The Big Story

Last week, after negotiations with studios and streaming giants failed to yield an agreement, the 160000 performers represented by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) decided to go on strike. They're joined on the picket lines by Writers Guild of America members — the first time both unions have been on strike simultaneously since the 1960's.  Their demands differ, but both group's grievances boil...

Drug busts have long been a go-to tactic for law enforcement in the so-called 'war on drugs', but with the ubiquity of powerful narcotics like fentanyl, it's doubtful that they do much to actually stem the flow of substances to the street. And a new study out of the United States demonstrating a link between drug seizures and overdose deaths, suggests the approach may actually be making things wor...

Asylum seekers come to Canada for safety and a better life, but instead a group of them ended up sleeping on the streets of the country’s biggest city. The Peter Street shelter intake office was thrust into the national spotlight after the city–dealing with an overwhelmed shelter system–started to refer asylum seekers to federally run programs. But when people in need showed up to Peter Street sit...

This episode is guest-hosted by Erica Lenti, deputy features editor at Chatelaine. 27-year old Breeanna Bascombe was trying to rock her infant daughter to sleep when police descended on her parents' Brampton, Ontario home to arrest her, and charge her as an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. The charge was related to a crime allegedly committed by Breanna's ex-boyfriend that she had...

This week we have guest hosts filling in for Jordan Health-Rawlings. Today, we have Justin Ling interviewing Erin O’Toole. Like many places around the world, politics has become more polarized. It seems that long gone are the days of trying to pander to the majority of voters, and now some parties have gone to their most extreme constituents for support. Probably the best example of this was the e...

This is the final episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities. So far this week, we’ve covered problems facing small communities—from housing to the economy to health care. Although these issues are felt across pretty much every community, big or small in Canada, there’s one existential threat we must face globally: the climate crisis. W...

This is the fourth episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities. The smaller your community is, the more likely it is to rely on a handful of employers to keep its economy stable. So when employers are looking for a place to set up shop—especially if that shop might be a little noisy or disruptive or require some tax breaks—they know that...

This is the third episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities. With Canada having its worst wildfire season on record, people across the country are waking up to the reality of what it’s like to live with these natural disasters. But for many communities, the dangers of wildfire season have long been felt and understood. Perhaps few comm...

This is the second episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities. Canada’s health care system has been stressed for many years, but the pandemic pushed the threadbare system past its breaking point. And nowhere else has our capacity for care—in everything from family doctors to walk-in clinics to hospitals—been tested more than rural areas...

Welcome to Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities. Access to affordable housing is not just an issue in large cities across Canada anymore—small communities are also struggling to provide affordable places for the people who need them. And perhaps nowhere is that crunch felt harder than Canada’s north. Everything costs significantly more there...

We've known for decades the world is warming, so it shouldn't come as a shock when some records get broken along the way. But what has set off alarm bells among the scientists who study our changing climate recently is just how fast it's happening, in ways that don't match up with any previous models. From ocean temperature to sea ice, forest fires to heat domes and the world's daily average tempe...

This isn't about streaming services, like Spotify or Netflix, that rent you endless content for a monthly fee. It's about digital copies of art that you've purchased via a link or button that indicates a paid transaction. In many cases, the companies that sold them to you ... haven't, really. Earlier this year, this became abundantly clear when e-books by authors like Roald Dahl or Agatha Christie...

Last week three people were stabbed inside a classroom at the University of Waterloo. The class dealt with philosophy of gender issues, and the attacker reportedly asked about the subject before drawing a knife. For quite some time now anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has been growing harsher and more violent. Was it only a matter of time until something like this happened in Canada? How doe...

As awful as Canada's legacy of residential schools is, there are some in this country who don't want to believe it. In recent months, there's been a rise in attempts to use linguistic missteps on the part of journalists or Indigenous leaders to "expose" what minimizers claim is a lack of proof that thousands of children died at these schools. The case hinges on the difference between terms like "a...

It's here. It's become a part of summer in most areas of Canada. It's bad for you.  What exactly makes wildfire smoke harmful to breathe? And what about the mental health impact of hazy skies and a darkened future? If we're going to live with this we need less speculation, and more science and solutions. Here they are. GUEST: Dr. Courtney Howard, emergency physician; Vice-Chair of the Global Clima...

Let's say you've been victimized by romance fraud. You are humiliated and embarrassed beyond belief, but you have evidence to prove the fraudster is guilty. So, you turn that information over to the police and hope there will be charges, maybe even a conviction. The truth is, in Canada, these cases are difficult to pursue, often leaving perpetrators free to go with a slap on the wrist and victims...

If you're held "on remand" it means you haven't been convicted of a crime yet, but also that you can't secure bail or a judge's release. Practically, it means you go to jail, and stay there while your case crawls through the courts. In some provinces there are thousands more people on remand in jail than there are convicted criminals serving jail time. It leads to crowding, illness and sometimes d...

Nine days ago, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was killed in a targeted daylight shooting in a crowded area outside of a Sikh temple in Surrey, BC. Nijjar was a well-known community leader and pro-Khalistan activist who the Indian government has previously accused of terror offences— allegations he vehemently denied. His activism and controversial past have spawned many theories about who may have done this...

In the age of the internet, it's understandable to wonder what function, if any, our libraries still serve. But the shifting needs of the communities they cater to, and widening holes in the social safety net, have actually made these institutions more essential than ever. As homelessness and mental health crises have spiked, libraries and the people who work inside them have become de facto socia...

It's hard to believe but The Big Story launched on this date, five years ago, June 25, 2018. Since then we've recorded more than 1,250 episodes and listeners have spent millions of hours listening to this podcast. As a token of our appreciation, we made a special bonus episode, digging into the archives for some of our oldest, biggest, strangest and best-remembered clips.  If you've listened to th...

If you're a newer listener to The Big Story, you may not know about The Gravy Train, a podcast we released in 2019 chronicling the meteoric rise, and tragic downfall of Toronto's most notorious mayor, Rob Ford.  With Toronto in the midst of its first wide-open mayoral race since 2010, we thought now would be an opportune time to revisit this narrative, which captures a moment in politics with some...

For a long time now, Toronto has been run by conservative mayors. But all the polls indicate that will change on Monday, with former NDP MP and longtime progressive Olivia Chow holding a commanding lead. Chow ran for mayor before, in 2014, and lost badly. What's different this time, about both the city and her? Whomever wins the job will have to work with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said this w...

It's one thing when companies that exist entirely online—like Facebook and Instagram—use chatbots and emails instead of a real person as a customer service solution. That's annoying, but understandable. It's another when business like appliance vendors, airlines and shipping companies have no way to connect a customer with a problem to an actual human who can help them. But this trend has been gat...

A submersible intended to take five people to visit the wreck of the Titanic was missing as of Wednesday night. If the people inside are still alive, they are rapidly running out of air. A massive search is underway, but the ocean is huge, and the vehicle could be anywhere. The expedition is a commercial endeavour run by a company called OceanGate, that runs out of St. John's. Would-be explorers p...

It wasn't that long ago that airlines were slashing prices and offering huge seat sales to lure timid customers back onto planes during the pandemic. Safe to say, those days are over. For at least a year now, prices have been climbing and the summer travel season marks a new peak. A peak that likely won't last past next summer. How are seat prices set, anyway? How much of this is based on an airli...