The Current

Stewart Brand is considered a key figure in the creation of the 1960s counter-culture, as well as an influence on the environmental movement and the rise of personal computing. Brand tells us about a new documentary about his work — We Are As Gods — and one of his new projects: to bring back the woolly mammoth.

Today on The Current: How the third wave of COVID-19 is battering Brampton, Ont.; and Stewart Brand on his remarkable career, and bringing back the woolly mammoth.

The makers of OxyContin may not have set out to get people addicted to the drug, but “their heads were in the sand” when it came to thinking through its “colossal downsides,” says an American journalist.

As the first wave began to wane a year ago, Canadian physician Peter Singer told The Current that the worst of the pandemic may yet be to come. Where does he think we are now? Singer, the special advisor to the director general of the World Health Organization, talks to Matt Galloway about the COVID-19 crisis in India, the third wave in Canada and whether vaccines can keep up with a constantly evolving virus.

Today on The Current: Physician Peter Singer on Canada’s third wave and global vaccine inequity; writer Patrick Radden Keefe on the Sackler family’s role in the opioid crisis; and Alessandro Rossellini on his famous, film-making family, and his role in it.

The pandemic exposed serious problems in long-term care in Canada, but what change is needed, and what creative solutions can be applied? We talk to Isobel Mackenzie, the seniors advocate for B.C.; Dr. Jocelyn Charles, medical director of the Veterans Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; and Alex Mihailidis, scientific director of Age Well.

Six years after a review into sexual misconduct in the military, the federal government has appointed former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour to lead another. Emma Phillips says a lot has changed since she worked on the review in 2015, and that creates an opportunity.

Today on The Current: Solving the problems in Canada’s long-term care sector; Biden faces immigration challenges at southern border; and Louise Arbour on leading a fresh external review into military sexual misconduct.

An Australian filmmaker and conservationist who shot some of the underwater scenes for the 1975 thriller Jaws says she’s seen the health of our oceans deteriorate significantly since the early days of her career.

When Marike Finlay and her partner, Karin Cope, decided to move from Quebec to the Maritimes 20 years ago, they asked their older friend, Elisabeth Bigras: "Why don't you come?"

Canadian legal pioneer Thomas Berger died Wednesday, at the age of 88. Retired senator Murray Sinclair joins us to remember his friend.

Today on The Current: Why ‘adopting an elder’ was life-changing for this Canadian household; Biden's United States at 100 days, from COVID-19 to race relations; Valerie Taylor on a career spent swimming with sharks; and Murray Sinclair remembers Canadian legal pioneer Thomas Berger.

India and South Africa are leading a proposal for the World Trade Organization to waive patents on COVID-19 vaccines temporarily, in order to boost production and fix a low supply problem for poorer countries.

A Canadian transgender athlete says it’s “reprehensible” that some U.S. states are trying to ban trans women and girls from playing for female sports teams.

Today on The Current: National affairs panel discusses the third wave’s impact on provincial politics; harvesting locusts to turn a pest into a seasonal crop in Kenya; and calls for patents on COVID-19 vaccines to be lifted.

Officials in Denmark have revoked residence permits of at least 189 refugees since last summer, telling them it's safe to return to Damascus.

The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians is calling for a change to licensing rules that make it harder for health-care workers to operate across provincial borders. Dr. James Maskalyk, a Toronto ER physician, joins Matt Galloway to discuss those barriers and what he's seeing on the front lines of the fight against the virus.

Today on The Current: Dr. James Maskalyk on making it easier for health-care workers to help across provincial borders; Malcolm Gladwell on the firebombing of Tokyo and his new book, The Bomber Mafia; and U.S. lawmakers try to block transgender women and girls from competing on female sports teams.

Workers and experts say paid sick leave is more urgent than ever, as Canada battles a third wave of COVID-19. We hear from Rechev Browne, a Toronto grocery store worker; Kendra Strauss, associate professor and director of the labour studies program at Simon Fraser University; and Dennis Darby, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.

Life Jolt host Rosemary Green shares stories from her time in prison in this new podcast about women navigating Canada’s correctional system.

Today on The Current: Workers and experts weigh in on calls for paid sick leave to fight COVID-19 third wave; new CBC podcast Life Jolt explores the stories of women in prison; and Syrian refugees in Denmark are told its time to go home.

Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair weighs in on whether the ban on flights from India and Pakistan will curb the spread of COVID-19, or if it's already too late. Plus, we hear about the efficacy of travel restrictions from Kelley Lee, Canada research chair in global health governance at Simon Fraser University.