Your World Tonight - Canadians return from Hantavirus cruise, National pharmacare program stalled, Palestinians in the West Bank struggle to find work, and more.

Episode Date: May 10, 2026

The MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the centre of a Hantavirus outbreak, has anchored off the coast of Spain's Canary Islands. Dozens of passengers and crew have disembarked from the ship. That includes four Canadians - who are being flown to British Columbia where they'll self isolate. Meanwhile, health authorities from two dozen countries are now working to repatriate the rest of the ship's passengers while trying to ensure the virus doesn't spread. Also: Advocates are calling on the federal government to make its pharmacare program available to all Canadians. The program is only accessible to residents of three provinces and one territory, after the federal government made deals with them. And even though Ottawa says its committed to pharmacare, it's also saying the deals currently in place have expiration dates.And: Some Palestinians from the West Bank are taking desperate measures to find work. Following the October 7th attacks, Israel cancelled more than one hundred thousand permits that allowed Palestinians to work there. Israel's government calls it a security measure - and is now bringing in tens of thousands of foreign workers to fill the labour gap. Plus: U.S. Iran war update, The first Venice Bienalle curated by an African woman, Celebrating a hero of the Second World War who lived in Vancouver, and more

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Everybody in BC can be reassured that secure plans are in place. A careful and complex evacuation is underway in the Canary Islands, as passengers disembark a cruise ship and authorities try to put a lid on a fatal disease outbreak. This is Your World Tonight. I'm Gina Louise Phillips. Also on the podcast, a fight for national health care. Newfoundland's health minister says the federal government has closed the door on a pharmacare deal. And ultimately there's the strategy of if people cannot work, if they cannot make a living, then they will be forced to leave.

A growing sense of desperation in a region ravaged by war. Jobs are scarce in the West Bank as Israel's restriction on Palestinian workers hits the two-year mark. Dozens of passengers and crew have disembarked from the MV. Hondias, including four Canadians. The virus-stricken ship is now anchored off of Spain's Canary Islands. Health authorities from two dozen countries are now working to repatriate the ship's passengers while trying to ensure the hantavirus doesn't spread. Breyer Stewart reports from the island of Tenerife. One by one, passengers stepped off the MV, Honjus and carefully on to a waiting boat. It marked an end to a six-week voyage across the Atlantic, started out as a once-in-a-lifetime expedition,

and finished with the ship at the epicenter of the deadly outbreak. The Spanish government and all the other partners involved are doing everything possible to minimize as much as possible the contact with the general population. Dr. Diana Roja is a health operations lead with the World Health Organization. They could be more cases, of course, because the incubation period can be up to six weeks. So that's why we are recommending to do quarantining of 42 days.

And en route back to France, one of the five French nationals started showing symptoms, which could indicate the virus. We will have to wait 24 hours for the patient's test results to know for sure whether it's the virus or not, said France's health minister, Stephanie Reist. The more than 80 passengers on board the Hanjus as it anchored in Tenerife came from 16 different countries.

Among them, Kassim Ibn Haqtuta. He's a travel vlogger and created videos on board the ship, including one he made just hours before it arrived in the Canary Islands. We have a daily schedule like any voyage, he said, but we maintain social distancing, sanitize our hands and wear masks in the ship's interior. The first passenger died on the Hanjus on April 11th, But it wasn't until three weeks later, after his wife had also passed away after departing the ship,

that health officials discovered that the deaths were caused by hanta virus. That very same day, a third passenger died, a German national. Her body is still on the ship, and it will be transported to Rotterdam, along with dozens of crew members still on the vessel. Four others who were previously on the ship are now in hospital, and another fell ill on a remote island in the South Atlantic. A team of British paratroopers landed on Tristan Takuna today carrying medical supplies. The man who became sick is a resident of the island and had departed the vessel earlier on its voyage.

The island which doesn't have an air strip and is 2400 kilometers away from the nearest one has only limited medical supplies. So the army also deployed a nurse and extra oxygen. While that former passenger will be monitored there, others will undergo more assessment. once they arrive back home in their countries. Breyer Stewart, CBC News, Tenerife. Those four Canadians from the cruise ship are now back in Canada. They landed in Quebec this afternoon on a government-charted plane. Their final destination is British Columbia,

where health officials say they'll be isolated for their safety and the safety of the public. Philip Lee-Shanock has more. You know, it made my stomach clench. You know, we've been through things that are very, serious like this. BC's provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, who was prominent during the COVID pandemic, says all four so far are asymptomatic. These people are not infected. They're not patients. Right now they're people who have had a potential exposure to haunt a virus. Henry said

they'll spend their isolation in prearranged lodgings at an undisclosed location. She wouldn't say where they're from. Do you know that some of the four have with British Columbia, and that's why we've agreed that this is an appropriate place for them to come. But while she understands the concern, she says the risk to public health is low. They won't be out in the community. They won't be having contact with people. I have no concerns about them being in any of our communities here in BC. They will isolate and be monitored daily for 21 days, which could be extended up to 42 days if required. We treat them as contacts.

We are hoping that none of them are infected and that none of them will develop disease. If symptoms do develop, then they could be transferred to BC's Biocontainment Treatment Center at Surrey Memorial Hospital. They should have started to sow some symptoms already. Dr. Prabhat Jad is an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford and a professor of global health at the University of Toronto. So all of that suggests that we're dealing with a very limited outbreak here. There might be the sporadic cases that occur later, but this is not a widespread transmission that's going to occur. But he says precautions should be taken.

Since the mid-90s, there have been more than 160 cases of antivirus reported in Canada, mainly in the prairie provinces, though this outbreak is a different strain from what is typically seen in Canada. Philip Hennock, CBC News, Toronto. Still ahead, a Holocaust hero who called Vancouver, home. We'll tell you about the BC man being honored for saving countless lives. U.S. President Donald Trump is rejecting Iran's latest peace proposal. It comes after both countries exchanged high-level messages over the weekend. Iran is demanding the fighting on

all fronts come to an end, including in Lebanon. Despite a ceasefire, violent exchanges continue between Israel and Hezbollah. Katie Simpson reports from Washington. Through tears and whales, mourners say their final goodbyes at a funeral in a small town in southern Lebanon. Local health officials say at least seven people were killed, including a child in an Israeli air strike on Saturday. Israeli officials say they were targeting Hezbollah militants. The fighting in Lebanon between Israel, the U.S. partner in the Iran War, and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant, group has raged on for weeks despite a ceasefire. According to Iranian state TV, Tehran wants the fighting on this front to stop as part of a

permanent end to the broader war. It was included in Iran's latest peace plan proposal sent to mediators in Pakistan today for President Donald Trump's evaluation. He is putting, giving diplomacy every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities, but he's absolutely prepared to do that. Mike Walts, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., says Pakistani mediators asked the Trump administration to give negotiations another chance. But hours after Waltz made that statement, Donald Trump wrote on social media,

he read the proposal from Iran and that he doesn't like it, calling it totally unacceptable. If it's clear in the next few days that there's not a good path to a negotiated settlement, we'll go back to the military method to open the straight. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the primary U.S. demand remains the same, that Iran give up its nuclear ambitions. Wright says Iran is under immense economic strain, suggesting it's an advantage for the U.S. And that key goals have already been accomplished. Well, the military objectives that we set out to achieve and we guided the world to four to six weeks and it took about five weeks to achieve, those are achieved. But America's partner in this war, Israel, does not necessarily.

agree with that assessment. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to the U.S. News Program 60 Minutes, says there's more work that needs to be done. I think it accomplished a great deal, but it's not over because there's still nuclear material enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran. There is still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled.

All sides appear to be on very different pages in this moment, meaning the prospect for peace talks remains unclear at best. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Some Palestinians from the West Bank are taking desperate measures to find work. Following the October 7th attacks, Israel canceled more than 100,000 permits that allowed Palestinians to work in Israel. The government calling it a security measure. As Tom Perry reports, it's bringing in tens of thousands of foreign workers to fill the labor gap. Video released last month by Israeli police shows a strange distressing scene.

A garbage truck halted at a checkpoint between Israel and the occupied West Bank. When security agents open the back, they find roughly 70 Palestinian men crouching and cowering in the filthy trash compartment. It's believed they were trying to sneak into Israel to find work, a sorry symptom of a West Bank labor market that's wasting away. Mahmoud Bezzi, an electrician, used to work in Israel, but that ended for him and more than 100,000 Palestinian workers living in the West Bank when the Israeli government canceled their work permits after the attacks of October 7, 2023. Bezi has been trying to find work in the West Bank, but jobs are scarce, and the pay in

Israel is better. He knows people who've tried sneaking through checkpoints in the trunks of cars to work illegally. But to him, the risk is too great. You have to pay the driver $300, he says, and even then you could get caught. Israel's barring of most Palestinian workers has helped drive up the unemployment rate in the West Bank to more than 28%. It seems a lot of very extreme choices are being made right now in Israel. Karin Metz is with the Palestine Democracy and Workers' Rights Center in Ramallah. She says

Palestinians in the West Bank face many challenges. From Israel withholding tax revenue from the Palestinian authority, which it accuses of funding terrorism, to the constant threat of settler violence. Denying Palestinians' work is to her, all part of a

larger plan. Ultimately, there's the strategy of if people cannot work, if they cannot make a living, then they will be forced to leave. Inside Israel, Palestinians have been replaced at construction sites and other workplaces by tens of thousands of foreign workers brought in from around the globe. At this work site in Tel Aviv, crews from Uzbekistan and other countries are putting up a new multi-story structure. Billy Rubin, the contractor in charge, says these new hires bring new challenges. When you have Chinese workers, Russians, Indians, everyone speaks a different language, she says.

It's become like a tower of babble here. Foreign workers who need to be brought in and housed in Israel are also more expensive, driving up costs. For now, though, Israel isn't softening its stance, with Palestinians still seen as a potential threat. West Bank workers still shut out. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ramallah. He says Canada is open to deepening trade in North America, but if that's not possible, the Prime Minister says the country will look elsewhere. He made the comment in a speech yesterday, ahead of a looming trade review with the U.S. and Mexico. J.P. Tasker has reaction as pressure builds to get a deal done. And our response begins by reimagining aspects of North American integration.

At a progressive political conference in Toronto, the Prime Minister warmly greeted former U.S. President Barack Obama, before launching into a speech about why Canada needs to urgently diversify trade away from the American market. As it changes those policies, many of our former strengths have become our vulnerabilities. With that in mind, Ottawa is moving to streamline the approval process for natural resource projects. The new goal, complete these federal reviews in under a year, as the government drives to get more of these products to Asia. In case a candy U.S. trade deal doesn't come together. If that route is not ultimately possible, we will invest heavily in new markets and products.

A senior U.S. Senator met with Carney this week to try and smooth things over amid the bilateral bad blood. So we're feeling it deeply. Our industry is feeling it deeply. Our supply. Democratic Senator Alyssa Slotkin represents Michigan, where President Donald Trump's tariffs have cost automakers billions of dollars in lost profit. We have big problems with the tariffs as well at home. trying to push back on some of these things that just don't make sense in the U.S.-Canada relationship. While in Canada, Slotkin was urging the Prime Minister not to give up on the American relationship after he described it as a potential weakness.

This is a tough moment in time, but it's not the last moment in time. And we have longstanding strategic interests that align. With the Kuzma Review deadline less than two months away, Canada and the U.S. still haven't met face-to-face for any sort of formal negotiations. Nobody's dragging their feet. We're anxious to do that work. And I think the Americans know that. Dominic de Blanc, the minister responsible for the U.S. trade file, says it's not Canada holding things up. It's those punishing tariffs on steel, autos and lumber that the Trump administration says aren't going anywhere. He hasn't sat down at the negotiating table for five months.

Conservative leader Pierre Pollyev, meanwhile, is ramping up the pressure, especially given the apparent progress by the other partner in this, trilateral trade deal. While the Mexicans are there eating our diplomatic and economic lunch, he is sitting on the sidelines and our people are sitting without jobs. Concern over job loss is what's prompting Carney to fast-track energy projects. More oil and gas development could be a huge boon for an economy that needs it. Environmentalists, though, are deeply concerned that all of this puts the country's climate goals in jeopardy. J.P. Tasker, CBC News, Ottawa. Alberta's electoral list leak is highlighting privacy gaps across Canada.

Investigations into the data breach are already underway in that province, but Alberta's vulnerability could be a red flag for all Canadians' political privacy. Joe Horwood has more. Close to 3 million Albertans' names and addresses are kept in the list of electors, all made publicly accessible in one of Canada's biggest data breaches. There's nothing in the law which requires them to report data breaches. There is for government agencies, there are for commercial organizations, but that doesn't apply to political parties.

Colin Bennett is with the University of Victoria in BC. That province is one of only two in Canada, where privacy legislation includes political parties. Basically what's happened is that politicians have been exempting themselves. They've said, no, these rules, the rules that they are happy to impose. on businesses and government agencies should not apply to ourselves. Alberta's Information and Privacy Commissioner says they're investigating the Centurion Project, an Alberta separatist group for possible privacy violations, including whether it had a duty to report the breach to her office and Albertans.

Centurion created a database allegedly derived from Alberta's list of electors. Elections Alberta says it traced that back to a copy of the the voters list provided to the Republican Party of Alberta. But the Privacy Commissioner says she doesn't have jurisdiction to investigate the party. If they don't have the oversight responsibility for pliable parties, then there's little what they can do. The follow is going to take a form in people's lives that probably folks aren't anticipating. Since the breach was revealed, Edmonton City Councilor Aaron Piquette says his office has helped a woman affected by intimate partner violence, find a new home for her and her children.

Once it's out, it's out. And that is a dagger hanging over the head of anyone who has to keep their privacy for their safety. Bennett says there has to be more control. Of not only the voters list, but the other information that political parties are capturing about our political views. Alberta's privacy commissioner says her office has been calling for political parties to be included under provincial legislation for decades. But Bennett says the privacy gap is widening across the country as political parties gather more data about us. Joe Horwood, CBC News, Calgary. Advocates are calling on the federal government to make its pharmacare program available to all

Canadians. The program is only accessible to residents of three provinces and one territory. And even though Ottawa says it's committed to pharmacare, it's also saying the deals currently in place have expiration dates. Mark Quinn reports. Personally, I was furious. I couldn't believe that they were to actually close

that door. The Council of Canadians Yvonne Earl had a powerful reaction to what Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister, Lila Evans, told CBC News. Newfoundland Labrador was excluded from parma care. The door was closed. If you want to talk about equity, equality,

national program, well then we need to be included. During the 2019 federal election campaign, then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a promise. A re-elected liberal government will work with provinces and territorial partners to implement national pharmacare. The Federal Pharmacare Act received Royal Assent in 2024. That same year, the federal government began negotiating pharmacare deals with each province and territory individually. But right now, only British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Yukon have arrangements to provide universal access to contraception and diabetes medications and devices. The Council of Canadians is questioning Prime Minister Mark Carney's commitment to pharmacare. There's been no funding put in the budget for pharmacare in November.

Late last month, Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michelle shed some light on the federal government's position. Her response came after Prince Edward Island's health minister, said Ottawa is planning to cut the funding it now gives the province for pharmacare in 2029. Regarding Prince Edward Island, we're not making any cuts, Michelle says. These are programs that are set to end in the coming years. Earl says suggesting pharmacare amounts to a pilot project that the federal government can terminate is disingenuous.

Well, it was not the plan under the Pharmacare Act. This was supposed to be a phased rollout, and each province would sign an agreement with the government. And so we feel that the residents of Canada need to say, no, we voted to have pharmacare, and that we're expecting you to deliver. Earl says the Council of Canadians won't stop pushing until Canada has truly comprehensive universal national pharmacare. Mark Quinn, CBC News, St. John's. May is Canadian Jewish Heritage Month, and a tale of quiet heroism is emerging from BC. Rudolf Verba is credited with saving hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives during the Second World War. And yet decades after his death, very few people know his story, or that he called Vancouver home.

Last month, the city declared a day in his honor. But as Tanya Fletcher tells us, many in the community now want the recognition to be permanent. The peculiar farm smile on his face, which intensified as he spoke about the most severe stories. Joseph Ruggaz recalls fond memories of his dear friend Rudolf Verba, a man with an extraordinary story at the height of the Holocaust. It was April 1944, a pivotal month during the Second World War. Verba was 19 years old. He and his friend Alfred Vetzler, both Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz,

did the unthinkable. They escaped, and then wrote a detailed report of the horrors they witnessed at the Nazi concentration camp where more than one million Jews were exterminated. This was the most unbelievable will of power. He became tough. Their account, the Verba Vetzler report, landed on the desks of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. It's what eventually forced Hungary to halt the deportation of its Jewish population, ultimately saving as many as 200,000 lives, according to historians. After the war, Rudolf Verba wound up in British Columbia and became a pharmacology professor at UBC. He lived in Vancouver for more than 30 years and died in 2006.

Still decades later, few here know his name. Rudy Verba lived longer in Vancouver than any other place in his life. He's a Canadian. Author Alan Twig is writing Rudolph Verbe's biography. The city of Vancouver should have something somewhere that recognizes. is easily one of the greatest whistle-pollers of the 20th century. This year, the city did, sort of. The Vancouver Holocaust Education Center applied to have April 7th the Day of Escape proclaimed Rudolf Verba Day.

But it was a one-off, and not many knew about it. Glenn Steinman, who helped lead the effort, now wants to see a more permanent recognition. It's something that becomes that much more meaningful, frankly, if we can build upon it, including the possibility that this would become an annual. all day to re-ember him here. He says there are plans in the works now to try to do just that.

In the meantime, Verbe's friends have been working with a local synagogue to create a monument in his honor at a Jewish cemetery. History is ahead of us. This is just a beginning. The impact is so major, many generations from now on should know and will know. Making sure the courage of one man who saved the lives of thousands will never be forgotten. Tanya Fletcher, CBC News, Vancouver. Since 1895, the world's most celebrated fine artists have shown their work at the Venice Bienale. At this year's exhibition, political protests have eclipsed some of the art.

But 2026 is also a landmark for the Biennale. For the first time, the show was curated by an African woman who died one year ago today. Megan Williams reports on this from Venice. The first shock of this year's Venice Biennale came loud. fast and in pink balaclavas. Members of the Russian feminist collective Pussy Riot pushed through the press preview, waving banners and shouting anti-Puton's slogans outside the Russian pavilion. Russia's return to the Biennale for the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine had already caused weeks of tension. Then all five jurors resigned after Italy's culture

minister said he would send inspectors to investigate their decision to withhold prizes from countries whose leaders face international criminal court charges, Russia over Ukraine and Israel over Gaza. But beyond this year's storm is an exhibition with a much quieter power. Among the artists shown is South African Billy Zangewa, whose luscious hand-stitched silk collages depict ordinary domestic life, a mother and son gardening, a woman by a pool, a brother peeking from a doorway. We're often just like hustling, trying to get to the next thing, and then we're focused on all the negative things that are happening in the world, which make us all very, very stressed and tired.

So I think it's great for people to view my work and be like, oh, I don't have to think about all those hard things right now. She says these soft everyday scenes belong to the theme of the main show in minor keys. It was curated by Koyo Kuo, the Cameroonian, who died of cancer last May at 57, before the exhibition could be in stone. Dkuo spent a career building space and visibility for African contemporary art. Her imprint is everywhere here, placing artists from Africa and the diaspora in the heart of a generous, intimate, and contemplative exhibition. A feeling that runs through the work of American artist Michael Jew

too. His installation suspends fossilized slabs of sea lilies from North Africa, with tiny transducers underneath amplifying their vibrations. Many works here. Look at the present day. Jews spans eons. Still, he says what strikes him most is the warmth of Kuo's exhibition, the sense of a curator pulling together artists she loved in a posthumous embrace. The context of this biennial revolves around its curator, not only for the overarching concept or idea, but in this one there's an element of what did Koyo see in these other artists and what were their relationships. It feels really intimate. That intimacy is also there in the work of Kenyan painter Kaloki Nyamai.

For Niamai, being part of the Biennale that places African artist in the center, feels like an opening, as if, he says, keys being found, like a small door being open. And through these, people are just seeing a glimpse of what's out there, because there's so much talented, incredible artists, who I love so much, some that I adore. Megan Williams, CBC News. Venice. And finally, in honor of Mother's Day, we bring you a story of a single BC mom who has fostered over 500 babies.

They look up to her, they follow her, they, you know, mimic her. This matriarch is sharp. She's generally a hoot, but can sometimes be a bit owly. She's got a little edge to her, let's say that. Casper resides in Delta. She's a great horned owl. When she was young, she got caught in a leghold trap in Prince George. She was rescued. she was rescued by the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, which quickly became her home and her life's work. Casper's maternal instincts kicked in the first time she was around a little outlet, says Rob Hope, the Society's manager.

Within about an hour, she was on the nest feeding the baby, and from there, now she's our trusted mom for the last 26 years, and hopefully she gets another 26 years. She's currently fostering four fledglings, all rescued from different circumstances. She teaches them important skills like flying, catching prey, and fearing humans, giving the babies a better chance of survival in the wild.

By having a foster mom, that pulls us out of the picture right away. And that allows us just to throw food in, and mom does the rest. To all the moms out there, doing the rest, just like Casper, happy Mother's Day, especially to my mom, who is the biggest bird lover I know. This has been your world tonight from May 10th. I'm Gina Louise Phillips. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca.com.