The Decibel

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode about one of the top songs of the year. This episode originally aired on January 24. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who have ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ stuck in their head, and those who don’t … yet. The Disney song is a viral sensation and unexpected hit from the 2021 film Encanto . Michael Birenba...

Ranging from childhood phone calls, to serenading strangers, to feasting on the darkest day of the year, we explore how traditions help connect us and celebrate the season. To end the year, we wanted to take a break from the endless cycle of bad news and share with you a series of stories about holiday traditions. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted by Simple...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington on Wednesday. It’s his first known time outside of Ukraine since Russia invaded more than 300 days ago. He’s meeting with President Joe Biden, national security officials and addressing Congress. It’s a bid to shore up more weapons and money in order to fight the ongoing war. The meeting comes at a time where Russian aerial attacks on Uk...

Newcomers are turning to YouTube to learn about everyday life in places like Moncton NB, Kamloops B.C. or Swift Current, Sask. Canada’s goal of bringing in 500,000 new permanent residents every year by 2025 has a focus on settling new immigrants in small towns and different regions of the country – Instead of just the big city centres – and 2021 census data shows that shift is already happening. S...

On Sunday evening, five residents of a high-rise condo building in Vaughan, ON were shot and killed . A 73-year-old gunman was also shot and killed by police. Court documents reveal that the shooter had a years-long history of legal disputes with the condo board. Police said three of the people killed were members of the board. The Globe’s Dustin Cook tells us what we know so far about what happen...

In the community of Gaultois, Newfoundland, an upcoming vote will determine whether to keep receiving government services, or take a payout to relocate to the mainland, leaving behind their homes and dramatic beauty of their small island town . Greg Mercer , the Globe’s Atlantic Canada reporter, tells us about the history of resettlement in Newfoundland, and how the people of Gaultois feel about d...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $800-million in funding for Indigenous-led conservation efforts at COP15, the biodiversity conference happening in Montreal. The Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area and national park is considered a success story in Indigenous-led conservation. It was established in 2019 after decades of discussion and negotiation between the federal and territorial gove...

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday. U.S. prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy. He’s now in a Bahamian prison and could be extradited to the U.S. The company was founded in 2019 and went from being worth US$32-billion to bankrupt in mid-November. Along the way, FTX built up a lot of hype and...

Neil Doef was 17 when his life changed. As a promising young hockey player, he was competing at an international tournament when he was paralyzed. For the last seven years, he has been engaged in a lawsuit trying to get financial help from Hockey Canada and its insurer. Grant Robertson , senior writer for The Globe and Mail, shares Neil’s story and addresses the questions Neil’s case raises about...

With its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Artemis 1 marked the successful completion of the first step in a new era of space travel to the moon. It comes 50 years after the last astronaut bounced along the lunar surface. Now, the goal is to make moon travel more routine and sustainable. Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk explains how NASA hopes to do this in the next decade, along with help...

Myanmar has been in a state of chaos since February 2021 when the military staged a coup following a democratic election. Thousands of people have been killed in this civil war, and the UN estimates that around a million people have been displaced in the country. Siegfried Modola, a photojournalist and documentary photographer, spent weeks inside Myanmar for the Globe traveling with one of the reb...

Healthcare systems across the country are under strain yet again, and this time children seem to be bearing the worst of the combination of influenza, RSV, and COVID-19. Health officials would like people to voluntarily mask to help stop the spread, but people across Canada seem to have given up on them. Dr. Kim Lavoie is a psychologist at UQAM, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Medicine, and c...

The federal government paid $4.6-billion in COVID-19 benefits to ineligible recipients, and another $27.4-billion of payouts should be investigated to see if they met the program’s eligibility. That’s according to an Auditor-General report released on Tuesday. It says that while Ottawa did a good job quickly delivering money to Canadians, they’re doing a poor job identifying who needs to pay the m...

Canadians have already seen the cost of groceries grow by over 10 per cent this year, and costs are expected to keep rising . A bag of the humble romaine lettuce can cost as much as $13. Now, experts are projecting that food costs for the average Canadian family will go up by $1,000 in 2023. This week, the Committee of Agriculture held a hearing with representatives from major grocery retailers to...

Two years ago, Helen Naslund was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for killing her husband, Miles, in 2011. They married young, in the early 1980s – he was twenty, and she was seventeen. He abused her and their three children for decades. Today on the Decibel, Globe feature writer Jana Pruden shares Helen’s story and unpacks how the justice system treats women who have been abused. For help wi...

Joseph Boyden . Michelle Latimer . Carrie Bourassa . There has been a growing list of people who are accused of pretending to be Indigenous. Jean Teillet is a lawyer who was commissioned by the University of Saskatchewan to write a report about the issue of Indigenous identity fraud and to determine how postsecondary institutions can identify fraudulent applicants. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Emai...

On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith introduced her sovereignty act , the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, which would give her cabinet powers to not enforce federal legislation, policies or programs it deems harmful to Alberta’s interests. Smith has referred to the proposed law as a shield against Ottawa. Today, we’re hearing from Alberta and Ottawa. Alanna Smith , a Globe re...

The office vacancy rates in two of Canada’s biggest cities – Toronto and Vancouver – have more than doubled since before the pandemic. The Globe’s real estate reporter, Rachelle Younglai , explains what is driving that trend and which companies are feeling the strain of managing physical offices in a world of hybrid work . Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted...

Protesters in China are blaming zero-COVID policies for the deaths of 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi. Demonstrations erupted in dozens of cities around the country, including in Shanghai and the capital Beijing. While protests do happen in China – despite the country’s reputation for absolute control – the way unrest spread online is remarkable given China’s internet fire...

The federal government plans to bring in 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025 – but only around 200,000 housing units are being built per year. With a cost-of-living crisis, sky-high housing demand and struggling health care systems, immigrants are often left struggling to settle here in Canada. Matt Lundy , economics reporter with The Globe’s Report on Business, explains what these challenges mean...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s five-hour testimony wrapped up the final day of Emergencies Act inquiry. Mr. Trudeau faced questions about his decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in February, 2022 in response to the so-called trucker convoy protests which had taken over a part of downtown Ottawa, and had blockaded border crossings in Windsor, Ontario and Coutts, Alberta. Guest host Sherrill Sut...

In March, Canada will expand medically assisted dying to people with mental illness as a sole condition. This will make the country’s euthanasia law one of the most liberal in the world – just seven years after assisted dying first became legal. A parliamentary committee has been hearing from experts since April about what needs to happen to make the right to die safe for all Canadians, and The Gl...

Cancer patients are facing lengthy wait times to see a doctor and get treated in British Columbia. These delays are not only stressful for the patient, they allow the disease to grow and become more complicated. This is a massive change from a few decades ago when B.C. was seen as a leader in cancer care. Globe and Mail reporter Andrea Woo explains how these delays got so bad. Questions? Comments?...

With World Cup host country Qatar getting bad press for its treatment of migrant workers , its stance on LGBTQ rights and its strict regulations on alcohol , it’s hard to imagine that it has a lot to gain from hosting this event. But as the Globe’s Asia correspondent James Grifiths tells us from Doha, Qatar has already seen its relationship with other Gulf nations improve because of the World Cup...

Danielle Smith harshly criticized health officials’ response to the pandemic in Alberta during her campaign to become premier – and she promised to change things. She’s now making major changes to health care in the province, firing the entire board of Alberta Health Services and replacing it with a single administrator. Kelly Cryderman , reporter and columnist with The Globe’s Calgary bureau, say...