Tundra-struck. When the federal government cuts their funding, Canadian global-warming researchers in the Arctic see their hopes melt away.

His lips are un-sealed. While his Senate colleagues chow down on seal meat, Liberal Senator Mac Harb refuses to get in loin.

Whiskey business The European Union has banned imported seal products -- so one Nunavut politician moves to scotch scotch, and all other European liquor.

Cereal killer. We thought the deadly wheat disease "stem rust" was eradicated -- but it's stalking the world once again.

He's only a treehugger because there are no other options. Scientists in California follow the lonely exploits of a male wolverine who lives hundreds of miles from any potential mate.

And...they were uptight -- but now everything's all right. In 1981, the French government gave Stevie Wonder a prestigious cultural award -- which he finally stopped by Paris to pick up last Saturday.

As It Happens, the Wednesday edition. Radio that assumes France spent twenty-nine years wondering: "Will Wonder never stop?"

Call it a sudden deep freeze.

This week, the Harper government announced that it will no longer fund the Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. The decision was part of last week's budget, which, among other things, announced a significant freeze in public spending. The Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences is the main funding body for Canadian researchers studying climate change. And so the cuts have cast a chilling pall across the research community.

James Drummond heads the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory -- or PEARL -- on Ellesmere Island. We reached him in Toronto.

For a little more than two years, the Innu community of Natuashish in Labrador has observed a ban on alcohol. But that ban may not stand much longer. Last night, the reserve's new chief, Simeon Tshakapesh, told us he was reviewing the policy. And the local RCMP detachment in Natuashish told us Chief Tshakapesh had already asked their officers to stop enforcing the ban.

After our interview with the new chief, we received the following email from Tarry Hewitt, in Milltown Cross, Prince Edward Island.

"My husband was a lawyer who practiced in Northwestern Ontario. He was a defence counsel for remote, fly-in First Nation communities there. In the 'Eighties and 'Nineties, we both witnessed the devastation caused by alcohol abuse. Now, with an opportunity to step back and digest the experience, we can see that this is not a black-and-white issue.

"Alcohol prohibitive bylaws are paternalistic, and reminiscent of all the intentions of the colonizers when they implemented policies and programs such as the Indian residential school system. My husband did not enjoy kicking in doors to confiscate alcohol as directed by the by-laws. Such practices smack of an extension of colonial subjugation.

"We both knew individuals who resided on 'dry' reserves who drank responsibly and avoided detection by authorities.

"There has been reference made to reduced rates of incidents as a result of the alcohol ban in Natuashish. But is this really the result of the ban, or is it due to increased policing or social service supports?

"I think the issue needs to be explored in more depth."

That email came to us from Tarry Hewitt, in Milltown Cross, Prince Edward Island. If you'd like to comment on anything you hear on our program, please feel free to contact us. Our email address is aih@cbc.ca. Or you can call our toll-free Talkback line. The number is 1-866-481-5718.

It's called the 'polio' of agriculture. And like the deadly human disease, there was a time when stem rust -- a deadly spore that wipes out entire crops of wheat -- was believed to have been eradicated, thanks to wheat hybridization.

But now, the pathogen, known formally as Puccinia graminis, has returned, starting in Uganda, and spreading out across the world again -- and if this strain, known as Ug99, reaches the breadbaskets of south Asia and North America, it could cause a global food crisis on an almost unimaginable scale. So it's a good thing Les Szabo has been studying the spore for more than twenty years.

He's a research geneticist at the cereal disease laboratory at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Today, American activist Rachel Corrie's family is in Haifa, where they want to put to a matter to rest in an Israeli court.

The family is launching a civil suit against the Israeli military over the death of Ms. Corrie seven years ago. On March sixteenth, 2003, Rachel Corrie was killed in Rafah, Palestine, while she was trying to stop Israeli military bulldozers from leveling homes in Gaza. She was crushed by one of those bulldozers.

The day after Ms. Corrie's death, As It Happens interviewed an activist who witnessed the event. Former host Mary Lou Finlay spoke with activist Will Hewitt. Here is part of that interview, from March seventeenth, 2003.

As far as animal videos go, it's not as exciting as, say, footage of Bigfoot or Ogopogo. But the video of a lone wolverine in California is still creating a sensation on the West Coast.

It's a video of a wolverine named Buddy. And what's exciting about is it that it comes about ninety years after the wolverine supposedly went extinct in California.

A male wolverine was first spotted in the region a couple of years ago. And now, genetic testing of hair samples has confirmed that that male wolverine was Buddy, too --- and that he is not a descendant of the last-known wolverine population in California.

Amanda Shufelberger is a wildlife biologist in Grass Valley, California.

That's all the time we have for the first part of tonight's show. The news is coming up next, and then we'll be back with more As It Happens. When we return:

The loin in winter. Ottawa politicians eat seal loin to support the hunt -- but one Liberal senator isn't taking hors d'oeuvres.

Spirits in the material world. The E.U. won't import seal products -- so a Nunavut MLA says his terrority shouldn't import European booze.

Captain's Blog, Stardate 2010: William Shatner launches a high-Trek new social-networking site.

Stay tuned. I'm HM.

And I'm CH.

On the menu at the Parliamentary cafeteria in Ottawa today: seal meat with a side of politics.

Liberal Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette invited her colleagues to a non-partisan lunch featuring double-smoked bacon-wrapped seal loin in a port reduction. The event was meant to demonstrate that support for Canada's seal hunt on the Hill is near-unanimous.

It's not actually unanimous, because of one of the senator's own caucus members. Liberal Senator Mac Harb opposes the seal hunt. We reached him in Ottawa.

While a lot of Canadian politicians are giving their seal of approval to seal meat, a lot of European politicians have registered stern disapproval. Last year, the European Union voted to ban the importation of seal products. So this year, one Nunavut politician is fighting back -- and providing what he believes to be a sober second thought.

Fred Schell, MLA for South Baffin, is proposing a boycott of all European liquor. His motion will be put to a vote tomorrow. We reached Mr. Schell in Iqaluit.

The great thing about the Internet is that you don't ever have to be lonely. Thanks to social-networking sites, you can connect with old friends and new friends alike, and be kept up to date on what they had for breakfast, and how they use emoticons.

Now, you could do what I did and join Facebook and then "friend" everyone you've ever known, by going through high-school yearbooks and contacting everyone in there, including the janitors. Or you could seek out only the like-minded, on one of a growing number of social networking sites designed for specific interest groups. Really specific interest groups.

There's Ravelry.com, a group for people who are into knitting and crocheting. And aSmallWorld.net, for Europe's jet-setting elite. But my favourite so far is William Shatner's new social network: MyOuterSpace.com. That's right, William Shatner, as in T.J. Hooker. Or, if you prefer, as in James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. The site's name kind of gives it away but here, as our Sound of the Day, is William Shatner explaining what MyOuterSpace all about:

Her name was Doris Haddock -- but to her eight grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren, and her many supporters she was known as "Granny D".

Yesterday, the political activist died at her home in Dublin, New Hampshire, at the age of one hundred.

"Granny D" is best-known for walking over sixteen-hundred kilometres across the United States to advocate for campaign finance reform at the age of eighty-nine. That walk took her over a year to complete -- and by the time she wound up her journey on the Capitol steps in Washington D.C. in March 2000, she was a political celebrity.

In 2004, she ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat. She didn't win that race but lived up to the title of her autobiography: "You're Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell".

Today, her former opponent, New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, said, "Granny D demonstrated the extraordinary impact that one person can have on the political process."

From our archives, here's Doris "Granny D" Haddock talking to Mary Lou Finlay on As It Happens about her race for the Senate -- on June 11, 2004.

If the French government ever hits on you at a party, don't be coy. If you're interested, just agree to meet the French government at a bistro for some patisserie and Calvados. If you're not, just look the French government in the eye and tell it to take a hike. Because if you're at all unclear about your feelings, the French government will fill your voicemail with pleadings, and text "Je t'aime" to you every fifteen minutes forever.

Stevie Wonder learned about the French government's tenacity the hard way. In 1981, the French government named Mr. Wonder a Commander of the National Order of Arts and Letters. Mr. Wonder expressed his gratitude, but said he was too busy to attend any ceremony at the time. But the French government does not take "Not now" for an answer.

We can only infer what happened over the intervening years. It's possible that the French government sent Stevie Wonder a billet doux every day, reminding him his award was waiting for him -- and that most of those letters were returned unopened. It's also possible that the French government called him weekly to see whether he was ready to receive the award. And that, when Mr. Wonder told the French government he was still busy, that the French government said, "Oh, that's cool. Whenever," and then hung up and burst into tears. It's not likely, but it's possible.

Whatever happened, the French government's persistence finally paid off. On Saturday, after twenty-nine years of "scheduling conflicts", Stevie Wonder finally made it to Paris to accept the honour. Mr. Wonder dedicated the award to his late mother, and complimented France on its health care system. He was gracious, as always, and then he was off to get another award.

At the ceremony French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand told Stevie Wonder, "As citizen, administrator, and culture minister, I just called to say we love you." We don't know how Mr. Wonder responded, but we hope he very politely said, "Thank you. Now please stop."