Front Burner

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.

In the midst of a pandemic, two veteran executives launched Quibi — a video-streaming app intended for watching on the go. With nearly $2 billion in cash invested and a huge roster of A-list celebrities creating content, it seemed like a recipe for success. But two months later, the app has largely missed the mark, with subscriptions way below expectations. Today on Front Burner, we talk to Kathry...

There’s another public health crisis killing Canadians in record numbers. In May, 170 people died from illicit drug overdoses in British Columbia. It's the worst death toll in the province’s history. And it’s not just B.C., people are overdosing all over the country, particularly in Ontario and Alberta. Garth Mullins is a documentarian and host of the award-winning podcast Crackdown. It was create...

Ten years ago, an eccentric Santa Fe art dealer named Forrest Fenn says he hid a treasure chest somewhere in the American Rocky Mountains – and then he wrote a poem with clues to tell people how to find it. Hundreds of thousands have tried. At least five have died on their search. And now, Fenn says the treasure has been found. But is the story really over? Today we’re joined by Robert Nott, a rep...

We are living in a time of ubiquitous recording. There are cameras are everywhere; capturing the last moments of George Floyd’s life; recording the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks by Atlanta Police on Friday night; and documenting another angle of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam being punched by an officer during an arrest in Fort McMurray. There are also live streams of protes...

After more than 1000 episodes, the reality television show COPS has officially been cancelled. For thirty years, COPS has broadcast police officers chasing down suspects and arresting them as entertainment. But according to Henry Molofsky, producer of the hit investigative podcast Running From Cops, the vision of crime and policing portrayed by COPS was often distorted. Today, Henry Molofsky discu...

Bon Appetit editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport resigned on Monday over accusations of brownface. It involved a 2004 photo of Rapoport and his wife dressing up as Puerto Ricans. But according to more than a dozen former and current employees of colour who have since spoken out, the racism runs deeper than just that photo. Today on Front Burner, a conversation with culture writer Navneet Alang about this...

Last Thursday, a 26-year-old Indigenous woman was killed by a New Brunswick police officer. Chantel Moore was shot five times during what was meant to be a wellness check. Her death is one of several recent incidents of police violence against Indigenous people in Canada. As the Black Lives Matter movement shines a light on police brutality and calls into question the power and even necessity of p...

On the weekend, a majority of the Minneapolis city council declared their intention to disband the city's police force. The move comes in response to the killing of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin — a member of that force — and to other local instances of police brutality. Today on Front Burner, we talk about the growing "defund police" movement that says scaling down police budgets and spending the...

Twitter says its staff can work from home as long as they want. The head of Shopify says “office centricity is over.” OpenText is shuttering half of its offices, reducing its workforce and shifting 2000 employees to remote work. COVID-19 forced hundreds of millions of employees to temporarily work from home, but companies are starting to change their remote work strategies from “pandemic” to “perm...

From the aggressive tactics of police at demonstrations in the United States, to the increasing demand to recognize systemic racism against Black communities and deal with police violence, to the ongoing threat of COVID-19 — it has been a chaotic and politically charged week. Today on Front Burner, we take a step back to listen to individuals who are deeply affected by the week’s events. Five Blac...

While scientists worldwide are trying to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, reports show an uptick in state-sponsored medical hacking. Countries like China and Iran appear to be actively hacking vaccine research. Today on Front Burner: We talk to cybersecurity expert Priscilla Moriuchi about the fears that are driving these hacking efforts, and how they could derail vaccine research.

Demonstrations across the US protesting the death of George Floyd are coinciding with a global pandemic and an economic crisis. And it’s a moment when many Americans are calling on the president for leadership. Keith Boag, a longtime political correspondent and a contributor to the CBC on US politics, joins us to talk about how Donald Trump is responding to this critical moment — and what lies ahe...

Despite making up only 13 per cent of the population, black Americans represent about a quarter of all people killed by police. Today on Front Burner, we speak to civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson about the concrete steps he thinks could be taken to deal with the problem of race-based police violence.

This weekend, in at least 75 U.S. cities, demonstrators marched against racism and police violence in the wake of the video showing the last moments of George Floyd's life, with a Minneapolis police officer's knee on his neck. North of the border, thousands of people rallied in Toronto, some holding signs demanding "Justice for Regis." Regis Korchinski-Paquet is a black woman from Toronto whose de...

For the first time, police are treating an alleged incel-inspired killing as an act of terror. In February, a 17-year-old male was charged with murder and attempted murder in the broad daylight slaying of a woman at a North Toronto massage parlour. Last week, those charges were updated to terror charges. Today on Front Burner, former CSIS analyst Jessica Davis and University of Calgary law profess...