Posts with the CBC Radio tag

Barris Beat

True reconciliation

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Authors connect with readers at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words.


The festival began the way most events do these days in Canada. With respect. Last Thursday evening, the creative director of a festival in which I was participating, came to the microphone at the lectern, looked at the assembly of novelists, non-fiction writers, poets and all the other festival-goers. With appropriate sincerity and solemnity, she read the local land acknowledgement.

“We acknowledge that we are on Treaty 4 land,” she said, “encompassing the lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Dakota, Nakota, Lakota and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.”

That’s the way the 27th edition of the Saskatchewan Festival of Words began in Moose Jaw, last week. (more…)

Barris Beat

Wayne and Shuster legacy under fire

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Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster helping the war effort on CBC and in-person behind the lines in Normandy 1944.

It’s June 1944. Two men in Canadian Army battledress are hunkered down waiting for orders. One’s a soldier with sergeant’s stripes. The other’s a private in a greatcoat.

“Time to move out,” says the sergeant.

“I won’t do it,” retorts the private.

“You will, too. When an order is given, it must be obeyed!” And the sergeant points a gun at the enlisted man. “Do it or else.”

At precisely the same moment, there’s the sound of an artillery shell exploding nearby, and the two soldiers dive for cover. Sgt Johnny Wayne then turns to Pte Frank Shuster and says, “And we’re still in Canada! Imagine what it’ll be like when we get overseas!” (more…)

Barris Beat

The nurse I want attending

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A neighbour and registered nurse, Claudia Dee, served the public system above and beyond. (wedding photo in Agincourt News 1964)

It seemed a wonderful coincidence. But it really wasn’t. Back in 1964, my father, Alex Barris, was admitted to Scarborough General Hospital for surgery to remove kidney stones. Then, for several days he remained in hospital recuperating.

One of the nurses attending him turned out to be a neighbour. Registered nurse Claudia Dee, whose family lived up the street from us in Agincourt, seemed assigned to attend Dad’s needs 24/7 – making sure that his pain was under control, that he got meals on time and that he got home as soon as possible.

“She was like a guardian angel,” I remember Dad saying. (more…)

Barris Beat

Free speech is not free

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2022 municipal election candidates’ pamphlets.

I was busy at the time. Because it was the weekend, I had a long list of things to do around the house. And I was well into the first few chores when I heard the front doorbell ring. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a woman with a handful of pamphlets, and a pad and pen at the ready.

“I’m Christine McKenzie,” she said, “and I’m running for Ward 5 Councillor.”

I could have said, “Gee, I’m really busy right now,” and I’m sure she’d have responded with, “I can come back another time.” But instead, Ms. McKenzie and I got into a lively discussion about the needs of some of our neighbours in the aftermath of the May 21 tornado. (more…)

Barris Beat

Not quite Oz

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Victoria Day weekend storm came right up my street in Uxbridge.

About midday on Sunday, nearly 24 hours after the storm that hit south-central Ontario, a cluster of people came walking down Balsam Street North toward us. My wife and I were piling a wall of tree debris in front of our home. We must’ve looked like zombies dragging branches and brush to and fro. We suddenly realized the cluster of people was our three grandsons, our daughter and son-in-law from a few blocks away in Uxbridge. My grandson ran up and embraced me.

“Just wanted to hug you,” he said.

“Me too,” I said and for the first time in hours I felt human again. (more…)

Barris Beat

Adapting to saving the planet

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Since the time of Lenoir’s “hippomobile,” it’s taken us 150 years to wean ourselves off combustion engines.

I’ve never been afraid to seek advice, particularly when it comes to legal matters, health care or buying a car. Several weeks ago, I raised the challenge of buying an electric or hybrid car in front of some knowledgeable friends. I play summer hockey with a group of men almost all of whom have worked in the automobile industry all their lives. When I asked what make and model of electric or hybrid car I should consider, just about all of them had the same answer:

“Within a year or 18 months,” they said, “they’ll all be making EVs (electric vehicles) of some sort. Not just Tesla, Toyota and Hyundai. Everybody.” (more…)

Barris Beat

“Sprinter” in April

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Hopes for an early patio gathering in Manitoba disappeared under a spring snowstorm. CJRB Radio.

It’s my fault. I admit it. I changed my car tires over from winters to summers last week. And that’s why we got whacked by a snow storm on Monday night. I tempted fate – figuring that mid-April wasn’t too early to switch over – and I caused all this rotten winter weather three weeks into spring. Mind you, I did hear Ed Lawrence say on the radio this week that if one wants to be brave planting some hardy trees and bushes early, it’s OK.

“Go for it,” said Lawrence, the former Globe and Mail columnist and chief horticulturist to six governors-general and seven prime ministers. And he was speaking on CBC Radio’s Radio Noon program just as winds and sleet were blowing past both his Almonte, Ont., home and mine here in Uxbridge. (more…)

Barris Beat

Thinking in herds

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Gatherings such as the Jan. 6, 2021,  insurrection on U.S. Capitol building illustrated all that’s wrong with herd thinking.

It’s human science. We are a species that gathers. We must gather, connect communicate and socialize. It’s quite simply in our DNA. And to our detriment, it’s our gathering in these two years of the pandemic that has been our undoing. And now it’s the fifth wave, the Omicron wave. The number of COVID-19 patients in Canadian hospitals rose 67 per cent last week over the week before, and Ontario is leading the way in high case numbers. So, once again, the Ontario government has decided to lock everything down to prevent us from gathering.

“We face a tsunami of new cases in the coming days and weeks,” Premier Doug Ford told reporters at a news conference on Monday. “The math isn’t on our side.”

But there are, I think, much more dangerous aspects to our species’ gatherings these days than just pandemic viruses. (more…)

Barris Beat

Summer for women

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Marie-Philip Poulin – Captain Canada scores the winner! Toronto Star

On Aug. 31, I joined my daughter for an event to remember. Canada’s women’s hockey team faced its arch rival – the Americans – in a three-on-three overtime period in Calgary for the International Ice Hockey Federation world championship. Just over seven minutes into sudden death, team captain Marie-Philip Poulin broke in on the U.S. goal and put a wrist shot off the crossbar down into the net for the victory. The Toronto Star interviewed former Leafs goalie coach Steve McKichan after the game.

“That’s the Hall of Fame bardown shot in women’s hockey,” and he went on to say in the history of greatest Canadian hockey goals, “it was top-five.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Where news comes from

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Lisa LaFlamme at the CTV News desk each night.

It’s the last thing my wife and I do each night and nearly the first thing each morning. It’s been that way for nearly 50 years. We turn off the light at night and wake up each morning in sync with broadcasters and their newscasts. At 11:30 p.m., Lisa LaFlamme says:

“That’s it for us at CTV News. Have a good night.”

Then, each morning at the top of the hour, we catch Nil Köksal introducing us to, “World Report…” on CBC Radio. (more…)