The Decibel

When your country is invaded, how do you keep your family’s spirits up? In besieged Kharkiv, Ukraine, Natalie Slyusar focused on trying to give her son a regular 16th birthday – complete with a homemade chocolate cake. But baking’s a lot easier said than done while a war rages around you.This beguilingly simple story reveals a lot about how we get ourselves and our loved ones through the hardest parts of life. Natalie recounts what it’s like for a family to cope with an invasion. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sexual health testing took a nose dive during the pandemic, as health care workers and resources were diverted towards the fight against COVID-19. And as Globe reporter Zosia Bielski tells us in this episode, when it comes to sexually transmitted infections: “Less detection equates with more spread.”Now, we’re paying the price: the rate of STIs, from gonorrhea to HIV, has risen precipitously in many places across Canada. Zosia explains why the conditions of the pandemic – from the shame of breaking lockdown rules, to online schooling – have accelerated a decades-long trend of rising STIs in Canada. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Monday, a by-election in a Montreal suburb ended in defeat for the Parti Quebecois, the province’s champion of separatism for the last fifty years. And yet 35 per cent of Quebeckers still believe in independence for Quebec.The Globe’s Quebec correspondent Eric Andrew-Gee explains why that isn’t translating into support for the PQ anymore. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Monday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Kieran Moore gave a COVID-19 update after being silent for almost a month. The province will expand PCR testing and antiviral drugs for certain people, Dr. Moore said, while the current surge in cases will likely continue into mid-to-late May.Ontario is not alone. Much of the country is facing a sixth wave of the pandemic. While vaccines remain an important tool for preventing serious disease, less than half of Canadians eligible for a third shot have bothered to get one.Health reporter Carly Weeks has been following the vaccination uptake in Canada since the beginning of the pandemic. She tells us how there’s been a lack of clear messaging around boosters, why more Canadians should be getting a third (or even fourth) dose and what a COVID-19 vaccination schedule may look like in the future. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most people want to shy away from life’s hard moments. But not Canadian actor and filmmaker Sarah Polley. In her first book, Run Towards the Danger, she shares six personal essays that explore some of the most difficult moments of her life.Sarah discusses the slippery nature of memories, how her relationship with her body has changed and what it’s been like to have the world read about vulnerable moments from her private life. 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 laid out a budget with $56-billion in new spending over six years. On the day the budget is released, journalists get to see the document in advance of the Finance Minister’s announcement – if they join what’s called a “lockup.”The Decibel was in the lockup at a hotel in downtown Ottawa, where Globe journalists explained the main takeaways from the budget, covering spending in the areas of housing, defence, reconciliation, finance, immigration, inflation and more.You’ll hear from the Globe’s Bill Curry, Steven Chase, John Ibbitson, Rachelle Younglai, Kristy Kirkup, Kathryn Blaze Baum, Mark Rendell, and Patrick Brethour, as well as Scotiabank Economics Director Rebekah Young. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.