, and decade that we can buy, by time, that is, really matters. The contingency plans, the future plans will all matter. Then there's also the cultural importance of New Orleans as well. Can you preserve and move that under these circumstances? Yeah, and there's a lot of work that's been ongoing. You have to remember that people are already leaving to Orleans for a lot of different reasons. But I will say the cost of insurance, which has a very close nexus to climate impacts,

and the overall cost burden, which is being driven up, the quality of life. As seas rise and it floods more and more, we lose power, we lose drinking water on a regular basis. So there is an exodus that's ongoing, and part of that exodus is driving cultural preservation and people trying to understand, even using digital technologies to what was there, we're going to lose? How do we, you know, how do we translate recipes, right? And local ingredients and all of the things that we think about, particularly in the context of food. The places, too, right? The places. The buildings. Right. The music, the history in those, in those buildings.

How do we document it? How do we preserve it? How do we keep that culture alive? And in fact, I think this paper is good because I think it's important for us to recognize what we face and to begin to plan for the long term. Jesse, I'm glad we could speak. Thank you for this. Thank you very much for having me. Jesse Keenan is an associate professor of sustainable real estate and urban planning at Tulane University. He's in Philadelphia.

The dress code for tonight's Met Gala is fashion is art. As always, the somewhat ambiguous theme will be interpreted by a gaggle of elite designers and a list red carpet attendees, all in the name of fundraising for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute. Once those celebrities make it past the photo ops, they'll head inside the museum to take in this year's show, an exhibition called Costume Art, which includes the work of Palestinian-Canadian artist Samar Hezazi. She has designed more than 200 reflective mannequin heads that will be on display. We reached her as she was getting ready for the red carpet herself at her hotel in New York City.

Samar, what does Matt Gallup prep look like for someone who's not just going to the gala, but is a heavily featured artist? Good question. As an artist for the Met, my work was done a while ago. So there was actually a lot of calmness before the prep to actually, you know, show up for the openings. And then the prep to show up for the openings is, you know, a series of dress fittings and collaborations with designers. And, you know, it's like another world. Another world.

Yeah, it's different than the often solitary work of an artist. Exactly. It's like the complete opposite. You also got to preview the exhibit and see your work embedded in it. What was that like? What did that mean to you to see your work featured at the Met? It was very interesting. It definitely had a different impact because I was seeing so many of them altogether. They're basically a head with the face sliced off and we have a polished steel mirror instead of the face. It was interesting to see it transform the space because, you know, when I'm working, it's only reflecting one person. But when you see it in an exhibition like that, it's reflecting multiple people. It's reflecting the space.

So it adds a lot to the curatorial narrative. And what do you hope the visitors tonight and those who come after the gala, you know, the rest of us that they can come see the exhibit? What do you hope they feel when they're looking into those mirrors, those mannequin mirrors? The whole idea of it was for them to feel more involved in the experience of the work. So be involved in the body, be involved in the work, be involved in the narrative. So it's a way of shifting them from observer to active participant in the exhibition. So I hope that, you know, that leads to some kind of internal conversation or a questioning of, you know, the work that's presented because they're involved in it. This exhibit, costume art, the museum says it's about, quote, the ways in which fashion and art have engaged with the human body throughout the ages, unquote.

The head curator, Andrew John Bolton, reached out to you last May, so a year ago now. what did he say to you about why he wanted you to take this on? He had seen a sculpture that I had made 10 years ago. So he found that sculpture and it was exactly the direction he wanted to go in for this new theme, the costume art theme. So he reached out to me for us to work together and maybe either make something new or commission something new based on my concept. and his concept. Was this something you would ever dreamed about or thought of, you know, when that email landed in your inbox?

No, not at all. I, you know, didn't think it was real for the first few weeks until I saw him on the first Zoom meeting. And you knew it wasn't a hope. If I had not seen his head and his face, you know, I was like, does chat GPT talk like this through the emails? But, yeah, no, when he was there in the flesh, I thought, okay, I. guess this is really happening.

So you made four of your pieces. Then the Mets production team made the rest, brought it up to the 200, right? What does this kind of visibility for you as an artist, a Palestinian Canadian artist, mean in this moment? I mean, it's great for my career in terms of like it brings a lot more visibility and it's like a really big progression. But it also means as a Palestinian and also as a Canadian, it kind of, of gives a bit of inspiration or power to other Palestinians, other Canadians that think that they can't, you know, reach this level. This is an event that is hugely popular. There'll be headlines, photographs going out.

And then again, all of the people who visit afterwards, you know, and take pictures for themselves, as much as they're allowed inside the exhibit. But every year there is always controversy associated with it. It is, you know, in terms of the display of wealth and the opulence. But this year in particular, the fact that the main funders of this gala are Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Jeff Bezos. There's been calls for boycotts. We know some people aren't attending, including New York's mayor. How did all of that, those names and their role, how did that factor in to your decision making when the Met reached out to you? To be honest, I got the email and I thought it was a great opportunity for my work.

for my career. For me, it was I'm making, I'm being commissioned to do a project with the mat. I felt a bit off, but I also felt that it was more important for me to be present as a Palestinian-Canadian than to not be present and then have no visibility. And you are going to walk the red carpet. You're going to wear a gown. Tell us what you'll be wearing. Yes. Yes. Yes. I will be wearing a gown by Zaid Faruqi. He's a Palestinian. designer. He's also based in Dubai. He customized it for me. It's like a leather corset. And then there's a skirt that is like a chiffon. And it has this sculpted element on the sides of my hips. And then the front has some of the embroidery work that I do in my art practice. That he's integrated into the

into the gown. What's more nerve-wracking, watching people put their faces, you know, across from the heads that you've created or walking that red carpet and posing for the photographers? They're both just as nerve-wracking, just in different ways. No, I'm definitely a lot more comfortable watching people look at my work than I am having people look at me. But we'll see. I mean, it's the first time I've done this.

I just go on autopilot. No, try to enjoy it. People who go to these things always say try to take it in. Summer, I'm very glad we could speak. Thank you. Likewise. Thank you for having me. Samar Hajazi is a Palestinian-Canadian artist.

We reached her in New York City. Tiny legs can't lose. As sports fans everywhere know, this weekend wasn't just the Kentucky Derby. Saturday also marked the 10th annual Century Downs Chihuahua Races in Calgary. And if you've been paying attention to the Chihuahua racing scene in recent years, the winner of the heavyweight category will come as no surprise. Yes, Betty took the crown again.

Dan Nouveau is Betty's owner. He sat down with Lauren McGuinness, host of the Calgary eye opener. Betty just has it in her and she loves to run and she's scared to be away from me. So all I have to do is walk away from her and she knows to run and race. She takes off. Oh, she loves being close to you. And just wheeled her chair around and is getting a little, you know, hand kiss from Betty. She's very curious.

Yeah, she seems like a real sweetheart. So, okay, can you just like explain the scene here in this race? How it goes. Sure. So it's just a fun day where everyone brings their Chihuahua down for Cinco to Mollah. and we all line up. So owners will be on one end and holding the dogs.

And then the other owner will go to the finish line. And you just have to make as much noise as possible to get their attention and make them run in a straight line, which is kind of hard for a lot of them. So there is chaos. Dogs go everywhere. Betty luckily runs straight. So I think that's the only qualification to win. Motivated to reunite with the dog father. Exactly.

Oh, that's so good. How long has she been doing this? So I brought her, she's three years old. I brought her when she was a puppy. Three years ago, she didn't know what to do. She kind of got confused. But then the second year, she kind of knew what to do and she won. And she ran in a straight line and she finished.

So I was so excited. So we went back this year and she won again. So it's her third time. And next year, I said if she wins again for a third time, that's it. She's retiring. We're going to let other people win. I don't know. I'd say keep winning.

We're going for the triple crown. but after that, retirement. How did you celebrate her victory? So we went to her favorite place on Earth Cold Garden, which is a little doggy bar, and she saw all her little friends there. And we opened up her basket that she won,

which was full of dog toys and dog treats, and we shared them with all the other dogs. And she seemed to enjoy that. And I think she knew that it was a special day for her. Okay. So I know you're hoping she's got one more win in her. Are there other like races, agility things? Like, it seems like she's got some kind of gift.

You know, she's not very good at any other tricks or agility or anything else. I've tried. I brought her to some dog parks to see if she can, you know, jump through hoops or do any kind of that stuff. But she just runs in a straight line. And so she's half Italian greyhound. So she has it in her DNA. She's not a full chihuahua.

That's why she's a heavyweight. She's a little different than the other chihuahuas. But the greyhound in her makes her want to run straight, but it also makes her kind of nervous. So she doesn't want to do any other agility stuff. I don't want to be controversial, but half Italian greyhound. Anyway, that was the CBC's Lord McGuinness talking to Dan Nouveau, owner of the champion Chihuahua, Betty.

For years, residents of the world's largest refugee camp have felt forgotten. And in many ways, the hundreds of thousands of people living in cramped conditions in Kutupalang camp in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, have been forgotten. International aid for necessities like food and shelter has dwindled. In March, the World Food Program halved food rations at the camp. But in one area, there's a ray of hope. Save the Children Bangladesh has just opened a new maternity hospital, and it's already saving lives. Mustafa Golan is a director at Save the Children Bangladesh, and we reached him in Cox's Bazaar. Mostafo, before this new hospital opened, what was it like for pregnant women in the camp?

Well, thank you. Before that, the services was not that much optimum. Most of them, they had to give part at their home. What were the conditions like there, generally? They had severe complications there because they are not trained enough for the delivery. at home and my mothers felt a very, very critical situation and most of the time we see that there is a fatalities. So maternal mortality rate is also increased and we found that children also died. This new hospital is a lifeline in many ways. What kinds of things are you able to do that you were not able to do before? Now this hospital now is 67-bedded hospital with a lot of other specialist services.

If I say we have caesarean section there, which was not earlier. And we have blood transfusion center. We have a new netal care unit. And it meant a lot to the people. Is there a story of a particular patient or family that really stays with you? That, you know, now that this hospital is there, it made the difference for them. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I had chance to meet a mother, a young mother who is 20 years old, who gave birth her first child at the new hospital.

And while I met her, she shared that she saw that her mother gave birth at home and how pain and miserable situation her mother has to pass. but after hearing this and with the support of the children's trained, but attendants who regularly visited her house in the Rohingya camp and provided all the advises and brought her to the facility. So she shared me that earlier she had some complications. But understanding the situation, she received the consultation from the specialized gynecologist, that we have in the hospital now. And she is female, and she felt really confident and comfortable to visit a female doctor.

And at the end, she, on that day after two days of her delivery, she shared me that she felt very, very happy and satisfied with the services of a specialist doctor. And also the new hospital, it gives a new hope for them and for other. And how does it feel for you and your colleagues from Save the Children working there to see that, knowing that what it was like before and what you were not able to do? What is it like to hear that from her? It is really a proud moment being a humanisting aid worker and also the member of Save the Children. You know the context of the Rohingya Combs are very, very congested. The shelters, they stay in. This is a fragile made of bamboo with tariff. pulling it is it is very very small roughly 15 by 10 feet of house a shelter a temporary shelter where five to six people stay together very very congested and in this situation in this context

you know where a single disaster or any any kind of a small rain can can spoil their their shelter as well so in this situation, they couldn't think of this kind of hospital before, because earlier the hospital was also made of bamboo and tarpaulin with the fragile structure. And they also feared to come here during the rainy season and the mountain. But now this hospital gives them a really hope and they can see that, okay, their child can also give part into a hospital, not in just a primary healthcare center. The hospital is life-changing and life-saving, but they are still living in these very difficult conditions in these camps. But given what's been happening in terms of funding levels, international funding and support,

how did you actually manage to open this hospital? Since last year, we have been, I mean, old humanitarian response is facing challenges in funding cut. And you are aware that this 1.2 million Rohingya people are staying in Coxsale, because they are fully dependent on the humanitarian aid. their food, their shelter, their education, their health, everything depending on the foreign aid and humanitarian aid. So once this is cut down, but at the same time, we also looked at that since in all aspects are cutting down, but they need essential health, life-saving services, which could be more durable for their life, which is beyond the cost.

So we organize that ourselves, we minimized our different costs and things, and we efficiently tried to use that. But at the same time, we would also very appreciate the support of the philanthropic organizations, our donors, so who continue to support to continue the life-saving services for children and the women in the camp. And is it true that there are health issues specifically for children and infants right now, outbreaks currently? Exactly. So since these Rohingya camps are densely populated and overcrowded and there are many outbreaks often comes like dengue, cholera, and now there is measles. So save the children together with WHO World Health Organization and government, we are providing the vaccination support into this hospital and also our other hospitals in the camp. And we hope that this outbreak will carve down. But still there is a lot of need to support, to continue support for children and the mothers, who has been suffering. Because still there are many mothers are giving delivery at home, around seven percent.

But save the children, we want that every delivery should be in the facility-based into the institution. Mostafi, I appreciate this. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mostofa Golam is a director with Save the Children Bangladesh. We reached him in Cox's Bazaar.

If you love dogs and you're feeling entrepreneurial, makes sense to consider becoming a dog walker. But a recent ruling at Ontario's highest court may stop dog walkers in their tracks. Amanda Nigro was a part-time dog walker who was bitten on the job in 2022. She sustained injuries to her abdomen, upper thigh, and arms. And now an Ontario court of appeal justice has ruled that Ms. Nigro can't sue the dog's owners for damages because under provincial law, she is considered to have been the owner of the dog at the time of the attack.

Shane Katz is a lawyer who represented Amanda Nigro. We reached him in Toronto. Shane, right now do you think that most people working as dog walkers in Ontario understand that while they are working, while they are walking those dogs, they are essentially considered that dog's owner? I don't think they do. I think now they will if they're alerted to this decision from the Court of Appeal. And who exactly is considered a dog's owner under this Ontario?

law? Well, it seems to be based on the NIGRO case, the person who is in the best position at the time of the dog attack to control the behavior of the dog. And remind our listeners why Ontario's dog owner's liability act was brought in in the first place. So my understanding is that at the time this act was being discussed, there were issues where dog owners, were causing harm, but nobody was coming forward to claim they own the dog. So this definition of owner was created to help the justice system kind of find an owner and then allow the victim to hold that owner responsible. Your client, Amanda Nigro, sustained serious injuries back in March of 2022. Can you tell our listeners briefly what happened that day?

So, Miss Niagara was hired by the dog owners to initially walk the dog. But the dog had undergone surgery to remove nails from its paws. So the instructions from the owner had changed. Instead of walking the dog outside the home, Miss Niagara was to play with the dog in the home and let it out in the front or backyard to use the water. room. And the owner of the dog had instructed Ms. Niagara to put these boots, little booties, on the dog's paws if it was muddy outside. So on the date of the attack, because it was muddy outside, Ms. Nygrow attempted to put a booty on the dog, and then the dog just went crazy. She suffered

a mauling and suffered injuries to various parts of her body. Ms. Niagara sued the owners of the dog under the dog owner's liability act, which holds them strictly liable, where Ms. Niagara wouldn't have to prove negligence, just prove that the dog caused her harm and damages. Now two Ontario courts have ruled your client cannot sue because she is considered an owner. Right. So the owners of the dog brought a motion to say this case should be dismissed because Ms. Niagara met the definition of owner under the dog owner's liability act at the time of the attack and therefore can't sue any other owner. And the judge at first instance found in the dog owner's favor, I guess the judge felt that they were bound by an earlier decision of the

court of appeal called Wilk and Arbor, where a boyfriend and girlfriend were together The boyfriend had a dog. The girlfriend slept over at the boyfriend's house. The girlfriend in the morning volunteered to take the dog for a walk. And they had a bit of a fall during the walk. And she went to help the dog and the dog attacked her. And she sued her boyfriend under the dog owner's liability act. The owner brought a summary judgment motion to have the case dismiss.

The judge at first instance agreed with the plaintiff that she wasn't an owner and dismissed the motion, but then they appealed to the Court of Appeal where they found that she met the definition of owner at the time of the attack, and so her case was dismissed. And I think the judge in our case agreed with that and felt bound by the Court of Appeal decision. Why did you think your client's case might end differently, though, given what happened in that case? With all due respect to the Court of Appeal, I felt that decision was wrong. I feel, based on the history of the act, the definition of owner was never meant. to create an owner when the actual owners didn't deny owning the dog.

It was really meant to find an owner when there was no owner. But even so, knowing the court appeal had made this decision, I felt the facts were different enough to allow Ms. Niagara to pursue her claim. The attack occurred inside the dog owner's home, as opposed to outside. And at the time of the attack, she wasn't voluntary. interly interacting with the dog on her own discretion and deciding what to do. She was specifically following the instructions of the actual owners at the time she was attacked. And I felt that would be enough, but unfortunately it wasn't.

Ultimately, what do you think the implications of this case, your case, your client's case, are for other dog walkers across the province? Well, I think for everybody in the province, you know, you have to understand now that if you are caring for a dog or spending time with a dog that's not yours, no matter how brief the interaction, you may be held to be an owner of that dog, should that dog cause damage and be liable under the dog owner's liability act. what's your sense of any impact the attention this case your client's case is getting might mean for potentially changing the legislation well i think the the ontario government you know if they want to revisit the act they need to decide you know what was the intention was the intention here really just to find an owner when when nobody came forward as the owner or was the intention shouldn't really to just spread liability and allow the definition of owner to be expanded

to where it is now because of these cases. But I think the government needs to make clear that for strict liability purposes, actual dog owners need to be the ones who are responsible, not people who are temporarily interacting with the animal. Shane, thank you for this. My pleasure. Anytime. Shane Katz is a personal injury lawyer. He's in Toronto.

You've been listening to the As It Happens podcast. Our show can be heard Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 after your world tonight. And you can, of course, also listen to our show online at cbc.ca.a slash A.I.H or on the CBC Listen app or, of course, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Neil Kokesol. And I'm Chris Howden.

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