Storylines

In Temple, Texas, something is growing like gang busters in fields once belonging to farmers. Data centres. Lots of them. But not everyone is happy about the new neighbours. While the mayor claims they will help raise property values, many residents worry about the impact big tech will have on their family homes. Matt Galloway headed to Temple to hear the tale of two futures: one of prosperity and...

 Booze costs Canadian society an estimated $20 billion a year. It causes far more harm overall than any other drug in the country including tobacco and opioids. Every day, nine people die in Canadian hospitals from damage caused by alcohol. So, doctors and advocates are questioning why more isn’t being done to help people who are suffering. People like Jordan Kawchuk who shares his very personal...

Grey whales on the West Coast of North America are in trouble. They’re skinny, starving and dying. Their numbers dropped from an estimated 26,000 to roughly 12,000 in just under a decade. Scientists blame climate change. Twelve dead whales have been discovered already this year in BC. Laura Lynch’s documentary explores what’s happening to the whales.

On the evening of August 7th - a forest fire northwest of Summerland, BC spread at an alarming speed. The entire district of Summerland appeared to be in its path. Suddenly, air raid sirens blare into the darkness. Twenty-thousand people are forced to flee their homes - some driving through flames and thick smoke.  Sarah Penton brings us this documentary about the terror of that night - and w...

Competitive cycling is a dangerous sport. Crashes are common. Even deadly. Just this year, at least 11 riders have died during races or training rides.  The end of September was a big week for elite cycling in Canada, with Montreal hosting the road world championships. Competitors were laser focused on two things: having the races of their lives, and not getting hurt.  At a time when the...

You can hear a pin drop inside a grade four class in Gimli, Manitoba. Kids racing to fill in as many math answers as they can. It’s something they do most days in this class  - part of a style of teaching math that’s new to this school. A math teaching strategy that’s trying to rectify some really low test results in the district. Staff say it’s working. Big time. But as Julia Pagel disc...

CFB Gagetown is known as the "Home of the Army" because nearly every Canadian soldier passes through for training. But some veterans say their time at Gagetown led to long-lasting illnesses from toxic chemicals sprayed there decades ago. And yet Gagetown has never been more important to Canada’s military future. This year, Ottawa announced more than a billion dollars to modernize the base.  A...

The stench in St. Mary’s, Newfoundland gets so bad sometimes, it can take your breath away. The culprit? More than 100 giant, leaking vats of fermenting capelin in an old abandoned fish sauce plant, right in the centre of town.  For years, residents pleaded for help to clear the vats out. But it took an unexpected turn to finally get some relief. When CBC’s Mary Catherine McIntosh went to St....

Storylines brings you beyond the headlines and deep into someone else's world. And, we’re about to launch a whole new season! Where you'll meet people who are trying to create change, struggling through challenges they’d never thought they’d have to face, and describing conundrums you can hardly imagine. Subscribe now, so you don’t miss an episode. 

For Daniel Mergler, music was one of the true joys in life. He taught children to play piano for 50 years, and took his job very seriously. So when 9 year old Zin Ben showed special talent, a shot of excitement went through the aging teacher. This talent needed to be cultivated. Care must be taken. But, when Mr. Mergler was given a palliative diagnosis after his colon cancer spread, he found that...

When Jillian Hadley burst from her home, she was clutching her baby, and she was naked. She was screaming for help, trying to escape the grip of a man. The man was her estranged husband. He was under a court order to stay away from her.  A few brave neighbours tried to help the woman, but on that Tuesday 26 years ago, 34-year-old Ralph Hadley shot and killed Jillian Hadley and then killed him...

It has been more than 30 years since the Siege of Sarajevo in Bosnia began. As the former Yugoslavia was falling Serb forces surrounded the city of Sarajevo, and bombarded the city daily. For nearly four years mortars and snipers gradually reduced the capital to ruin and its citizens to despair. It's believed nearly 12,000 people were killed and many were children. Lara Obrien traveled to Sar...

In October of 1984, a plane crash in northern Alberta led the newscasts. The leader of the Province’s New Democratic Party – Grant Notley - died in the accident along with five others. Four more had survived, but spent a cold, desperate night waiting to be rescued. They had little in common besides the fact that they lived when others did not. The then provincial housing minister, Larry Shabe...

Mother Antonia lived in a prison, but she had not committed a crime. The Catholic nun chose to live inside the walls of a notorious Tijuana prison voluntarily. It’s something she did for decades. She believed everyone deserved to be loved. And her presence there made her a legend.  From our special archival doc summer series, this is Joan Webber’s 2007 doc - Faith Inside the Walls. 

When Kevin Hollinsky and his two friends got in the car that night, they had the music turned up. They were normal teenagers, coming home from a night out drinking. But when Kevin took a corner too fast, his entire world changed. He killed his friends Joe Camlis and Andrew Thompson. Kevin survived. Kevin Hollinsky was convicted of dangerous driving that caused the death of two of his passengers.&n...

In 2010, producer David Gutnick travelled to Haiti soon after the devastating earthquake there. Embedding with a local family, he slept on the ground alongside hundreds of thousands of others, now homeless after the earthquake. The 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed more than 220,000 and some 300,000 were injured.  Those survivors were left eking out survival in their already impoverished and in...

When Thelon Oeming first met Vern Nash, he was yelling in the street. Thelon had just moved into a new apartment in Toronto, and he decides he wants to get to know his new neighbour. As they talk, Thelon realizes Vern has voices in his head, but that he also can play the accordion. Very well.  From our special archival doc summer series this is Who is Vern Nash, produced by Thelon Oeming...

When Trina Benedict tucked her 6 year old into the bunk on the Queen of the North ferry that evening in 2006, she had no idea what nightmare was about to unfold. Just a few hours later, they’d be running for their lives from the ship, as it slowly sank into the cold ocean water.  It’s 20 years since that ferry sank off the coast of British Columbia. 101 passengers were onboard. Two - Gerald F...

Starting next week we’re sharing some of the best of CBC’s audio documentary history. Shocking, funny, beautiful stories that we’re so excited to bring into your podcast feed.  Here at the doc unit we LOVE long form audio, and we know how powerful these stories can be. And at CBC, we have a long, award winning history of audio documentaries. But many of those stories aren'...

Alan is an entrepreneur of sorts. Ten years into a public health emergency in British Columbia, most deaths from toxic drugs are happening behind closed doors. Men at home alone. This is where Alan comes in. For a fee, he injects users with their drugs and watches them for signs of an overdose. To those who employ him, he’s known as “The Doctor,” but he’s not a physician and his work is illegal.

Sharlene Rochard was 16 when she left Ontario for the bright lights of New York City and Los Angeles to pursue a modelling career. She was booking multiple jobs a week and starting to make a go of it when she met Jeffrey Epstein. For decades she stayed quiet about what happened to her — but now she’s speaking up. She’s testifying at committees and knocking on politicians’ doors, demanding jus...

The milkman model is simple. Bottles are filled, dropped off, emptied and picked up over and over again. That system got a Canadian entrepreneur thinking. In this day and age of mountains of plastic waste — why not re-use containers? His system, called Loop, was launched in 2019 at Davos Switzerland — to great fanfare. Environmentalists welcomed it and big corporations signed on to be part of the...

When Loretta Zaluski found the skeleton of a dead horse near her home she was a little scared, and worried. But she wasn’t as confused as some might be. She knows some people in the Yukon aren't pleased with her, so Loretta believes someone deposited these horse remains to make a point Loretta is part of a group called The Yukon Wild Horse Society, which is deeply concerned about the wellbeing of...

Backcountry skier Hannah Hughes realized she couldn’t fight the wall of snow when it hit her. She survived but the experience has her rethinking her relationship with risk, and she isn’t alone. The 2025-2026 ski season has been a brutal year for avalanche-related deaths in many parts of the world. Some scientists say climate change is now one more factor to consider when heading out into the backc...

Online sports betting and casino games in Canada generated $12.5 billion in revenue last year. But more than half that money ends up offshore, where there are no Canadian taxes, and little to no consumer protections. That's why the province of Ontario opened up its online gambling market to private operators four years ago, and why Alberta is following suit later this year. But for a small bu...