The National Blog

Susan Ormiston Answers Your Questions on Syria

2012-01-26T00:19:57Z

Dear Susan,

If Assad is so confident that the uprising is of foreign insurgents trying to topple his government, why doesn't he hold open and free elections to determine the will of the people who he insists support him... ]]> Question from Dr. Wayne Dwernychuk of Parksville, B.C.
Ms. Ormiston:

Perhaps you will be able to clarify something for me. I have asked Mr. John Baird, our Foreign Affairs Minister, three times to answer my question. I have forwarded my question, and my disappointment in Mr. Baird's apparent refusal to give me some feedback, to Prime Minister Harper, twice. Still no response to my question from either party.

My question: Why has there been no NATO or UN sponsored intervention into Syria for exactly what happened in Libya? Libya was killing its citizens, as is Syria, but nothing is being done to curb the massacre. All I want is some logical, rational reason for the apparent lack of concern in the international community to terminate the slaughter. What is the difference between Libya and Syria?

If you have such a reason that justifies this lack of action on the part of the international community, might I suggest that if you do send me a response, you send a 'cc' to both Mr. Baird and Mr. Harper so they may use the information to perhaps formulate their positions and then be able to respond to a member of their electorate.

Thank you.

Susan's Answer:
Wayne, it's a good question; the answer is complicated. This is not a justification but a look at some of the facts influencing the decision to stay out of a military campaign in Syria.
First, Syria and Libya are very different scenarios.

Syria has 23 million people, Libya has 4 million. The opposition in Syria is primarily unarmed, untrained and not organized into brigades, as Libya's was. To date the Syrian army is predominately loyal to the government whereas Gadhafi in the end was fighting back mostly with foreign mercenaries. The support still for President Assad is higher than support was for Gadhafi. Military intervention from a strictly strategic view has to have some reasonable prospect of success; analysis indicates in Syria, that does not currently exist. But there are other potent forces at work too. As you know Libya has oil and was of great interest to many western powers. There is less of interest in Syria. Strategically , a military campaign in Syria would inflame its neighbours, Iran particularly and Lebanon; it appears NATO and the UN are not prepared to take that risk. In sum the Libyan and Syrian landscapes are not comparable even while many believe the political leadership looks the same.

Question from Claude
Hello,
I have been following with great interest and admiration your reports and travels to Syria as an investigative reporter. My question concerns the possibility of getting from Turkey through Syria overland as a tourist on the way to Jordan and/or Lebanon. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Susan's Answer
Hi Claude:

If you can get a Syrian tourist visa, you can travel by road both to Lebanon and to Jordan. The roads are open, there may be a few checkpoints, but they are not in any way targeting tourists.

Question from Charlie Bonifacio in Oakville, Ontario
Dear Susan,

If Assad is so confident that the uprising is of foreign insurgents trying to topple his government, why doesn't he hold open and free elections to determine the will of the people who he insists support him.

Legitimate, UN monitored elections would confirm the will of the Syrian people, is Assad willing to open that up ?

Susan's Answer
Hello Charlie:
You ask a good question. The Syrian government tells us they are on a path of reform including rewriting their constitution , writing a law to guarantee the formation of political parties, and a law allowing peaceful protest. There were local elections recently in Syria. But there are no political parties currently and there is no indication President Assad would allow the U.N. to intervene in any way in sovereign elections. As for reform, there is so much mistrust in the country now, many doubt legitimate reform is coming and the opposition is in no mood to wait.

Currently I don't see any give by the Syrian government at all on any U.N. role in Syria, elections or otherwise.

Thanks for your question.

School's Out

2012-01-25T01:19:52Z

So, it snowed in Attawapiskat. A lot. And apparently enough to cancel school today. Good opportunity, we thought, to wander by a house of a youth leader and chat with her about everything swirling around her here.]]>
But she hadn't given any of that much thought. What she did want to talk about was school. She attends the high school here, the one that sits in an actual building, with actual hallways and actual lockers. That is to say it's the lucky one. The elementary school is still a series of icy portables. A new one is coming. Eventually.

But it seems what happens within the walls of the high school isn't necessarily much to for her to boast about. What class was supposed to be on the schedule this afternoon, we asked. "Not sure. It has a long name," she told us.

What about homework? "No. We don't really get any unless we haven't finished our assignments in class."

What did she think of the education generally? To this she paused, nervously giggled and said "It's not the same as other schools." What she meant, she went on to explain, is that in talking with her friends from urban centres she believe what she learned in Grade Eight was on a par with the work of Grade Four and Five in some other schools. Her friends and family who have moved away and gone to school elsewhere told her it has taken them a while to get up to speed at other schools in other communities.

What happens for her next then? Well, she has plans. She wants to be a teacher, saying she was always fascinated by the young teachers, outsiders, who have come through over the years to teach. Are there any local role models for her? Another pause. She says she's determined to go to college and she comes from a family who will definitely push for that. She knows it will likely mean a lot of work catching up But from where she sits at the ripe old age of 16, that seems far enough away not to worry about right now.

What's class like? Crowded. Loud, she said. And then she described what could be chaos for teachers and students. "Lots of people stand or sit on the floor or counters. There aren't enough desks". She talks of people being cranky and talking back and getting frustrated with being so uncomfortable.

And what of the disturbingly high dropout rate? "Yah, it's high. Lots of people leave after Grade Nine."

What does that mean for everyone else when people just don't come back? "Umm. More desks."

More desks.

From Attawapiskat to a Mexican Jail Cell

2012-01-23T19:18:55Z

Some conversations are just so surreal. On a recent minus thirty-something afternoon in Attawapiskat, as we tried to update, untangle, deconstruct, make-any-sense-whatsoever of the housing and political crisis that is now under a national microscope, the subject suddenly veered.
"Cyndi?"

"Cyndi Vanier." he said, "We're thinking of her here."

What a connection. Cyndi or Cynthia Vanier is of course an Ontario woman who sits in a Mexican jail cell. Already held for 40 days, Mexican authorities decided in December to hold her for yet another 40 days. There have been no charges, just eyebrow raising accusations. She is alleged to be the mastermind behind a plot to spirit Saadi Gadhafi to safety and obscurity in Mexico. Her family and friends believe none of it and frankly neither do the people of Attawapiskat.

Mudd explains that they met Vanier a few years ago when she came to help mediate a deal between the First Nation and Debeer's. "I'm so surprised by this," Mudd told us. He maintains she reached out to the community in striking ways; offering the use of a plane to transport one of Mudd's children to hospital after she'd been hit in the eye with a pellet gun. When a local man fell through the ice and drowned it was Vanier he said who stopped what she was doing and used all her contacts to try to get police divers here to retrieve the body. He described a woman who listened unfailingly. And he says he'd love to talk with her now as he believes she had a good, long look at the financial statements at the band office.

She'd undoubtedly have an opinion on what's happened in this community while she's been locked up. Word has spread here that she's been sick in that Mexican jail and is struggling. "They said some prayers for her at church," Mudd told us.

An isolated community connected to an isolated soul far away.

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Syria's Chargé d'Affaires responds to Terence McKenna's documentary

2012-01-09T22:39:40Z

Statement from Bashar Akbik, Syrian Chargé d'Affaires to Canada about a UN report that 5000 Syrians have been killed in his country since March:

"The casualty figures reported have never been corroborated and therefore considered a figment of the imagination of those that churn out such exaggerations...
]]> Statement from Bashar Akbik, Syrian Chargé d'Affairs to Canada about a UN report that 5000 Syrians have been killed in his country since March:

"The casualty figures reported have never been corroborated and therefore considered a figment of the imagination of those that churn out such exaggerations. If anything, these exaggerated figures reveal more about the weakness of the Syrian insurgency than the level of instability inside Syria. The Syrian insurgents have every reason to present lies and fabrications that make the case for foreign intervention. The UNHRC report on the number of casualties including those of government troops, was based entirely on dubious sources and is totally uncorroborated. In fact, this report is now subject of scrutiny with regard to the accuracy of its contents, as much of it was found to be fraudulent. We do not wish such embarrassment to any of the UN agencies and encourage the International community to be more skeptical and not parrot unverified, uncorroborated information."

The Good Doctor

2011-12-23T20:13:27Z

Every year in a job like this, when you look back and consider those whose faces you've stared into, whose stories you've told and worlds you entered, there is often a dizzying array of standouts. But for all his complexities it is Dr. Nilo Barandino whose tale haunts the most. He's a man of the most peculiar contradictions; a healer and killer. His stethoscope clutched with the same fervour as his Second World War carbine rifle. Ask which he prefers and he hesitates.
We met Dr. Barandino one hurried, humid afternoon in his Isabela city home on the fraught island of Basilan in the southern Philippines. It was an encounter barely half an hour long; a rushed attempt to understand life's ugliness for those who call these deceptively beautiful islands home. They are a people tormented and hunted by the terror group the Abu Sayyaf. Kidnapping for ransom is the group's trade and no one seems safe. A victim's fate almost always comes down to one ugly choice. Paying the ransom or dying by beheading. So, residents rush and hide. Strangers almost never show up. Fresh faces can mean fresh prey.

Dr.Barandino knows both sides of the hunt. Nearly 20 years ago he was the target; seized along with his wife and nine of his children by dozens of armed men. They were marched into the jungles; bullied, threatened and abused.

His stethoscope, he figures, might just have saved him. That's because while he was being held one of the young kidnappers slowly realized the two men had a connection. Barandino had been the doctor who rushed to the captor's aide when he was a child. The boy had stepped on a broken coca cola bottle that had horribly carved into his foot. Dr. Barandino was the man with the gentle hands who sewed him up and sent the little guy off with a smile.

Now, in the jungle, Baradino sensed that the memory was making the kidnapper soften. The doctor saw his moment and got the young man talking. Barandino wanted to absorb as much as he could about the other kidnappers; their names, contact details, where they lived, their relations to each other. Over his captivity, he made copious notes. Not until the last days of his detention was he clear what he'd do with that information.

Weeks into the kidnapping he managed to muster the resources for the ransom. But once the money arrived his captors said they wanted more. Dr. Barandino snapped. Then he played a dangerous game. "I told them 'If you don't want this, if you are asking for more, I'm not going to give any more to you. You can have my wife and children. I have sixteen children. I can have another wife, I can have more children.' I said 'With this money I can buy firearms. I'll use this to hunt you.'"

Here he chuckles a bit and says "My wife was mad at me then." No kidding. But the doctor had read his greedy kidnappers well. Not wanting to be burdened with captives any longer, the men decided to take the money and run. The family was freed, leaving Dr. Barandino with his seething rage and his notes. His research had turned into a hit list.

But did he really mean he would HUNT his captors? "I did" he said calmly. More than hunt them, he planned to kill them.

Some questions aren't easy to ask. And as I listen back to the tape of our interview I hear my own cowardly stutters.

"Q: Do you know how many men kidnapped you and your family?

A: Actually, in my list, there were 24.

Q: 24 men.

A: Yes.

Q: So did you decide that you wanted to get, and maybe kill, all of those 24 men?

A: Only six are living now.

Q; Only six are still alive?

A: Yes.

Q: And did you...uhhh...did you k-k kill all the others?

A: Not all."

Not ALL. He said some were killed by the military after information he obtained led soldiers right to kidnappers. He spoke of three men he shot dead outside his house as they were trying to snatch his neighbour. He has no ethical pause about killing this way, insists he is saving lives in the end.

With a creaky fan and the bone-rattling street noise of small motorbikes shifting gears to get up the steep, narrow hill it was almost impossible to hear him unravel these tales. It was chaotic and claustrophobic; every moment emphasizing that this man and family were trapped.

He lives with his wife and children in a homemade bunker, perched truly on the edge of the road. Thick concrete walls, metal bars on windows, quarters so cramped it required chess-like strategizing to move a metre. We sat so close our clothes were touching. I never did figure out how he maneuvered in there in his wheelchair. He needs that chair because his legs have been amputated. It wasn't illness that took them, but an attack. He says the men he hunted tried to get revenge with a grenade. They only seemed to make him more intent to pursue his form of justice.

Dr. Barandino doesn't have a computer. He has only a manual typewriter and on it, over the years, in his isolation and anger, he pounded out what may amount to a local encyclopedia of the Abu Sayyaf. With a physician's eye for details he collected as many biographical nuggets as he could remember of the kidnappers and their lineage. He has their ages, heights and weights. He also managed to draw them from memory, careful to include distinguishing marks. All of this paperwork kept in a series of albums shoved into a red sports bag. He flipped through them so fast that day it was hard to digest it all. What flashed by were pictures of dead militants.

For logistical and safety reasons we had to move quickly. There were apologies all around that we could not talk longer. "I understand" he told us and said he would have traveled to meet us were it not for a bounty on his head. The Abu Sayyaf apparently wanted to ensure he did not testify at an upcoming trial. They'd rather he die than talk. "Go, go" he said. And we did. Quickly. We left him with his mission and his anger and his curious kindness. Such a mix. Men like this you never forget.
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Clarification

2011-12-09T02:00:00Z

]]> In a story that aired on The National on November 9, 2011 we reported on an allegation in a Statement of Claim that then RCMP Superintendent Peter German improperly disclosed statements to Robert Blundell. We are not aware of any evidence to support that allegation. CBC apologizes if it left the impression that now Deputy Commissioner German made any improper disclosure.

Making an Award-Winning Story

2011-11-24T16:02:16Z

It began as a wisp of an idea, while riding home on the London tube one night. I caught a small story about the Middletons having drawn their line in the sand years ago; suing a photographer and his agency for a picture of Kate playing tennis at Christmas.
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"Protecting Kate" is the story of the paparazzi press in Britain; how they'd handle Kate Middleton, once she married Prince William. It focuses the lens first on William as a young boy watching his mother both court and be hounded by the press. He hated them for it. And vowed he would not let his wife fall prey to them, as he felt his mother did.

It began as a wisp of an idea, while riding home on the London tube one night. I caught a small story about the Middletons having drawn their line in the sand years ago; suing a photographer and his agency for a picture of Kate playing tennis at Christmas. They'd won; putting the press on notice they'd play hard ball, should the 'snappers' step over the line.

CBC producer Erin Boudreau had good contacts with the paparazzi in London.She found the man who'd photographed Diana at one of her most distressed moments just after her painful and public divorce, and who'd also photographed Kate on the club circuit. It was a wonderful voice around which to weave a story about the Royals and the "paps."

There are always memorable moments making a story. For this one, we needed access to Will and Kate at one of their only public events between their engagement and the wedding. It was in north England, and when we left by train, it was bright and sunny in London. By the time we got to the event- dark storm clouds threatened. Not wary yet to the vagaries of U.K. weather, I had no raincoat, not even an umbrella and we were headed for an open playing field to cover Kate. Security was incredibly tight which meant we stood outside, fenced in a media 'pen' for two hours in the torrential rain! I mean pouring.

In desperation, we bought large black garbage bags, punched holes for our head and arms and hunkered down. To say I looked like the proverbial drowned rat was an understatement. The moment the Royal couple did arrive, the sun came out, making it even worse as I stood greeting them in my finest hairdo.

The Foreign Press Association judges were unanimous in their choice of "Protecting Kate" as the winner in 'The story of the year - Royal Wedding' category. They praised its originality; in the months leading up to the wedding, there was so much coverage of William and Kate and not very much journalism. They said it was "unique" and creative. I suspect they were influenced by the storm of controversy here in Britain recently over phone hacking and the abuses of the tabloid press.

It was a unique honour to be chosen amongst international colleagues. For our excellent team-- producer Erin Boudreau and camera/editor Richard Devey-- the award made us proud of CBC and the quality work we can still do, on The National.

The Silver Cross Story

2011-11-10T20:45:28Z

This Remembrance Day, as another National Silver Cross Mother lays a wreath in Ottawa, you might want to take note -- to remember not just Canada's sons and daughters who fell in war, but also the women who many believe sacrificed those children.
]]> The faces have changed over the years, their somber duty has not.

Every November 11th, at the eleventh hour, around the eleventh minute, one Canadian woman makes a short, laboured journey to the foot of the National War Memorial in Ottawa on behalf of all bereaved mothers.

For more than six decades now, a national representative tasked with carrying the burden of all Canadian families.

This Remembrance Day, as another National Silver Cross Mother lays a wreath in Ottawa, you might want to take note -- to remember not just Canada's sons and daughters who fell in war, but also the women who many believe sacrificed those children. They belong to Canadian history just as much as the country's war dead. And have a legacy all their own, one rarely examined and unique to this country.

The year was 1916. Canada was deep at war. And a fierce patriot - novelist and essayist William Alexander Fraser - formulated an idea. He proposed a tribute to mothers.

Fraser penned a letter published in the Toronto Star, suggesting a silver cross for the grief-stricken. "The mothers are the heroines of the bitter home trenches", he wrote. "They suffer in silence with no reward but the sense that they have answered the call with their heart's blood - their sons".

In the vernacular of the day, Fraser explained, "Men could take off their hats when they met a woman with this medal on her breast; they could get up, even if tired, and giver her a seat on a crowded car."

Ottawa author and researcher Suzanne Evans says Fraser "put this idea of a noble, honourable sacrifice within a very accessible frame of reference, an every day frame of reference for a very war weary country."

Fraser's idea did strike a chord, and after following up with a letter to then Prime Minister Robert Borden, a tangible token of a mother's loss slowly took shape.

In 1919, the Great War over, the government of Canada instituted an award to both mothers and widows of Canadian soldiers who had died in active duty or whose deaths were later determined to be the result of active duty.

Officially, the memento is called the Canadian Memorial Cross. In everyday conversations, it's become simply, the Silver Cross.

"It's the medal no one wants," says Evans. "But if you've gone through (a death), you don't want the memory of your child or husband or wife obliterated. So this is a public representation to honour their memory."

Eric Fernberg, a self-proclaimed enthusiast of Silver Cross history, calls it a "hometown story" unique to Canada.

As a specialist in wartime dress and insignia, Fernberg personally manages the collection of Silver Crosses at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. While lauding the Cross's Canadian roots, he explains the idea has also been borrowed by other nations.

In 1947, New Zealand adopted a cross almost identical to Canada's. Then, a few years ago, Fernberg says, the Canadian War Museum hosted a fact-finding delegation from Great Britain. The result - the "Elizabeth Cross" was instituted in 2009. Similar in design to Canada's Silver Cross, it is bestowed on family members of British Armed Forces personnel killed since the Second World War.

"It's a legacy that is Canadian," says Fernberg. "And it's something we should all be proud of".

Canada's Silver Cross has changed its basic look only twice since 1919, each time with the coronation of a new British monarch. At the same time, every single Silver Cross is distinct, because the reverse is engraved with the name of the man or woman who died in service.

Patricia Braun is wistful as she fastens a cross over her heart. It bears the name of her son, Cpl David Braun, killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in the summer of 2006.

"It's almost overwhelming to think how many thousands of women have worn this pin," she says, acknowledging a remarkable history. "There's such a long line of them."

Braun is this year's National Silver Cross Mother, a role she calls an honour, "I'm doing this for all us mums", she says.

The Royal Canadian Legion began naming a National representative for all Silver Cross Mothers in 1950, but not before thousands of bereaved Canadian women had already made their mark on the country's psyche.

Suzanne Evans points to the Canadian mothers who made a pilgrimage to Vimy France in 1936, their chests covered with silver crosses and the medals of their fallen sons, husbands or both.

Among them, Charlotte Susan Wood from Winnipeg, a woman Evans calls an "iconic figure".

The exact details of the children Wood lost to war have faded with history, but some aspects of her story have not, the Winnipeg Free Press reporting on her meeting at the new Vimy Memorial with King Edward VIII:

"I wish your sons were all here," said Edward gravely. "Oh! Sir," cried the old woman, "I have just been looking at the trenches and I just can't figure out why our boys had to go through that". Replied Edward quickly, "Please God, Mrs. Wood, it shall never happen again."

A few days later, the pilgrimage continued to London, where Charlotte Wood was chosen to place a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Westminster Abbey on behalf of all bereaved mothers of Canada.

With the Second World War and the increasing number of war dead, local associations of silver cross women were formed across Canada, serving a real need in society, according to Evans. She says these women would get together to raise money for charities or to help each other, at a time when many had lost the main breadwinners in their families.

Times have certainly changed. And today, of course, it's not just mothers and widows who are eligible to receive the Silver Cross, it's fathers, husband, and others too.

The regulations that govern eligibility were amended a couple of times in recent years. And now the Silver Cross can be issued to up to three people as named by every service man or woman in Canada.

For now though, it's still a bereaved Silver Cross Mother you will see taking those symbolic steps to lay a wreath at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day.

"One thing I think is interesting," says Suzanne Evans, "In that wreath laying ceremony, the Silver Cross Mother is second only to the Royal Representative. She comes ahead of the Government of Canada. So that's placing that role on a pretty high level for us to honour."

National Silver Cross Mother Patty Braun understands the weight of history that comes with the role. And son David never far from her thoughts, Braun pays tribute a special relationship. "There's something about mothers and their children," she says. "There is a bond like no other."

Saša Petricic speaks to a Canadian-Israeli Soldier

2011-10-18T21:33:23Z

Saša talks to a Canadian-Israeli soldier about the prisoner exchange for Gilad Shalit
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The sidewalk outside the Israeli Prime Minister's residence is packed... cameras, reporters, friends and family of Gilad Shalit - and more than a few other Israelis inspired by the news of his impending homecoming.

It's been more than five years since Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants and dragged into Gaza. And for much of that time, this corner of Jerusalem has been the centre of a movement to pressure the Israeli government to negotiate his release.

Now, success.

Within days, the 25 year-old corporal is to be exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in Israel's jails. The crowd here is jubilant. The passing cars noisy with their honking.

And walking through the middle of it - a bag of groceries in one hand, his automatic rifle over one shoulder - Jay Goldberg. He's another young soldier, walking home on a day of leave from the army. He's defending Israel, but he carries a Canadian passport. Goldberg was born in Toronto, graduated from the University of Waterloo.

I ask him, what's on his mind?

Gilad Shalit.

Meet our new At Issue panelist

2011-09-15T21:10:20Z

Bruce Anderson grew up with a curiosity about what exactly makes people do what they do, and eventually found himself in the market and opinion research business. Bruce Anderson grew up with a curiosity about what exactly makes people do what they do and eventually found himself in the market and opinion research business. After spending his early career on Parliament Hill working with a Liberal cabinet minister, he left to join Allan Gregg's research firm, Harris/Decima, in 1983.

Since then, Bruce has worked as a leading pollster and communications counselor and was a founding partner of the Earnscliffe Strategy Group before returning to Harris/Decima as CEO from 2004 to 2008. During his career he has advised leading politicians in both the Liberal and Conservative parties and has done election polling on several occasions. Bruce is responsible for the longstanding partnership between Harris/Decima and the Canadian Press.

Today, Bruce serves both private and public sector clients as a Senior Associate with Harris/Decima and is a Senior Advisor with NATIONAL Public Relations, Canada's largest public relations company.

Bruce's family has had a longstanding and diverse involvement in politics, which spans generations. They worked to establish the Jaimie Anderson Parliamentary Internship, which provides opportunities for young people to help get them engaged in national politics.]]>

9/11: A chance to go back

2011-09-08T19:51:12Z

I'm not exactly sure what I expected when Ioanna and I retraced the path we took ten years ago to Ground Zero. What we found was powerful, though.]]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

Watch a web-only video preview presentation from this feature.

Ioanna Roumeliotis speaks with Canadian hotelier Hans Gerhardt ten years after losing his son, Ralph, in the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11. Watch online here.

You'll sometimes see journalists, myself included, write about being eyewitnesses to history, about having the good fortune to be in that front row seat to an unprecedented event in time.

But there was nothing good or fortunate about what happened in New York on September 11th, 2001.

It was horrific.

For me and a few Toronto colleagues, the day began early, with an ugly road race against time and security obstacles to New York. But it was important a CBC crew get there fast, to have Canadian eyes and ears - that Canadian perspective - on the ground for our viewers and listeners.

Correspondent Ioanna Roumeliotis and I were part of the first CBC crew to get to Lower Manhattan by that night, rubble at our feet, ash falling on our heads, the haunted eyes of rescue crews searing our memories.

Thousands died on that day at the site of the World Trade Center, but on 9/11 and in the two weeks that followed, we were able to bring you the voices of the people who lived - the husbands and wives, father and mothers, and the people who came to help.

Their faces and their stories stayed with us. For ten years.

And now, we have the good fortune to be able to go back, to seek out some of those people we met a decade ago - not just to find out where they are, but hear HOW they are. And tell you.

What unfolded became a remarkable journey for us, and dare I say, a remarkable journey for those people, too.

I had been back to New York City since 9/11, but not in some years, and not with these eyes. From the moment Ioanna and I drove over the George Washington Bridge, onto the FDR into Manhattan, the flashbacks began. It was the same route we took ten years ago, only back then, the roads were deserted and the sky ink black, save for a glow and eerie cloud up ahead.

Later, criss-crossing packed city streets in a yellow cab, there was Union Square engaged in the busy bustle of a normal day - only in my mind, all I could see were the flowers, the candles, and the tears of a vigil a decade ago.

Walking by the Salvation Army, the Armory, Pier 94, even a bakery on Tribeca's Duane Street sent me reeling back in time, to a city cloaked in fear, sorrow and patriotism.

I could still see the young Canadian woman, her hair wrapped in an American flag bandana, nimbly icing American flag cookies. I could see the dazed merchant pacing the length of an ash-covered jeans store. The volunteer firefighter who could barely stand, his body aching with fatigue, his consciousness only beginning to comprehend what had happened. And the office worker taking what I would soon find out was one of her final glances ever down a street leading to a heaping, crumbling mass of what was once the Twin Towers.

Today, new mom Sarah Bunker, originally from Chatham, Ontario, can't get enough of the images from ten years ago. She devours every article written, every report broadcast about 9/11. Bunker saw people die that day, but deals with the horror and a lingering terror in her own, personal way "Catharsis," Bunker calls it. "It's like I need to remember how I was feeling in that moment."

Moshe Alfassi's way of coping with the death that swirled all around his Lower Manhattan denim shop couldn't be more opposite. He stays as far away as possible from anything to do with 9/11. "If it comes on TV, I just switch the channel," he says. "It's not something you want to see again and again. I saw it live, so it's hard."

Still a volunteer firefighter, Chris Gould pauses or sighs after every question Ioanna asks. It's almost as if he's thinking, why does she want me to relive these moments? But at the same time, needing to speak about what happened. He's still processing, even after ten years. "I did have a hard time. To this day, I haven't talked to a lot of people about it, even with my wife," he shares. "It's something that is with me and will always be with me."

And Iris Altreche secretly hoped we wouldn't show up for her interview. She vaguely remembers the Canadian reporter and producer who spotted her praying silently on a street corner ten years ago. Altreche agreed to walk back with us, to that very spot which once would've been in the shadow of the World Trade Center. We had no idea how difficult a journey a few blocks could be. Tears never far from the surface, she tells us she just can't forget. But she goes back with us. And that, in its self, is probably progress. Healing in baby steps.

Bunker, Alfasi, Gould and Altreche didn't lose loved ones in the terror attacks, but they are still grieving all the same. So, too, are the people we met who did lose a husband, a wife, a son. And you will meet all of them when we broadcast our journey back to Ground Zero on Sunday night's The National.

Ten years ago these people - and more - touched us, as surely they touched you. Their stories could have remained mere snapshots of a horrific moment in time. Journalists often drop in and out of people's lives, share their stories, and move on. Not always, do we have the privilege of checking in again. And when we do, the expectation is sometimes of big changes, revised feelings, or a new perspective with hindsight taken into consideration.

I'm not exactly sure what I expected when Ioanna and I literally went down this road, retracing that path we took ten years ago to Ground Zero. What we found was powerful, though. Life has changed for the people we met, in some cases dramatically. Some have moved cities, even countries. There have been marriages, and lots of children, if possible, more cherished than ever.

But while life has changed, I'm not sure any of these people have moved on much emotionally, made peace with what happened. Perhaps that's not possible. Scratch the scars inflicted on 9/11, and they still bleed. Today, tomorrow, and probably in another ten years, as well.

Lloyd Robertson: A Great Captain of the Ship

2011-09-01T00:07:35Z

Lloyd Robertson and I go back a long way. He was the top news specials anchor at both CBC Radio and CBC Television in 1970 when I was just starting at the CBC Northern Service radio station in Fort Churchill, Manitoba. ]]>
Nervous, that is, until I heard Lloyd's calming voice introducing me - it was a kind of stress relief! And in I went, "live" to the full network, ad-libbing my way through the next ten minutes or so and loving every minute of it. I wasn't great, and I had a lot to learn, but Lloyd encouraged me and we stayed friends over the years. First, when he became anchor of The National, and I was a correspondent for the program in Saskatchewan, and then on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. They were heady days, and Lloyd was a great captain of the ship for us. But then in 1977, he left for CTV and it was a shock to us. But it was also good for the business.

Lloyd left for a few reasons, but one was the fact the CBC and the unions had deemed that anchors weren't journalists. It was ridiculous, and after some lengthy negotiations, the rules changed allowing first Peter Kent, then Knowlton Nash, and by 1988, me into the anchor's chair with all the rights that should be attached to the position: writing, editing, and a role as one of the top senior editors of the program.

Lloyd's move did something else, too. It helped raise the pay scale for top anchors. A lot of us will never be unhappy about that!

Last year, a few days after he announced his intention to step down, Lloyd came to his hometown of Stratford, where I now live, for a few days. We had lunch at one of my favourite spots, the York Street Diner. We'd only been sitting there for ten minutes when a photographer from the Stratford Beacon Herald came bursting in to grab our picture. News travels fast in small towns! But it's a great picture, and it sits on my desk at home.

Lloyd's iconic stature on the landscape of broadcast television has been extremely well-earned. He's done it all, and he's done it with unmatched class. When he signs off tomorrow night, we should all be watching. It's history.

Watch Ian Hanomansing's feature report "Lloyd Robertson retires" from The National on August 31 at cbc.ca/video.

Arsenault wins twice at Geminis

2011-08-31T19:10:50Z

It was a big night for our Adrienne Arsenault on Tuesday at the 26th Annual Gemini Awards. Adrienne took home two trophies for her reporting on The National. ]]> It was a big night for our Adrienne Arsenault on Tuesday at the 26th Annual Gemini Awards. Adrienne took home two trophies for her reporting on The National.

In the category of Best Breaking Reportage, National, Adrienne was honoured for her coverage of the Pakistan floods in July of 2010. She was one of just a handful of reporters on the scene of this massive disaster, which killed at least 1,600 people and submerged one-fifth of the country in water. You can watch her news and feature reports, as well as a year-end video, Watching the Waters Rise, where she describes her experience covering this disaster here.

Adrienne's second award was for Best News Information Segment, which she shared with producer Stephanie Jenzer, editor Claude Panet-Raymond, and cameraman Keith Whelan, for the report "Mexico's Deadly Explosion". The team raised questions about the official explanation for the deadly blast at the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel in the Mayan Riviera which killed 7 people and injured 18 others, and about the hotel's response on the ground after it happened. The story aired on January 24, 2011, and it is available to view online at this link.

Please join us in congratulating Adrienne, Stephanie, Claude and Keith.

You can read more about, and watch recent videos by Adrienne on her personality page on our website.

Remembering Marty Bergmann

2011-08-22T19:49:28Z

"This has been a tough few days -- lost a good friend in Marty Bergmann in that Resolute air crash. A great guy and a great Canadian." That's how Peter Mansbridge broke the sad news today.
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Viewers of The National may remember seeing Marty, who was the director of Natural Resources Canada's Polar Continental Shelf Program, in one of our Road Stories programs from the Arctic. In fact, it wouldn't have happened without him.

Peter first crossed paths with Marty five years ago at an airport in Frankfurt. "I was between flights and within 10 minutes he had talked me into doing this series off an icebreaker going through the Northwest Passage," Peter told CBC News.

True to his word, and not long after that conversation, Marty arranged for Peter and a National crew to accompany him and a team of researchers on the icebreaker Louis S. St. Laurent. This extraordinary journey through the Northwest Passage culminated in a ground-breaking feature report that examined how climate change was affecting the North, and consequently Canada's ability to assert its claim of sovereignty over it.

After that story aired, Marty continued to pitch ideas to us about the North, and when we found opportunities to cover the Arctic, Marty was always there to help with background information, as well as the myriad logistics of producing television in a challenging environment. Among many other stories, Marty's contribution was crucial to our special programs Arctic Nights in December 2007, and The Big Melt, which aired in September 2007, both of which are available for viewing online.

Marty was an inspiration, and a key resource with a vast knowledge of northern Canada, to Peter, to The National, and ultimately, to all of our viewers. We have much to thank Marty for, and we are much poorer to have lost him. Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, colleagues, and all who knew and cared about him.

Two trusts have been established in memory of Marty Bergmann. One is to support research in the North, and one is for his family. People wishing to donate to the Marty Bergmann Family Trust can do so by referencing it by name at any Royal Bank branch. Those wishing to donate to the Martin Bergmann Fund for Arctic Research can contact the Winnipeg Foundation at 1-877-974-3631.

A webcast of the memorial service for Marty Bergmann in Winnipeg on Tuesday, August 30 is available to view at this link. Among others, Peter Mansbridge gave a eulogy for his friend, Marty, at the service. It begins at approximately 17:40 on the webcast video. The full transcript of the eulogy is also available to read online in "Peter Mansbridge celebrates the life of Arctic expert Martin Bergmann", on the ipolitics.ca website

You can read the story about Marty Bergmann, "Manitoban killed in Resolute Bay air crash", August 21, 2011 on cbcnews.ca, and watch The National's news story from August 21, 2011 about several of the crash victims, including Marty Bergmann, at cbc.ca/video.

Read the Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada paying tribute to Marty Bergmann from August 22, 2011.

Gemini Nominations for The National

2011-08-05T19:52:41Z

The nominations for the 26th annual Gemini Awards have been announced and we are pleased and proud that CBC News The National has received nominations in several different categories.
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The nominations are as follows:

Best Local Newscast, Large Market

Mark Harrison, Terry Auciello, Michael Gruzuk, Heather McLennan and Fred Parker
CBC News: The National

Best Breaking Reportage, National

Adrienne Arsenault
CBC News: The National
Pakistan Floods

Nahlah Ayed
CBC News: The National
Mubarak Refuses to Resign

Susan Ormiston
CBC News: The National
Young Jihadist

Best News Information Segment

Adrienne Arsenault, Stephanie Jenzer, Claude Panet-Raymond, Keith Whelan
CBC News: The National
Mexico's Deadly Explosion

Lynn Burgess, Sheldon Beldick, Serge Brunet, Pierre Mainville
CBC News: The National
Getting Away with Murder

Wabanakwut (Wab) Kinew, Jaison Empson, Warren Kay, Terry Stapleton
CBC News: Winnipeg (featured on The National)
Surviving the Survivor

Joseph Loiero, Bob McKeown, Timothy Sawa
CBC News: The National
Graham James

Alex Shprintsen, Diana Swain
CBC News: The National
The Negligent Nurse

Best Talk Series

Mark Harrison, Leslie Stojsic
Mansbridge One on One

Best Host or Interviewer in a News Information Program or Series

Peter Mansbridge
CBC News: The National

Best New Anchor

Peter Mansbridge
CBC News: The National

For a complete list of all of the Gemini Award nominations, please visit the Gemini Awards website.