This Matters

Guest: Wendy Gillis, crime and policing reporter at the Star It's not uncommon to see horses and uniformed officers patrolling Toronto's downtown streets. The mounted unit is a long-standing tradition in this and other North American cities. Once again in 2022, city services are feeling squeezed as city hall debates another pandemic budget and critics are left wondering what purpose horses have in...

Guest: Julian Savulescu, professor and director of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has overwhelmed hospitals around the world. Some are making bold moves when it comes to the unvaccinated, such as in Quebec where Premier François Legault announced taxes may be imposed on the unvaccinated. France and Italy already have vaccine mandates. Au...

Guest: Olivia Bowden, staff reporter for the Star Peel Region is behind the provincial average in vaccinating children age five to 11 and community health professionals say it will take a strong outreach effort to address and increase trust. As of last week, close to 40 per cent of Peel children have received at least one dose. One part of the region has a vaccination rate as low as 21.6 per cent....

Guest:  Howard Bryant, senior writer at ESPN and Meadowlark Media While the vast majority of athletes in most sports are vaccinated, there are high profile stars that choose not to and seem to be pressuring for accommodation. Tennis player Novak Djokovic's recent fight to play at the Australian Open pitted him against politicians and public pressure as well as border agents. NFL star Aaron Rodgers...

Guest: Steve McKinley, reporter in the Star's Halifax Bureau In a world where people are celebrated for what they do on screens, it makes sense that medical personnel were celebrated early on in the pandemic. With daily press conferences, some people like Dr. Bonnie Henry in British Columbia, Dr. Deena Hinshaw in Alberta or Dr. Horacio Arruda in Quebec got a lot of screen time and were recognized...

Guest: Edward Keenan, The Star's Washington Bureau Chief As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads rapidly and infects people, stark contrasts in approach by Canada and the U.S have become evident. Most Canadians have cancelled plans, huddled into lockdowns and braced for public health restrictions. Meanwhile across the border, America is open for business even as the country shattered a global r...

Guest: Saunia Ahmad, clinical psychologist and director of the Toronto Psychology Clinic The surge in depression and other mental health issues in the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic has been well-documented by health care professionals. It is OK to not be OK. Mental health experts say it is normal to be feeling increased levels of anxiety and stress as government restrictions, public heal...

Guest: Wendy Long, founder of Afghan-Canadian Interpreters When Canadian forces were deployed in Afghanistan, they relied on local Afghans to help them navigate a dangerous conflict zone, the unfamiliarity of geography, language and culture. But since last year, after the U.S.-led NATO withdrawal and Taliban occupation of Afghanistan, those who risked their lives to help the coalition forces — inc...

Guest: Kris Rushowy, Queen's Park Reporter at the Star With the Omicron variant raging throughout the province, the government has decided to hold firm and reopen schools on Jan. 17. The decision has split many parents. Some are happy schools are going to reopen quickly, while others are concerned they may not be safe. The government says it is taking measures to ensure safety for kids, but outbre...

Guest: Birgit Umaigba, an ICU/ER nurse based in Toronto The ongoing wave of the Omicron variant is straining Ontario's hospitals to a breaking point. At least two hospitals in the GTA do not enough nurses to take care of sick patients and recently declared a Code Orange, a rare move that means hard choices for health care workers about who gets care and who does not. The nursing shortage has been...

Guest: Robert Cribb, investigative reporter for the Star A joint investigation by the Toronto Star and the Investigative Journalism Bureau has done an analysis of key mental health indicators for First Nations youth, including antidepressant prescriptions, suicide attempts, self-reported disorders and access to support, revealing a strained system of care failing to meet the needs of desperate you...

Guest: Ed Keenan, The Star's Washington Bureau Chief It has been one year since the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol building by rioters who felt the 2020 election was stolen from former president Donald Trump. Despite the attack failing, the event cast a long shadow over the American political system, as many Republicans continue to push what some call "The Big Lie." As U.S. President Joe Biden g...

Guest: Ed Tubb, assignment editor focused on COVID-19 data The recent surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has broken the province's testing regime, rendered contact tracing useless and made an already high case count almost impossible to calculate. With warnings about our health care system in danger of being overwhelmed, there is still a lot we can learn by paying attention to the data. The...

Guest: Christine Sismondo, author of "America Walks Into a Bar" and the upcoming "Cocktails: A Still Life" Happy New Year! By now, hopefully your hangover from new year celebrations are long gone and you are focusing on the year ahead. One thing that many people do after holiday season is decide to cut alcohol intake for the month of January as a way to reset and refresh. While some people do Sobe...

We are taking a short break over the holidays and are rebroadcasting some memorable discussions. This episode was originally published February 19, 2021. In 2008, Canadian journalist Mellissa Fung was abducted while on assignment in Afghanistan. She survived 28 days of torture and captivity inside a hole in the ground. In her new documentary "Captive," she makes the rare and difficult move to use...

We are taking a short break over the holidays and are rebroadcasting some memorable discussions. This episode was originally published July 30, 2021. GUEST: Professor Jean-Nicolas Reyt, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour at McGill University A recent study in Iceland involving thousands of workers has brought back the buzz around a shorter four-day work week. As the pandemic has accel...

We are taking a short break over the holidays and are rebroadcasting some memorable discussions. This episode was originally published January 12, 2021. The Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team are ranked as one of the top teams in the world, but were passed over for the upcoming World Games likely in part due to their fight for sovereignty. This slight inspired an act of sportsmanship that has helped...

We are taking a short break over the holidays and are rebroadcasting some memorable discussions. This episode was originally published February 9, 2021. The pandemic has shrunk people's lives. We've been limited to seeing the people in our homes, some family and maybe close friends. What happens when lose contact with acquaintances and serendipitous interactions in the world? The loss of this enga...

Guest: Rosa Saba , business reporter for the Star Ontario, unlike elsewhere in Canada, has had a much lower minimum wage for liquor servers leading to a culture of tipping, not just for great service but to help balance the wage disparity. Now, starting in 2022, front-of-house workers in hospitality will see a $2.45 hourly pay increase to align closer to the minimum wage. But Ontario's minimum wag...

Guest: Patty Winsa , data reporter for the Star We have all seen the huge price that front-line workers have paid during COVID-19. Nurses have been at the forefront of this battle in clinics, hospitals and long-term care homes. Nearly two years into the pandemic, nurses are now leaving the profession in worrying numbers. While COVID-19 has added to burnout and pushed nurses off the job, the shorta...

Guest: Dr. Gaibrie Stephen, ER physician and member of the Decent Work and Health Network (DWHN) We all remember the haunting posts on social media — doctors across the province sharing stories of their patients who caught COVID-19 at work and fell seriously ill, or spread it to their families. As a result, the Ontario government implemented a temporary three-day paid sick leave program that's now...

Guest: Nicole O'Reilly, courts and crime reporter for The Hamilton Spectator It was a story that has become infamous within the cryptocurrency community. In early 2020, an early bitcoin investor reportedly had $46 million worth of the cryptocurrency stolen through a phone hacking attempt. After reporting it to the authorities, an international investigation led police to Hamilton, Ont., where an a...

Guest: Kevin Donovan , chief investigative reporter at the Star, and author of The Billionaire Murders: The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman It has been four years since the bodies of Barry and Honey Sherman were found murdered in their Toronto home. Despite the fact the that couple were very wealthy and high profile, there have been few updates from the police and no arrests made in t...

Guest: Carine Abouseif, features editor at The Walrus Editor's note: This episode was recorded in November 2021, before the Omicron variant made in-person meeting a much higher risk. There are at this time no lockdowns but please note this conversation took place before case counts were rising exponentially. COVID-19 has brought a massive shift in the way we interact with our health care system. S...

Guest: Rosa Saba, business reporter for the Star If you've been feeling price sticker shock at the checkout counter lately, you're not alone. Canada is bracing for what experts are calling a "perfect storm" as inflation hits the food aisles and prices skyrocket. The latest Food Price Report, released from Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab says Canadians should expect to see the bigges...