Storylines

Canada's first music copyright trial took place in Ontario's highest court just over forty years ago. It saw a little-known lounge musician named Ivan Gondos face off against established hitmaker Hagood Hardy. The ruling helped define today’s copyright law, but the song in question and the (downright bizarre) story behind it, have largely been forgotten. But not in Pete Mitton’s family! Pete’s mom...

An update from Acey Rowe about exciting new things coming to a podcast feed near you...

After learning of an annual neighbourhood New Year's Eve Party to which he had never been invited, Tom Howell became more curious about his neighbours. He’d lived on the same street for 15 years, yet could only name five neighbours. Tom goes on a quest to figure out how many of our neighbours we should know, and what the sweet spot is for him. (Originally broadcast March 2018)

In February 2018, Danny Filippidis, a Toronto firefighter, was on a ski trip with some friends. He left his buddies to go get his phone at the bottom of the slope. That's the last anyone saw of him for six days. The only journalist who was ever granted access to Danny sits down to talk - about what we know, and what remains unknowable. (Originally broadcast February 2019)

As a journalist, Kim Wheeler has been covering Indigenous stories for nearly thirty years. But there's one story that has taken her decades to tell: her own. When she was 13 days old, Canadian authorities separated Kim from her family and First Nation and placed her in a white household. In 2017, a class action lawsuit against the Federal government resulted in a settlement. Now, Kim tells her sto...

Elaine Hofer lives in Green Acres, a Hutterite colony nestled in the southwestern corner of Manitoba. Elaine spends her days working with her community and teaching at the local school. And although she is 38 years old, as an unmarried woman Elaine lives at home with her parents and two adult siblings. But for all the tradition and responsibility, there is one thing Elaine does just for herself......

Close your eyes and imagine a horse. What do you see? Statistically, you can probably picture the horse in your mind. The colour, the flowing tail. Tom Ebeyer can't do that. Tom doesn't have a mind's eye, and for the first 20 years of his life he didn't even know what a mind's eye was. But now, Tom is finding other people like him, and they are finding belonging in their difference. Plus, they fin...

"My name is Radwan Altaleb. I'm a musician. My instrument is oud. I'm from Syria. Music is my life, and my life is music." To Radwan Altaleb, now living in Canada, the oud is more than a musical instrument. It's a means of remembering his life in Syria. Radwan's passion for the oud has led him to amass more than 60 instruments - from dozens of the finest makers across the Middle East. It's one of...

Leonard Wilson is an unlikely social media star. For one, nobody is really sure how old Leonard is. He’s a senior, that much is clear. He lives on a farm in Parry Sound, Ontario. His Facebook dispatches detail his chicken-caring duties, walks around the homestead, and wild animal encounters. Hundreds of fans from as far away as China and Mexico send e-mails if they don't see a new "Leonard Time" u...

Eunice Kim was born in South Korea and she speaks the language fluently, but recently, she stumbled upon an unfamiliar word: han. Han has no English translation. It's used to describe a combination of rage, grief and regret - a feeling so powerful, some believe you can die from it. To many Koreans, han is part of the cultural DNA. Once you know what it is, you see it everywhere, from Korean movies...

Beulah Chandler was on her favourite Cape Breton beach one August day in 2017 when she witnessed the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. It was Duncan Gillis, a stranger, helping his ailing wife walk on the beach. Beulah posted a video of the couple online. Over 37,000 views later, their story is only beginning. (First broadcast May 2018)

When Faraj Mohyeddin was admitted to the hospital with terminal cancer, his daughter Samira wouldn't settle for the regular visiting hours and care regime. She moved in, and turned the last days of his life into a non-stop party. (Originally broadcast February 2018)

Over the past century, hundreds — maybe even thousands — of people have looked for Slumach's gold, a fabled gold mine in B.C. said to be worth billions. To date, no one has ever conclusively located it. But Adam Palmer thinks he's getting close so regular Doc Project contributor Brad Badelt is going treasure hunting with him! (Originally broadcast October 2019)

Every year, enormous amounts of wealth in Canada pass between hands through inheritances. At the top of the scale are what are called “ultra-high net worth” families – families with so much intergenerational wealth, that inheritances are in the tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. For our original episode, Doc Project host Acey Rowe and regular contributor Craig Desson, take a deep dive i...

After 7 incredible years The Doc Project is saying goodbye. A message from host, Acey Rowe, to our wonderful listeners and Doc Project family. Keep subscribed for our summer season, updates, and our final new episode, which is still to come!

Anna Marie MacLean was born in British Columbia. A year later, on the other side of Canada, Anna Marie MacLean was born in Nova Scotia. Fourteen years later, they’d also end up in the same place: Halifax. Two Annas. Same name, same place, no relation. A coincidence, right? But as the two Annas grew up, their lives became increasingly entwined. Both Annas swear that the other fundamentally altered...

When Lindsay Wong wrote her tell-all memoir, The Woo-Woo, she never considered the consequences of spilling her family’s secrets. But when her book became a Canadian bestseller, her family’s problems with undiagnosed mental illness, and other unflattering stories, were out in the open. In a personal essay, Lindsay Wong explores the aftermath of writing a successful memoir, and how her family is en...

For some, the images of children trying to flee the devastation in Ukraine have stirred painful memories. More than 100 days since the conflict began, Joan Webber speaks to a Canadian woman who knows what it means to be a child in war. Having lived through the Siege of Sarajevo, she says, the war has never left her.

The Marefat School in Kabul, Afghanistan earned an international reputation for being a place where democracy, freedom, and education could flourish. The co-ed facility mentored young men and women aged 14-20. But when the Taliban took over the country in August 2021, many of the female teachers and students had to flee for their lives. This documentary tells the story of a music teacher who – wit...

Jordan Verner has spent his entire adult life obsessed with a song he hasn’t heard since he was a kid. He doesn’t know what it’s called, what the lyrics are or even who wrote it. What he does know is that it was from Dimoitou -- a series of cassettes used to teach French in some Canadian elementary schools in the 80’s and 90’s. Jordan’s been searching unsuccessfully for years. When Doc Project pro...

Two guys head out for a canoe paddle one evening after work, near downtown Edmonton. On the bank of the river, something peeks out… and they can’t believe what they are seeing. It’s a tree stump, but it’s also a rock. They have just discovered an ancient, petrified piece of Edmonton's history. An artifact that is 70-million years old. They begin the journey to get the stump out, so the world can s...

Pooja Joshi is an independent woman in her thirties – she has her own place, can assemble IKEA furniture, and change a flat tire if she needs to. While she doesn’t actually need a husband, she would like a romantic partner to share her life with. Pooja’s parents have been urging her to marry for years. So when she tells them she’s willing to let them get involved in finding the right match, they d...

Julia Lipscombe and her husband's first-wife, Shannon Tyler, have a relationship neither anticipated: they are straight up friends. They spend most major holidays together, and even vacation together, along with their combined three kids and partners (including Shannon’s ex/ Julia’s husband). It’s the kind of harmonious relationship most blended families dream of… or raise a skeptical eyebrow at....

Jirard Saddleback and Kwaku Frimpong are both proud fathers and they’re both trying to parent from behind bars. It’s estimated that around 450,000 children in Canada have a parent in prison, and that more than half of the men in prison are fathers. Yet until recently very little has been done to support these dads. Now a program for incarcerated fathers, called Dad Hero, is helping prisoners paren...

Shimshon Obadia has had many bags over the years, each endeavouring to be the "perfect" one, each promising to be the last bag they'll ever need, and each inevitably being merely the last one they bought... But that might be because Shimshon was still in the closet and afraid that purchasing a bag that looked too fun, flamboyant, or queer might accidentally out them. Now, as a transgender nonbinar...