February 12, 2010

with guest host Bob McKeown.

It's Friday, February 12th.

Opening Day of the 2010 Winter Games.

Currently... or as they say in Vancouver... the first day of spring.

This is The Current.

Serial Killers

Last week, Colonel Russ Williams was the commander of Canada's largest airforce base and a well-respected neighbour in Trenton, Ontario.

Now he is behind bars, charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two women as well as forcible confinement, break-and-enter and sexual assault. Across the country, police forces are blowing the dust off of cold case filesto see if he has ties to any other crimes.

People who know Colonel Williams -- or at least thought they knew him -- are in shock. Glenn Rainbird is an Honorary Colonel who met regularly with Colonel Williams at CFB Trenton. Mr. Rainbird was on the line from his home near the base.

Panel

To help us understand how a case like this one can catch so many people by surprise, we're joined by two people. Mary Ann Campbell is the Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies at the University of New Brunswick. She was in St. John.

Pat Brown is an Investigative Criminal Profiler and the author of Killing for Sport: Inside the Minds of Serial Killers. She was in Washington, D.C.


Listen to Part One:

Olympic Families - Family

Well, it's finally here. The opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics are set for tonight.

Thousands of athletes have convened in Vancouver along with spectators, journalists, sponsors, volunteers, officials-- members of what is known as "The Olympic Family."

But no one watching will be more engaged than the actual family members of the Olympic competitors - the moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and in-laws - who are often a crucial factor in an athlete's journey to the Olympic games.

That's certainly the case for the family of Matthew Morison. He's a 22-year-old alpine snowboarder from the little community of Burketon, Ontario. He'll be going for gold in two weeks, in the Parallel Giant Slalom event. The Current's Dominic Girard has prepared a documentary about the Morison Family's collective journey to Vancouver. It's called, It's What You Do.

Listen to Part Two:

Pan-Africanism


Abdoulaye Wade is the President of Senegal. And he has extended an interesting offer to Haitians displaced by last month's earthquake. He wants them to come home and by "home," he means Senegal.

He's prepared to give them land and housing. In fact, he says he'll give Haitians an entire region of the country if enough of them want to settle there. His offer -- and the argument behind it -- are based on the idea of Pan-Africanism -- the idea that all people of African descent should unite in one global African community.

President Wade argues that even hundreds of years later, Haitians are still the sons and daughters of Africa. But the question is whether Haitians see it that way.

Next Week on The Current!

The Current is hitting the road this weekend. Anna Maria will be hosting the show from Vancouver next week. She'll be speaking with Peter Jensen, the mental training consultant for the Canadian Women's Hockey Team about the role that sports psychologists are playing in the training of elite athletes.

Also on the program ... many First Nations leaders say they feel they have a full partnership in the upcoming Winter Games. But while some see the games as an opportunity, others see it as a smokescreen that does nothing to address their communities' most pressing concerns. And, in his new book, Two Planks and a Passion, historian Roland Huntford traces the history of skiing as a means of transportation and finds that it's even older than the wheel.

Last Word

We left you with a reading from Rajendra Pachauri's debut novel. He's the 69-year-old embattled chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And he's raising eyebrows once again and this time not over faulty IPCC reports. His salacious debut novel, Return to Almora, is filled with sex and romance. It's also semi-autobiographical. The book traces the life of its protagonist, Sanjay Nath, who like Dr. Pachauri is an environmentalist and former engineer in his sixties.


Listen to Part Three: