Storylines

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...

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...