Storylines

Sarah Essiambre was determined to give birth to her third baby at home. But, she said doctors told her she’d never have a vaginal birth after her first C-section. She decided to ignore their advice and instead went online to get information.  She’s not alone. Doctors and midwives are reporting an increased interest in giving birth with little to no medical help at all. Some even choose freebi...

For five months, people pushing for Alberta separatism have been travelling the province gathering signatures. Now it’s up to the province and the courts to decide if there will be a referendum on separation in the fall. This documentary explores why people want to leave, what they think they’ll get out of it, and why many are pushing back.

Some people struggling with opioid addiction are turning to a powerful psychedelic called ibogaine. The drug is derived from the bark of an African rainforest shrub, and its proponents believe it sends people on a transformative journey that can free them from addiction.  In countries like Mexico, ibogaine use is unregulated, so resort-like clinics are offering what they consider treatment fo...

Have you ever sat staring at your screen wondering – swipe left or right? If so, you’re in the company of millions of people who use online dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge. But since their peak in popularity during Covid, a growing number of Gen Z and millennials are beginning to turn away from the apps. According to a Forbes Health survey in 2025, 78 per cent of users were feeling emoti...

Being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – or ALS – is a death sentence. There are about 3,000 ALS patients in Canada at any one time, and every year, 1,000 more Canadians are diagnosed. About 1,000 people die from the condition every year.    In Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan there is a scientist who claims to have discovered the secret to stopping the disease in its tracks, and sett...

Country star Corb Lund spent decades building a musical career without wading into politics. But when a longstanding coal policy was reversed in Alberta in 2020, the musician put his career second to lead a fight to keep coal mining exploration and development out of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains. Years into being the voice of the issue, Corb opens up about the toll it has taken on him personally, fro...

Eddy Garcia never thought his family would leave their homeland. But after months of no work, school closures, and skyrocketing food prices, he and his wife and kids made the excruciating decision to leave their life in Cuba and move to the Dominican Republic.  Eddy drove a cab for tourists in Cuba, but he also helped deliver aid for a Canadian charity called Together for Cuba. A charity sole...

It was a late summer evening when James Blacksmith was travelling along a prairie highway. The Manitoba man saw nothing out of the ordinary, save for a black cloud right above him. Suddenly, a massive wind kicked up and he was forced to pull off the road. Then a tornado struck.  What follows is a story of survival and discovery. And while scientists aren’t sure yet what role climate change pl...

People in B.C. were caught by surprise when, in August 2025, a Supreme Court declared Aboriginal title on some privately held land, not far outside Metro Vancouver.  Incredibly, most of the people that live inside the claim area weren’t told about the unprecedented case, until the decision came out.  In this documentary, the CBC’s Georgie Smyth tells the stories of the Canadians tangled...

It’s the summer of 2019, and a flight bound for Australia has just experienced some extreme turbulence. One passenger thought the plane was going down, another said it felt like King Kong grabbed the plane and shook it. Their plane recovered, and those with injuries were taken to hospital. When the incident was analyzed, a representative from Air Canada said the terrifying moment was a result...

When Dr. Jadah Johnson first met Nora Scott, she thought she was going to die. The woman from High River, Alberta was a patient at the psychiatric unit where the young psychiatrist worked. Four years earlier, Nora had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She recovered, but had now relapsed. Her family described all the expected symptoms: depression, mania, psychosis. But the diagnosis didn’t sit...

Rachel Collishaw is looking for a better way to live. She wants more connection, strong community, and support as she ages. She found a group in Ottawa wanting the same thing, and the excitement is palpable.  They want to build something called Cohousing, where homes get built with the intention of spending more time with your neighbours, sharing meals, and support for young and old.  As...

Leila Afshari’s brother went missing in January when he joined protestors filling the streets of Iran. They were calling for regime change but instead were met with bullets. Thousands were killed and many more arrested. The internet was shut down and Iranian Canadians were left in the dark, not knowing what had happened to their loved ones. This documentary traces their efforts to search for the t...

As rat populations spike across North America, scientists search for new ways to curb the critters.   It’s a pressing task, as scientists warn climate change is contributing to a perfect storm of rat-friendly conditions. And there’s a lot at stake. One rat expert calls them klepto parasites because they steal from us. Our health, our safety and our peace of mind. It’s why in an alleyway in Ch...

A nine-year-old Haitian girl just wants to go to school, but her family is too scared to let her outside. They haven’t left the house in a while, fearing one of them will be detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers currently patrolling the streets of Minneapolis-St. Paul. In fact, the family is so worried they’re hiding at a fellow Haitian’s home in the Twin Cities. A...

You run. We will Shoot.  And if you survive you can go. That’s what women were told by fighters in Sudan. They ran and somehow made it to a refugee camp in neighbouring Chad.  There are about a million people from Sudan now in Chad, who escaped a brutal civil war that has raged for almost three years. Humanitarian groups are struggling to provide shelter, food and water while the world m...

Inmates recall seeing feces on the walls and using tampons for earplugs to drown out the constant screaming of other prisoners.  Today in Ontario, thousands more people are behind bars than just a few years ago. But the number of cells remains the same. Reports of violence, lockdowns and inadequate healthcare are on the rise. Most inmates haven’t been tried yet and this is all happening while...

Laura and Nick Bordignon fell in love with their daughter before she was born. They named her Makayla. They decorated her nursery. Nick snuggled up to Laura's stomach and read to her at night.  But seven months into the pregnancy Laura stopped feeling Makayla's movements, and doctors confirmed the worst. Makayla is one of about 3-thousand stillborn babies delivered every year in Canada. And d...

When Arthur Arnold resigned from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he walked away from one of the world's most prestigious symphony stages. This decision would bring him a world away, to Powell River, British Columbia, a town tucked between the ocean and the mountains with a population of 13,000. This town is at a crossroads. Two years ago, its economic hear...

In this episode, we step inside a Toronto classroom where some 30 students from diverse backgrounds lift their voices and sing as part of the University of Toronto’s first-ever Black gospel choir class. Led by Professor Darren Hamiliton, the students, many with no background in gospel music, learn that there is more to this musical tradition than they imagined.  In this documentary, Let it Sh...

Stephanie Azzarello was dying. To survive, doctors told her she needed to find someone willing to donate part of their liver.  Her story went out on social media and late one night, it reached the phone of a nurse and mother in Portland Oregon. There was something about Stephanie’s story that made Trisha Beard want to help.  Liz Hoath brings us this story about two women whose lives beca...

In July 2024, seven fishermen from around New-Wes-Valley, Newfoundland set out on their fishing boat in search of turbot.   While at sea that day a fire broke out near the engine room, before long the bunkroom was full of smoke. The seven sailors had no choice but to abandon ship and before long they were sitting in a small life-raft.  What followed was a 52-hour ordeal that te...

One Yukon community is fighting back against wildfires with an unlikely weapon —trees. The plan seems counterintuitive, using trees to stop a fire, but Aspens are fire-resistant unlike the flammable trees like spruces and pines found around the city.  But growing the almost two million trees to make the firebreak isn’t easy.  It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of little seed...

Complaints are common. Cormorants kill trees. They eat too many fish. Their colonies stink.  Warren Hoselton has had enough. After three years of watching his beloved trees around his Ontario home be decimated by cormorant poop, he wants action. The birds have to go.  But not everyone has a hate-on for cormorants. Avian ecologists say it's not fair to fault birds for doing what nature de...

It was supposed to keep Canada together but a massive 1995 rally nearly did the opposite. In 1995, Canada was on the verge of breaking up. The province of Quebec was about to vote on whether to become a sovereign nation. Just days before a referendum on that very question, tens of thousands of Canadians from across the country poured into Montreal. Travelling by planes and trains - they gathered f...