CANADALAND

Canada created a new pathway to permanent residency for a large number of Ukrainian refugees, as a group of asylum claimants from other countries were sleeping in the streets of Toronto. We discuss the political calculations involved in supporting displaced people. We also try to make sense of the ups and downs of the Bank of Canada. Host: Erica Ifill Credits: Kevin Sexton (Producer), Caleb T...

“When you can’t afford to lose” is not just Navigator’s trademarked slogan; it’s also its core business proposition. Although it offers a range of services, from market research to communications, Navigator is best known as the firm to which Canada’s rich and powerful turn when facing a crisis that could cost them that wealth and power. Its highest-profile clients have included Michael Bryant and...

The Trudeau government won’t back down on Bill C-18 – except now they are. We also talk about the crypto crime that never happened, a threatening cop, Danielle Smith’s ‘vindication’ and updates to the Burns Lake Tribunal Hearing. Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Ch...

Last month the Globe and Mail reported that Anton Skyba, their photojournalist in Ukraine, applied to the Ukrainian government to have his press credentials renewed - and was denied. Ukrainian security services accused him of holding a Russian passport, demanded that he take a lie-detector test, and questioned whether his work as a journalist was aligned with Ukraine’s “national interests.” It was...

Le 9 juin dernier, la ministre responsable de l’habitation au Québec propose le projet de loi 31 qui, entre autres amendements, vise à permettre aux propriétaires de refuser une cession de bail sans motif sérieux. La cession de bail étant un outil important au Québec pour prévenir les augmentations de loyers déraisonnables, cette proposition du gouvernement caquiste a suscité un débat sur le droit...

Google and Meta respond to Bill C-18 by threatening to block Canadian news. And the first woman to head up the Assembly of First Nations is out after just two years, due to some combination of any or all of her own alleged misconduct, a conspiracy to depose her, and/or run-of-the-mill misogyny.  Host: Jonathan Goldsbie Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Techni...

Marc joins Jesse for a conversation about his plans to emigrate to Vancouver and the differences between Canada and the U.S. when it comes to fascism, comedy, and Jews. Further reading: Marc interviews Lorne Michaels:  http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_653_-_lorne_michaels Jesse interviews Hart Pomerantz:  https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/hart-pomerantz/ The late, great Mi...

Toronto Star owner Nordstar and Postmedia are in talks to merge - a death knell to Canadian print media. Jesse and co-host Jaskaran Sandhu unpack the killing of Sikh community leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey - possibly at the hands of the Indian government. AND an expose of alleged misbehaviour at a middle school in Brampton. Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompso...

Vancouver’s SROs are home to some of the most vulnerable people in the province, and some of the most challenging housing to run. So when Atira Women’s Resource Society stepped up to run several buildings, concerns that the CEO was in a relationship with the CEO of BC Housing, the provincial corporation in charge of that housing, were dismissed.  In the years that followed, there was growing...

Avec May Chiu (coordinatrice de la Table ronde du Quartier chinois de Montréal et membre de l’Association des Chinois progressistes du Québec), Emilie se penche sur l’impact de l’actualité des derniers mois sur la communauté chinoise du Canada. Quels sont les impacts sur le terrain des enquêtes journalistiques du printemps sur l’ingérence de Beijing au pays ? La diversité des points de vue chez le...

Do the billionaires on the missing Titan submarine deserve sympathy or scorn? While Canada and the US pull out all the stops to find it, days before, a boat off the coast of Greece capsized, killing 300, with minimal international attention. And we get into the behind-the-scenes of the CTV layoffs at Bell Media.   Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio...

It was in the winter of 2021 that the world first became aware of a mounting number of patients being seen in New Brunswick with unusual neurological symptoms. A year later, the Government of New Brunswick released a report dismissing the entire issue, claiming there was never a cluster of patients to begin with. CANADALAND has obtained thousands and thousands of pages of internal documents that t...

After weeks of navigating accusations of conflict, special rapporteur David Johnston finally ran aground. If you’re trying to persuade people of your unimpeachable independence, maybe don’t hire a communications firm that’s connected to everyone? And, ah crap, the far right is fixated on queer people again. The Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo co-hosts. Host: Jonathan Goldsbie Credits: Aviva Lessard (Produce...

In the mid-2010s, BuzzFeed News seemed like the most exciting place in media: an almost cloyingly whimsical carnival of abundance where journalists were actually happy. At a time when everything else appeared to be crumbling, it burst with hope and possibility. Last month, after just a few years of layoffs and withering, it shut down for good. And if the quick life and death of BuzzFeed News repre...

Avec France-Isabelle Langlois (directrice générale d’Amnistie internationale Canada francophone) et Maïka Sondarjee (professeure adjointe à l’Université d’Ottawa, cofondatrice de Femmes expertes et auteure), Emilie se penche sur la haine (en ligne) à laquelle les femmes s’exposent de plus en plus lorsqu’elles prennent la parole publiquement sur les enjeux qui leur tiennent à cœur. Pourquoi est-ce...

Wildfires are coming at us from all sides. How can local reporters get at the root issues? And the implementation of Quebec's language law municipalities making fun of the new rules. Tim Bousquet co-hosts.  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor) Guest: Tim Bousquet   Further reading:&nbs...

There's no beat more likely to get you an audience and a paycheck. It's trend-proof and recession-proof. Yes, true crime is freakishly popular right now, but it was never unpopular. Audiences have been showing up for gangster stories and murder stories and heist stories and scam stories steadily, for at least a hundred years, and probably a lot longer. It's big business. But it’s a business that c...

Despite Danielle Smith’s involvement in numerous scandals, she won a majority in Alberta’s election. Albertan Dani Paradis helps us understand why. And senior citizen sex shows, sex toy exhibits and art by Bryan Adams - you may not like it, but you’ve been paying for them, taxpayer! Well, no more.  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical...

Big tech critic Cory Doctorow lays out a four-part plan to save the news media from big tech’s stranglehold. The plan: create a comprehensive new privacy law, open up the app stores to true competition, return to the internet’s founding principle of true end to end delivery, and finally, splinter Meta and Google into smaller independent competing companies. Would it work? How close are we to any o...

Hockey is a hell of a lot of fun. But right now, the sport is going through a reckoning. Allegations of racism, corruption, sexual misconduct and so much more are rocking the game to its core. But the truth is that in Canada, hockey is more than just a sport. It’s a civic religion, with a billion dollar business attached to it. Over the next seven episodes, COMMONS will be digging into the cult of...

The Special Rapporteur is back with a hotly anticipated release - No Public Inquiry! David Johnston made his decision – rage and frustration ensued. And the Toronto Mayoral race heats up with Olivia Chow leading the polls.  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor) Guest: Jan Wong   Further...

The odds were stacked against us, but here we are. This year Canadaland turns ten. To mark the occasion, Canadaland Founder and Publisher, Jesse Brown, shares why he started a podcast and how that morphed into a thriving media company. Jesse reflects on the impact our journalism has and continues to have, why the work the team does is more important than ever, and how our supporters have enabled i...

While the press of today might not be reporting on aliens with the same fervour, many of the tropes from those days are still alive and well in modern-day journalism.  Stories about how no one wants to work anymore, or how technology is killing the art of conversation, have been told for over 130 years… and counting.  What are the tropes that keep coming back again and again? And are we...

Des feux de forêt font rage en Alberta alors qu’une élection provinciale est en cours. Emilie discute de l’état du conservatisme en Alberta, mais aussi la nouvelle génération d’intellectuels conservateurs au Québec avec Frédéric Boily, auteur et professeur de sciences politiques au Campus Saint-Jean de l’Université de l’Alberta. While forest fires rage in Alberta, a provincial election campaign is...

Jesse Brown and co-host Manisha Krishnan dismantle a 10,000 word piece in the National Post claiming safe supply programs are killing people and fuelling a new opioid crisis. And three cheers for the new Canadian passport!  Host: Jesse Brown Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor) Guest: Manisha Krishnan  ...