The Big Story

We've known for some time that we're due for a massive earthquake—but it could happen tomorrow or 20 years from now. In geological terms that's roughly the same. But it's not for us—if the Big One happened tomorrow, Canada's west coast would be devastated. We know what we need to do to prepare for it. We even have the blueprints for how to reinforce our structures. We could prepare properly anytim...

Almost one million American children under 12 have been vaccinated against Covid-19 since the FDA approved the shot more than a week ago. The Canadian total is still zero, and parents are getting angry. When can we expect approval? How will the shots get into those little arms? What concerns do hesitant parents have and how can public health ease their minds? And finally, for adults who are still...

More than a decade ago, a Canadian researcher tracked local media coverage given to cases of missing Indigenous and missing white women. You can probably guess what that revealed. Since then, however, Canada and other countries have spent time discussing racial bias, and attempting to correct it. Canada even had an entire national inquiry dedicated to the travesty of Missing and Murdered Indigenou...

It's been more than a year and a half since Canadians could freely drive across the border to the United States — to visit friends and family, to see a game or do some shopping. But maybe "freely" isn't the most accurate way to put it, since the crossing process will be more regulated and restricted than pre-pandemic times. So what do you need to cross? What arrangements do you have to make? How m...

The minister who managed to secure tens of millions of Covid-19 vaccines gets the toughest job in government as a thank you. or much of the past year, barely a month has gone by without a new sexual harassment or assault scandal in the Canadian Armed Forces — and all too often those scandals have involved some of the military’s top ranked officials. Previous attempts at reform have failed, efforts...

The Eternals hits theatres today, and will no doubt earn Marvel Studios and Disney hundreds of millions of dollars. But is it really fair to call these things "movies" anymore? They are projects that require viewers to come equipped with vast background knowledge and exist to set up the next film, and the film after that. Today we examine what has become of the modern "Super Hero Movie" through th...

Amid a worsening climate crisis and reports detailing the need for urgency, world leaders took to the stage at COP26 this week to ... promise to do more. There were impressive promises, to be sure, including several from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But at least from the leaders there were precious few details about exactly how these ambitious targets would be achieved. We know the goal...

It's a problem that predates the pandemic—but eighteen months of a public health crisis has only made it worse. Every day nurses and emergency room staff in Canada face threats and assault from the public they care for. For decades they have suffered mostly in silence. But as Covid-19 has made their jobs even less safe, some of them are finally speaking out. These are critical workers, who are alr...

John Tory has a longstanding relationship with Rogers Communications Inc., as a previous executive and as a friend of the late founder, Ted Rogers. Toronto voters knew he would maintain some ties with the company when he ran for office—but the depth and power of those ties went largely unreported—until an internal fight for company control made it obvious that Tory would be a key mediator and deci...

Meth has always been a dangerous drug — but never this dangerous, users and social workers across the continent tell Sam Quinones in his new book. A new production method has made the drug easier to and cheaper to make, allowing it to spread from the Mexican border all the way up to Canada, with devastating effects. Amid the opioid and fentanyl crises, the impact of new meth can be lost among the...

Most cold cases ... stay cold. For every one that closes, and makes headlines, dozens or hundreds more are left languishing in files and databases. But sometimes, if you ask the right question, to the right person, after enough time has passed, you learn something new. And one new fact can be enough to unearth a bunch more, if you're lucky enough to find the right one. So how do you reheat a cold...

There are many communities and public health units across Canada where, for one reason or another, vaccination rates lag way behind other population centres. In many places, this happens quietly. In Aylmer, Ontario, it happens very loudly. Aylmer isn’t a big town. And it wouldn’t be particularly notable, except for one man, and one church, and the national and international attention he has brough...

You probably know Bonavista best from the Canadian lyrics to "This land is your land". It's a town of a few thousand people on the far east coast of the country. And it's growing—especially during the pandemic. But it's not alone. Towns, villages and even cities across Newfoundland and all of Atlantic Canada have seen a population boom during the pandemic as newly-freed remote workers relocate to...

It's one of those crimes with an image — and that image is mostly fictional. The vast majority of victims who end up trafficked in Canada are not abducted by strangers and chained to beds as Hollywood depicts. They are victims of intimate partner violence, often pushed into the industry by a person they know. And it doesn't happen in dark warehouses, but in well-lit chain hotels, like one's you've...

Through a so-called "public safety escrow account", Canada's biggest energy company, Enbridge, has payed somewhere in the neighbourhood of $2.4 million to law enforcement agencies in Minnesota, ostensibly to reimburse police for any help provided in 'protecting' the construction of the new Line 3 oil pipeline through the state.  While Enbridge claims that there is nothing untoward about the arrang...

To the rest of the world, the Mountie in red dress uniform is a symbol of Canada. The world has bought into the myth of the good-hearted, white man who protects the little guys and always gets his man. Even a cursory look at the history of the RCMP would reveal that to be far from the truth—and in-depth reporting over the past decade has made it very clear just how poorly reality compares to the i...

You've probably heard warnings to start your holiday shopping early this year — this is why. With much of the global supply chain thrown into chaos by a combination of several complicating factors, it's impossible to tell when or if you'll be able to find exactly what you want. But a little shipping inconvenience is hardly the end of the world. What should concern us all about the current situatio...

Early in October, some Iqaluit residents noticed something funny about their tap water — it smelled like gas. After they raised the alarm it took more than a week of varied testing to confirm the presence of fuel in the water. Since last week, citizens have been told not to drink the water at all, not even to boil it first. How did this happen and how can it be fixed? Why are health officials dodg...

Much of the Atlantic bubble is intact, but in New Brunswick, cases are spiking. Ontario has mostly escaped unscathed so far, while Saskatchewan and Alberta grapple with a wave worse than the first three. Is this evidence of the pandemic diverging regionally across Canada, or just a more infectious variant that can better find holes that existed the entire time? What have we learned from previous w...

A nation of 100 million people? New towns and cities springing up in previously rural areas? A revitalized and younger workforce? As the impact of the climate era makes parts of the world uninhabitable, billions of people will need to move to survive — one of the largest migrations in human history. Where will these people go? Who is equipped to best take them in, and help them build new homes and...

Many North American cities are locked in a damaging cycle, whereby new suburban expansion is needed to subsidize the infrastructure costs of old development. The pattern has left many municipalities teetering on the brink of insolvency, and led to the decimation of once vibrant streetscapes to make way for unsightly, car-friendly strip malls. What went awry in this continent's approach to urban pl...

The Canadian government thought it was an agreement on a minor part of the settlement the church owed for its part in residential schools. The church managed to convince a court that the government had agreed to waive the entire remaining amount — potentially more than $20 million. How did a legal loophole allow the church to avoid payment, and ... it has to be asked: Why didn't the Catholic Churc...

The Prime Minister said in the closing days of a close campaign that he was "open" to electoral reform. That came as a surprise to the millions of people who watched him break his promise on the issue after the 2015 election. But it's worth asking, as Canada's elections continue to reward parties who win fewer votes with more seats — what would equitable electoral reform look like in Canada? How c...

The Canadian government receives more credible information regarding Unidentified Flying Objects than you'd ever imagine. And you don't see much, if any, of it. Instead, it sends reports to a private citizen, in Winnipeg, who has become something of a UFO consultant for sightings across Canada. Why? GUEST: Daniel Otis, reporting for Vice Canada (Today's episode is brought to you by CBC's War of th...

UPDATE: On Nov. 23, 2021, Crown Counsel decided not to proceed with sexual assault charges against Steve Wallace. Wallace died within days of that decision. Steve Wallace claims he's taught more than 25,000 people to drive. Dozens of them say he harassed and abused them while he did so. The allegations which now date back into the 1970s came to light after one young woman, who says he harassed her...