September 2, 2010

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Whole Show Blow-by-Blow

Today's guest host was Nancy Wilson.

It's Thursday September 2nd.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says he is not afraid of an election.

Currently, As long as it is not in Canada.

This is The Current.

Double Lives - Shiraz Maher

We aired a clip of Khurram Sher, two years ago at the tryouts for season six of Canadian Idol.

People who know Khurram Sher say that little routine was a hoax ... that the exaggerated accent, oversized pakul hat and dated dance moves were a parody created by a doctor and a father of three who speaks English and French fluently.

But the RCMP says Khurram Sher is part of a terrorist plot. The allegations against him -- as well as the two other men arrested last week -- have left a lot of people struggling to understand who these men might really be and whether this could be a case of homegrown terrorism.

Shiraz Maher has his own experience with homegrown extremism. When he was in his 20s, he spent several years as a member of a controversial Islamist group called Hizb ut-Tahrir. The British government keeps the group "under continuous review" because of its extremist views. He left the organization in 2005. And he's now a Senior Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization at King's College in London, England.

Double Lives - John Horgan

In cases of homegrown terrorism, the people involved have to maintain a normal life ... hold down a job, form friendships, maybe raise a family. And they have to do that while they cover up their other life ... the one steeped in violence and secrecy.

John Horgan has spent a lot of time talking to people who have done that. He's a political psychologist at Pennsylvania State University. And some of his work has involved speaking to former members of the provisional IRA or Irish Republican Army. John Horgan was in University Park, Pennsylvania.

PART TWO

A Moment in Time

Next month, Parliament is expected to vote on a bill that would kill the federal long-gun registry. The registry has been controversial since its inception. And it's entirely possible that the bill will pass and the registry will be no more.

The idea of a gun registry was born in the wake of the Montreal Massacre ... the day that Marc Lepine picked up a gun, walked into L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, separated the men from the women and then murdered 14 women. The events of that day cast a long shadow. And they changed the course of the lives of the people who survived.

Freelance writer Susan McLelland marked the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre with a documentary called A Moment in Time. It first aired on The Current last December.

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