This week on The Sunday Edition Michael's Essay: Atheists should stop behaving like persecuted outsiders. Understanding pain Dr. Fernando Cervero is working to change the way we think about and treat pain. He's a professor of anesthesia and the director of the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain at McGill University in Montreal. He's also president of the International Association for the Study of Pain. Documentary: Figures in Flight We meet a group of convicted murderers, drug dealers and sex offenders, who have spent many decades behind bars. Now... they are learning to dance. Tackling public pensions Demographics are threatening public pensions, and two provinces are tackling the problem head on. Michael talks with Alberta's finance minister, Doug Horner, and with the chair of New Brunswick's Pension Task Force, Sue Rowland. Rebecca Solnit Rebecca Solnit's new book is called The Faraway Nearby. She's wise and insightful, passionate and compassionate. Among other things, she talks to Michael about what her mother's descent into Alzheimer's taught her about letting go. Craig's Retreat What's it like to live like a monk? Craig Desson reports from his 10-day silent meditation retreat -- waking at 4 a.m. and not reading, writing, speaking or eating after noon.

The headlines are full of breakthroughs heralding new treatments and cures for a host of debilitating and lethal diseases and conditions.

But for the millions of Canadians who suffer from chronic pain, relief - let alone a cure - is still elusive.

According to the Canadian Pain Society, one in five Canadians suffers from chronic pain. Yet treatment has not been a priority in our health care system; instead, people who complain of chronic pain are all too often derided as whiners.

They say doctors are incredulous that their pain - which might have no apparent cause - could possibly be that bad. Or else they’re just counselled to grin and bear it.

That nonchalance reflects an attitude in western cultures, where pain is largely considered a sign of virtue and a test of character, says Dr. Fernando Cervero, director of the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain at McGill University.

Attitudes slowly changing

But Dr. Cervero notes that social attitudes are changing. Patients and their advocates are demanding better and more timely treatment for chronic pain. But the medical establishment has not kept pace with those changes. For example, veterinary students receive much more training in pain management than medical students.

The societal change in attitudes toward pain “has not completely permeated all the way to the medical schools,” Dr. Cervero told The Sunday Edition’s Michael Enright. “In a curriculum that is getting more and more busy with more and more discoveries in medicine – and we all have to fight for time in the medical curriculum – pain is not a high priority.”

Dr. Cervero, who will be speaking at an international symposium on pain at McGill University on Oct. 3, says more must be done to make the relief of pain, especially for chronic pain sufferers, a top priority in Canadian health care.

“It’s not right for people to suffer unnecessarily,” he said.

You can hear Michael Enright’s full conversation with Dr. Fernando Cervero on CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition on Radio One this Sunday, just after the 9 a.m. news.