Windsor mayor slams Trump’s bridge post as “unhinged”

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Tonight, Burning Bridges, Windsor Ontario's mayor, Drew Dilkin, says Donald Trump's online rant about the new bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit is ludicrous and full of lies, and he insists that bridge will open soon. Reservists' judgment years after his office first flagged major inequities facing military reservists. The Canadian Forces Ombudsman says little progress has been made towards helping them access the supports they need. Turning sour, after more than a year of handing out meals to people in need outside of an apartment building in Toronto, a group of volunteers says they're being told they're trespassing and need to go. Sled and Dunn. An engineering student describes the thrill of taking part in the great northern concrete toboggan race, which is exactly what it sounds like. Sweet dreams, a BBC sports presenter is laughed out of restaurants in Italy as he goes on a quest to find a slice. of Hawaiian pizza in Milan. And fronds in high places. A football fan tells us about the weeks he spent preparing for Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show, a show that saw him and hundreds of others dress up as bunches of grass. As it happens, the Tuesday edition radio that hopes to go down in a blade of glory.

It's supposed to be a symbol of friendship and cooperation between our two nations. But instead, the Gordy Howe International Bridge has become a target in the Canada-US trade war. Last night, Donald Trump threatened to block the opening of the bridge, stating erroneously, that it was fully owned by Canada. It's not, and that it was built solely with Canadian products, whereas American steel and labor were involved. This morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he spoke to the U.S. President and explained that Canadians paid $4 billion to build the bridge which connects Windsor and Detroit. Ontario's Premier Doug Ford also weighed in. Make no mistake about it. As sure as I'm talking to you, I'm very confident. This bridge is going to open. The deal was struck that Canada, the federal government, built it. And if President Trump didn't want this to go forward, why did he fast track it? This is not the time to roll over and let President Trump take advantage of us. That's Doug Ford speaking earlier. Drew Dilkins is the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, and that's where we reached him. Mayor Dilkins, do you share Premier Ford's certainty? Yeah, I do. I absolutely share the certainty. I appreciate the premier spirit. And let's reflect on the fact that this bridge is fully built already. So when you hear Carolyn Leviter, the president, talk about wanting to see more U.S. building materials put into the bridge, guys, it's already built. It's connected to the 401 in Canada, and it's connected to the I-75 in the United States. And so I suspect that, you know, if staffing were in place today, it could probably open tomorrow. And so, yes, I'm confident this is going to open. It makes sense for it to open. And as owners, 50% owners with the state of Michigan, I can't see the president wanting to hurt the swing state of Michigan that supported him in the last election. The bridge was said to open back in 2024. People might remember there were delays in part because of the pandemic. You're suggesting it could open right away. What is the official timeline? We don't have a firm date yet. I know they're looking at probably a spring opening because they want to do some things on the bridge to celebrate the opening. And in normal times, this is such a once-in-a-generation-type investment. And normal times, you would have the President of the United States coming to meet the Prime Minister of Canada in the middle, shake hands, cut the ribbon, and celebrate this binational relationship. I'm not sure that that's going to happen now. You know, it's the type of event that would happen with this type of infrastructure, and, you know, spring would probably be the best time to see that happen. Normal times being the operative phrase. Given all of that, though, is rattled...

annoyed? Was there an eye roll when you heard about the U.S. president's post? Yeah, I think it's fair to say all of the above. I mean, we know Donald Trump cherry picks issue by issue. We've seen it with steel and then aluminum and autos and dairy and softwood lumber and just keep going down the list. And this just seemed like, you know, something else to cherry pick and pick on, you know, in the course of using this as some sort of leverage or currency and trade negotiations. And I... I think ultimately it speaks to the complexity that Prime Minister Carney and the team is going to have as they sit down and deal with in a comprehensive way, the U.S.MCA and Kuzma this year. But it's very difficult to come up with a comprehensive agreement with this particular president. And so I'm confident the bridge will open. I'm hopeful that brighter minds will prevail when it comes to the trade relationship that we've established over the course, well, since the late 1980s with our partners in the United States. And these trade relationships have proven to be highly successful and to the benefit of all economies and all families in these economies as well. The post was long, lots of all caps sprinkled through as we often see, but also more importantly riddled with errors, including, you know, on ownership. What do you think is behind? the timing and the content of this post right now. Is there any world where this president doesn't know what's the reality is with this bridge? It's hard to imagine that the president of the United States could be that. poorly informed before he goes off and post those types of things, but we've seen it many times before. And so when you, to your point, as you see him type and say that there's no U.S. steel in the project, of course there is. The Michigan half and the port of entry, the customs building on the Michigan side were built with U.S. steel and building products. Of the 15,000 people who helped build this bridge, men and women, 8,000 hailed from the United States. And so it's littered full of inaccuracies, myths truths, mistruths, and, you know, I would just say outright lies in order to try and make his point. And then it becomes a little on hinge when he talks about China wanting to eliminate the Stanley Cup and hockey. And you just sort of shake your head and say, what is, it seems like the ramblings of a bit of a lunatic here. And, you know, unfortunately we have to deal with him. I think the more crazy he gets like this, the more hopeful I think I become, and many Canadians become that. you know, Americans are seeing what's going on and hopefully we'll make a decision when it comes to the ballot boxes at the midterms later this year. Are you hearing from officials, counterparts, neighbors in Michigan? I am, and I can tell you, the conversation almost always starts with, listen, I want to apologize for the behavior of our president. It's such a role reversal where us Canadians are so used to apologizing and saying, I'm sorry, that you don't usually hear it the other way. And it feels like it's the first thing those folks have to say in order to set the stage and just acknowledge that they're not crazy in the conversation. They see what's going on and they're apologizing for the behavior of their leader. But in terms of the timing, the repetition of certain messages, Canada's dairy industry came up again in that post as well.

Why do you think it is happening now? Do you think it is to somehow unsettle things as the negotiations approach? It's really hard to parse out why Donald Trump does what he does. He loves the theater and the drama of the situations he creates. Is there strategic timing here? I'm not quite sure. I mean, I can't wait to see what happens in about 10 days from now with the U.S. Supreme Court and their decision on Section 232 tariffs. I just can't imagine that there's a universe where we actually don't win and that there has to be some give back by the United States. I just hope that bright minds prevail, get to their president, certainly have him make a different decision when it comes to his posture towards Canada and allow us to move forward in a very productive way in a way that creates jobs and improves the economy in the United States and in Canada and in Mexico. The responses have been firm, as we've heard from Ontario's Premier and Canada's Prime Minister, because this kind of thing happened so consistently and the errors... and lies are there often, as you've pointed out. Should we respond at all? Can you imagine a scenario where he puts something like this out and nobody says anything? Would that help or hurt? It's funny that you raise that because with a reporter off camera today, I said, with the exception of Fox News, which is going to do it, if everyone else just ignored these types of tweets and didn't give him the oxygen and the theatrical result that he wanted, It would be fascinating to watch how he would respond if the world ignored these sort of rantings of a lunatic. But he's the leader of the United States. We have to figure out how to deal with him. Hopefully the government in the United States will feel comfortable taking more control of the workings of their government come the midterms in the fall. And if not, this is going to be a rocky ride for us in Canada for the next three years. Mayor, I appreciate this. Thank you. Thanks very much. Drew Delkins is the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, and that's where we reached him.

If you were to stop by an apartment building in Toronto's West End on a Friday evening, you'd find a small group of volunteers providing a simple but essential service. For the past 16 months, they've gathered outside the senior's housing facility in Etobico and set up tables to distribute hot food, canned goods, clothes, and toiletries to people in need. But last month, the nonprofit Food for Now was served with a trespass notice by the Toronto Senior Housing Corporation. And now Food for Now's founder, Danielle Lozan, says he's been told the group's continued presence could lead to charges. We reached Mr. Lozan in Toronto. Daniel, when you and your volunteers are out there on a Friday night providing the service, what is a typical Friday like? Well, set up outside in the wintertime, I would say it's pretty heartwarming to see the lineup growing and growing and senior coming and line up to get some food. We have from 60 to our biggest number were like 120 people. Why did you initially choose this spot? Firstly, it was about being under the roof. There's a big area where it's covered. And also having a lineup, before we were there, the lineup grew with a lot of seniors. And a lot of them were from that building. So it just made sense for us to take this location. And did you speak to the building manager or the TSC, the seniors housing? No, from experience. I learned as a grassroots group and trying to do whatever we can with what we have. It was for me, it was always better to ask for forgiveness than permission. But I was always on the impression that somebody would come and ask us what we're doing there. And from there, it would have been a start of a discussion, but that never happened. It was only... Through the authority, like the marshal that showed up one day and being very regretful to say, Danielle, I like what you're doing, but we were asked to be here to tell you to not continue to be on this location. Who was it that passed on that news? It was from the constable from the housing unit, so it was not directly the police. I understood we were onto a private property and we just... put our tables right on the sidewalk. But even that will not be allowed going forward? Well, there's a gray area where we've been doing it for so long. I never were asked by the city to not do it itself. But when it came to the senior housing, it's their own entity. It belongs to the city, but the note came directly from them. Do you think you'll be able to continue on the sidewalk? Is that feasible? So there's a meeting coming up next week and to see if there's a path forward. So my request would be to be on that location like we were and maybe change some of their requests to adapt to whatever they want. We're giving food. We're not selling nothing so we don't need a permit.

I mean, you said in your line of work, you've realized asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission and more useful to you. But it sounds like you knew something like this might be coming. There was the verbal warning. The notice also dated July 23rd, 2025. So were you thinking of contingency plans beyond that spot? Would be to move to another location. Now we're centralized and we're right by where the need is, which is, it's evident now the seniors have mobility issues and they cannot go and wait in a big long line at the food bank or can't even make it there. So for us to go somewhere else, it's a big decision to say. But we would, you know, move our location within South Etobico Lake Shore Village and just try to do. you know, what we're doing now. We reached out to the Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation, the TSAHC, and they wrote in part in a statement, quote, there is no question that Food for Now's work is both noble and vital to the community. They go on to say also, though, that initial challenges with the program included impeded tenant access to the building and improper littering, unquote. How do you respond? There's people that will find that it's impeding access. We have some volunteers that are dedicated to make sure that the sidewalks are clear. The lineup is respected, so it doesn't impede too much. There's always, you know, a bit of movement that will make it look like. But in general, those issues can be resolved. When it comes for the littering, there was not littering. What we did is we were using the garbage bin disposal in the back. What we did is that we went without permission and went in the back and they have five or six bins there. So we put our litter there, which is. boxes and items that were we brought there for food purposes, right? These things could be arranged. If that's their only concern, I feel that could be addressed in other ways. You mentioned the meeting that's coming up with the TSHC. You also have an online petition. You're asking the city of Toronto and the TSHC to let you stay. 1700 signatures last we checked. Do you think that that's going to be enough, that show of support to let you stay? That's not why I did it. It's mostly to show the city and whoever that we have people that really care that are behind us, that understand what we're doing. All our donation are through community base and word the mouth. people that drive by and will stop and give us a bag full of pantry items. So for us to stay there makes a lot of sense and it's the place that makes the most sense. I don't want to fight the city. I totally understand where they're coming from if we didn't ask for permission, but maybe we're at that stage now to see, okay, you don't want us there. What's the real reason and how can we make this happen that it's good for everybody?

Danielle, I appreciate this. Thanks for your time. Have a good day. Bye. Daniel Lozan is the founder of Food for Now. He's in Toronto. This is, of course, Bad Bunny performing on Sunday night during the Super Bowl halftime show. It's also the moment many sports fans took a break from their wings and nachos to get up and dance because how could you stay still while listening to this? Andrew Altheus was also grooving to the music. He was far from the comfort of his own living room, though. Mr. Atheus was one of hundreds of people selected to play a small but vital role in Sunday night's performance, but he wasn't exactly easy to spot in the crowd because Mr. Atheus was dressing as greenery. More specifically, grass bush number B93. We reached Andrew Atheist in Philadelphia. Andrew, this is on your resume now, Grassbush number B 93. Highlight of your life? Yeah, it's already on LinkedIn that I have 30 years of grass maintenance experience and that I have a Super Bowl experience. This is not your normal line of work, this kind of performance, content creation, digital marketing, that's what you do. How did this opportunity, this call out? Where did you see it? So Bad Bunny actually called my personal cell phone in the middle of the night and asked if I wanted to be graphs for the Super Bowl. No, there's an open casting call that I saw the application for it, that, you know, Bad Bunny's halftime show. And they were very vague about, you know, what the requirements were. They just wanted people to be between five, seven, and six foot. But that's it. That's literally all it was. I didn't know that I was going to be grass until like, you know, I flew out there and went to like the third rehearsal. And for those who who aren't as familiar with this now as you are now, why would they have to bring in people dressed as grass? So the Super Bowl has very strict rules and restrictions, and part of it was there's a certain amount of wheels that you're allowed to have on the field at once. So instead of wheeling out all these grass props, it was creative and more logistical to have people wear the grass and a nice little workaround to get all the grass that he wanted on the field. When did you get word that you were selected? So I found out about January 25, 26. It was like two weeks before the Super Bowl.

So our schedule was pretty much, you know, stop, drop, and roll from the jump. My problem was that the Super Bowl is out in California, it was a seven-hour flight to get over there. And I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who was crazy enough to do that flight almost seven, eight hours just to go be in the halftime show. Did they tell you ahead of time how much you're going to be paid? I didn't know we were getting paid until like the third rehearsal. And what was it in the end, though? California minimum wage is $18.70 an hour. So if you add up all the... 12-hour rehearsals and the practices and even the game day, it comes out to a little north of like $1,000. I paid for my flight. Good thing I had credit card airline points. And also the hotel was like $100 a night, and I was over there for two weeks, so about $1,400. So I kind of netted. It's funny, like some of the people that did fly out or at least drove up from L.A. A lot of them were sleeping in their cars at the gym, like the Planet Fitness gym. So if you have a gym member, you know, you save money on the hotel, just sleep in your car, and then go shower in the gym and then, you know, go to rehearsal. Smart. I mean, it's not, it's not the kind of opportunity you say no, too. I totally, totally get that. You find a way to make it work. Absolutely. What did the rehearsals entail? Standing. That's just a lot of standing. I wish I was joking, but it's only a 15-minute show, but there's so much that changes, and there's so many other logistics that happen where it's like, hey, we need more grass people over here, or we need a barricade of grass people to block the dancers and then move so they can be revealed and then move back to hide them again. There's a lot of things that we're working on, even the day of the Super Bowl, to tweak and change. So a lot of hours of just standing and, you know, being grass. And, well, they want to make sure you can stand it in that costume. What does it feel like to be in it? It's... Pretty heavy. It's only 45 to 50 pounds, but the crazy thing is that sometimes the blades of grass get into your nose and your mouth and your ears. So you have blades of grass that are just in orifices where grass should never be. Other than that, it's actually pretty comfortable because it's very well padded. And what did they tell you as rehearsals about the significance of the grass in the performance? They told us that it's an important part. And because there's 500 of us, you know, it gives the illusion that it's an entire, you know, sugar cane field. But what the creative director was telling us, like almost right before we went on to the field.

on Game Day was that, you know, we're representing a field of dreams. And that Bad Bunny's dream was to not only just, you know, be the superstar that he is, but to put Puerto Rico in front of billions of people. That's a pretty beautiful thing to hear. At which point did you actually see Bad Bunny in rehearsals or was it just Game Day when he passed where you were standing? So... The first week, he was a little busy being in L.A. accepting Grammys. But the week of practice, that was the only time that we practiced with Bad Bunny. And he got to kind of perform it and figure out what he wants to do and things that he wants to change. And then when you were on the fields and it was all happening, I mean, what was your vantage point? So I was standing next to the Casita, the pink house that's in the beginning, that had all the celebrities in, which, by the way, I did not know that all those celebrities were going to be there until I waddled past them on game day. Just watering past Pedro Pascal. Yeah, Pedro Pascal, Mark Carney B and Carol G. and Young Miko. Pretty much I only got to see that one side because everything else, you're not allowed to move or turn around. So I figured I'll just see it when it's on YouTube like the rest of the world. I mean, you must still just be vibing from that experience. Have you come down? What do you think is next after something like this? I need an agent. There's so many people and news outlets that have been trying to reach out to me. All my family and friends, they're, like, not at all surprised that, like, this has been my life for the last two days. They're like, this is exactly the kind of side quest they'd expect me to go on. A story to tell for a lifetime, Andrew. Thanks for sharing it with us. For sure. Thank you for having me. Andrew Atheas was dressed as a grass bush during Bad Bunny Super Bowl performance. He was in Philadelphia.

Oh, I don't know. Loyal listeners of as it happens will know that we are basically contractually obligated to fill you in on developments in the debate over pineapple on pizza. And believe me when I say it is an obligation we take very seriously because it can stir up division even within our own newsroom. Well, rest assured, we are keeping an eye on a situation unfolding at the Olympics in Italy. That's where BBC sports presenter and former Love Island star, Chris Hughes, has been paying visits to restaurants in Milan, boldly asking for a slice of pineapple adorn pie, and it isn't exactly going smoothly. Guys, I'm in Milan ahead of the Winter Olympics, and I've set myself a task to find pineapple for my pizza. It's like finding gold, but I'll try. Do you do like pineapple pizza? No, nothing at all. He started laughing. One, the big one. The big one. Thank you. Do you, do you, you don't have pineapple or anything like that. Yeah, no, not at all. Oh my man not, no. Scarpa. Scapa. Run away, run. I'm, take my pizza and leave. Thank you. God bless you. Run away. Okay. I actually thought the chef was going to chase me out the room. Thought the chef was coming for me. Could I have a slice of this one? Thank you. Do you do like pineapple on the peak? Did you do pineapple? Not good. No. Is it illegal? Illegal, yeah. Oh, it's illegal. Wow, that looks great. Hey, who needs pineapple when you have a pizza like this? Thank you. Thank you. God bless you. BBC sports presenter Chris Hughes trying to order pineapple on his pizza in Milan. Well, we here at as it happens appreciate his tireless efforts and hope it will yield some results.

We're going to take a short break now. When we return, an Irishman speaks out from an ICE detention facility in El Paso and says the conditions there have him fearing for his life. This comes as top immigration officials in the U.S. We're testifying in Washington today. We'll hear some of what, the acting director of ICE Todd Lyons, told lawmakers. Stay tuned. I'm John Northcott. And I'm Yeek-Kerksal. Middy knows that just when you thought you had your body all figured out, bam, perimenopause. Suddenly, your hormones are raging like it's puberty round two. You're waking up at 3 a.m. and dealing with mood swings that have mood swings. Your ears are itchy, your genes don't fit, you need an industrial-sized fan to cool down, and you've suddenly forgotten the word for microwave. Most women in perimenopause don't know that they are, even though it can last for 10 years. They also don't realize that most of their symptoms are treatable. That's why we built Midi health. Midi is a company built by women who've been through it. Our menopause experts actually listen and treat the real symptoms you're feeling. Your symptoms aren't just common. They're treatable. Schedule a visit with a menopause specialist at Midi. Visit join MIDI.com. Specialist led care, virtual visits, insurance eligible. Midlife needs Midi. Results may vary. Medications prescribed only if clinically appropriate based on a consultation with a clinician. Insurance coverage varies. Check with your plan for coverage. Prime Minister Mark Carney is throwing stunning amounts of money, billions and billions of dollars at defense. I'm Jamie Poisson, host of the Daily News podcast Frontburner, and we've been taking a closer look at all this military spending and the expansion of Canada's defense industry, reporting from the country's biggest arms expo and considering the most alarming threats to the Arctic. If you want to go deeper on this dramatic shift, check out some of the latest episodes that we've released on the front burner feed, wherever you get your podcasts. When flooding hits Quebec, forest fires tear through Western Canada, or folks on the East Coast are stuck, or rather struck, by an ice storm. Canada's reservists are often there to help. But a new report by the Canadian Forces Ombudsman says reservists face systemic barriers in their own times of need. It looks at long-standing problems with how injured and ill-reservists access health care. compensation and administrative support and why military leadership has failed to address them for more than a decade. Mario Barri is the Department of National Defense and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman. We reached him in Ottawa. Mario Barri, your office has been flagging this kind of lack of progress on this issue for a decade now. So if you were not surprised... by these findings, were you frustrated? I'm shocked. I must say I'm shocked because, you know, after 10 years of making sound recommendations based on two reports, it is shocking to see that, you know, we've made just little progress on some of our recommendations. And as you would know, an Ombuds office is really about...

capturing the issues, making proper recommendations, and then tracking whether or not they're implemented in a timely fashion. So it's a lot of disappointment. It's shocking to me. If a reservist gets ill or injured on the job, what are they facing when they try to get help or care? Yes, so a few challenges that we've observed 10 years ago and which are still valid is lack of proper systems or proper governance. And so when they apply for either compensation, reserve force compensation or health benefits, they face multiple barriers. In terms of the experiences and the cases you're hearing about, is there a particular story that you find hard to forget? Yes, there's one case that is part of my report, and it's the case of a reserve force member that was serving on Class A reserve service, and he was injured during basic training, submitted a request through their chain of command, and it was determined back then that the most appropriate form of compensation option for the member would have been to apply for reserve force compensation. The individual was unable to work anymore as a reserve force member or in a civilian job, and he was facing very serious financial hardship. So despite following with their chain of command for over a year, they received no updates on their application. So they reached out to our office asking, like, can you help? Because I'm facing financial hardship. It is difficult. It's creating, you know, mental health issues. So we did reach out to the commanding officer. And what we discovered is that the application was never completed nor sent to the proper authority within the CAF. And so when we discovered that, we went back to the commanding officer and we explained that, you know, this is an issue of fairness, the issue of accessibility of service. And so for this individual, it was a case where they were in debt for $80,000 not being able to work in either a civil service job or in the cast. So as you can imagine, like for us, this has revealed that it was an issue of roles and responsibilities. So one of our recommendation is basically make sure.

that we know precisely where the accountability resides to make these decisions. Just all of that suggests so many layers of bureaucracy that would be frustrating for anyone, let alone someone in this position. Just for a point of clarity, earlier you mentioned Class A. What does that mean? What would they have been doing? Class A is basically referred to as part-time. So they work on, you know, during a couple evenings during the week and on weekends. So they're not full-time reservists as they would be in Class C, for example. So if they do get injured as part of their training, they still require that level of compensation or health services as anybody else. You mentioned barriers earlier in our conversation. Some of those that you outline include just a cultural divide between the regular force and the reserve force, resource constraints, slow digitization, as well as governance. And on that last point, you write, quote, the CAF's biggest challenge is a strategic one, the lack of consensus by senior leaders on how reservists are employed and what a reservist is supposed to do, unquote. How is it possible that Canada's military leaders are not aligned on something that appears to be so straightforward, particularly when we're talking about a country that is trying to expand its reserve numbers, reservist numbers? Yeah, it does really boils down to, you know, roles and responsibilities and accountabilities. What our report discovered is that there's many people that are involved with, you know, the policies with regards to reservist, and they do not have the same total vision as to, you know, how they should be employed, what is the proper vision and so on and so forth. So what we're basically saying here is just get that one level of accountability. one person responsible to review all of the policies related to reservists and making sure that there's one decision maker. whenever there's a decision to be made with regards to, you know, compensation, reserve force compensation or access to benefits. Our CBC news colleague Murray Brewster reached out to defense minister David McGinty. And in a statement, the defense minister formally agreed with the recommendations and said the Department of National Defense is developing a proposal to address these concerns about governance and compensation for the reserves. But you've heard promises before, I'm sure. So given that, are you optimistic that in five or ten years will be in a different, better place? Yes, I am optimistic. Why?

So in this role, in how this role was established as Ombudsman, not only my mandate is clear to detect and make recommendations to the minister, but I'm also the special advisor to the minister. So whenever I discover these issues, I do have this ability to have these discussions with the minister and see how and when these can be implemented. in a way that we can see results. So I am cautiously optimistic. We will monitor. Right now, it's an environment where we speak about, and you mentioned it, like, you know, the modernization, reconstitution. We are at the crossroad. Like right now, it's an environment where we cannot, in my view, continue to expand without... fixing the fundamentals. And these fundamentals are basically what we discovered through that report. So it sounds like you feel the lines of communication are stronger, and the moment we're in lends itself to the kind of change you've been calling for. Yes, absolutely. Mario Bari, I appreciate this. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mario Barreep is the Department of National Defense and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman. He was in Ottawa.

A new Irish radio interview from inside an ICE detention center provides a rare glimpse of the everyday lives of detainees. Seamus Culleton, originally from Ireland, had been living in the United States for close to 20 years. He's married to an American woman, had a valid U.S. work permit, and his green card was pending. But he was taken into custody outside a hardware store in Boston in September and ordered removed from the country for overstaying a tourist visa in 2009. He was able to call into RTE Radio from ICE's largest detention center in the U.S. Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas. The best way I could describe it is probably like a modern-day concentration camp. It's a bunch of temporary tents. There's probably room for a thousand detainees in each tent. I believe there's like five tents. There's no real quality of life here. I've been locked in the same room now for four and a half months. I've had barely any outside time, no fresh air, no sunshine. I could probably count on both hands the amount of times I've been outside. So I've just locked in this room all day, every day. We've got two TVs on the fall. There's 72 detainees in here in total. We get three meals a day, very, very small meals, kid-sized meals. So everybody is hungry. It's very hard to sleep at night with all the nights. So everybody's hungry, everybody's tired. And the conditions here are filthy. The toilets, the showers, completely nasty, very rarely cleaned. You know, I'm in fear for my life now, here, honestly, because people have been killed by the staffing, by the security staff, you know? And you just don't know what's going to happen on a day-to-day basis. You don't know if there's going to be riots, you don't know. It's just, you know, what's going to happen. It's just, it's a nightmare down here. The 72 of you, Seamus, into how small a space are you crammed? I mean, you're spending almost all day every day in this tent, so how big is it? Yeah, so the 72 detainees in with me. It's probably, I want to say, a 16 by maybe 35 feet. kind of a room with no ceiling, just 12 feet high walls. And within that, I mean, are there divisions? Do you have any of your own space? Is there seating areas? There's toilets and showers, obviously, but... Yeah, there's 32 bunk beds on one side and 32 bunk beds on the other side. And then in the middle, there's a kind of a dining area to five tables. Have you lost weight since you've been there? Oh, I think we've lost Seamus speaking to us from an ICE facility, a detention centre effectively in El Paso. That was ICE detainee, Seamus Culleton, speaking to Ireland's RTE.

Today, during a tense congressional hearing, the men who had the U.S. immigration response were asked to account for the chaos in the past few months. ICE acting director Todd Lyons used his opening statement to push back on those who label ICE officers as the, quote, Gestapo or Secret Police, unquote, which is something Democratic representative, Dan Goldman, focused on. You are aware, of course, and there's well-documented, numerous well-documented instances of people, American citizens, being asked to show and prove their citizenship. Do you know what other regimes in the 20th century required similar proof of citizenship? Yes, sir. What? Sir, there was various nefarious regimes that did that. Is Nazi Germany one? Yes, but I... Is the Soviet Union one? I honestly... I'm asking the questions. Is the Soviet Union one? Yes, sir, but I totally... I totally... I totally... This is the wrong type of... No, I'll tell you what the wrong type of thing is. But actually, sir, it's my time. Reclaiming my time, sir. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman. It's not the men and women of vice that are out there doing it every day. So to say it to men and women of vice that are going to stop us. Mr. Chairman, I'm reclaiming my time. I would like my time back, please. Please give me another 15 seconds because he was unnecessarily speaking. You said in your opening statement, that references to ICE as the Gestapo or the secret police encourages threats against ICE agents. 100%. The problem is you have it backwards, sir. People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist. So I have a simple suggestion. If you don't want to be called... a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one. But people are simply just observing what they are seeing. And that's why people are making those comments. Democratic Representative Dan Goldman questioning ICE acting director Todd Lyons today.

For engineering students across Canada and the U.S. going down a ski hill has never been so serious. This week, teams from over a dozen universities and colleges met in London, Ontario, compete in the 52nd annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race. For months, dozens of people like Matthew Lawson have been preparing by building their very own sleds. Mr. Lawson is with the University of British Columbia's Okanagan team, which won the King of the Hill Award this year and overall ranked second. We reached him in Colonna, British Columbia. Matthew, what is it like when you're racing down a hill in a concrete sled? It's a little nerve-wracking, especially the first time doing it. So I was in the tobogging for the King of the Hill runs. The first run, I was the brake deployers. There was a little bit of pressure there, do not do it too early or too late, make sure the timing was good. But once you're done that one, and then the other ones, I was kind of just a passenger, and you can't really see much, so you're kind of just... along for the ride and hoping it goes well. Is it terrifying? I mean, it sounds like it would be terrifying. The first one was a little bit because I had my glasses on under the helmet and then they fogged up so I couldn't actually see anything. But once I may realize to not wear them, it was a little less scary because I had some vision. But you're mostly just hanging on hoping it goes well with pressed up right against someone in front of you with another person pressed up right behind you. Kind of like, I would imagine, luge, but also extremely different. What kinds of speeds are we talking about? The only run that was radar gun was the first run where we hit 37 kilometers an hour. Some of the other schools were kind of in the mid-40s kilometers an hour. Okay. How did this year's race compare to last year? Much, much faster. So last year, through a combination of the hill being a lot flatter and the... Teams not doing as much ski prep. Only, I think, three schools actually made it down. So it wasn't super exciting being in the toboggan last year. You kind of just pushed off and then stopped. So if you've got a ton of friction on your skis, you're not going to go anywhere. So I think all the schools this year learned that, you know, some sandpaper and wax goes a long ways. Like all elite athletes, those fine, those widths are fine tuning, help, certainly. Exactly. What is a concrete toboggan like? Just help. I've seen photographs now in video, but for our listeners, describe what it looks like, how big it is, all of that. So every school that goes about it differently, but similarly. Most have four skis two in the back, kind of just like wheels on a car. And then you've got a full roll cage that holds five riders and is all enclosed either with metal or snow fans or some sort of netting so that if there is a crash, no one flies out. And then you've got a full braking system to come to a stop at the end and a steering system for the slalom event as well. And then...

The only main rule with the concrete comes from is all your sliding surfaces have to be concrete. But beyond that, you can use whatever materials you'd like for your design. And what does your team's sled look like? So we've got it fully wrapped with an aluminum roll cage. One of our sponsors agreed to actually wrap it with a custom designed wrap on the outside to look like a tie fighter to do our theme of Star Wars. And then we've got steering and brakes that are just giant teeth that dig into the snow, hopefully stopping us. Well, they did stop us, but yeah. How long does it take to build one of these? We usually start designing. about a month after the previous year's competition. And then we design through the summer. And then kind of once we are back in school, we actually get rolling with the construction. Start to finish, it's about 10 to 11 months. And what about the cost? It's about 10 to 15 grand for everything actually in the toboggan, not including kind of the travel, flights, hotel, etc. And the team itself, how many people are we talking about? You hinted earlier at, you know, the different positions you've held, but just take us through the whole team. So yeah, this year we had 22 people that actually went to competition. Unfortunately, we can't take everyone. So our team is close through about 30 or 40 people. And of that, it's kind of broken down into three parts. So there's the mechanical design team that does steering the brakes and the roll cage. There's the concrete design team. So they design our mix, our ski profile, and our ski reinforcement. And then there's our technical interaction team. So they kind of do our events. They do our social media page. And they do all of our technical interaction booth. Days before race day at the competition, all the school set up a big display that showcased their toboggan and their theme as well, which is a big effort by that team. And so you've got a couple people pushing it down the hill, right? Yes. The brake control, as you talked about, steering. And then the people just sit in the back. Three more riders that just kind of sit there and hang on for dear life. Do you have a favorite role? I think steering it's the most fun. I didn't get to do that this year, but it's the most fun, but also the most... High pressure, but, you know, it's just great to be in it going down the hill. Yeah, you've won this before with your teams. This year, you came second behind U of A, right? Yes, yeah, this year we're second behind U of A. Two years ago in St. John's, we won the overall competition as well. I mean, everyone wants to win, I guess, but what is it, what is it for you to keep coming back to this over and over again?

It's just the whole experience. It's really unlike any other event I've ever been to in my life, how everyone there is the best people I know. Everyone's supportive. Everyone wants every other school to do the best. Whether it's helping out doing some last minute repair at other schools to boggons, it's supporting everyone with every award they win. It's just the most happy, fun group of people that I've ever been with. And yeah, that's what keeps me coming back. That's pretty great. You know, engineers can be competitive. And they also seem to have the wildest events or pranks that some universities know. Not that they would ever admit to them, I think, but lots of secrets in the engineering schools. Why did this get started in the first place? I don't, what I could be saying is completely wrong now, but I know it, I believe it was a. proff at U of A, and the running joke was that a civil engineer will make anything out of concrete. So I know it started back, I think, 1974, between U of A, UFC, Nate, and Sate. What are Nate and Sate? Nate and Sate are the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. And they just got together and raced. And back then there was a lot less stipulations mostly on the safety side. Every year as there's some incident, a new rule gets added to the rulebook, it feels like. And then slowly schools have kind of been adding and growing the competition. So I know with UBCO, I believe our first year was 2015 in the competition, but I was still in high school then. Dreaming of a dream. You didn't even know you had. Yeah, exactly. Matthew, great to speak with you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Matthew Lawson is part of UBC's Okanagan team that won the King of the Hill Award at the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race. He was in Colonna, British Columbia.

There's a lot of reasons why birds clean or rather preying each other. It gets rid of parasites. That's one reason. It's a bonding thing, too. But for all the reasons, it's usually done within the same species. That is... until it isn't. It's called interspecific allopreneing. And there have been sightings of birds of different species preening one another and a new report that was born out of one of those sightings. Laurie Boyce is a research assistant, a professor of biological sciences at St. Mary's University and is the co-author of this observational report. We reached her in San Antonio, Texas. Lori, what was it that you saw on your roof that got you thinking about this kind of preening? So I had just... dropped my daughters off at school. And when I came back, I happened to have a black vulture and a Kara Kara on the roof. And so our roof is one of the highest roof lines in the neighborhood. So it's not uncommon for us to see different types of birds and raptors on the roof. And I like doing amateur photography. So I ran inside and I happened to have a new lens. And so I was trying to test it out and take some pictures of it. And while I was out there, we had... another Kara Kara and another Black Vulture come to the roof. And so we had a total of four birds. Oh my. So two pairs. Yeah. And so I was able to watch them for a while. And then I was able to see the Kara Kara do the heads down display, inviting the Black Vultures to start printing their heads. And so I thought, well, that's really interesting. That's different and new, something that I hadn't really seen before. And as I sat and watched them, I was able to see. both pairs doing that. And so it wasn't just a one-off, but it was two birds kind of mimicking that behavior across that pair on the roof. And what was your initial thinking about, about what you were seeing? I mean, I thought it was really interesting and different. Like I said, I do enjoy being out in nature and seeing what's out there. As a scientist, you always are trying to be observing and keep your eyes open. And so after it happened, I went to the literature search and I looked to see, is this a common thing that we see happening? And so I was able to find a few. different reports of it happening, typically in rural areas. And some of these reports were quite old. And so it has been known between these two species of birds to happen occasionally, but there's not a whole lot of reports. We don't really know why it happens. And so I thought that was really interesting. And again, this was the first time we had seen in an urban environment. And then it was also, you know, the first time we saw it in the literature within pairs.

And then not long after that, I saw that there was an observation, less than a mile from where I lived at Phil Harbor Park. And so that kind of started putting all these pieces together as, you know, we don't know if it's the same birds, obviously. But obviously, this is a very common interaction between these two birds and the way that they want to behave. And there has to be some sort of. reason why they're doing this in some sort of symbiotic relationship between the two. You're actually, to be clear for our listeners, a cancer biologist, you do this other birdwatching photography for fun. You love nature. But to take it a step further to actually investigate this, bring your scientific background to this, what was the point that you made that decision? Once I was able to see that, you know, they had looked at the birds at Hardberger Park and they had just reported that observation. I thought, oh, that's really interesting. And I had talked to my chair at the time, Ted McCreney. And he said, you should definitely publish that. And I said, well, it's an observational study. And as a cancer biologist, we. don't necessarily publish a lot on that. It was a little bit outside of my comfort zone. And so then I was able to pull in my work best friend, Terry Shackleford, who's on the paper with me. And I said, well, why don't we work on this with one of our students? So we teach at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. And we really focus on trying to get undergraduates research experience. And so we were able to pull in our student, Francesca, Tanakpa. And we really dove into the literature. And we said, is this really something new? Is this something that? is different and is this something we can really report on. And so we really dove into the literature, the three of us. And then Terry had the great idea of also looking at the data from I Naturalist, looking at what is the prevalence of Kara Kare and Black Vultures in the park versus in San Antonio as a whole. And we were able to really come up with a really nice story. So what story did your research reveal? What does it suggest? The interaction that we saw on my roof was very long. It was multiple. birds involved and it really just started to say well why would that be happening typically when we see it out in the rural areas these are both scavenging birds and they might be around a carcass together but where these birds were it was in a neighborhood so there were green spaces around it but they weren't actively scavenging they weren't doing anything they were just perching and you know these types of birds they like to look out over white swaths of area. And that's probably why that was a common perch point for many birds because it was so high. So it really just starts to bring into a question, well, what is that relationship between the two of them? Because it wasn't like an active scavenge site. It really was just them being together. And that was probably really the most interesting part of it all is because it really leads to more questions. Why are they just? being together. Now, the black vultures are bald, and so they don't have to really worry about cleaning their heads as much for things like lice and mites and other things that would be uncomfortable and disease spreading for them. But the Kara-Kara, they do have feathers on their head. And so maybe the black vultures, as they're preening them, they're providing a service. Maybe they feed at these same sites, and so they've become.

friends. You don't really want to assign human characteristics to animals, but obviously there's some sort of relationship between them. And so there has to be a reason why those birds are doing it. They have to be getting a benefit from both sides. So it really starts in some ways asking more questions as to why they're doing it. But it's a great observation for more hypotheses to be made. How are ornithologists reacting to your research? So I haven't heard specifically from any at the time. But I have a great friend, Lorna Engleman here in San Antonio, and she and her husband Dodge are avid birders. And I had spoken to her about it before I even really embarked on all this because I said, let me go to the expert. They travel the world and she's seen probably close to 90% of all the birds that are out there. And I said, is this something you've seen? because she has seen all the birds almost. And she said, no, this is not a very common interaction. She said, I've never seen anything like that. And I showed her the pictures. So I think it's a pretty rare interaction that we see. I know that as we have more cameras and we have more citizen scientists and people using things like eye naturalists, we're going to see more and more observations. And I think that's great because it'll help give us insight as to why maybe these interactions are happening. It's been great speaking with you, Lori. Thank you. Oh, thank you so much. Lori Boys is a research assistant professor of biological sciences at St. Mary's University and is the co-author of this observational report. We reached her in San Antonio, Texas.

She's single. Just landed in L.A. and looking for love, she likes long hikes in the mountains, howling at the moon. And her meat, rare. Her name is B.E.Y.03F. And she's a gray wolf. It's the first time in a century that a gray wolf has been cited in L.A. County. Axel Honeycutt is California's gray wolf coordinator, and we reached him in South Lake Tahoe, California. Axel, what do you know so far about this wolf's journey to L.A. County? Yeah, well, her journey, I guess, began when we first recorded her not long after she was born in her den, quite a few miles north of where she ended up, at least in the last weekend or so. Where was she born? So she was born in Plumas County, which is in the northeastern portion of the state, and that's about an hour north of Lake Tahoe. And to get from where she was born to where you're watching her now, what kinds of things would she have encountered, challenges, obstacles? Yeah, she ended up in LA County as of last weekend. And in order to complete that journey, she would have had to traverse almost the entire length of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. We know that she spent some time in Tulare County with our only wolf pack in Southern California. She spent about eight months with them. And then as of 10 days ago, she left. And from there, it looks like she crossed a portion of the most western extent of the Mojave Desert. and then down into the San Gabriel Mountains, which is not that far from Santa Clarita and Los Angeles. Sounds like a beautiful trip to make, whether you're a wolf or not, but still not an easy one. And rare, as our listeners heard, there hasn't been an animal like this there in almost a century. What did you think when you saw that? So it was always thought that wolves eventually would make that trek. And once we saw that this animal was starting to move in that direction, yeah, all bets were off. And given that it hasn't happened in so long, why do you think this one decided to make that perilous trip? Yeah, well, just her location, you know, she, most of our wolves that we do track when they disperse this time of year tend to head back north into Oregon, which is back towards where there's a lot more wolves. But wolves this time of year are looking for a mate. This is a young animal that doesn't have a mate, and so she is traveling hundreds of miles. She might even travel thousands if her journey continues. But yeah, this is the story of wolf-re colonization. the western U.S. wolves were brought back into Yellowstone in central Idaho in the 90s and 30-something years later this is the most southern we've detected a wolf, a gray wolf, in that long dispersal pattern. What should we take away from that in terms of the health of the overall wolf population in California?

Yeah, first is that they're doing well. You know, we continue to see strong reproduction, strong dispersal, animals like this that are traveling quite a distance. At the same time, she's traveling that distance because she's not encountering other wolves. So we know, or we can take away from this, that in Southern California, at least, there's very few, if any, other wolves in the area. That's not to say there's not a male wandering and doing the same journey that she might bump into, but it is far less likely than further north. As you know, not everyone gets as excited as you and your colleagues do about having a wolf around. What are you telling people in Los Angeles who might be worried about encountering her? Yeah, most of our concerns around wolves stem around livestock, particularly cattle and sheep. And because this area doesn't have nearly as much as other parts of the state in terms of livestock and agriculture, most of our messaging has just been to... You know, treat this like other large carnivores in California. Black bears, mountain lions, you know, be careful and be cautious when you recreate and be smart about attractance. And particularly with your dog, you know, keep your dog on a leash. And if you live in an area that butts up against or is in wild areas, you know, try to bring your dog inside around dawn and dusk and not leave it unattended. There are worries. You mentioned livestock producers about, you know, they're worried in general about the program that's reintroduced wolves to parts of the United States. Last year, close to 200 animals, livestock, were killed by wolves. How do you respond to those kinds of concerns? It is an extremely challenging situation where we have less than 100 wolves in California. They're an endangered species, and yet that small number of animals does do a very real and significant amount of damage to livestock. And so our conversations with livestock producers, agricultural communities, and the rural communities that live alongside wolves is one of, you know, constant education, reinforcement. trying to find funding and programs to help them with the information and tools they need to harden their operations, while at the same time understanding that that requires difficult change and the losses that they incur are very real financially and emotionally as well. Why is that reintroduction program, despite the difficulties and the change, as you mentioned, why do you feel that it is worth it and necessary? Yeah, I mean, you know, a lot of people will point to You know, the fact that wolves are keystone species and ecosystem engineers and they're critical and provide critical ecological services. But in a state like California, that might not always be necessarily the same. Our prey numbers are, you know, lower than they are in other states. And so... the need to regulate elk and deer is probably less necessary. So probably a lot of the value comes from intrinsic value, cultural value. The native peoples of California that are here and we're here before us, you know, have value to the species and their history and culture with it. And yeah, similar to the grizzly bear that's on our state flag, you know, it was a species that we chose in prior generations to eradicate. And it seems now that public sentiment is to...

allow the wolf to return. And back to our... To our wolf. The wolf in question here, we love a love story. Here it as it happens. What are its chances of finding love in L.A.? Down in L.A.? I don't know if they're any good. Yeah, I think there's a lot of people that would have something to say about the market there. Yeah, yeah, I can't, can't. I live in Northern California, so I can't speak to it. But yeah, this is, this animal's not doing this for fun. She's doing it for love and looking to meet. Yeah, this is the breeding season for wolves, so she is going to keep wandering until she finds a mate or the season is up and she continues to live out the rest of the year by herself. Well, let's hope her story has a happy ending. Axel, thank you for this. Yeah, thank you very much for having me. Axel Honeycutt is California's gray wolf coordinator, and we reached him in South Lake Tahoe, California.

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 our show online at cbc.ca.ca.a slash AIH or on the CBC Listen app. Thanks for listening. I'm Neil Kerksal. And I'm John Northcott. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.