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The As It Happens Podcast

Hello, I'm Carol Off.

Good evening. I'm Barbara Budd.

This is As It Happens.

Tonight:

Up in arms over a handover. On September 5th, 2001, Benamar Benatta sought asylum in Canada -- so why did he end up in the U.S. a week later?

Prorogued gallery. Putting a human face on a tragedy of human faces: the disappearance of the Portrait Gallery of Canada.

Lost in translation. Friends of an Afghan journalist and interpreter killed in a firefight place the blame for his death on NATO forces.

The kids are all tired. An American report catalogues the vast number of products made by overworked, underpaid children all over the world.

Serendi-spitty. A Wisconsin father and son explode onto the national sports scene -- by expelling crickets great distances out of their mouths.

And...from boy to man-agerie. If your parents tell you to quit making animal noises and go to university, ignore them -- and consider the shining example of fourteen-year-old Michael Moloney.

As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that puts its monkey where its mouth is.

Timing is everything. And in Benamar Benatta's case, the timing couldn't have been any worse.

On September 5, 2001, the Algerian aeronautical engineer filed a refugee claim, seeking political asylum in Canada. Six days later, while Canadian authorities were still trying to ascertain his identity, it was September eleventh.

The day after that -- without a hearing, without counsel and without proceedings in his first language of French -- Mr. Benatta was handed over to American officials in the dead of night. And that's when he says his 'nightmare' began.

We first heard Mr. Benatta's story on As it Happens in 2007. For the record, here is part of that interview.

Since that interview, Mr. Benatta has obtained legal counsel. Her name is Nicole Chrolavicius. Tomorrow, Ms. Chrolavicius will go to court to ask for key documents that could shed light on why Mr. Benatta was transferred to the U.S. back on Sept. 12, 2001.

We reached Nicole Chrolavicius at her office in Toronto.

When David Martin took his own life seven years ago, he left a note stating he'd been abused by a priest. His brother vowed to seek justice. And today, he won a major victory.

Ron Martin, who'd been abused himself, spearheaded a class-action suit on behalf of dozens of victims who also claimed they had been abused by several priests. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish eventually reached a settlement with those victims, marking the first time the Church has apologized and agreed to compensate victims without fighting the charges in court.

The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has just approved that settlement -- which awards about fifteen million dollars to the victims.

Ron Martin was in that Halifax courtroom, to see the conclusion of his long battle.

Michael Moloney is a teenager with a unique talent -- one that the adults in his life don't always find entertaining. It's not a unique gift for making flatulent noises with his armpit -- or an un-unique gift for sleeping fourteen hours a day.

Michael is a first-class imitator of animals.

And now, at last, someone has recognized his artistry -- and cast the fourteen-year-old in a cartoon called "Green Squad." We reached Michael Moloney in Winnipeg.

And that brings us to the end of the first part of As It Happens for tonight. We're going to sit quietly and think about Michael Moloney's animal noises for a few minutes -- and then we'll be back with Part Two. When we return:

Not the pictures of health. The faces hanging in The Portrait Gallery of Canada become death masks -- because the gallery is no more.

Interpreting a tragedy. An Afghan translator dies during an attempt to rescue him -- and his colleagues blame his would-be rescuers.

A win-lose proposition. A Wisconsin father and son are State Fair champions -- but they're champions at spitting dead crickets.

Those stories and many more are still to come. Stay tuned; I'm CO.

And I'm BB.

For years now, the National Portrait Gallery has been an art collection looking to become a museum. Now, its future looks bleaker than ever.

Just a few years ago, there were plans to house the thousands of paintings and millions of photographs that make up the collection in the former American Embassy in Ottawa. But the Conservatives scrapped the move. Now, the government has demoted the "gallery" to a "program" -- prompting the departure of the woman overseeing it.

That's left many wondering if Canada will ever have a National Portrait Gallery.

Robert Enright is a senior contributing editor with Border Crossings magazine. We reached him in Winnipeg.

There was a memorial today in Kabul for Sultan Munadi. It was an event marked by sadness, but also by anger.

The Afghan journalist and translator was kidnapped on the weekend, along with Stephen Farrell, a fellow reporter at The New York Times. Yesterday, NATO troops raided the compound where the Taliban was holding the pair. Mr. Farrell was rescued. Mr. Munadi was killed during a firefight.

Today, his Afghan colleagues lashed out at international forces, blaming them for his death. Fazul Rahim was one of those involved in the event. We reached him in Kabul.

Birds are perhaps the world's most natural musicians -- curiously prolific composers who churn out tunes from dawn to dusk without ever committing them to paper. But when photographer Paul Pinto spied a flock of birds grouped along a series of electrical wires, he realized they provided more than just music to the ears -- they were also making music to the eyes. The birds in the photo he subsequently snapped resemble notes along a musical staff.

And when Brazilian film director and musician Jarbas Agnelli saw Pinto's photo in a newspaper, he decided to set the particular musical configuration to music. Here is the musical result of that transcription.

There are some sports that are hard to get your head around -- and others that are hard to get your tongue around.

For example: this year, the Central Wisconsin State Fair added a new sport to its roster -- Cricket Spitting. I'll say that again: CRICKET SPITTING.

You know how to cricket spit, don't you? You just put a thawed-out dead cricket under your tongue and blow.

Last Saturday, Jared Johnsrud proved he was the spit and image of his pop Brian, as father and son took the top prizes in their respective categories. We caught up with the Johnsruds at their home in Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Newsflash to those who've been boycotting carpets from India:

if you're concerned about children toiling away instead of going to school, you'll have to avoid a whole lot of items at the mall and grocery store.

Today, the U-S Department of Labour released a list of more than a hundred goods made by children, and the countries these goods come from. There are green beans from Mexico, shrimp from Thailand, silk from India -- and the list goes on and on.

Tim Newman is the campaigns director for the workers' advocacy group, the International Labor Rights Forum. We reached him in Washington, D.C.

Seventy years ago today marked the first time that Canada declared war as a sovereign nation.

On September tenth, 1939, Parliament convened a special session, and voted to send Canadian troops to fight in Europe. That historic decision came a week after Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King addressed the nation. In solemn tones, he spoke to Canadians about events that were unfolding across the Atlantic.

For the record, here's part of that address, broadcast across Canada on CBC Radio on September third, 1939 -- the day England and France had declared war on Nazi Germany.

Tonight, we're going to present an audio snapshot from the life of one Canadian soldier. This is the first in a series of letters written by Sergeant Robbie Bulger, and read by his brother Richie, who works for CBC Radio in Charlottetown¿for the record.

According to one group of Newfoundlanders, a moose is like a landmine.

Recently in the province, there has been a spike in the number of fatal car accidents involving moose. And with each reported collision, more and more people get more and more nervous about driving on the highways at night. So now, some are saying the only way to decrease the risk is to decrease the moose.

Eugene Nippard is circulating a petition around the province, requesting an increase in the number of moose that can be legally hunted in Newfoundland and Labrador. So far, more than twelve thousand people have added their signatures to that petition.

Mr. Nippard is the head of the Save Our People Action Committee and we reached him in Grand-Falls Windsor, Newfoundland.

There will be a lot of yellow, red and black flags flying at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York tomorrow. Both of the U.S. Open ladies' semifinals feature a player from Belgium.

One of them is a familiar face: 2005 U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters. But the surprise is nineteen-year-old Yanina Wickmayer, whom no one expected to do this well -- mostly because no one had heard of her. This is her seventh appearance on the Grand Slam tournament, and previously, she only managed to get past the first round once.

Until the quarter-finals, Ms. Wickmayer's success went almost unnoticed. But now, she's the talk of Queens. And as people are learning more about her life story, they are more likely to cheer for her.

For the record, here's what Yanina Wickmayer said at a press conference yesterday, about what was going in her life when she first started playing tennis.

In the United States, the auto sector has collapsed in a noisy heap. And ever since that happened, ailing manufacturers have been hollering about their desperate plans to start over.

But in Japan, things are quiet. Too quiet. Particularly the hybrid cars. In June, the Japanese Federation of the Blind submitted a request to the government, asking them to make the fuel-efficient, nearly soundless vehicles less soundless - and therefore, less dangerous to sightless pedestrians. And so, since mid-summer, a panel of auto-makers, consumers, and blind representatives has been considering just how to address the issue. Should they add a "ringtone" to the hybrids - which would disappoint children who would then mistake every Prius for an ice-cream truck? Or should they find some way to manufacture a fake "engine sound "? And does anyone in Japan remember what an engine sounds like? If any conclusions have been reached, so far, they're hush-hush.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., it's a safe bet that the late Lonnie Holloway would have found the whole idea of artificial engine noise ridiculous. That's because he drove a 1972 Pontiac Catalina. And on Tuesday, he drove it into the ground.

Before his death a week ago, Mr. Holloway made special arrangements for his burial. And so it was that, yesterday, he and his beloved green Pontiac were interred together in Saluda, South Carolina. His hands were on the wheel and - because you can never be too careful - his seatbelt was on. And he was accompanied by some other cherished possessions: a few rifles, and six handguns.

What do these two stories say about car culture in Japan and the U.S. of A.? That wasn't a rhetorical question. We really have no idea. But we'll try to figure out while we listen to Sonny Boy Williamson. This is "Pontiac Blues".