This Matters

Guest: Kenyon Wallace, investigative reporter for the Toronto Star Amidst a growing fourth wave, the spread of the Delta variant and questions over how long immunity lasts, a number of nations around the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Israel and Canada are either considering or have begun COVID vaccine booster programs. But now, the World Health Organization has officially c...

Ali Raza Yesa is an Afghan educator and founder of the Star Educational Society, a network of language schools across Afghanistan. With the West now withdrawn from Afghanistan, he has left his homeland and his schools have been shut down. He joins "This Matters" to talk about his life in Afghanistan and a lifetime of work that will remain unfinished for now.

Guest: Josh Rubin, business reporter for the Star Because neither the federal or Ontario provincial government have created vaccine passports for the public yet (while other provinces have started plans of their own), live event businesses and franchises are taking matters into their own hands to create new rules for customers. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Toront...

Guest: Lior Samfiru, employment lawyer and co-founding partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP Vaccine mandates in the workplace aren't hypothetical anymore. They are real. The federal government has one for their employees, as does the Ontario government for people in high-risk settings. Those new rules are filtering down to private business, with Canada's big five banks and Air Canada ordering their emp...

Guest: Nicole O'Reilly, crime reporter from The Hamilton Spectator It has been over four years since Angelo Musitano, a prominent member of the Musitano crime family in Hamilton, was gunned down in his driveway. His murder was the result of a sophisticated, mob-driven operation intricately planned, executed and now shared in "Trigger," an investigative series from The Hamilton Spectator. In the se...

Guest: Julie S. Lalonde, women's rights advocate and author of "Resilience is Futile" Did you know that there is a country in the world where one woman or girl is killed every two and a half days? That country is Canada. According to a report by the Canadian Femicide Observatory, Canada saw an increase in femicide from 2019 to 2020. The report also reveals that almost 100 girls and women were kill...

Guest: Nichole Jankowski, freelance journalist who wrote on 6ixBuzz for Toronto Life 6ixBuzz began as a simple meme and joke Instagram account on all things Toronto, but in just a few short years, it has grown into a media empire with two million followers on Instagram, tens of thousands more on YouTube and contracts signed with major music labels. Their posts garner comments, outrage and above al...

There is a sense of uncertainty, fear and deep anxiety for Afghan women following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Many are afraid of a return to a repressive past and reversal of painstaking progress made. Many also feel betrayal about how the country has been treated over the years, and the abrupt departure by the west. Today on "This Matters," we are joined by two Afghan women on opposite e...

Guest: Dr. Karina Top, pediatrician, vaccine researcher and associate professor at Dalhousie University In what is increasingly being called a pandemic of the unvaccinated, the largest cohort that cannot receive vaccines yet are children under age 12. With the Delta variant spreading rapidly and the fourth wave accelerating, there has been a surge in cases and hospitalizations of children with COV...

Guest: Craig Whitlock, Washington Post investigative journalist who broke The Afghanistan Papers While many question the United States government's decision to withdrawal from Afghanistan, within the government it has long been known it was an unwinnable conflict. The truth is laid bare in The Afghanistan Papers, a 2019 Washington Post investigation that included a series of documents and recordin...

Guest: Joanna Chiu, Toronto Star reporter covering Canada-China relations and author of "China Unbound" It's been almost three years since former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor (collectively known as the "two Michaels") were arrested by the Chinese Communist Party. The move was seen as retaliation against Canada's arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who is currently s...

Guest: Dr. Margaret Harris, infectious diseases expert and spokesperson for World Health Organization As the pandemic continues, low-income and developing nations remain left behind in vaccination efforts. The reason is simple. Many countries cannot afford vaccines because the contracts tied to them are tied to the most powerful nations in the world. Can a pandemic truly end if billions around the...

Guests: Susan Delacourt and Alex Boutilier of the Star's Ottawa bureau After months of speculation, it's happening: the Canadian federal election is set for September 20. The stakes are historic and could not be higher. Who should lead Canada out of the pandemic? How does this country begin to recover economically? What do Canadians care about most right now? We gather a political roundtable to di...

Guest: Robert Benzie, Toronto Star Queen's Park bureau chief A majority of Canadians say they are in favour of vaccine passports, the documentation proving people who enter a public space, like restaurants, gyms or arenas have a full set of vaccinations. They are the latest tool in the great balancing act of COVID safety measures with reopenings and the fourth wave as The Delta variant continues t...

Guest: Ed Tubb, Toronto Star assignment editor focused on COVID-19 data With rising case counts and other indicators, the fourth wave of COVID-19 is here and just getting started. The Delta variant is more infectious than other forms of the virus and could have a serious impact on our health care systems. Unvaccinated people will bear the brunt of the latest wave, but there are others who are also...

Guest: Sara Mojtehedzadeh, work and wealth reporter for the Toronto Star Robots have arrived in Toronto and they're delivering your food. You may have come across Geoffrey, an adorable pink robot with hearts for eyes, who offers contactless, affordable delivery at the tap of a smartphone. The company behind Geoffrey is claiming it to be a safe alternative for delivery services that emphasizes buyi...

The biggest COVID-19 fashion trend was face masks. But what comes next? Will we ever really be formal again? A fashion professor talks to us about how fashion will change in a post pandemic world.

Guest: Jack Froese, Chair of National Zero Waste Council Canada has a real problem with food waste and we're all responsible. According to Second Harvest, 58 per cent of all food produced in Canada — the equivalent of 35.5 million tonnes — is lost or wasted every year. That comes out to $31 billion at the food production and consumer level. The cost of all this waste is obvious financially, but th...

As a bonus episode, This Matters is broadcasting an episode from another Toronto Star podcast. Tokyo Daily, hosted by Brendan Dunlop, recaps the Canadian women's national team's historic gold medal win with the Toronto Star's Laura Armstrong, on a day that Canada won three medals over the span of one hour. Christine Sinclair is one of the greatest soccer players of all-time, and now an Olympic cha...

Guest: Nadine Yousif, the Star's mental health reporter The Tokyo Olympics have been historic in many ways. The games took place in the middle of a global pandemic, Canada's female athletes are bringing in the gold and glory, and mental health has been brought to the centre stage. Olympians have rallied around U.S. gymnast Simone Biles' decision to bow out of team finals, the latest example of a h...

Guest: Ed Keenan, The Star's Washington Bureau Chief This week New York City became the first city in the United States to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for indoor spaces and activities. Just two months after Washington Bureau Chief Ed Keenan reported about the city's reopening joy and successful vaccinations, COVID cases are rising in all 50 U.S. states, driven by the Delta variant and su...

Guest: Olivia Bowden, Toronto Star reporter As Canada goes through the painful process of identifying hundreds of Indigenous children's remains who were buried in unmarked graves outside the sites of former residential schools, conversations have turned to what to do next with the locations, how to commemorate the children lost and how to honour those victimized. For some in Indigenous communities...

Guest: Kana Enomoto, senior expert at McKinsey & Company, national leader in mental health, substance-use policy, data and programs Recent data released by global management consulting firm McKinsey and Company has shown that COVID-19 has profoundly impacted employees' well-being. Almost a third of respondents reported having anxiety, while at least 28 per cent experienced burnout. Women, especial...

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 accelerated the movement to work smarter and not longer, we explore the tantalizing possibilities — and potential problems — with a four-day work week in N...

Guest: Moira Welsh, investigative reporter for the Star The case of the MV Miner is a siren call to the question of what happens to "dead ships" that come from Canada and the dire consequences of neglect. Nova Scotians know the story well after the giant vessel full of chemicals and fuel became adrift and ended up in a protected area. It took $20 million and four years to remove. What happens to t...