The Decibel

This week, Ukraine took back some key areas in the northern part of the country from Russian troops – including the cities of Bucha and Chernihiv. While we’ve heard reports of atrocities from inside these war zones, it’s only now that journalists and other officials are getting to see the damage and death with their own eyes.The Globe’s U.S. correspondent, Nathan Vanderklippe, is one journalist getting the full picture from the ground in Bucha and Chernihiv. He tells us what it’s like in these two cities where the Russian army has destroyed buildings and killed civilians. Plus, we hear from a police officer in Chernihiv, Oksana Ohnenko, on her efforts to help the people of her city and her perspective on what it’s been like living through this war. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As we enter the sixth wave of COVID-19, hospitals are bracing for yet another surge. After two years of weathering wave after wave, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff are “burnt to a crisp,” as one Hamilton, Ont. doctor put it. The problems with Canada’s hospitals – from surgery backlogs, to “hallway medicine,” to staffing shortages – stretch back long before the pandemic.Globe and Mail investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle set out with reporter Tom Cardoso to find why Canadian hospitals were so poorly equipped to handle an influx of patients. What she found, Robyn explains, is how the very foundation of Canada’s universal health care system led to the problems that plague it today. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

COVID-19′s sixth wave is here. Quebec’s institute of public health says the sixth wave began in mid-March. On Monday, Ontario premier Doug Ford said the province is in the midst of a “little spike” but that it’s manageable. Hospitalizations are up by about 30 per cent since the week before. And in Alberta, the province’s Health Minister Jason Copping acknowledged an uptick in case positivity rate.With PCR tests not as widely available as they once were, scientists and public health officials have found another way to track COVID-19: wastewater, or sewage.Dr. Lawrence Goodridge is a professor of food microbiology at the University of Guelph who is leading a team of people testing wastewater. He’s part of Ontario’s wastewater Surveillance Initiative which samples 170 locations across the province accounting for more than 75 per cent of the population. He tells us what the samples are telling him right now, and why this tool is an important one for this pandemic and for the future. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pope Francis has apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system – an apology long awaited by Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This comes after a week of meetings between a delegation of Métis, Inuit and First Nations and the Pope and other members of the Catholic Church.Angie Crerar is an 85-year-old elder of the Métis Nation of Alberta. She spoke to Globe reporter Willow Fiddler in Rome after hearing the Pope speak on Friday. She talked about what the Pope’s apology means to her and Canada’s ongoing journey of reconciliation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The federal government has released yet another climate change plan oriented toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What’s different this time? This latest Emissions Reduction Plan is a sector-by-sector blueprint that specifically puts pressure on the oil and gas sector to cut its emissions by 42 per cent by 2030.Adam Radwanski is The Globe and Mail’s climate change columnist. He talks about what is required from companies and from the government to meet these goals, and whether the plan is ambitious and feasible enough to give people hope that Canada can actually meet its targets for once. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Employment is growing across Canada’s economy, but nowhere near the rate of the tech sector. Jobs in STEM jumped nearly 200,000 since the pandemic. Specifically, jobs in computer systems design are up 22 per cent. It’s good news for skilled tech workers, but not for small to mid-sized Canadian tech companies. That’s because big American tech companies are scooping up Canada’s top tech talent. And with the rise of remote work, competition is even stiffer.Matt Lundy is an economics reporter and Josh O’Kane is a technology reporter at The Globe and Mail. They explain why Canadian tech companies are struggling to compete, what it means for Canada’s tech industry and what needs to be done to retain Canadian talent. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On March 28, it was announced that Ontario had finally signed onto the federal child-care deal. With all provinces and territories now signed on, families across the country will eventually be paying only $10 a day for child care. To make this possible, the federal government is investing $30 billion to open 146,000 new child-care spots by 2026, but that investment may be useless if we don’t have the early childhood educators to fill them.The Globe’s Dave McGinn has been reporting on the federal child-care deal. He talks to us about why early childhood educators have been leaving the industry in droves, and what needs to happen to make this plan work. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The UN has called it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Yemen’s now seven-year-long war has killed almost 400,000 people, mostly children younger than five years old. Millions of people in the country are at risk of famine.And the war, between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition trying to push them out, rages on.Kamal Al-Solaylee was born in Yemen. He’s a journalist, author, professor, and Director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia. He explains that the war is deliberately forgotten by the world, why that is, and why he thinks Canada’s millions in aid to Yemen doesn’t tell the full story of our role in the conflict. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Almost every province in Canada has now removed its mask mandates in public schools. But many are questioning if now is the right time, and some are even challenging the decision.Today we hear from Sophia Alexanian, a 16-year-old high school student from Toronto, who co-founded a group called Ontario Students for COVID Safety. She organized a province-wide school walkout to protest the end of the mask mandate in schools.We also talk to Caroline Alphonso, an education reporter for The Globe and Mail. She talks to us about how the conversation about removing the mask mandate in schools is playing out across Canada. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hate crimes in Canada are up. Recent data out from Statistics Canada showed that in the first year of the pandemic, incidents reported to police increased by 37 per cent from the previous year. 2,669 hate crimes were reported to police in 2020 – the highest number since data became available in 2009.But in Canada, charging someone for a hate crime rarely happens. A Globe and Mail investigation found that of the 13 largest municipal and regional police forces, laying charges for a hate crime varied from a low of 6 per cent to a high of 28 per cent.A new task force co-chaired by Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the RCMP wants to create national standards to help front-line officers better identify and solve hate crimes. Mohammed Hashim is the executive director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and he’s on the show to tell us why hate crimes are a growing issue in Canada and how the task force will work to combat it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.