Ark

Unbridled by
___control skins
The leaf the water
___seed and grass
______embrace me
The smallest knowing
___nothing hidden: shared
And the ultimate way
___is back where you came from
Don't condemn
___don't back away
___It will all be this way
______Soon.

Snake in the grass

My cock plays tricks on me
___Tells me things about you
___my heart and head deny
I want so much to believe

One more time; one last
___tilt at the gates of Eden

Cast

She nominated me:
___be my anchor
___keep me from drifting
______ or cresting the falls
Night and day, point of reference
___ she might circle and list
___ but never founder

Came the day of a new wind
___ bright and sunny
______ compass clouds pointing
___ ______to the future
___ She filled her sails with him
_________ broke the chain
___ I watched her wake spread
______ foam and lace
___ from below

Before the Lines Came

He walked
the steal-held land
___unbounded
___before the Lines came
Countries
___counties
______concessions

Driven iron come alive
___turning there to here
______that to this
___halving what was whole
___joining what was strange

He walked
the indivisible divided
___mindful thus
______all around him insane:

______Flags on the moon

Free of the Land

___Born in the church,
She was married out of wedlock
___Never saw the day she didn't night

The whole west production
___Brought her everything she wanted
And everything she wanted was in sight

___Owe, how they waited
To be ushered to her exits
___And manicure themselves in all her charm

And lingering behind her
___In somnambulistic chill
They winter-watched him take her by the arm.

northhumber

cool white plying blue
warm blue carving grey from green
we were naked then

LCBO journey vignettes

1
paved with gold

long line
___like geese
___like Beatles
leaves cross the street
___pirouetting
___like Trudeau sans the Queen
wishing they'd hold tight
not ready for fall.

2
hold my licker

Went to the licker store
Got myself some licker
I needed that — had a good, stiff tall one
helps me sleep
a good licker'll do that
___every time
wish I could manage it on my own
maybe one day

3
great rift valley

in sandals
___She walks before me
___with each step
___a split second
___bares her heel
like something
___primal
______forbidden
ceaseless
___sensual
______slap
_________slap
____________slap

'midst straight lines and steel
concrete and clock knives
it really doesn't take much.

seventh day five and dime

god's wife come into the store
sez i overcharged her on bananas
well i didn't but whattayah gonna say
___it's god's wife
i don't need no trouble
so i give her the difference
she buys an apple
___y'know one bloody apple
meeting a friend for lunch she sez
and slithers off
(she might be god's wife but i never liked her)

Pissing on the moon

I stood there
so did he
black water rippling, trees ghost-sided
all dusted white by soft light blast
sand still warm
on the tide’s retreat

He said
Look what I can do
baring himself to summer’s black eye
golden arches flying
reaching
straining
all the thrust of modest rockets
laughing, splashing my toes

Pissing on the moon
and more adventures
before the sun comes up

Severed

Padge packing in this jukebox hullabaloo
Padge packing in this Crisco-slippy moment
Padge packing, and all is well
Padge packing up a severed limb that was our life

There’s the train
What’s the province?
You don’t have to tell me, no
But maybe we could say hello sometime
Don’t forget me. Yeah, sure, I’ll write

As idly said, this home don’t miss the master

She has a skylight

She has a skylight.
Invites me over.
We gaze up at it.
Daylight streaming;
___bright blue sky, relentless

She says,
“Sometimes I sleep out here,
___just to look up at it.”
And I say,
“You’ll have to invite me over
___sometime
___I’d like to see that.”

She never did.
Not me, anyway.
I wonder what eyes
___saw what constellations
___through that sweat-fogged eye.

Cleveland 1996

he rose from her
lifting all but his sweat
at her urging
___she turned over, pillaring
and she instructed:
"maybe you should
fuck me
like an animal"
______i know
______i saw
______i was there
so he
fucked her
like an animal
___then it was my turn

later, she watched

The NEW Richard III

______ ______INT. A MEAD HALL IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

______ The merry court of HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND.

______ Enter LORD STANLEY and RICHARD III.

______ ______ ______ LORD STANLEY
______ ______ ______(introducing RICHARD III)
______ ______ Your Majesty, the Pretender.

______ ______ ______ RICHARD III
______ ______ _How wrong thou speakest, assface.

______ ______ ______ HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND
______ ______ _What seekest thou, bag of douche?

______ ______ ______ RICHARD III
______ ______ _Forsooth, thou who wouldst of thine
______ ______ _own father a cuckold make, I thence
______ ______ _me here to rap.

_____________________ HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND
______ ______ _First mindest thy tongue, then on
______ ______ _with it gettest.

_____________________ RICHARD III
______ ______ _Thou art, and no mistake, a man
______ ______ _possessed of not one asshole, but a
______ ______ _multitude thereof; and moreover,
______ ______ _grapevines have it that they each
______ ______ _and every one abetteth thee in
______ ______ _thine interloping of my 'hood.

_____________________ EARL OF OXFORD
______ ______ _What of it, dung-addled?

_____________________ HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND
______ ______ _Hold! He speaketh unto me.

_____________________ RICHARD III
______ ______ _Aye, and verily too. Indeed,
______ ______ _methinks thou wouldst pretend,
______ ______ _presume, pre-empt thyself — and
______ ______ _this company of those who do most
______ ______ _assuredly sup upon John Thomases —
______ ______ _unto my very crib!

_____________________ HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND
_______________Enough!

______ He advanceth upon RICHARD III.

_____________________ HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND (CONT'D.)
__________________ (reciting, as if a spell)
______ ______ _A cap in thine ass shall poppèd be,
______ ______ _when next we meet, and worried be
______ ______ _thine underlings, to see thee fall,
______ ______ _who hail from Sodom, one and all.
______ ______ _With glee shall I unbloom thy rose,
______ ______ _and unto me collect thy hos.
______ ______ _So mark me well! and bide thy time!
______ ______ _till by me rendered bones and slime.
______ ______ _Begone!

_____________________ RICHARD III
______ ______ _Be thou fed upon dung! I am away.

______ Exit RICHARD.

_____________________ LORD STANLEY
______ ______ _Alas, we are diss'd!

_____________________ EARL OF OXFORD
______ ______ _What for this, o my king? Surely
______ ______ _we will not suffer yon sorry man
______ ______ _bitch-issued, wherewithal he hath
______ ______ _said, to get away?

_____________________ HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND
______ ______ _Nay, fear not; I spake not in haste
______ ______ _nor jest; neither took I the piss.
______ ______ _This very night shall his ass be
______ ______ _kickèd, and up shall his shit be
______ ______ _fuck'd, by this manly host here
______ ______ _about me.

______ ALL cheer.

_____________________ HENRY, EARL OF RICHMOND
______ ______ _To arms, dear friends! Let ye the
______ ______ _locking and also unto it the
______ ______ _loading be done! Mount up, and
______ ______ _gallop by vile Richard's posse, and
______ ______ _by so doing shall we waste him and
______ ______ _those thereabout, and be thus
______ ______ _avenged! To arms!

______ Exeunt, ALL cheering.

_________________________________HERE ENDETH THE SCENE.

July, Long Lost

So late that
___TV's gone to bed,
___ ___I roam the house
___ ___ ___to find instead
that freedom reigns:
___no job, no school
___ ___no waking mind
___ ___ ___to set a rule

___ ___but mine.
___ ___How fine

a thing it is:
___the darkness heard
___ ___the silence seen
___ ___ ___the voiceless word
and in the street,
___with none to see,
___ ___the moon eclipses
___ ___ ___just for me.

Enniskillen

Proud and emerald-fired
Formed of souls shamrock-hued
___and fed on words, words
She smiled at him

Him, from beyond, away,
One of
___them
Took his hand
___Let out those
___words,
___ ___words
New ones poured in like tea,
___hot, delicious
___ ___needed

What mattered
the colour of souls;
___alabaster all in the sight of God
And when the Somme offered his up
She took their daughters
___wild geese
___ ___across the sea

Original Sin (Personal Instance)

Kind
he was and
grandfather
___(not mine,
___so grandfatherly)
Set to be inoffensive
___Iron-firm, silver-haired
___like a man on TV
A mighty orchid
___and I,
___a happy bee

And I loved, too
___the little stream
___ ___that carved his land
___ ___imagine! to own a stream!)
___ ___like hot fudge across an ice cream plain
___Fascinated:
___ ___the little paddle wheel he'd made
___ ___held by rocks
___ ___a toy that turned and turned,
___ ___ ___spun by nature

I dared, like Prometheus
___I touched it; it broke
___tipped from its stones
___and stopped

I ran

Cried

Hid

Fearful he knew
___(how could he not?)
Imagining his rage
___(how could he forgive?)
Dreading his hate, I
___never returned

Did he wonder,
___where's the bee?
When he fixed the wheel,
___as surely he did,
___in seconds,
___did he do it for me,
___ ___wanting it to be right for my enjoyment?

I never looked him in the eye again.
___Afraid to be penitent
___Short-selling his mercy
___ ___I robbed us both.

Hardwood Maple

There crouched in all resilience
___in autopsy
___the dead snow rotting
___the birds back to peck its carcass

Fingertipped unmittened blue
___the iron clank swing set chains up the hill
___not wanting to wait
Thunderstorms broken on the rocks
___but healing
______hungry

Locks picked by wind
___lifted from young eyes
______whispered the furnaced It:
______fat appled limbs
______frolic salt-stainery
______unshod field tipped tricycle
___So I listened
______believed

The sap ran down me
___mourning six-armed
______glazing the sun so I could eat it
______hot off the griddle,
______blue unending

Hardwood maple—
___bone-knotted
___tear-keyed
___blond-leafed
—learns to wait

The View from Prospect Way

Michael Trenton
1528 Prospect Way, Apt. 411
Richmond, Virginia
AM6 LB7

Flight Lt. Robert Trenton
Landing Base Mimico
Toronto-Negawaya, West Niagara District, New York
FV6 KS2


June 16th, 1966

Dear Bobby,

Yesterday a flock of passenger pigeons flew over the city and I thought of you. That time in Stellarton Park just after Uncle Henry passed away, remember? You said to me they were the souls of the departed and that one of them was him, somewhere in there. You know, I don't think I've eaten a single one since you said that. The ones I saw yesterday must have taken a quarter hour to cross the sky, heading north. Folks here are saying it's a good omen. I hope they're right. Maybe it's Uncle Henry watching over us.

I'm getting used to life in the national capital, but the drive from Richmond to Franklin and back every day is still pretty taxing on me. Still, this is what I always wanted, right? Let me save you the trouble of saying 'I told you so'. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Much as I miss home sometimes, there's so much history here. So much of importance. So much is going on all the time. Especially these days. I was there, you know, for the emergency session of Congress two weeks ago, doing whatever Rep. Nichols needed done. There, in the Roundel itself when they opened the session. I can tell you without shame that as they rose to sing Heart of Oak , the hundreds of them, men and women from every corner of the British Republic, I had tears in my eyes. I've never felt it so strongly as I did right then. At that moment, I was ready for anything.

As far as negotiations go, I wish I had better news for you, and everyone else in uniform. The French seem eager to play last month's incident off Haiti for everything it's possibly worth to them. It's all a trumped-up excuse, of course; they've never given up their aspirations to getting New Orleans back. All of you back home must be watching the French and Ottawa Rivers with a chill down your backs these days. Everybody here is focused on New Orleans, but people like us know the thing they most after that is to see West Niagara annexed from New York and back in New France. Fancy a king, Bobby? Might give our rough little corner of the Republic some glitter, if you don't mind losing habeas corpus and having to tithe to the Catholic Church every time you buy so much as a stamp. I thought all this was over in our grandparents' time, but here we are on the brink once more.

Still… it's not over yet, or even begun. So here's my big news… from the national capital to the federate. That's right, I'm off to London next week with Rep. Nichols for the emergency meeting of the Senate. We'll be asking for the backing of the Federate Allies. Ordinarily that would go without saying but India's been so balky lately. If we don't get their support, it will encourage France, and we could be in big trouble. But with their support, I can't imagine France will think it wise to push the matter to the brink.

I've never been to the Union of the Isles. How many times have I been back and forth across the American march, from the St. Lawrence to the Columbia? Two dozen? But I've never been to the European march or the Australian. Well, finally, off I go. England. London. Another front line, staring across that channel at the very original frontier between us and them. A chance to see the ancient imperial city, with all of its old royalist history and splendor. I only wish it were under happier circumstances. I imagine I'll find the people there worrying themselves over a repeat of the French Incursion. Those awful years. It might have been almost 200 years ago but it's still with them. You can hear it in the voices and the remarks of the representatives from the Isles in Congress. They'll be out in force burning the Freddies this autumn, I'm sure. I wonder if I'll still be around to see that. It's hard to believe we Britons were once as proud of having a king as the French are. It seems so backward. Well, here's to King Frederick, roasting down in hell; at least he did us the service of breaking us of that obsession.

Naturally, I'll take a lot of pictures, which I will force on you and Jenny and the kids, and Mom and Dad, when I'm home for Thanksgiving, or if I can't make that, Christmas, at least. God willing, we'll all be meeting in peacetime, not war, when we do so. If India and Federate Africa will stand by the Union of British States, we certainly will. Without their help, it promises to be a long, cold, anxious winter.

I hope the next time I see a passenger pigeon, it's Uncle Henry with good news.

Wish us luck in London! I should be back in Franklin by September, if all goes well. All my love,

Mike.

Remebrances

When I was still a very little boy, I made a cherished friend of death. Death became my protector, my solace, my refuge of last resort. It was not so much that I had made the connection that I could take my own life. It was simply that I had come to believe that, if my life became unhappy enough, some deliverance, in the form of some quick, tragic accident, would fall upon me and sweep me away from my tiny, perfect misery. To me, death was a beautiful thing, noble and preserving, and if timely enough, the one thing that would save me from growing up and assuming the burdens I could see weighing down the adults around me, and from the natural changes that I had begun to perceive would befall me one day, stripping from me the purity that even then I understood myself to possess; a fragile gift that life slowly buffs away from every child. Only if death would smile upon me, gentle and kind, would I be forever, what I was.

In my dreams, and in my daydreams, I was haunted by bright spectres of children passed away, friends who I did not know, but who beckoned to me to join in their eternal spring and boundless youth. I would lie on my back beneath the summer sky and see in the clouds the frothy kingdoms in their sway; the freedom of the 60s so recently past mirrored forever in their journeys. In pressing my ear to the telephone poles, I would imagine the deep-throated electrical hum to be the sound of their hands, rubbing the wood as they hurried around and around it just below me, like some subterranean Maypole of death. I would almost hear their laughter, and I would yearn so deep inside nearly to split me open, and launch up my soul, like some butterfly bursting forth from a cocoon. I would see my happy friend, death, in teasing glimpses; always close by me, but never taking my hand. And every day I woke up, still weighted down by the flesh, and by fear, and by sorrows too tiny and crystal-sharp to be remembered.

My sense of it all became only more acute with passing time. As I grew in years and wisdom, I sensed my moment slipping away. One day the news came that a boy I’d known, a couple of years older than me, had been struck by a car as he rode his bicycle home from the store. The drunken driver had left him there, in the ditch, perhaps never even knowing. To me, who and what the driver had been were completely unimportant: he was merely the anonymous instrument by which my friend had acquired that longed-for ascension. And when I heard the news, my thoughts passed only lightly over the shattering grief of the mother who had carried him, the father who had watched him grow, and the teenage brother and sister who had had a part of themselves ripped away like teeth. What blazed in me was a curious jealousy, that he had made it, achieved election to that coveted elite that eluded me. I was still too young to appreciate the horror of it; the wrenching pain both physical and mental. I saw only a moment’s suffering, the nobility of the shed blood, the dimming of the light as newfound friends appeared, pressing closer. To me, it was nothing more than a higher, liberating birth, with beauty and honour preserved. Why him, instead of me? I wanted to be lamented. Bereaved. Too late the cherished boy, petrified forever in memory, and innocence. Saved from those trials and sins that would surely have tarnished me.

And then it happened: the world showed me at last what it had to offer, and I learned to fear death. The glorious wickedness of the world rose around me, and showed me what a joy it was to be an animal, however finite, and intoxicated me with the realm of sensuality. And the worst betrayal of all was that I gave myself over to it, and quietly lost my soul. Just as I had feared I would.

Nearly two decades had passed with me firmly, and willingly, fixed to this world when it happened. It was very late on a Friday night. I might even say it was really Saturday morning. Quiet and alone, I pushed a wobbly wheeled cart through a suburban supermarket, glancing down at a list on an envelope and keeping true to it like some ersatz revision of the Ten Commandments; thou shalt buy canned corn. The shalt nots were unlisted, but assumed to be anything not on the list.

I pushed the cart into the very heart of the supermarket, the broad, town square of the frozen foods, with its waterless reflecting pools filled with cheap dinners and bargain garbage pizzas. Across the wide vista I saw an elderly woman, paused. In the glass before her, I could see the consternation, the deep self-absorption in her features, and I suddenly knew, just as she was becoming aware, that she was in acute distress. She staggered, falling to her knees, and then rolled onto her side with a strange little cry.

There were other people in the aisle, and their strangeness to this woman evaporated as they hurried to her. A man in a white smock who clearly worked at the store took charge of the efforts on her behalf, but I myself, for some reason, held back. Fascinated. A few people crowded in close to the woman, and a few hung by at the ready. But one, I noticed, milled about, hands behind his back, watching. He looked to me a bit like Jimmy Durante, dressed in corduroy, and I noticed he cast no shadow. Not even onto himself. His features, his clothes, every aspect of him was lit in the same, even, pale illumination. With a soft smile he glanced up at me, and tapped the brim of his fedora in greeting. And I knew who it was, and a chill of recognition ran over me like cold tap water.

Everything slowed down… the motions of the people became lethargic. The sounds of their voices became thick and syrupy, as did the quiet Muzak cheerfully seeing this woman off. I watched my old friend step out of sight beyond the edge of the row. When everything was still, and the only sound was the electric hum and my own breathing, I abandoned my cart, and ran down the row, past the shoppers who were now statuary, a study of a community in common crisis. Rounding the corner, I fully expected to find him gone, but there he stood, amongst the cereals, casual, waiting.

“You do remember, don’t you?” he said.

“How could I forget?” I croaked, softly. “It hasn’t been that long, even for me.”

“The way we used to run together,” he said. “You always had the gift.”

“Why didn’t you…” I began. But it was a question from a five year old, and my adult voice balked at it.

“I understand,” he said. “Why didn’t I come for you as a blossom instead of an ordinary orange, is that right?”

“Something like that.” I was a bit stung, the way a person might be when a spurning friend or lover explains the hows and whys.

“Did it ever occur to you, that however beautiful the blossom might be, the world has more need of the oranges?”

“But why not me? There were others…”

“Paul,” he said. My friend on the bike.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“There are reasons. For everyone, where and when, it all has to work together.”

“Will I understand one day?”

“Probably not. But it won’t seem important to you then.”

I nodded softly.

“It all comes out the same, I promise you,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

He raised his arm slowly, and in its wake, the real world faded like the broken ripples of a pond… and beneath them, I saw, just for a moment, a glimpse of what had once been so real for me. In laughter, at play, so clean and colourful. A girl met my gaze, and smiled. I don’t know how I knew, or how my soul recognized her without needing my eyes, but I knew, without even the sense of realization, that this little girl, and the woman lying behind the row, were one and same. And I finally understood that the redemption was assured, and I had not missed some golden chance. I could carry on with what the world demanded of me, and still come out alright. Then the ripples faded, and with them the man, the figure of my old friend, and I stood alone while some flatulent trombone quietly squeezed out “Paperback Writer” on the PA over my head.

People seemed awkward, wondering to themselves if they should continue such a mundane task as picking up groceries in the wake of what had happened. For myself, I returned to my cart, and observing a moment of respectful reflection, I went about finding the canned corn.

Chance of a Ghost

CBC NEWS SPECIALS
"Chance Of A Ghost"

Written by

Andy Byers

ACT ONE

Ext. – Evening. late autumn dusk in front of the Supreme Court Building, Ottawa

"CHANCE OF A GHOST"

JASON STANKOVIC

Good evening, and welcome to this very special presentation of CBC News. I’m Jason Stankovic; behind me, the Supreme Court Building in Ottawa, where sometime tomorrow, the highest court in the land is expected to release its decision on the status of revenant persons — or, as they’re more usually known, ghosts — in Canada. At stake, a number of issues, including political and property rights, legal rights and obligations, and a host of other contentious issues that have been in legal limbo across the country and around the world for years. The matter was fast-tracked to the Supreme Court by special request of the Speaker of the House of Commons on a procedural matter: does Alberta MP David Yaremko, who died in traffic accident last summer, have the right to continue to sit as the Member for Edmonton—St. Albert? With some background, here’s Jeanette Tremblay.

CUT TO:

Int. wood-paneled office.

Shot of David Yaremko, in life, looking at ease in his office, speaking breezily to someone off-screen.

JEANETTE TREMBLAY (V.O.)

David Yaremko was first elected to Parliament six years ago from the riding of Edmonton—St. Albert. Re-elected last year, he was a rising star in Conservative caucus until his death in a multiple-car pile-up on Alberta’s Highway 2 last June threw his political future into doubt.

CUT TO:

Ext. - Day side of a highway.

Police mill around several mangled cars. Roadside flairs can be seen.

JEANETTE TREMBLAY (V.O.) (Cont'd)

Just a few years ago, the accident would have put a tragic end to all things for Yaremko. But unique in Canadian political history, Yaremko experienced that recent and increasingly common phenomenon: he ‘survived’ his own death as a revenant… a ghost.

CUT TO:

Int. Parliament buildings.

David Yaremko, now translucent, is seen giving a press conference in the foyer of the House of Commons.

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

(voice slightly hollow, with a subtle echo)

For me, the bottom line is this. I was elected by the people of Edmonton-St. Albert to represent them. I took that oath in good faith, and regardless of the change in my physical appearance, I am still here and I feel bound by that oath. I mean to represent the people who sent me here to the best of my ability, so long as I am able and they continue to wish me to do so.

REPORTER (O.S.)

Mr. Yaremko, do you intend to run in the next federal election?

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

Well, the matter of my incumbency is still before the courts, unresolved, so I’d say it’s a little early to decide that. When the time comes to make a decision on that, I’ll be guided by the counsel of my family, my riding association, and my constituency.

CUT TO:

1. Ext. – Day. in front of the lawn on Parliament Hill.

Jeanette Tremblay is seen on the Hill in autumn clothing, holding a microphone.

JEANETTE TREMBLAY

With Parliament in extended summer recess pending the decision, the matter of whether or not David Yaremko has the right to sit in the House of Commons hasn’t come to a head. At least not here. Back in his home riding in Alberta, there is confusion as to whether or not a by-election needs to be held to replace Yaremko, or even if the Tories should replace him with another, living, candidate. Yaremko’s work on committees, his advocacy of his constituents’ issues, even his right to communicate as the Member for Edmonton-St. Albert: all these matters have yet to be decided. How the Constitution can, will, and should address these matters, and others, we will learn tomorrow when the Supreme Court announces its decision. Jeanette Tremblay, CBC News, Ottawa.

CUT TO:

Ext. – Evening. late autumn dusk in front of the Supreme Court Building, Ottawa

JASON STANKOVIC

Most viewers this evening can easily remember a time when ghosts were a matter of speculation, fiction, superstition, and dreams. All that changed not quite ten years ago when, for the first time, revenant persons began appearing and forming a part of our experience in the waking world. But how did it all get started? What changed? With a look back at the phenomenon, here’s a report by CBC reporter Shawn Mohsin.

CUT TO:

Ext. – Day. Street scene in Japan outside apartment building.

SERIES OF SHOTS:

1. People are wandering around. Shocked expressions.

2. Camera cranes up the front of the building to the balcony of what is presumably the crime scene.

SHAWN MOHSIN (V.O.)

It was a little over nine years ago when the first modern, documented case of revenancy, the survival of a human personality after physical death, occurred. It was here, in the Japanese city of Saitama, that 22-year-old Ishikawa Tenaka, appeared to her grieving family three days after her death in the very apartment in which she was found murdered.

CUT TO:

Int. Police interview room.

Grainy, high-contrast video of the ghost of Ishikawa Tenaka being interviewed by police detectives.

SHAWN MOHSIN (V.O.) (Cont'd)

The appearance of Ishikawa Tenaka made headlines around the world. She accused her landlord of murdering her when she refused to give in to his demands for sex in lieu of her rent payments. The man was charged and brought to trial within days. While the presiding judge ruled against Ishikawa giving direct testimony during the trial, he did, however, admit her statements to police into evidence, and these were instrumental in a verdict of guilty being reached against the accused.

CUT TO:

Int. – Day. A sunlit sitting room.

Tenaka is being interviewed by a camera crew.

SHAWN MOHSIN (V.O.) (Cont'd)

Skeptical scientists the world over deluged Japan in an attempt to prove her appearance was a hoax. She was denounced by some conservative religious figures as either a demon or an attempt to discredit long-standing orthodox doctrines. But it quickly became clear that Ishikawa was exactly what she appeared to be: the ghost of pleasant young woman whose physical life had been cut violently, tragically short.

SERIES OF SHOTS:

1. A series of rapid cuts show Tenaka waving to crowds…

2. Kneeling at prayer in a shrine…

3. Sitting by a river…

4. And seated with the Pope.

SHAWN MOHSIN (V.O.) (Cont'd)

Tenaka became a worldwide celebrity, an icon for people who had lost loved ones, and anyone who ever wondered about what happens to human beings after death. The Pope flew to Japan for an audience with her. Some of the same religious leaders who had dismissed her now proclaimed her a sign of the end times predicted in the Book of Revelation.

A shot of Tenaka’s family, tearfully addressing the press.

SHAWN MOHSIN (V.O.) (Cont'd)

Tenaka was last seen about five months after her death. After that, she disappeared and has not been heard from since. It is presumed that her spirit has dissipated, or moved on to whatever ultimately awaits us.

Several shots of other ghosts, first as photographed in life, then as seen after their deaths.

SHAWN MOHSIN (V.O.) (Cont'd)

But by then, other revenants began appearing elsewhere in the world. Within the first year of Tenaka’s appearance, hundreds of others. Within two years, thousands. Nine years later, by some estimates, some half a million revenants have been observed; there may be, or have been, many more. All of this has led to great upheavals in every society on the globe, causing thorny legal, practical, and religious issues that may take generations to iron out.

CUT TO:

Ext. – Day. A large, modern, institutional-looking building in Geneva.

Reporter Shawn Mohsin stands before the building, its impressive fountain and sculptures, addressing the camera.

SHAWN MOHSIN

But how did all this get started? Why are ghosts suddenly a reality, when for most of human history they were simply a rumour common to all cultures? These are questions being asked here, at the recently-inaugurated World Revenant Organization in Geneva.

CUT TO:

Int. an office inside the World Revenant Organization Building.

A scientist is addressing an off-screen reporter.

SHAWN MOHSIN (V.O.)

The theories range from the sublime to the absurd, running the gamut of scientific to religious and back again. Dr. Helena Fischer, a leading researcher into the question of how and why revenancy came about, spoke with us about the leading theories.

DR. HELENA FISCHER

(heavily German-accented speech)

Some of the more intriguing theories involve variations in solar radiation, or the Earth passing through the debris left by a comet’s tail. Some people have suggested it’s a new stage in human evolution. I’ve even heard people suggest that revenants have been with us all along, but that our world concepts prevented us from seeing or acknowledging them. Some Christian authorities have put forward the theory that the presence of revenant people means that Heaven and Hell are filling up, and that we are to understand this to signify the oncoming of Armageddon and the return of Christ.

SHAWN MOHSIN

Which theory do you favour personally?

DR. HELENA FISCHER

Quite frankly, I haven’t formed an opinion on the matter, though I tend to favour the scientific explanations. But so far, I haven’t seen anything I’d consider conclusive proof. Honestly, I don’t think anyone really knows yet why we are seeing people remain after death, or by what mechanism it occurs.

SHAWN MOHSIN

What do we know so far?

DR. HELENA FISCHER

We know that ghosts are real. They have form, intelligence, and the personality characteristics of the people they were in life. They have no mass, but they are capable of interacting with physical objects probably by means of learning to modulate their energy into fields that repel electrons. The mutual repulsion of electrons is really all there is to the solidity of ordinary matter. When a revenant person learns to master that skill, he or she is capable of moving, holding, and otherwise manipulating objects. We also know, though we’re not sure why, that revenant persons are somehow restrained from deliberately causing the living physical harm. We’ve had numerous instances in which revenants have accused and even harassed the living people responsible for their deaths, but no instances in which the deceased extracted a physical revenge.

SHAWN MOHSIN

Are there any indications why some people are becoming ghosts when they die when the vast majority of people don’t?

DR. HELENA FISCHER

Again, this is a matter of speculation. For the most part, revenation seems to occur, as it was often supposed in literature, when the deceased person had compelling unfinished business in life. Very often, this is as a result of homicide, and typically, the revenant person dissipates within a month or two of the resolution of whatever prompted them to remain in the world of the living in the first place. Single parents of very young children also seem more likely than average to be prone to revenation, continuing to exist until they see their children safely placed. But often, there seems to be no clear cause. The most notable example is Kyle Markley of the rock band Tremble Snake. He died of a drug overdose six years ago, but has not moved on. He simply seems, as they say, not ready to go. We’re also not sure why some revenations are of fairly short duration, a few months to a year, while others seem to persist year after year. The record right now is something like eight years, nine months, held by a revenant in India.

SHAWN MOHSIN

Is there any indication that revenancy might suddenly stop, disappearing as quickly as it began?

DR. HELENA FISCHER

Not if the numbers are any indication. Each year since it began, the frequency of revenancy has gone up, though it seems to be leveling off. Nine years ago, fewer than one person in 10,000 who died became a ghost. This year, the figure is approaching one in a hundred. Your own country now has a Member of Parliament in this position.

SHAWN MOHSIN

That would be David Yaremko. Do you feel he should be allowed to retain his seat?

DR. HELENA FISCHER

I don’t see why not. The people who elected him did so on the basis of what he knows and what he believes, not how he looked or what he could do with his body. All the things they elected him for still remain. If he wishes to continue to represent them, and they are happy for him to do so, then it ought to be so.

SHAWN MOHSIN

Dr. Fischer, thank you for speaking to us.

DR. HELENA FISCHER

You’re quite welcome.

CUT TO:

Ext. – Day. A large, modern, institutional-looking building in Geneva.

Reporter Shawn Mohsin stands before the building, its impressive fountain and sculptures, addressing the camera.

SHAWN MOHSIN

The people here at the World Revenant Organization will continue to ask the questions about revenancy, and to search for the answers. Meanwhile, in countries around the world, like Canada, answers to more practical questions about the place of ghosts in society are coming to a head. Shawn Mohsin, CBC News, Geneva, Switzerland.

CUT TO:

Ext. – Evening. late autumn dusk in front of the Supreme Court Building, Ottawa

JASON STANKOVIC

We’ll consider the legal issues at stake when we return after these messages. Stay with us.

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT ONE

ACT TWO

Ext. – Evening. late autumn dusk in front of the Supreme Court Building, Ottawa

Jason Stankovic standing before the Supreme Court Building.

JASON STANKOVIC

Welcome back to our special presentation on the Supreme Court's pending decision on the rights of ghosts in Canada. Before the break, we examined the history of revenancy and the particular circumstance that has brought the question David Yaremko's place in Parliament to the doorstep of the Supreme Court. But there are other questions before the court to be settled. What are the rights of revenants in society, if any? Do they enjoy they same legal, constitutional, and human rights as they did in life, or do special and different rights apply to them, or are they outside of the law altogether? With a report on some of the other issues to be decided tomorrow, here's the CBC's Fred McNaulty.

Ext. - Day. Court building in New Brunswick

The flags of Canada and New Brunswick flap on poles outside an imposing court building.

FRED MCNAULTY (V.O.)

Businessman Marc Laval of Sackville, New Brunswick, spent forty years building up his lumber and construction supply business into a going concern worth over eight million dollars. When he died four years ago, his sons, Brian and Timothy, expected to inherit the business and divide it between them.

Intercut: Photographs of Marc Laval and his family from life.

FRED MCNAULTY (V.O.) (Cont'd)

But within days of his death, Marc Laval returned to his family as a ghost. He objected to his will being executed and having his property being dispersed. His sons contested that, saying that since their father was no longer alive and able to meet all the obligations of the business, that it was in the best interests of everyone that the will be executed. A judge agreed, and Marc Laval's lifetime of work was passed to others before his eyes.

Ext. - Night. Something like a dimly lit park bench in winter

MARC LAVAL

It breaks my heart that they could do this to me, their own father. I wouldn't mind if were gone or looking down from Heaven or something… but I'm still here. People can still see me and hear me. It's my business. I built it, and even if I don't have body, I still have a mind and a soul and I think what's mine is mine. I should still have some say. I'm a Korean War veteran. I thought I fought for something… the rights of people. Is this it?

Ext. - Day. Another court house.

FRED MCNAULTY (V.O.)

Meanwhile, right next door in the province of Quebec, an entirely different approach.

Intercut: Photos of Serge Plante and his family from life.

FRED MCNAULTY (V.O.) (Cont'd)

When Serge Plante of Val-d'Or died of a massive coronary two years ago, his wife became the sole beneficiary of all their property. Or so she thought. Serge filed suit to prevent his being disenfranchised of their joint estate on the basis of the legal definition of "death". His lawyers argued successfully that while he had suffered physical death of the body, he had not suffered the "cessation of being" used as the basis of other legal proceedings. Serge won his case. His wife of 37 years, Elaine, sued him for divorce, but ironically, her suit was dismissed on the basis that legally, the Plantes' marriage had ended at the time of Serge's physical death.

Ext. - Day. A pleasant garden foyer, open to the sky.

Serge Plante is being interviewed. He speaks French and his words are translated into English by a voice-over.

TRANSLATER VOICE-OVER

(translating the words of Serge Plante)

Nothing in all the years of my life hurt me as much as how my wife behaved after my heart stopped. If you'd told me, I would never have believed you. Not my Elaine, no. But when she saw me, she went into a rage and said I had come back to keep from her what was hers. Can you imagine? I became angry and fought for my rights. This is mine too, no matter what anyone says, till I'm finally gone. But to tell you honestly, I would much rather have gone straight on to God and whatever judgement, to be spared the pain of knowing how it really was with my Elaine and me. Much more pain than I felt when my heart stopped. That was just a few moments. This has been years. I hope no one else ever has to learn such things.

Ext. - Day. Outside the legislature in Victoria, British Columbia

Fred McNaulty addresses the camera as passers-by make their way through the background in front of the British Columbian Parliament Buildings.

FRED MCNAULTY

Across the country, a patchwork of legal opinions and decisions, enfranchising and disenfranchising the recently deceased who remain among the living. Those who support at least some property rights are Quebec, Newfoundland, and Alberta. But Saskatchewan and Ontario have come out against those same rights. Within provinces, conflicting opinions. Ontario does not support the rights of revenants to property or civil rights in the community, but at least three Native reserves in Ontario, the Six Nations, the Chippewas of the Thames, and the Asubpeeschoseewagong, have issued tribal council decrees embracing the rights of revenants on the reserves, at odds with provincial jurisprudence. And here, in British Columbia, conflicting decisions abound. Three months ago, a court here in Victoria held that revenants have a right to property acquired by legal means during natural life, but meanwhile, just across the Strait of Georgia in Vancouver, civil authorities last month refused a marriage license to a living woman and a revenant man partly on the basis of confusion over property rights.

Int. - Day. A university office.

A middle aged professor in a rather utilitarian office.

FRED MCNAULTY (V.O.)

We spoke with Professor Candice Montelli at Osgoode Hall in Toronto's York University about the matter of legal rights for revenants.

FRED MCNAULTY

Professor Montelli, why so many different decisions? Who's right?

PROF. CANDICE MONTELLI

Who's right depends on who you ask. Right now, the cases have gone no further than provincial courts. Part of the problem here is that marriage and property rights are a matter of civil law, and in Canada, civil law is a provincial jurisdiction.

FRED MCNAULTY

So every province can have a different law on the matter.

PROF. CANDICE MONTELLI

Well, yes and no. Civil law is provincial, yes. Nine of the provinces and all three territories have civil law systems based on English common law; Quebec is the exception. Its civil law is based on the Code Civil that it has in common with most countries of continental Europe. It's fine for provinces within Canada to have differences of opinion on matters of civil law; it happens all the time. But this matter touches on human rights, whose roots are ultimately federal, vested in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and determined in the Supreme Court. See, these decisions are being made not so much on points of law as on what, exactly, it is to be human. That's a federal matter superseding anything the provinces decide.

FRED MCNAULTY

So when the Supreme Court rules on the matter…

PROF. CANDICE MONTELLI

It will be binding on all the courts in the country, federal and provincial. Whatever they decide will set the standard for how rights are allocated to revenants across the country.

FRED MCNAULTY

Do you feel that the Supreme Court ought to rule on the side of the revenants?

PROF. CANDICE MONTELLI

Well… it's not an easy question. But I feel that society will be better serviced by a certainty in how the law is applied, and that inclusion is always better than exclusion. I think for myself that if I were to wake up one morning and find I were a revenant, I would like to know that at least the same rights, privileges, and obligations still applied to me as they had the night before. People are people, regardless of whether you can see through them or not.

CUT TO:

Ext. - Day. A bright, wind-blown day on a university campus

Professor Scott Macgregor, a thin, elderly man with an athletic wiriness and sparse, white, fly-away hair addresses the camera with a certain bonhomie.

FRED MCNAULTY (V.O.)

But at Dalhousie Law School in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Professor Scott Macgregor expresses other concerns.

PROF. SCOTT MACGREGOR

There's a natural inclination in Western society these days to be inclusive. And that's a good thing where it makes sense, where there's a one-to-one relationship. Any two living human beings on Earth are going to have similar needs and somewhat similar expectations of life. We have deficiencies and liabilities in common. These keep us in check.

FRED MCNAULTY

What exactly do you mean, Professor?

PROF. SCOTT MACGREGOR

Well, take for example the idea of a ghost — or pardon me, a revenant — taking the stand in murder trial. In some cases, at least in other countries, someone's life could be on the line. Ordinarily, people are compelled to tell the truth by laws against perjury. But how do you compel someone to obey the law if there's no way to imprison them? So you apply a fine… and if they don't pay? It all comes back to depriving someone of his or her liberty, and so far, no one has ever come up with a way of 'locking up' someone with no body. They just pass through the bars; walk through the walls. So what's to stop them from saying whatever they please on the stand?

FRED MCNAULTY

Obviously there are differences of opinion about this…

PROF. SCOTT MACGREGOR

Oh, absolutely. Particularly in the United States. In Alabama, for instance, a revenant can be called to testify on the stand. In the next state over, Mississippi, they can't, because the courts there have ruled that the nature of revenancy puts them outside the ordinary compulsions of the law, so they're ineligible. Texas and Oregon have both ruled that revenants can testify only in cases directly related to their own demises… effectively, trials concerning their own murders.

FRED MCNAULTY

Have any of those cases made it to the US Supreme Court yet?

PROF. SCOTT MACGREGOR

They're percolating their way up… but it still remains to be seen if the US Supreme Court will even agree to hear any appeals. This is something they may see as a state issue. Law in the United States is generally more effusive than it is in Canada.

FRED MCNAULTY

Professor, how do you feel the Canadian Supreme Court should rule on this matter?

PROF. SCOTT MACGREGOR

I'd err on the side of caution. People have lived natural lives for millions of years and when it's time to go, it's time to go. No one knows why that's changed, but the fundamentals remain. There's a natural rhythm to the cycles of life. When we've reached the end of life, as demonstrated by the shedding of our material bodies, then it stands to reasons we also cast off our need for shelter, food, and material possessions. Those things ought to accrue to the living. Take wills, for example. If the court decides that a will cannot be probated until the dissolution of a ghost, how are we to know when that happens? Generally, when a person dies, we have proof in the form of a body. But what proof do we have when a revenant passes on or dissipates? All we have is silence, absence. There are no criteria available to us for deciding when is the right time to disperse a person's worldly possessions… except for physical death. That ought to be where rights cease.

CUT TO:

Int. - Day. A different office.

A different professor sits across from Fred McNaulty, both of them on camera together.

FRED MCNAULTY (v.o.)

But right at the same university, ethicist Tabitha Cho feels the urge to limit rights is short-sighted.

FRED MCNAULTY

Professor Cho, some people we've spoken to feel that rights end with the biological death of the person. Do you see it that way?

PROF. TABITHA CHO

No. I've heard those arguments and I understand the basis for them… they grease the wheels of situations that are pretty sticky and outside our experience till pretty recently. But I think they overlook a very real consideration. This is potentially in the future of any one of us. If we discriminate against revenants, we're potentially discriminating against ourselves. It's a new facet of discrimination in the law and we should have nothing to do with it.

FRED MCNAULTY

What do you mean by "new"?

PROF. TABITHA CHO

Well, when you think of traditional forms of discrimination, they were based on exclusion. One group as opposed to another. You're white; you'll never be Asian. I'm Asian; I'll never be black. You're a man, I'm a woman. Gender reassignment surgery aside, that's not something that generally changes. And so for most of history, discrimination was exercised by those in power out of the confidence that they would never realistically be in the position of the oppressed. But this is different. To be born is to die, sooner or later. Every one of us faces this as a possible eventuality… it's now a facet of our own mortality. And if not you or me, someone we love and care about. Our parents, our siblings, our children, our friends. Sooner or later it's bound to be someone we know, not just some stranger. The numbers indicate that nearly a percent of all the people dying today persist as ghosts. That's hundreds of thousands, even millions over the next coming decades, assuming the situation is constant.

FRED MCNAULTY

So you're saying "ask not for whom the bell tolls…"

PROF. TABITHA CHO

It was never more apt.

CUT TO:

Ext. - Day. Outside the legislature in Victoria, British Columbia

Fred McNaulty in front of the legislature, addressing the camera.

FRED MCNAULTY

Somewhere in the neighbourhood of a quarter of a million Canadians die every year. Do the math. That's roughly 2500 revenants across the country, each and every year. Some will persist only a few months, many for years. Exactly what the potential 'life span' of a revenant is, no one yet knows; it's possible it may be decades, perhaps even centuries, if there's anything to the old folklore about hauntings. So it seems very clear that this will be a growing problem for this country and every country until politicians like those here in the B.C. legislature, and jurists like those in the Supreme Court, give shape and direction to policy on revency. Fred McNaulty, CBC News, Victoria.

CUT TO:

Ext. – Evening. late autumn dusk in front of the Supreme Court Building, Ottawa

Jason Stankovic, in the company of two other people, addresses the camera.

JASON STANKOVIC

With me are Jack Middleton of our legal desk and Susan Buckminster of our social affairs bureau. We’ll be back to reflect on what you've just heard and discuss the likely outcome of tomorrow's decision when we return. Please stay with us.

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT TWO

ACT THREE

Ext. – Evening. late autumn dusk in front of the Supreme Court Building, Ottawa

Jason Stankovic standing before the Supreme Court Building accompanied by Jack Middleton and Susan Buckminster.

JASON STANKOVIC

Welcome back to our special presentation, "Chance of a Ghost". With me are Susan Buckminster and Jack Middleton. Jack, you've been following David Yaremko's bid to hold onto his seat in the Commons pretty closely. Given what you've heard in the halls of power, what's your take on his chances tomorrow?

JACK MIDDLETON

I think they're good, Jason. I think that basically, the court will come down on the side of expanding Charter rights rather than limiting them. That's been the trend of the court pretty much since the Charter was adopted in 1982. A policy of inclusivity would take a lot of the guesswork out of how to proceed from here, because all the decisions have long ago been made. If the court decides that the Charter and other rights and laws don't apply to revenants, then they're opening the country up to years of legal wrangling in uncharted waters. If for no other reason than it's safer and easier to simply bring revenants under the umbrella of existing law, I think the court will decide in David Yaremko's favour.

JASON STANKOVIC

Susan, you've been reporting on the social implications of revenancy for years. What's at stake if the court rules against David Yaremko?

SUSAN BUCKMINSTER

If the court decides against the extension of human rights to David Yaremko tomorrow, it has a host of implications for cases that are still pending a final outcome all over the country. If human, civil, and legal rights end with the death of body, that puts an entire class of beings outside of Canadian law and legal protection. There are numerous cases of types already discussed on the program this evening… property rights, political rights, marital rights, and so on. But they go beyond that to the very basis of what it is to be human. There are cases before the courts now having to do with parental access to children, rights to education and access to social services, rights to work-related benefits and to the jobs themselves, even the basic right to be heard before the courts or other tribunals. What the Supreme Court decides tomorrow affects people, living and dead, far beyond David Yaremko. It potentially affects every one of us when we die.

JASON STANKOVIC

Jack, back to you. What's the wider significance of tomorrow's decision?

JACK MIDDLETON

Well, you've probably heard it said by now, Jason, but it bears repeating: because David Yaremko's case has fast-tracked the issue in here, Canada stands to be one of the first major common law jurisdictions to issue a top-level legal decision on the matter. Now that decision isn't binding on any other country, of course, but common law countries tend to look to one another when a precedent is set. Initial precedent tends to be persuasive in these matters. What's decided here tomorrow will almost certainly figure in the arguments presented in courts far beyond our borders in countries will legal systems like our own. As well, countries with constitutions like ours, with embedded bills of rights in them, will also be looking to tomorrow's decision for hints on how to proceed.

JASON STANKOVIC

Okay, in summing up, quick predictions. Susan, what's going to happen tomorrow?

SUSAN BUCKMINSTER

The court will decide to extend Charter rights beyond the realm of biological life to revenants and clear up a lot of the confusion due to different interpretations from different provinces.

JASON STANKOVIC

Thanks, Susan. Jack?

JACK MIDDLETON

I agree; I think the court will extend rights, where applicable. I don't think the court's going to agree, like in The Life of Brian, that a man has the right to have a baby; the rights it extends are going to be ones that make practical sense. I don't think it's going to be a simple blanket answer. There are still going to be some issues that need to be worked out. But on the whole, I think most rights will be extended to revenant citizens of Canada.

Jason begins to take a few steps to stage right, followed by the panning of the camera. He stands next to the ghost of David Yaremko, MP, who has apparently been waiting off-camera.

JASON STANKOVIC

Jack, Susan, thanks for sharing your expertise and your opinions with us tonight. And now before we go, the last word goes to the person at the centre of all this, David Yaremko, the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-St. Albert. Mr. Yaremko, thank you for joining us this evening.

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

Thanks for having me on tonight, Jason. I guess I look a little different from the last time we spoke.

JASON STANKOVIC

Well, yes, that's certainly true. How have the last several months been for you personally?

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

Well, as you can imagine, it's been a big adjustment. My family has had to come to terms with all this, but they've handled it well. It's been tough on me personally too, of course. I've only just learned how to hold objects again in the last month or so. It's funny how much you take for granted and how much a triumph even the little things are. I guess I understand better now how people who've had accidents and have to learn to walk again feel.

JASON STANKOVIC

Was it a tough decision for you to take all this on after the accident?

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

No, not at all, Jason. You know… I always said I would love this country till I day I died, and, well… I never imagined I'd get the chance to say "and beyond" and mean it. But I do. I still love this land with everything I am. I swore an oath to the Crown and the people of Canada to serve them and the people who elected me, and I mean to do exactly that for as long as I am able. And if the people decide differently in the next election, it goes without saying that I'll abide by that, of course. But all I'm asking for is the right to try, like anyone else. Everything they really voted for, I still am, and I will serve them to the very best of my abilities.

JASON STANKOVIC

So you're clearly confident in your ability to do so.

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

There's no question in my mind, Jason. Absolutely none. My family is behind me, the support we've gotten from the people of Edmonton and Alberta and all across Canada has been overwhelming, and I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone out there who's written or phoned to encourage us. I want to say that I'm doing this for you too. This isn't just about one person's right to sit in the Commons. It's about the right of every one of us to be and feel human even after the most profound of life-altering experiences. I don't know how long I'll be here, but then who does? But as long as I am here, I'll be serving the people in whatever capacity I can.

JASON STANKOVIC

In winding up, do you feel confident about the court's decision tomorrow?

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

There were strong arguments made on both sides of the issue. But I feel — I'm sure — that our arguments were stronger and more persuasive, because we have fundamental justice on our side. You'll see due process served tomorrow, Jason, I'm sure. God willing, I will still be the Member for Edmonton-St. Albert at this time tomorrow.

JASON STANKOVIC

Thank you for talking with us, Mr. Yaremko. I'm sure I speak for everyone in the country when I say I admire your courage in the face of all you've had to endure, and in wishing you the very best of luck tomorrow.

DAVID YAREMKO, MP

Thank you, Jason.

JASON STANKOVIC

And that's it for our decision-eve special on tomorrow's Supreme Court decision on the rights of revenants in Canada. Tune in tomorrow for full coverage of that decision, which is expected at about 11 a.m. Eastern time. Coverage on most of these stations will begin at 7 a.m. in British Columbia, 8 in Alberta, 9 across the Prairies, 10 in Ontario and Quebec, 11 in the Maritimes, and 11:30 in Newfoundland. From the grounds of the Supreme Court Building in Ottawa, thanks for being with us this evening. For CBC News, I'm Jason Stankovic. Good night.

credits roll over shot of supreme court building.

THE END