Your World Tonight - Canada’s ambassador to US steps down, the plight of Sudan’s children, pipeline vote, prepping Canada’s military, and more

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

The UN children's agency is calling for urgent action to protect kids in Sudan. Warning in a new report, millions of children are in dire need of life-saving aid.And: A position-defining vote, or a political stunt? Conservatives put forward a non-binding motion on Ottawa’s pipeline agreement with Alberta. In an interview with CBC News on Sunday, Poilievre said it was designed to force Prime Minister Mark Carney to prove to Canadians he's serious about building a pipeline. Liberals say it’s a waste of time, and they are rejecting it as a cynical ploy to divide them.Also: The Department of National Defence is looking to recruit hundreds of thousands of reservists. It's the most ambitious revamping of the Canadian forces since the Cold War. The question is — how will they pull it off when they’re struggling to recruit, feed, clothe and equip the members they already have?Plus: Canada’s ambassador to US steps down, dozens of Indigenous cultural items back on Canadian soil, Israel debates conscription for ultra orthodox, and more.

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Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is a CBC podcast. This is a level of atrocities, a level of terror against children, unlike anything I've ever seen in my entire career. Adults are supposed to protect children, try to make a better world for them, not kill them, use them as targets for violence. But in Sudan, civil war is putting millions of children. at risk. The United Nations says the threats are many. Famine, disease, civil war. The reality made all too clear by a deadly attack on a kindergarten. Welcome to your world tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Tuesday, December 9th, just before 7 p.m. Eastern. Also on the podcast, Canada's

government says it's also concerned about violence toward children here at home. I would suggest that the existence of a penalty on paper that is not actually practiced in the system, is not a real law people can rely upon, and it offers no value. Ottawa introduces wide-ranging legislation, it says, will protect children and women by restoring a number of mandatory minimum sentences, even ones struck down by the courts. But we begin with news out of two national capitals. In Washington, Canada's ambassador says goodbye, while in Ottawa, the liberals say yes to pipelines, but no to a conservative motion about them.

The role is critical for trade talks with the United States, but Canada's ambassador to the U.S. says she will be leaving her post in the new year. Kirsten Hillman announced the move on social media earlier this evening. It's a major shake-up at the very top of Canada's negotiating team. Katie Simpson is following this story from Washington. Katie, this seems somewhat unexpected. Yeah, at a moment, a difficult moment in the Canada-U.S. relationship, a time when trade negotiations remain stalled, the person with the most experience and the most face-time with the Trump administration is stepping down. Kirsten Hillman has been in this role since 2020, appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

And she was asked to stay on when Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected. She was even promoted this summer. She was given additional duties, named, Canada's lead trade negotiator, so she would be the direct counterpart of the top US trade representative. In her statement, Hilma noted that the Canada-U.S. relationship is being rewritten and that while there is never, there will never be a perfect time to leave, this is the right time to put a team in place that will see the Kuzma review through to its conclusion. While it's not unusual for a new prime minister to change the ambassador to the U.S. because of just how important the role is.

her recent promotion, it seems somewhat unexpected. Hillman says she will stand the role until a new person is in place next year and she's offering to support that person as a transition takes place. And she was thanked by Prime Minister Carney in a long and glowing statement for serving her country. So, Katie, give us an idea of the practical implications this could have going forward for Canada. Someone is going to have to step into this role and take on the Trump administration. There are so many crucial things at stake for Canada. One, trying to restart those stalled trade talks. Canada is trying to convince the Trump administration to lower some of their tariffs. Those stalled after Donald Trump got angry about that ad run by the

Premier of Ontario, that anti-tariff ad. That's just one thing the new ambassador is going to have to deal with. And then you also have to deal with the renegotiation or renewal of Kuzma. Canada, the U.S. and Mexico have this mandatory review, and it's expected that the Trump administration want significant changes, concessions from both Canada and Mexico, and this person is going to have to step into that role and deal with that as well. Hillman was a trade lawyer before she got involved in politics, and she was deeply respected by both conservatives as well as liberals because she worked with the Harper government to develop CPPP as well as dealing. with the renegotiation of NAFTA during the Trump administration, the first go-around, and she was expected to rely on that expertise the second go-around as well. Bloomberg News is reporting that her replacement is Mark Wiseman, a business leader with deep connections to Mark Carney. CBC News has not confirmed that report independently.

But I will say that sources I had been talking to sort of in the know on things had suggested to me that he could possibly be a replacement at whatever time that Hillman wanted to leave. leave because he is so close to Carney and because Carney put him on his Canada, U.S. counsel, the only person he put in that position since he came into office. Katie, thank you very much. Thanks. The CBC's Katie Simpson in Washington. In Ottawa, it was an opposition effort looking for division within the liberal caucus.

A conservative motion on the federal government's plans for a new Alberta oil pipeline, the opposition framed as a simple yes or no question. The Liberals said it was more complicated than that and defeated it. Catherine Cullen reports on how the day played out. Conservatives brought forward a good faith motion just to make sure that liberals meant what they said. Conservative leader Pierre Pollyev has been pretty clear about his desire to make the liberals squirm. The conservative motion borrows language directly from the Federal Alberta Memorandum of Understanding. It seeks support for a new pipeline to the B.C.

coast built with indigenous consultation. The MOU has created tension in the liberal caucus. Stephen Gilbeau quit cabinet over it. So could the conservative vote expose even more detractors? This morning, a raft of senior liberals stepped in front of the microphones to say they would all simply vote no. It's a cynical ploy to divide us. It's a cheap political stunt. And so we will not be supporting the motion the conservative has put forward today. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson and several ministers said a no vote doesn't mean they're against a pipeline. Rather, they'd take issue with what the Conservatives left out. Parts of the deal with Alberta call for the use of carbon capture technology, indigenous co-ownership and more.

So, the Liberals said, the Conservative motion was a non-starter. Minister of Indigenous Services, Mandy Kalmasty. I think it's an immature waste of parliamentary time. Yet it was enough of a concern for the Liberals that they held a five. person news conference in response, politically, something of a full court press. Polyev wasn't defeated. He stood up in the House of Commons and doubled down. I'm going to help brush away those excuses for them. We're going to amend our own motion in order to include the things that liberals claim we left out. The Conservatives added language

in support of carbon capture, indigenous co-ownership, and engaging with British Columbia. But In question period, the liberals pointed out other concerns, more parts of the MOU absent in the conservative motion, like an industrial carbon price, something Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is prepared to support, but Pollyev doesn't. A divide, the Prime Minister highlighted with some pressure tactics of his own. I think it would be very easy to take the entire MOU in both official languages

and proposed them if the member's opposite would support everything that the Premier of Alberta has done. In the end, only the Conservatives supported the amended pipeline motion, and despite all the high drama politics, it's not any clearer tonight whether a new pipeline will actually be built.

Catherine Cullen, CBC News, Ottawa. Coming right up, a report from the United Nations shines a spotlight on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, a crisis hitting children the hardest, also Ottawa is working on plans to increase the size of Canada's military to levels not seen in decades.

Later, Juanita Taylor reports on the return of indigenous artifacts held for decades by the Vatican, including a sealskin kayak more than a hundred years old. This kayak would have been used for beluga hunting. This would have been one of the most essential tools that an Inuit hunter would have. What happens next? Later on Your World Tonight. In the chaos of Sudan's escalating conflict, children are dying. Many of the victims were the very targets of the attacks. A new UN report says millions more are at risk in desperate need of food, shelter, and protection.

Jennifer Yoon reports. We've got a situation that is inexcusable, that is absolutely horrific, no matter how you look at it. Sheldon yet has spent 30 years responding to emergencies around the world with UNICEF. He says nothing compares to what he's seeing in Sudan. This is a level of atrocities, a level of terror against children, unlike anything I've ever seen in my entire career. UNICEF, the UN Children's Agency, is calling for urgent action to protect kids in Sudan.

Warning in a new report, around 17.3 million children are in dire need of of life-saving aid. The accurate numbers are really hard to come by because of the difficulty of collecting data here. But we know millions of children are affected by this conflict. The report says over two and a half years of the civil war in Sudan has led to mass displacement. Access to food and medicine is limited.

And getting aid through is very difficult. It takes us weeks to negotiate inch by an inch getting nutritional supplies to starving populations. Not only are millions of kids in Sudan starving and denied access to treatments for deadly diseases, they also appear to be targets and atrocities, UNICEF says. I think the most important thing to talk about here is that children are actually being targeted.

The UN says just a few days ago, 63 children were killed by drone strikes on a kindergarten. Innocent small kids, like they have nothing to do with this at all. Dr. Mohamed Al-Shia is a spokesperson for Sudan Doctors Network, a medical group with members in South Kordofan, where the attacks occurred. So the first attack, it came into the kindergarten, and then we lost a lot of kids. Initially, we lost 73 child. And then as the paramedics and the parents of this killed in were gathering into the area,

then they had a second drone strike. And there are fears of more horrors to come in the area. Control of the province is key for battling warlords, waging the conflict, conflict. Those with family in South Kordofan say they're terrified for their loved ones. They're hungry. No food, no supplies into the cities. Musa Ali grew up in the area. He lives in Ottawa now, but his extended family with small children are in Dilling, a city the UN says, appears under siege. Bad news become normal for you.

What little news he gets from his loved ones is terrible, he says. He's been trying to get them out to no avail. can help save the people there. We tried the way we could. The only thing Ali feels he can do now, tell people what is happening in Sudan, and ask them not to look away. Shut up for Yun, CBC News, Toronto.

Here in Canada, the federal government is introducing legal reforms that target the sexual exploitation of children, as well as gender-based violence. New offenses, harsher penalties, reforms Ottawa says will protect women and children, and speed up the Canadian justice system. Olivia Stefanovic reports.

The survivors we know, our children know. For Nekka McGregor, the changes are badly needed. A survivor of intimate partner violence, she welcomes the new bill which will create new offenses and identify abusive patterns of controlling or coercive behavior. The pattern of emotional, psychological, economic and verbal abuse and threats of violence we experience are often as dangerous as the kicks, the punches, the hits to the head, the strangulation,

and are also risk factors for femicide. The killing of a girl or woman based on their gender. Bill C-16 proposes to treat femicide as first-degree murder, ban the non-consensual distribution of sexual deep-fake images and restore at least a dozen mandatory minimum sentences previously struck down for a range of child sexual offenses, but that's not all. And we will be asking the court specifically

to consider remedies other than a stay of proceedings because I can tell you it does not feel like justice to survivors of sexual violence when at the end of the process there is no conviction. Justice Minister Sean Fraser says Bill C-16 will address problems caused by the Jordan decision, a 2016 Supreme Court of Canada ruling

that set strict time limits for criminal trials. Fraser says the government is aware of nearly 10,000 cases that have been thrown out since Jordan deadlines started ticking. Now he's directing the courts to only consider a stay of proceedings as a last resort, a move that's concerning some in the legal community. The idea of the stay is to try to create pressure. Adam Wiseberg heads the Criminal Lawyers Association in Ontario.

He says Bill C-16 will further clog the courts. And not only is there stress for an accused person, waiting for the trial, but an alleged victim of a crime, them waiting with the uncertainty and having that hanging over their head as to when they're going to testify. This bill is about legalizing delay, not resolving it. Shakir Rahim is the director of the Criminal Justice Program at the Canadian Liberties Association of Canada. He says he would have rather seen the federal government increased court funding, something missing from the federal budget. The answer to this problem is not to reduce the

strength of our charter rights, but rather to ensure that governments step up and do their job. The challenge for the government now will be to find opposition support for the reforms, with its two other justice bills moving slowly and the House of Commons about to rise for its winter break in a matter of days. Olivia Estefanovich, CBC News, Ottawa. Every time I see a police officer, I see them as a potential killer. They killed my child for nothing. The mother of a teen shot by police on Montreal's South Shore in September,

announcing she and her family are suing. Bahima Rezali says 15-year-old Nuran was unarmed, hanging out with friends when he was shot. Police in Lunguay were responding to a 911 call reporting a group of armed people. She says the officer who shot her son used disproportionate force. What happened to Neron? is not normal. It wasn't supposed to happen. There were another ways to handle the situation. The police officer did not react in a normal way. Police officers are supposed to be trained.

They must make sure there is a real danger before shooting. We want justice. We want this officer to be punished and the police department to take responsibility. Quebec's independent police watchdog confirms the only gun at the scene was a police weapon. Faima Rezari says Quebec's police watchdog has failed to keep them updated on the case. She and her family are seeking approximately $2.2 million in damages. Boosting defense is one of the key priorities for the federal liberals, and Canada's Defense Department plans to recruit hundreds of thousands of new reservists over the next 10 years. The goal is to prepare Canada for a future with more natural disasters

and more territorial threats. But as Murray Brewster reports, the military is scrambling to deliver on a commitment it is not yet equipped to meet. They are currently doing an analysis of what is in the realm of possible. Basically, they are planning to plan. General Jenny Cary Nann, the country's chief of the defense staff, on the enormous task of raising an army of citizen soldiers. We need to figure out how we are going to do this. And the first step is to figure out what are the roles and missions of this strategic reserve. That strategic reserve she's referring to could number as many as 300,000 lightly trained citizens on top of the military's existing regular and permanent reserve forces, which combined could one day hit 185,000.

Problem is, the military has had trouble recruiting, equipping, and training more than just a few thousand bodies each year. Internal documents obtained by CBC News show some parts of the Defense Department are now turning themselves inside out at the thought of creating an entire citizen army. This is possibly the tallest order that the Canadian Armed Forces, in my view, has received possibly since the end of the Cold War. Christine Luprek is a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada, who says, beyond the basics of getting uniforms and weapons to volunteers, there are larger questions about equipment. This country on a good day can mobilize three frigates and eight CF-18s. So if we actually wanted to deploy this capability,

how would we even move it to where we wanted it to be? The internal documents say the build-up would have to go slowly. The Defense Department isn't ready. neither is industry, which would need retooling. Vincent Rigby, a former top intelligence advisor to the prime minister, wonders if Canadians are ready. And getting those numbers is going to require a huge communications initiative and convincing Canadians that this is absolutely required.

But even within the defense community, there's skepticism. I find the strategic rationale hard to grasp. Peter Casarach is a history professor at Queens University who says, we've been told this force, is meant for emergencies, everything from localized disasters all of the way up to war. How then this large group of people with one week of training and no uniforms or anything else is going to address that requirement, it's difficult to see. A Brigadier General has been appointed to organize mobilization, a sign of how serious Canada is

about rebranding itself as committed to defense. The military is hoping to put a fully thought-out plan before Prime Minister Mark Carney in the spring. Marie Brewster, CBC News, Ottawa. Israel's Prime Minister is defending a controversial bill that would force some ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the military. They've been exempt. But a recent court ruling and the war in Gaza is putting pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to change that.

Tom Perry is in Jerusalem and reports on the tense political debate and heated protests. The latest clash between Israeli police and ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews. A large crowd of men and boys dressed in their traditional black clothes and brimmed hats, blocking a highway and busy intersection near Tel Aviv. Yet another protest against the Israeli government forcing ultra-Orthodox Jews into mandatory military service. None of us are going to go to the army. Where hell-bent, there's no way in the world we're going to go to the army. On this night, some angry confrontations, frustrated drivers exiting their vehicles to challenge or even chase protesters.

Others like Matan Lavi, who has served in the military as required by law, question why the ultra-Orthodox should get a pass. I mean, it's unfair, but I can't do anything about it. It's been like that since the kind of. was founded back in 1948, so... Israel's high court ruled last year, the military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews would end. Draft notices started going out, but only a few recruits reported for duty. Israel's government has responded with new legislation. In the Knesset, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has promised a proposed new law will bring a wave of recruits. But opposition members like Odad Forer say Netanyahu has deliberately watered down his bill

to maintain the support of ultra-Orthodox political parties and stay in power. Behind the legislation with all the beautiful worlds that they are talking about, the legislation is promoted in order to allow them not to join their own. Ultra-Orthodox Jews were exempted from military service so they could study the Torah full-time at yeshiva. Jewish religious school. At this yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yitzhak Goldstein worries

this dispute is driving Israelis apart. This can kill the country, can kill the nation. The second temple was destroyed. The history is proven. The second temple was destroyed that the Jewish nation fought between each other. This fight is far from over, a smoldering debate over politics,

tradition, and religion. Tom Perry, CBC News, Jerusalem. This is Your World Tonight from CBC News. If you want to make sure you stay up to date and never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. They tell stories about a time and place in Canada long before apps or podcasts. Dozens of pieces of indigenous history locked away.

in the Vatican for years, only recently returned. Today, Inuit leaders got their first chance to take a look at some of the items. The CBC's Juanita Taylor was on hand at the Canadian Museum of History when it happened. So Dwayne and Daryl, do you want to do the honors? Inuit leaders carefully removed a white paper sheet for a grand reveal a century in the making.

Underneath an ancient sealskin kayak. Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tabaki Kinatami, was there. We saw photographs of the other 61 items throughout this process, but this was the centerpiece of the repatriation effort. The Kayak returned from the Vatican, part of 62 cultural items belonging to Inuit First Nations and Métis. They arrived over the weekend. And today, about a dozen of those items belonging to Inuit were on display.

The Kayak is still in very good condition. Its waterproof stitching is still intact, a wooden frame still holding it together. This kayak would have been used for beluga hunting. This would have been one of the most essential tools that an Inuit hunter would have to be able to care for himself in his community. Darrell Nassagalwa is from Tuktuayatuk Northwest Territories,

the same region where the kayak originates. He crafts kayaks knowing a lot about them. He says it was an honor to be in Gatineau for the reveal. It's like a car enthusiast looking at a Ferrari, so I'm very privileged to look at it in firsthand, and one day it'll be back home with us. For the past four years, Duane Smith has been leading the repatriation efforts. He's chair and CEO of the Inuvialaute Regional Corporation

and traveled with the Kayak back to Canada from the Vatican. This represents our culture, our heritage, our history, our history, and to see that firsthand when you first opened it, when we took the covering off it, I think we both looked at it in awe. The Kayak and other Inuit cultural objects will stay at the Museum of History until a facility can be built in the north to preserve them. Caroline Darmagat is the museum's president and CEO. If we can also lend a hand in some of that research

that will be required on some of the belongings, to ensure the provenance. So the belongings are returned to their rightful homes. Along with the Kayak, there was an Ulu, a traditional Inuit women's knife used for sewing, a rope made out of sinew, and a needlecase. But it will be some time yet before they are returned to their rightful place in the Inou-Vialuit region. Juanita Taylor, CBC News, Gattano, Quebec. Finally tonight, Tim Brandt was very close to his older brother, Les. One of the things that always brought them together, books.

They would meet up on their bikes outside Tim's house in Winnipeg, then take different routes to see what books were on offer at the nearby Little Free Libraries. He was social all day, but at night he would go back in his apartment and read until 4 in the morning, and he read so many books. It was just astonishing. When Les died earlier this year, Tim Brandt inherited more than 40 boxes of books, And that gave him an idea to honor his brother's memory. For the past few months, Brandt has been cycling around the city, dropping off books. I wanted to donate his books to the little libraries because I felt it was a good way to spread him around.

A little bit like scattering his ashes. Brent says he probably should have planned the route first because winter set in early and he'd already dropped off books at the closest libraries. He's now done after leaving books at more than a hundred libraries. The last, near a public dock on the Assiniboine River, one of his brother's favorite spots. Brandt left a particularly apt book for the final drop-off. The last book I put in the library was famous last words.

if I were to choose a line to think about I would say like a smile relieves a heart that grieves and I found that is very true no matter how you feel if you can make yourself smile

And that is your world tonight for Tuesday, December 9th thanks for joining us I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca.com slash podcasts.