WEBVTT - The Golden Boy of Rehabilitation 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:03.199 Campsite Media. 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.360 When Roger's book Go Boy was released into the world 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.400 in April of nineteen seventy eight, it was a time 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:19.080 for celebration, and on this most unlikely of publication days, 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:24.640 our newly minted author, Roger Karan, spent the day at Disneyland, 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.720 well not the real Disneyland, but rather Colin's Bay, a 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:31.000 prison in Kingston. 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:38.959 They called Colin's Bay Penitentiary Disneyland because when you look 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.240 at it from the distance of a mile, it looks 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:42.480 like a disney Land. 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.440 Roger and his beloved typewriter had been transferred to the 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.400 relative comfort of medium security in Colin's Bay, and he 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.839 was elated by the thought that he wouldn't be here 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.400 much longer. His mandatory release date was still five years 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:01.120 in the future, but hoped that as soon as he 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.920 found himself in front of the parole board any month 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:07.080 now as as soon to be best selling author of 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.399 a soon to be well reviewed book, they'd set him 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:14.520 free on the spot. That was his dream. Anyway, On 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:19.959 his publication day, I don't imagine many couriers arrive at 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.759 Collins Bay Penitentiary to deliver a box of books from 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.120 a prestigious publisher to the author. But that's just what happened, 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.560 and Roger was keen to start moving copies. 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:33.920 And he'd be very quick on calling you and say, okay, 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:35.120 it's out, now you can get it. 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.480 He called his sister Sue, talking even faster than usual. 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.000 Go to this store, call this store. He would make 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.240 them ship me some and I said, well, I'll call 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:44.200 you as soon as I get it. 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.840 The publisher had done a good job drumming up interest 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.520 ahead of its release. In the months leading up to 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.800 pub day. Go Boy was blurbed and excerpted in just 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.240 about every major newspaper in the country. They were getting 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.640 behind it because it was a story that made for 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.080 a good press release. They seemed genuinely to believe in 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:06.680 the power of Roger's story, and they needed it to 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.440 make enough money so that they wouldn't regret paying Roger 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.840 in advance for book number two. Since his original manuscript 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.120 had ballooned to over a thousand pages, his editors and 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.919 publisher must have thought it wise to try to get 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.320 a second book out of it, and it was a 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.400 no brainer when they honed in on the Kingston Riot section. 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:30.480 There's great public interest still lingering from the riot, and 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.280 Roger promised to deliver a unique point of view to 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.400 a story that no one else could offer. He's going 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.600 to call the book Bingo, which is prison slang for 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.560 a riot. So as the publisher would be keenly watching 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.320 the sales figures of Go Boy, Roger would be judging 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:52.920 it success by a different metric. Could this book earn 0:02:53.000 --> 0:03:06.079 him his freedom? From iHeart podcasts and campsite media. I'm 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:12.280 Sam Mullens and this is Go Boys Episode seven, The 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:27.280 Golden Boy of Rehabilitation. Roger had been getting little tastes 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.480 of freedom in the form of pre release, and every 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.079 hour he spent outside the prison walls was exquisite. 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.680 Every twelve days they released me into the community for 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.760 seventy two hours on a very strict structured conditions. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.080 On these three day stints, he traveled to Hull, Quebec, 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.760 where there was a halfway house in the three story Victorian. 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:50.800 I have to work eight hours a day in a 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:56.800 government sponsored shop operated by ex inmates and sociologists and parole. 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:57.680 Officers and all that you know. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:03:59.960 And then I finished work at four o'clock. 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.240 And then after work I can. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.360 Go out into the city from five o'clock to midnight, 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.480 but I have to be back at it exactly and 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.400 precisely midnight. They're very strict about that, or I turned 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:15.600 into a punk. And like Cinderoai, the. 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.400 Stories I've told you about Roger in the series focus 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.599 a lot on his escapes and his brief times on 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.680 the outside. But by the time his book came out 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.120 in nineteen seventy eight, he was forty years old and 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.680 in the sum of his entire adult life, he'd been 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.680 free for only sixteen months, and he'd just been in 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.720 for the longest stint of his life. So now on 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:44.479 the outside, the world burned brilliant and knew. At the 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.599 Halfway House, they made him a soup that had broccoli 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:51.960 in it. He'd never had broccoli before. He'd never tried 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.840 wine or heard of a credit card, and even though 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.000 it was the late seventies, he didn't have the slightest 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.960 idea what Dia was. There's a lot to catch up on, 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:08.520 like how to use a bank properly. For the first 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.520 time in his life, he had money coming in, but 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.080 it really messed with a sense of self. Roger wrote, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.320 it was hard to walk into a bank to make 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:22.039 a deposit instead of a hasty withdrawal. He had to 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:26.040 take things slow. Roger spent a lot of time in 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.520 the shopping mall near his halfway house, in part because 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.479 it offered a stark of contrast to the prison life 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.840 he could find. He'd ride the escalators and drink in 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.840 all the smells, all the colors of the displays, a 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.279 far cry from the gray walls he was on loan from. 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.600 And most novel of all was the simple pleasure of 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:53.080 hearing women and children's voices, sounds he'd grown completely unaccustomed to. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:57.320 When the three days would be up, Roger head back 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.320 early to Colin's Bay, ensuring that he gave him self 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.520 extra time. He knew that if he reported to the 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.039 gate even one second late, he'd be in violation of 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:10.320 his parole. And also he liked to make sure he 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:12.520 had enough time to get some McDonald's. 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.960 So the taxi would put into McDonald's and I'd order 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:17.880 being back, and the girls got to know me after 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:19.880 six months of every two weeks that go there, and 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:21.599 they hurry up, give me my big mac in my 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.320 frain fries and melt shake. 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:24.520 Noing, it doesn't, don't. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.600 I'm standing and booking the window to penitentiary and gun tiredly. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.120 Oh God, I gotta go back there, you know. And 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.719 for twenty four years I was a goat boy in miscaping, 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:35.640 and I was always running away from the place, saying 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.039 here I am in a hurry to get back. 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.560 When time was up, Roger would always buzz back in 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.680 with an extra burger or two in his pockets and 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:48.680 an extra story or two for his buddies on the range. Eventually, 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.599 Roger was finally allowed to move into the Halfway House 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:55.800 full time, and like that his home address no longer 0:06:55.839 --> 0:07:00.320 had the word penitentiary in it. His book seem to 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:16.640 have made a difference. The day Roger got out, he 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:18.920 was greeted on the other side of the gate by 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:23.040 a gaggle of smiling reporters, all anxious to get cracking 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.480 on their feel good pieces about the inmate author who 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.920 was being released ahead of schedule. He was still looking 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.520 down the barrel of nine more years of parole, but 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.280 he was thrilled to be living in the whole Halfway 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:38.680 House more permanently, where he didn't even have to work 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.800 in the upholstery shop anymore. Instead, he would remain as 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:47.280 his typewriter in his room that Nodawa Citizen reporter described 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:47.720 like this. 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.080 It's small, but he has it fixed up as a 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.680 compulsively neat teenager. Mit kmart. Rugs are tacked up as 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.560 improvised doors on the clothes closet, jackets, shirts, shoes and 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:01.800 pants are placed with military precision. There's a desk, a chair, 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.560 a narrow bed and very dim lighting. Karen can't stand 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.600 bright lights. They remind him of prisons where nothing is 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:09.200 in shadow. 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.280 One of the conditions of his parole was that he 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:16.160 wasn't allowed to buy anything over two hundred dollars without permission. 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.239 But luckily he was able to pick up a tape 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.640 player for his room, update his wardrobe a little bit, 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.720 and get a bicycle to zip around the neighborhood. On 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.080 April nineteen seventy nine marked one year since the book 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.040 Go Boy had come out. It was also the month 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:44.880 that Roger became a known name. One day, someone called 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.480 him on the Halfway House community line. 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.360 I got a phone call a week ago Thursday morning 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.160 from the Canada Console and this gentleman, mister Renoga, got 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.959 on the phone and he says, you just won as 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.680 soul matter of factory, you just won the government General's 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.920 Award for the Best Book of nineteen seventy eight. 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:07.160 The Governor General Awards are among Canada's most prestigious prizes 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.640 for creativity. All of your favorite Canadians have one, Joni Mitchell, 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:16.479 Sandra O, Ryan Reynolds, and of course our literary giants 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.640 like Margaret Atwood and Michael and Datci. And in nineteen 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.280 seventy eight, the award for nonfiction went to our man 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.360 in the Halfway House. The guy from the council said 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.600 to keep this news between them, so Roger would have 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.480 to keep it under his hat until the official announcement 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:34.600 one week later. 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.000 After the call, I ran back downstairs in the halfway 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.120 house I was living in and said excitedly to all 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:43.600 the guys in maw our housekeeper, you'll never guess what's happened. 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:44.960 What they all asked. 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.440 I can't tell you for another week, but it's fantastic, unbelievable. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:51.800 I called my siblings and told them the same thing. 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:56.040 Roger calls me and he was talking double time. He 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.959 was so excited on the phone. I knew he hadn't 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.000 the bank because he'd never call him tell me that, 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.080 so I knew something happened. 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.440 What followed this life changing news for Roger was a 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:11.640 week of sheer pain. Roger was built to endure the 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:17.680 worst things, to withstand unfathomable punishment and suffering. But good news, 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:23.920 great news that sent him spiral. He went to visit 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.559 his sister that week, and she could tell as soon 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.720 as he walked in that something was wrong. He tried 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.640 to put on a happy face, but it was obvious 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.199 as he was wrestling with his nephews that he was preoccupied. 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.640 He was consumed by the thought that he was being tricked, 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.400 that someone was going to pull the rug out from 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:47.880 under him. Surely, someone in a tweed jacket somewhere would 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.000 catch wind of the council's plan to reward a criminal 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.520 and kibosh it. Surely, like every big score he'd ever 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.280 been close to grasping, this too, was going to end 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.840 in disaster, but he couldn't deny it. Winning this award 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.520 would be a definitive victory in his life, and he 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:13.079 wanted it bad and then mercifully. A few days later, 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:17.280 Roger was scooped by the Ottawa Citizen, who announced in 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:22.359 print that Roger was an official recipient of the illustrious 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:27.480 Governor General's award right away. He called David Schleike, his 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.520 friend who'd been with him since go Boys' first draft. 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.599 The day I heard that he was the winner was 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:35.880 from Roger. He called me and said, I got it. 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:37.680 I got it, I got it, And he said I 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:40.000 got ten thousand dollars. I said, they give you ten 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.320 thousand dollars. They're going to let you keep ten thousand dollars. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.320 Because he was still in the halfway house at the 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.680 time up in Hull, and he was extraordinary excited. 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:49.400 He wanted to buy a car right away. 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.800 The amount of money you would get that was going 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:55.320 to help him out, and he was very He was 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.840 very excited, and you're going to come and I said, oh, yes, 0:11:57.880 --> 0:11:58.600 I'm going to come. 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.400 He invite me to the Governor General's bench. He said, 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.240 we're throwing a party in your honor and the Governor 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.640 General is going to be there in all the big week. 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:07.199 And he was looking forward to it. But he said, 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.839 I only have one suit, and should I get another suit? 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:11.760 And do you think I look good and darker? And 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:12.680 should I wear a tie? 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:13.200 That kind of thing. 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.200 He was very aware of being in the public eye 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:17.720 and it was on his mind. 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.240 The big night was held at Rideau Hall, the Governor 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:25.480 General's residence in Ottawa. Roger remembers he was allowed to 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:29.800 bring up to seven guests, but for Roger, seven guests 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.760 wasn't going to cut it. I went there with twenty 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.880 one guests. Twenty one guests, and I. 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:36.480 Refused to go. 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:38.880 I put invite three parole officers. 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.640 The lady did the cook as a halfway house two 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.760 x times. With helped me get out to the cole 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.040 or Bernie my sister two. 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.439 Brodriend O Ganiel drove up the Governor General's nation. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.440 After all his sartorial freddys, Roger ended up going with 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.640 an outfit that held a special significance to him. He 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.920 wore his prison suit, the suit the Institution gave him 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:07.920 upon his release, because. 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:08.959 It looks so different from everybody else. 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.320 Ever, he's saying, you, you look great, You look great. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:12.360 Where'd you get your suit? 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.240 Is sprom Colin's babe. 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.560 As they mingled ahead of the ceremony in the opulent 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:22.360 tent room, Roger, who almost never drank, allowed himself a 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.880 couple glasses of wine to steady himself in what must 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:34.000 have felt like the most surreal of dreams. In the 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:38.120 footage of Roger's big moment, he seems so remarkably grounded. 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.800 Often when cameras are pointed at him, he seems wound 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.520 up like a spring, like he's about to jump the 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.840 fence and run away from the attention. But in this moment, 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.000 as the Governor General presents him with a specially bound 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.120 copy of his book with a red cover, you can 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.680 see that he wants to stay here forever. He clutches 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.719 the book to his heart as he lets the applause 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:05.040 wash over him. The camera then pans to Roger's entourage, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.800 where his sister Sue is taking polaroids and is looking 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.240 at her brother with such pride it makes my eyes 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:22.200 misty every time I watch it. When Roger got his 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.920 original advance on his book, he used it to buy 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.240 gifts for his family, and when he got his big award, 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.080 he handed it to his sister for safe keeping. 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.080 I've won the prize I gave to my sister. 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:34.520 She took it. 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:36.880 Almost got all my books on the shovel and flanks, 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.520 and English and British and and some of the tokens. 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.520 Of having support is the most important making in the world. 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:44.800 It was like he was proud to make his family 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:50.360 proud like I've done this, you know, and so it's 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.400 something no one can ever take away from him. It 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.800 was a proud day. It was riti. It was a good, 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:56.280 good day. 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.000 Beyond the accolade, Roger saw this recognition as a piecemate 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.680 making opportunity between him and the country and society that 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:05.920 had cast him away as a teenager. 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.160 If Governor jenner Is Award represented the Canadian public, and 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.480 the Canadian public saying me, Roger, for twenty five years, 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:15.080 you did a lot of things to us, and for 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.280 twenty five years we did a lot of things to you. 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:18.640 Now we're scratched. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.120 Now where this is your homecoming party, make the visit. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.800 Roger was the feel good story of the night, end 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.640 of the year in Canadian publishing, and in the aftermath, 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.480 everyone wanted to talk to him. Everyone wanted to hear 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.560 how that second book was coming along, and he was 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:42.400 more than willing to share his happy moment with the world. 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.240 I feel good in my flesh for the first time 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.200 in my life. I don't have no hang ups, I 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:50.640 got nothing to prove. 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:52.720 I just feel so durn. 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.720 Good and being able to wake up in. 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:59.120 The outside world in the morning, it is so fantastic. 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:10.120 Almost overnight, in TV, radio and print, Suddenly Roger's name 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.400 was everywhere. Sue had seen her brother's photo in newspapers 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.480 many times before, so it took some adjustment to get 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:21.479 used to seeing articles about him that didn't include a mugshot. 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.240 Now he was also hit in the headlines. But this 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:26.880 was good stuff, and he liked the headlines. 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.520 Roger was saying yes to everything. In the two years 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.160 following his big win, he did over one hundred and 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.200 fifteen interviews and was written about in two hundred articles. 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:41.080 If you were in Canada, you couldn't miss. 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:45.680 Him, and he was instantly a celebrity. 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:50.800 You go from not being out there in yourself and 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.200 then all of a sudden, you're like Hollywood. So, I mean, 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.560 how somebody can even adapt to that is unbelievable. I 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.240 don't know how he sanely came out of all that. 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.679 So he was very excited about being a celebrity. He 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.320 was very excited about having an identity. 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.560 And with the fame, Roger suddenly had lots of money 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.960 coming in from different places. His book Go Boy sold 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.280 hundreds of thousands of copies. He got a nice advance 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.160 to write book number two, and he not only sold 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.320 the movie rights to his book for a tidy sum, 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.679 but it was going to be the biggest budget film 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:30.440 in Canadian history. These were Roger's salad days. 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.120 He was very excited about having money and having freedom 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:34.600 of movement. 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.639 Roger is just starting to enjoy the things that were 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.000 kept from him for so long. He recently bought a 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.639 new Pontiac Firebird, which he affectionately calls his muscle car. 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:48.000 Obviously, yes, Roger went with the Firebird. 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.960 His apartment is full of electronic hardware some of us 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:53.960 might never see, like the home videotape recorder used to 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.640 record the interview shows he appears on, or the high 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.240 priced stereo cassette deck. 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.879 But perhaps the most meaningful opportunity that came Rogers way 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.040 was when he was offered a long term gig from 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:09.000 the most surprising of places. He was approached by the 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:13.520 Solicitor General's office about the possibility of doing paid public 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.639 speaking gigs. The Solicitor General is in charge of overseeing 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:22.119 public safety corrections and policing, and they saw a great 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.760 opportunity with Roger to use his story to engage with 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:31.000 the public about the rehabilitative challenges and successes available to 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:35.800 Canadian inmates. Basically, the same government that had tortured him 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:40.320 for decades was paying him handsomely to speak on their behalf. 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.640 They were giving him between five hundred and twenty five 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.159 hundred dollars a speech to speak to high schools and 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:52.120 university students, the John Howard Society, the Prison Arts Foundation. 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:54.800 He'd even be paid to go and speak to law 0:18:54.880 --> 0:19:01.240 enforcement and rooms filled with corrections officers. His message about 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:05.120 the flaws in the penitentiary system and the toxicity that 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.400 exists between guard and inmate was an important one, and 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:12.320 he was a great advocate for prisoner rights. Roger's friend 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:16.040 David reminded him not to forget that the most powerful 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.280 part of his story was about his journey as a writer. 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:21.520 And I said to him, Roger, you got to talk 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:26.359 to teachers, and that's an important audience for you because 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.240 you embody the very thing we English teachers love, which 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.879 is that literature and writing can really be useful in life. 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:37.280 David obviously knew that Roger could write, but what he 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.960 didn't understand until he watched Roger at one of these 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:43.119 speaking gigs was that he was even better at telling 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:45.480 his stories on stage, and. 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.320 The Jellybean story just electrified them. I'm not being hyperbolic 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.399 or exaggerating when I said there were a number of 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.040 people there who wept, the teachers, they were really moved 0:19:56.040 --> 0:20:01.200 by that story. And Roger had that self conscious little 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.080 bit of a laugh of his and he saw and 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.400 felt that he could pick up the vibe from the room. 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.040 And then when he was finished his story that included 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:12.520 many of the anecdotes from Go Boy, that was a 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:13.280 standing ovation. 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:15.359 It was electrifieder. It was a powerful moment. 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:20.640 Roger eventually was allowed to move out of the halfway 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:25.399 house and into his own apartment. Well is more of 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:31.160 a penthouse, a bonafide bachelor pad, filled with gadgets such 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:35.880 as a wireless TV converter, and it featured a breathtaking 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:40.439 view overlooking the canal. Roger loved to invite his family 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.879 over to show it off. Here's his nephew Todd. 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.040 He would be on the balcony and the building was 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:51.119 almost directly across from the Prime Minister's residence in Sussex Street. 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.680 Of the many new things that had emerged into Roger's life, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.080 perhaps the thing that brought him. The most joy was 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.000 that he was finally able to fully and properly step 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:01.680 into his role as an uncle. 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:06.120 I knew him as the uncle who did well. He 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.879 had come out of prison, he had written this incredible book, 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:11.840 he had won a Governor General's award. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.440 I had nothing but pride for him. 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.320 This was the golden age of being Uncle Roger. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:19.880 You could feel that he loved us. 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:21.520 Here's his niece, Diane. 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.920 You know it wasn't just fake it. You could feel 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.320 a family thing. It was very, very art warming. 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:31.960 He always wanted to play with the kids, wrestling, taking 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.200 us fishing, going out for drives in his trans am. 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.240 When I had children of my own, my boys, they'll 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.240 remember him as that. They remember how strong he was 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:42.760 and how much fun they had with him. 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.760 You know, sometimes you have adults that don't pay attention 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:49.800 to the kids. But he really was there and really 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:51.560 wanted to interact with us a lot. 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:53.240 So it was a ton of mine. 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:07.160 Beside Roger's typewriter was an always tall stack of fan mail. 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.399 On average, he'd get eight letters a day passed along 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:14.080 from his publisher and his sister Sue remembers well. The 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:16.320 general tenor of the correspondence. 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.919 You had girls just throlling themselves at him. He was 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.440 reading on a roller coaster ride there. You know that 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:25.760 I wasn't thrilled about. 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:27.760 He was pretty heavy in the dating scene. 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:30.639 Roger writes about this period in his life in the 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:32.440 forward of one of his books. 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.199 The thing I missed the most while in prison was 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:38.200 the exquisite pleasure of holding a woman in my arms. 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:42.040 Upon my release, I made up for lost time, and 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:44.879 on each occasion I felt like falling to my knees 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:48.040 and thanking God for having created such a wonderful partner. 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:53.240 He was doing lots of talks. He was very socially active. 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.800 He loved dating lots of women. 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:58.000 You know, I said, Roger, be careful. You know that 0:22:58.600 --> 0:22:59.120 I don't know. 0:22:59.200 --> 0:22:59.960 They just came out of the. 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:03.760