Front Burner

While Robert Riley Saunders worked as a social worker in British Columbia, he was supposed to provide care and guardianship to some of the province’s most vulnerable foster children. Instead, he is alleged to have stolen from them, leaving many to fend for themselves. Now, the B.C. government has reached a proposed multimillion dollar settlement for more than 100 of his former clients, admitting h...

After a four-month suspension due to COVID-19, Major League Baseball returns for a condensed 60-game season on Thursday. The old ball game, however, is going to look a bit different: there’s social distancing in the dugouts, no fans in the stands and no games in Canada. This weekend, the federal government announced that the Blue Jays can’t play in Toronto during the pandemic. Today on Front Burne...

It’s been 30 years since an explosion of violence and the death of a Quebec provincial police officer on an early July morning marked the beginning of the Oka Crisis. That summer, thousands of Canadian soldiers surrounded two Mohawk communities, just outside Montreal, who were trying to protect a forest and burial ground from the expansion of a golf course. Today on Front Burner, we speak to Mohaw...

Puerto Rican TV personality Walter Mercado wasn’t just one of the world’s most famous astrologers — for his millions of viewers, he was a spiritual guide, motivational speaker, and a bedazzled fashion icon. And for generations of queer Latino kids, his refusal to conform to gender norms was a sign that they, too, could be adored and accepted. Today, Kareem Tabsch, co-director of the new Netflix do...

British Columbia's former provincial health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, has been a harm-reduction advocate for decades. Now, he's planning to launch a company to produce a domestic supply of affordable, legal and pharmaceutical-grade heroin to be used "as a medication for therapy and treatment, but also … to try and cut down the number of unfortunate and preventable deaths that we're currently see...

In the last few weeks on this show, we've talked about a number of police forces under scrutiny across the country. But there’s a city we haven’t talked about, one that frequently has the highest number of police-involved shootings in the country -- Calgary. A new documentary streaming on CBC Gem examines the issue of police violence in Calgary. It's called “Above the Law” and co-director Marc Ser...

Brazil is nearing two million confirmed cases of COVID-19. The country is second to only the United States in its number of cases and deaths and, recently, Brazil's leader himself tested positive. Despite this, President Jair Bolsonaro continues to downplay the threat of the virus. Today on Front Burner, we're joined by Gustavo Ribiero, a journalist with the Brazilian Report and host of the Explai...

This is not your average quiet July in Ottawa. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is embroiled in a new ethics investigation, and now there are revelations about members of his family receiving payment for their appearances at WE Charity events. On top of that, the Liberal government released an “economic and fiscal snapshot” showing the federal government’s deficit hitting an unprecedented $343 billio...

Canada’s Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, has just released a dramatic projection of the country’s deficit this year: $343 billion, largely due to pandemic-related support programs. The unprecedented amount of spending is a signal to many climate advocates that there is now an opportunity to fundamentally reshape the economy through something called a green recovery. Today, climate reporter Geoff D...

The broad and ambiguous offences under China's new national security law have Hong Kongers censoring themselves, fearing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Pro-democracy protesters are holding up blank sheets. Cafes are stripping their messages of support. One of Hong Kong's most prominent and outspoken activists, too, has left the territory altogether. Today on Front Burner, pro-democracy a...

Today marks exactly six months since Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down by two Iranian missiles near Tehran. The devastating tragedy killed 176 people, including 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents. It also left loved ones of the victims desperate for answers about what happened. Back in March, former longtime Liberal MP Ralph Goodale was appointed as special advisor for...

Federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion is investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the Liberal government's decision to task WE Charity with administering a $900-million student grant program. On Friday, WE Charity stepped back from the contract, which had faced criticism because of the Trudeau family's close association with the charity. Today, CBC parliamentary r...

Over 800 companies, including Microsoft, Lululemon, Pfizer and Canada’s five biggest banks are pulling their ads from Facebook this month. They’re just a few of the companies responding to the Stop Hate for Profit boycott, led by civil rights groups who want white supremacist content and misleading climate and vaccine information off the platform. Today on Front Burner, we talk to McGill’s Beaverb...

Today on Front Burner, CBC Washington correspondent Paul Hunter walks us through how the U.S. got to this point, President Donald Trump's role in it, and how even a mask has become a political statement.

On June 15, Maria Ressa, along with a former colleague of her news organization, Rappler, were convicted of ‘cyber libel’ in the Philippines. This, along with seven other charges, are widely seen as an encroachment on press freedom in the country by President Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian government. Today on Front Burner, a conversation with Maria Ressa on why she continues to pursue her journa...

Canada’s Supreme Court has sided with a former Ubereats driver in his quest to pursue a class action lawsuit against Uber. At the heart of that lawsuit lies a long-standing question: Should drivers become employees or remain, as Uber maintains, independent contractors? The latest ruling opens the door for that question to be answered - and with that, the potential for drivers to secure benefits th...

Saskatchewan has just become the first Canadian province to enact Clare’s Law, which aims to help prevent domestic violence by allowing police to warn people about a partner's violent past. But it’s already hit a stumbling block: the RCMP says it won’t take part. Bonnie Allen, a CBC national reporter based in Regina, walks us through the new law and talks about why it’s controversial – including a...

In 2016 a violent altercation with an off-duty Toronto police officer, and the officer’s brother, cost Dafonte Miller his eye. On Friday, officer Michael Theriault was convicted of assaulting the Black young man. An Ontario Superior Court Justice acquitted Theriault and his brother of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice, but called their justification of self-defence “razor thin.” Today...

This is Not a Drake Podcast is a new series that uses seminal moments in Drake’s career to explore the history and evolution of hip-hop, R&B, and Black culture. It’s about the rapper who’s blurred genres and dominated the world stage, and the larger hip-hop movement that made him. The podcast dives deep into the evolution of gender dynamics in hip-hop, especially its relationship with Black women....

This week, the Toronto Raptors touched down in Florida. Soon, 21 other NBA teams will join them in the state, as the NBA gears up to restart the 2019-20 season in Disney World. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are surging in Florida. More than a hundred pages of health and safety protocols have been established, covering everything from prohibitions on doubles ping-pong, to intensive testing procedure...

In an exclusive interview with the National’s Adrienne Arsenault, Michael Kovrig’s wife is speaking out for the first time. Vina Nadjibulla says Ottawa could do more to get her husband - and Canadian Michael Spavor - out of jail in China. Both men were arrested in December of 2018 - just days after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver on behalf of American justice officials. Tod...

Ejaz Choudry. D’Andre Campbell. Rodney Levi. In the last few weeks, several Canadians struggling with their mental health have been shot and killed by police after authorities were called. Today on Front Burner, Jennifer Lavoie, a criminology professor who helps train police on how to handle mental health calls, talks to Josh Bloch about why this issue persists, and how it can be stopped.

COVID-19 outbreaks have ripped through farms in Canada, particularly in southern Ontario, taking a grim toll on migrant workers. Three have already died. Desperate for help, workers have been calling a hotline staffed by the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change – usually in secret. Today, the two people who staff that hotline give us an inside look at this crisis, as it unfolded.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants you to download an app. It’s called “COVID Alert” and it is a new voluntary contact-tracing app that will be available for download in just a few weeks. The app will first be tested in Ontario, before rolling out to the rest of the country. A lot of people are welcoming the app as a powerful tool to stop new coronavirus outbreaks. But it’s still too early to tel...

On Thursday night, Conservative leadership hopefuls faced off in the only English language debate of the campaign. Candidates went toe-to-toe on issues like expanding the party’s base, climate, race and more. Today, CBC’s Power and Politics host Vassy Kapelos provides her analysis as the race to become leader of the party enters a crucial stretch.