This Matters

Most of us knows someone who mistrusts some element of the COVID-19 vaccine. Access, miscommunication, cultural barriers and the historic traumas that some communities have associated with the health system are all factors behind that mistrust. Data shows that more than a quarter of Canadians have yet to get their first dose. So, how are vaccine advocates working towards turning a "maybe" into a "...

While there are fresh concerns over the Delta Plus variant of COVID, the Delta variant itself is reaching a tipping point in Ontario. For much of the pandemic, Canada has lagged a few weeks behind the UK in cases — but what happens across the Atlantic, usually happens here. We look into the latest data in the UK, explain why Delta spreads so quickly and what Canada should be learning now. Guests:...

COVID vaccines approved and circulated by Health Canada — Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca — are safe and effective, but one of these is not like the other. AstraZeneca is a viral vector vaccine and it has faced waves of bad press, poor communication and changing guidelines. Many question its use. In a time of reopening and specific restrictions, why is an effective vaccine that millions of Canadia...

Kofi Hope and Zahra Ebrahim, co-founders of Monumental and part of a team leading the AllOut campaign , join "This Matters" to talk about the systemic barriers that lead to a lack of representation of racialized communities in the Canadian outdoors, how this fuels damaging stereotypes and the growing movement to get more Indigenous, Black and people of colour outside. If you would like to support...

In the works for almost four years, reporter Kevin Donovan's five-part series "Death in a Small Town" explores the death of a child and the turmoil it plunged his family into. Nathaniel McLellan was 15-months-old and acting strangely at his daycare when his parents, Rose-Anne and Kent McLellan, were summoned to take him to the hospital. What followed was a tumultuous journey of a seemingly tunnel...

It was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who said "young people aren't facing a housing problem, they're facing a housing crisis." The red hot real estate market has seen growth at a record pace, and many young and first-time buyers have found themselves priced out of buying a home. To address that, the government recently made changes to the mortgage stress test. We take a look at the test, and many...

For the first time in its history, the Ontario provincial government invoked the "notwithstanding" clause to override the courts on a campaign law that was deemed unconstitutional by an Ontario Superior Court judge. The Ford government's critics call the usage of the clause an attack on democracy and an effort to silence Premier Doug Ford's opposition. Today we dive into how this "nuclear option"...

With the rise of the worrisome Delta variant, Ontario is accelerating second doses of COVID vaccines in hot spots across the province, as well as shortening the length between doses from 12 to eight weeks for people who got AstraZeneca as their first shot. In addition, some have a choice on their hands as vaccine mixing is also now allowed, including for those who have had AstraZeneca. Yet with mi...

Political leaders have publicly condemned the murders of a Muslim family in London, Ont. Terrorism charges have been brought against the alleged killer. But many Muslim Canadians say words are no longer enough, action must be taken to prevent more hate crimes. From fierce opposition against Motion 103, a motion in the provincial legislature to recognize the need to quell the increasing public clim...

Guest: Edward Keenan, the Toronto Star's Washington Bureau Chief While former president Donald Trump has effectively been muzzled on social media, his power and influence continue to grow as Republicans line up behind the man who still casts a long shadow over the party. His Big Lie — that the last election was rigged so he wouldn't win — continues to gain support across the GOP's base, and is bei...

Guest: Noor Javed, Toronto Star reporter Muslim Canadians have felt profound grief in the wake of the hateful attack in London that left four members of the Afzaal family dead, and one 9-year-old boy orphaned. There is also a sense of betrayal and anger that despite political promises and platitudes, Islamophobia continues to rise in Canada, unchecked. Toronto Star reporter Noor Javed joins "This...

Guest: Hayden King, educator and director of the Yellowhead Institute It was a powerful image seen across Canada: the statue of Egerton Ryerson, chief architect of the residential school system, torn down at the namesake university campus in Toronto. More than 300 signatures from students, faculty and associate deans from Ryerson University back the sentiment behind the event. They want the name t...

Guest: Dr. Fahad Razak, epidemiologist and internist at St. Michael's Hospital, and member of Ontario's Science Advisory Table With 58 per cent of Canadians (and counting) having received a first dose of a COVID vaccine, many are eagerly diving into a "one-dose" summer. Now, Ontario is moving up its Step 1 reopening plans and with more vaccine shipments on the way, it will be a "two-dose" vaccinat...

Guest: Karon Liu, food reporter for the Toronto Star What's going on with Canadian butter? For more than a year, hawk-eyed bakers, chefs and food experts stuck at home have noticed something odd, a hypothesis that has morphed into a low-stakes but viral conspiracy theory: the butter we're now using is physically firmer and melts slower. Is this true? How would we prove or disprove 'Buttergate'? To...

It sounds counterintuitive, but according to some research, more restaurants opened than closed in Toronto during the pandemic. Data from Yelp, found by Shauna Brail and her team for the Toronto: After the First Wave project, tells a different side of the restaurant story than we typically hear about this struggling sector. As Ontario looks to reopen, we discuss what will that look like for diners...

Guest: Ed Tubb, Toronto Star journalist focused on COVID-19 data With declining case counts and other positives indicators, it looks as though Ontario might have finally turned the corner of the devastating third wave. With rumours of the province potentially opening earlier than expected, there may be better days on the horizon. But not all the numbers are rosy. There are signs pointing to the ri...

An Indigenous archaeologist reflects on the discovery in Kamloops, explains how radar technology helps find burial sites in a culturally respectful way and the reckoning that will follow in finding the full truth behind Canada's residential school system. Guest: Kisha Supernant, Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology and associate professor at the University of Alberta

The horrific discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 Indigenous children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation grounds is a glaring reminder of Canada's racist legacy and a country's shame. Cree/Iroquois/French human rights journalist Brandi Morin joins "This Matters" host Saba Eitizaz to discuss the enduring trauma of Canada's resi...

Ontario law gives people facing domestic violence, abuse and trafficking priority access to social housing. Those applications spiked by more than 50 per cent last year — a disturbing reflection of the violence that erupted during the pandemic. The Star's affordable housing reporter Victoria Gibson is on "This Matters" to talk about these soaring numbers, how important stable housing is for surviv...

Guest: Shawn Micallef, contributing columnist on Toronto and urbanism, Toronto Star Public parks and city streets have been a lifeline for Torontonians, cooped up in their homes and apartments, throughout the pandemic. But there's a hitch to being outside: when nature calls, where do you "go?" The access to public bathrooms (or lack thereof) in Toronto has become glaring, especially with closed st...

Ontario's first Poet Laureate, spoken word artist Randell Adjei is on "This Matters" to talk about his life, his work and his plans to bring beauty and poetry into our lives during these exceptionally dark times of the pandemic—and shares some of his tremendous talent and poetry with us. If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can subscribe at thestar.com/subscribingma...

Guests: Anoosha Keshav, Grade 12 student and Kim Moran, CEO, Children's Mental Health Ontario Ontario is slowly reopening and the school year is coming to its close. For the high school graduating class of 2021, it looks like some form of video conferencing solution for a virtual graduation ceremony is on the table as their final send-off. For one student, that is not good enough, so she started a...

Guest: Sara Mojtehedzadeh, Toronto Star's Work and Wealth Reporter In COVID's third wave, workplaces are the single largest outbreak settings, according to Ontario's provincial data. More than 23,500 Ontarians have contracted COVID from work, many of them in industries like warehousing, manufacturing and food processing, the very sectors helping support millions through the pandemic. 15 months on,...

Guest: Edward Keenan, The Star's Washington Bureau Chief. New York, America's biggest city, officially reopened this week after a year of devastation, grief and loss as one of the worst hit cities by the COVID pandemic. Edward Keenan, The Star's Washington Bureau Chief, was in the Big Apple to capture all the post-lockdown joy and he joins "This Matters" to tell us about what their post-pandemic w...

An Ontario judge has recently ruled that an employee of an ophthalmic clinic who was laid off early in the pandemic was actually terminated, and eligible to sue for constructive dismissal. Some legal experts have been predicting this all along and say this could mean thousands of lawsuits in the coming years after so many lost their jobs last year. On today's episode of "This Matters," we try to u...