The Big Story

Today is the 35th anniversary of the Air India bombing, which killed 329 people, 280 of them Canadian citizens. In the immediate tragedy, the terrorist attack was seen largely as a foreign incident. As recently as 2007, not even half of Canadians considered it a "Canadian" tragedy. Why did the largest mass murder of Canadians in the country's history remain for so long a story about Indi...

When we discuss how COVID-19 has changed everything on this show, there's one big topic we haven’t covered yet. It’s sensitive. It’s intimate. It’s not easy to talk about even when there is no pandemic. It’s … just messy. It’s marriage. And living together. And partnership, with kids or without. If you’re married, or partnered, you haven’t been alone through all this. So you’re lucky. But you’ve a...

You might expect the world's biggest technology companies to have your data and know a lot about your life. But your favourite (or least favourite) coffee chain?! This is the story of what happened when one reporter saw a notification on his phone and followed it down a rabbit hole to find out what, exactly, Tim Horton’s knows about him—and you too, if you use their app. Also, why exactly do they...

The Hospital for Sick Children issued a report Wednesday that recommends children go back to school in September—even though it admits the virus likely won’t be eradicated by then. It says the risks of infection and transmission need to be balanced with the effects closed schools are having on their physical and mental health. What do we know about the long-term impacts of kids being yanked out of...

It's a slogan gathering steam, and support--but not enough support to make it practical. Yet. What don't people understand about the phrase and the options on the table for police reform, which range from abolishment of the police, to superficial changes that advocates say won't make much of a difference? How well do we understand what needs to happen next? And what reforms can actually make a dif...

It's been closed to all but essential travel for months, and polls show most Canadians want it closed for a good while longer. The border is the most visible symbol of the increasingly divergent paths taken by Canada and the United States—paths that began before COVID-19 struck. In the 208 year history of the "longest undefended border", the experience of crossing has changed several tim...

Most of us have a very specific image in our minds of what country music is. It shouldn’t be surprising—that's how it’s been promoted and sold for decades. But it wasn’t how the music was born. And it’s not representative of the artists who make it today, either. So what’s the real history of country music? GUEST: Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Editor of News Curation, BuzzFeed; contributor, Rolling Stone W...

It's been a banner year for disinformation, and the past few weeks have been the worst of all. Coronavirus hoaxes and miracle cures are still circulating, but there's also been a deluge of confusion, lies and misrepresentation around what's happening at the protests that have taken over streets in almost every town and city in North America. So how do you tell the real from the fake, especially wh...

Three months ago, Canadians were asked to adapt to a 'new normal'. We were told to stay inside, avoid contact with others, and limit trips to the bare necessities. It was awful, and scary, but we did it. Now, as case numbers of COVID-19 decline across the country, we're opening things back up—stores, parks, salons...even daycares. And some of us are anxious about returning to the world. What has t...

The rates of COVID-19 among Black and other racialized communities in the United States and around the world are staggering. It would be interesting to have that data in Canada...but we don't have the numbers. Only recently has Toronto begun releasing COVID-19 cases broken down by postal code, and the map of where the disease is spreading is exactly what you may have expected. Even in a country wi...

Several of the world's leading technology companies—including Shopify, the largest in Canada—have announced that they don't ever plan to return to full-time office work. Other companies plan to stagger the return of employees as the pandemic wanes. Some may have to refit their entire floor plans in order to maintain social distancing if they want their staff back in the office. None of that is eas...

Right now, Canadian businesses are vulnerable. Many of them are worried they won't survive COVID-19, and that makes them attractive targets for foreign investors. In some cases, it's a win-win: Canada needs foreign capital, and these companies want to acquire assets in a stable and prosperous country. But some of these deals raise real security concerns. When a state-owned Chinese company pays mil...

You may have heard the phrase this week, or even just this year, that we are living history right now. The truth is we are always living history, but some of us can afford to ignore it until it boils over. So what's the historical context for this moment in time? What can we learn from it? When racism, police brutality and the rage that comes in response to that are laid bare for the world to see,...

Chika Stacy Oriuwa graduated from the University of Toronto's faculty of medicine on Tuesday as valedictorian—the first black woman in the faculty's history to receive the honour alone (Dr. Kristine Whitehead, a Black woman, was co-valedictorian for the Class of 1992). She is also the only black student in her class of 259. But thanks to her advocacy and the university's willingness to work with h...

There’s a natural instinct a lot of Canadians have to look at the United States and feel better about ourselves. It’s obviously not a great look for us as a country at the best of times. And right now we’re a long long way from the best of times. And anyone looking for examples of police brutality in Canada won’t have to go far. Nobody knows yet exactly what happened when Regis Korchinski-Paquet w...

The images of police killing black men or assaulting protesters are horrifying and disgusting, but they are just the most visible tip of an ugly, ugly iceberg. Before we talk about how far we'll really have to go to change a culture of police brutality, we're going to talk about what each of us, especially those with privilege, should be ready to do right now. Many of us won't be in harm's way on...

On January 20th, 1994, strange things started happening at a small Christian church in Toronto, Canada. Worshipers found themselves laughing, shaking, falling, rolling around on the ground. That was only the beginning. How did the church suddenly become one of Toronto’s ‘Top Tourist Attractions’? Was something supernatural truly happening? Did gold teeth miraculously appear in people’s mouths? Tar...

Imagine you're a Canadian musician about to go international. You've been working your way up the charts, year by year, with awards, acclaimed albums, and bigger and bigger tours. You've now got a new album on the way and a full European tour planned. You're ready for this to be the biggest year of your career. And it's February 2020... The music industry has been 'disrupted' a whole bunch of time...

You may have heard that lots of people saw this pandemic coming. We still weren't adequately prepared. So what do we need to do now to make sure we are ready for whatever comes next? A pandemic is a low-probability, high-consequence events—it probably won't happen tomorrow, but it will happen eventually. Every year intelligence agencies, scientists and analysts spend a lot of time figuring out whi...

New infections are up. Testing is down. Contact tracing is late. People are partying in parks. A report from members of Canada's armed forces on conditions in long-term care facilities is deeply disturbing. And just a month ago it looked like the province was headed in the right direction. How did things go wrong? Were they ever really right in the first place? How does Ontario get back on track a...

Imagine being a high-school graduate right now, deciding whether to pay your tuition for post-secondary education in the fall. How do you know what you'll be getting for your money? Do the lessons in your program even translate to virtual education? And what about the hundreds of things that aren't taught in classes but make up university life? How much of that will even be possible? Meanwhile, co...

A few months ago, a group of couriers won a huge victory for gig economy workers in Canada. And you won't believe what happened next... We're relying on this sort of work more than ever as we attempt to stay inside and order our meals and groceries delivered. And it has never been more dangerous. With that in mind, it's a perfect time to explore the fight for better conditions for precarious worke...

Nearly every story on a housing crisis casts Airbnb as one the chief villains driving up rents and home prices. So it should not come as a shock that the crisis facing the company as worldwide travel grinds to a halt has been met with glee from people who have struggled to find affordable housing. But will this virus kill the short-term rental app, or merely change it? What has happened to rents a...

The crime itself did not generate many headlines at the time it happened. Partly because the COVID-19 pandemic was ramping up, and partly because women are killed with shocking regularity in Canada. But three months later, two words were added to the murder charge against the accused: "terrorist activity". For those who watch the way these crimes are usually prosecuted, the change this w...

Have you found yourself joking about drinking your way through quarantine? You are, anecdotally and statistically, not alone. We know more people are reporting increased use of substances—but we still imagine there's a world of differences between people living with substance use disorders and those of us chasing boredom with beer. Why is that? What's happening in our minds when we turn to our fav...