This Matters

Guest: Robert Cribb, investigative reporter Host: Saba Eitizaz Canada's hate problem has reached new heights, an investigation by the Toronto Star and the Investigative Journalism Bureau has found. Canada has the highest social media footprint of hate groups, higher than the United States and the U.K., and data reveals the justice system has failed to stop the purveyors of hate and discrimination...

Guest: Alex Ballingall, Ottawa Bureau Ottawa's streets have been cleared of protesters and now the aftermath truly begins. With civil suits have been filed, policing costs are estimated to be millions of dollars and the government still dealing with the Emergencies Act, there is still much to be sort out. Many of the ringleaders of the protesters have been arrested and now they start their journey...

Guest: Edward Keenan, Washington Bureau Chief Host: Raju Mudhar After weeks of posturing, on what President Vladimir Putin is calling a peace keeping mission, Russian forces have entered Ukraine. It is the culmination of weeks of troop buildups on the border. Despite several attempts at diplomatic resolutions, many NATO countries including the U.S. said this would happen. Now the world watches and...

Guest: Edward Keenan, Washington Bureau Chief Host: Raju Mudhar After weeks of posturing, on what President Vladimir Putin is calling a peace keeping mission, Russian forces have entered Ukraine. It is the culmination of weeks of troop buildups on the border. Despite several attempts at diplomatic resolutions, many NATO countries including the U.S. said this would happen. Now the world watches and...

Guest: Michael Daly, professor of space science and research chair in planetary science at York University "Don't Look Up" is the latest film to join the killer-asteroid-threatens-the-Earth genre of films. While that narrative has been the basis of plenty of science fiction, it is a potentially real scenario that NASA scientists are thinking about. In November, the space agency launched its first...

Guest: Bruce Campion-Smith, Public Editor As reporters seek to cover the so-called "Freedom Convoy," they have been threatened on the streets and online. The hostility is even greater if the journalists are women or from other vulnerable groups. This episode was produced by Saba Eitizaz, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston and Matthew Hearn.

Guest: Grant LaFleche, investigative reporter with the St. Catharines Standard and part of the Star's investigative team Crowdfunding has long-allowed people to fund projects they feel passionate about, so it may not be a surprise when crowdfunds came about in support of the "Freedom convoy" in Ottawa. After the Canadian government stepped in to freeze some of the funds and prevent distribution, h...

Guest: Pauline Boss, author of "The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a time of Pandemic and Change"   COVID-19 has snatched more than 30,000 lives in Canada, more than 900,000 in the U.S. and millions more around the world. But it has stolen so much more. Whether it's the thought of loved ones dying alone or the inability to gather for a funeral, countless have suffered in the isolation of lockd...

Guests: Jacob Lorinc, Business Reporter, The Star, and Tonda MacCharles, Senior Reporter for the Star's Ottawa Bureau. As the "Freedom Convoy" protests that have paralyzed Ottawa's downtown enters its third week, Canadians saw police dismantle a blockade at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor after a weeklong protest. The demonstrations in Windsor disrupted a route that carries hundreds of millions o...

John Honderich, who has served as both editor and publisher of the Toronto Star, as well as chair of Torstar, died on Saturday, February 5, at 75. "This Matters" spoke to some of John's former friends and colleagues about his positive impact to journalism and the people around him. A small private funeral for family was held on Thursday, February 10. A public celebration of life will be held at a...

Guest:  Kathleen Newman-Bremang, deputy director at Unbothered, Refinery29's sub-brand made for and by Black women Black women are exhausted. Two years into a pandemic that includes the bitter taste of racial inequities, reckonings and the brutalization of Black bodies, the pursuit of societally imposed standards of "excellence" is losing its appeal. Not only are Black women dropping out of the wo...

Guest: Diana Chan McNally, training and engagement co-ordinator for the Toronto Drop-in Network Host: Jennifer Pagliaro As the city grapples with another pandemic budget and how to pay for basic city services, there are calls for an increase to funding to help the city's most vulnerable. On one point, advocates approached the budget committee to plead for resources to provide menstrual and inconti...

Guest: Carolyn Bennett, federal minister for mental health and addictions When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his cabinet last fall, Carolyn Bennett was named the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. There were many different opinions about the appointment and her mandate, but inevitably they all came down to how the pandemic has ensured that mental health is on our minds like n...

Guest: Wendy Gillis, crime and policing reporter Ottawa remains under siege and in a state of emergency, as declared by the city mayor on Sunday. There were other Freedom Convoy demonstrations across the country this weekend, including in Toronto, but their effect was mitigated as other police forces and other authorities learned from Ottawa police's missteps and managed to control protesters. Pro...

We are rebroadcasting episode one of Torstar partner podcast, Between Us With Wes Hall. In the first episode of a series that explores the journeys of BIPOC visionaries in Canada, the entrepreneur sits down with iconic Canadian rapper, producer and Vice President of A&R at Universal Canada, Kardinal Offishall. They have a conversation about perseverance, being Black in the boardroom, and pushing f...

Guest: Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, an infectious disease physician at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga The Omicron wave might be cresting and the province is starting to reopen things more widely, but it's hard to tell where things are. Ontario's extreme yo-yo effect of opening and jumping between lockdown is something that has also a psychological impact on how the people here react to news of...

Guest: Morgan Campbell, senior contributor for CBC Sports and a former Star reporter On the first day of Black History Month, the NFL was rocked by allegations contained in a class-action lawsuit by Brian Flores, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Flores outlined alleged proof that exposes the racist hiring policies of the NFL around the hiring and firing of Black people. None of the allegat...

Guest: Ben Spurr, Transportation Reporter Host: Jennifer Pagliaro, City Hall Reporter A freedom of information request filed by the Star's Ben Spurr revealed emails that show staff inadvertently included projections in an attachment in a report in January 2021 that overstated the number of riders, residents and jobs Tory's $1.46-billion SmartTrack program would serve. Spurr joins Jennifer Pagliaro...

Guest: Moira Welsh, investigative reporter and author of the book "Happily Ever Older" In the latest Omicron wave, many long-term care homes have had to go into lockdown, forcing residents back into social isolation. But there's an added staffing crisis as well. With their caregivers and health workers burnt out, leaving for good or sick themselves, older people are losing their essential support...

Guest: Supriya Dwivedi, contributing columnist at the Star and senior counsel for Enterprise Canada What will the political aftermath be from the trucker convoy and their protest in Ottawa? With plenty of signs promoting white nationalism and acts like defacing a Terry Fox statue and stealing food from homeless shelters, a fringe movement has now exposed itself and could have lasting ramifications...

Guest: Lex Harvey, reporter at The Star Ivermectin has become a much more well known drug during the COVID-19 pandemic as it has made news as the treatment choice for many high profile anti-vaccine people. While the drug has some known medical uses for humans, it has not been proven to help prevent or cure the virus. That hasn't stopped people from trying to get it, and in fact, there are networks...

Guest: Lisa Brosseau, a bioaerosol scientist & industrial hygienist at the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy  With most of us interested in having the best level of protection against the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19, a growing number of doctors around North America say a cloth mask doesn't cut it and medical masks or respirators (like an...

Guest: Bruce Sellery, CEO of Credit Canada Debt Solutions, personal finance author and host of "Moolala" radio show and podcast Canadians have been experiencing sticker shock with the rising price of all sorts of goods, including groceries and gas. Inflation has hit a 30-year high and while it's been caused by the pandemic, it's only going to make it harder for everybody to recover and maintain th...

Guest: Dr. Nathan Lachowsky, an associate professor from the University of Victoria The ban that restricts gay, bisexual and some trans men from donating blood might soon officially end in Canada. Last December, Canadian Blood Services applied to Health Canada to scrap the current screening method — called outdated and discriminatory, by many — in favour of new screening criteria based on sexual h...

Guests: Jacob Lorinc, business reporter at the Star, and Peter Ramsay, a long-time restaurant worker who changed careers As restaurants prepare to reopen after another pause on indoor dining, many will also have to contend with hiring and training new staff after more than 200,000 workers have left the service industry during this pandemic. With several sudden lockdowns and pandemic financial hard...