This Matters

This is a rebroadcast from June 9, 2020. Desmond Cole, activist, journalist and author, offers his opinion in a conversation with Adrian Cheung, on the movement to defund policing and why he thinks the system of policing, as we understand it, should be abolished.

This is a rebroadcast from September 3, 2020. Brain computer technology is at a point where the potential medical implications are so exciting many players are pursuing different approaches to the field. The potential ethics of using this technology are sometimes best explained in science fiction like "Black Mirror" and "The Matrix." Neurotechnologist Graeme Moffat joins This Matters to discuss th...

This is a rebroadcast from July 13, 2020.  Full transcription available here (thanks to Access Now for transcribing). A lot of us haven't thought about the fact that the way we're experiencing the world in the midst of a deadly virus, might actually just be every day in the life of a disabled person, even before a pandemic. Maayan Ziv, disability rights activist and the founder and CEO of AccessNo...

This episode is a rebroadcast from December 1.  While Toronto transforms in the summer, it seems to go into hiding in the winter. But now with COVID considered, it may be wise to embrace the season as cities like Montreal, Quebec City and Winnipeg do. Can Toronto remake this city as a place that embraces winter (and finally shake that embarrassing incident about calling in the army to help clear t...

Food writer and editor Suresh Doss specializes in highlighting the culinary gems in Toronto's strip malls and plazas. He joins the Star's food reporter Karon Liu on "This Matters" to talk about the particular challenges of food businesses in the suburbs, how younger generations are keeping their parents' businesses alive and, of course, where he's been getting takeout.

On this feel good episode of "This Matters," host Saba Eitizaz talks to Toronto Star digital producer Andy Macdonald, who started our very own good news section, about some news stories that got us to smile this year. There is no doubt we really needed them!

Is it time to reset our relationship with digital technology and social media? Tech expert and director of Citizen Lab , Ron Deibert explores that question in "Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society." Deibert talks to Adrian Cheung about the true cost of our reliance on technology, the social dilemma we find ourselves in and how we can reclaim power in a world that keeps moving online.

From houses, condos and commercial, to apartment rentals and affordable housing, 2020 was a wild ride for real estate when many markets in the GTA managed to defy the pandemic's ability to crush anything in its path. Tess Kalinowksi covers real estate for the Star and joins "This Matters" to discuss the real estate market and the year that was.

Four Indigenous skulls were gifted from one famous doctor to another almost 150 years ago. Could they still exist? From a letter found written by Dr. William Osler, two current day doctors picked up the thread and undertook an investigation that lasted over two years, crossed continents and brought a man to come out of retirement to pick up the case. David Bruser, investigations editor at The Star...

We wouldn't have COVID-19 vaccines or know what we know about them without the people who went in blind — those who participated in the clinical trials to check for safety and efficacy. Ian Haydon from Seattle, WA, was one of the earliest volunteers for the Moderna vaccine. In today's episode, he shares with us what it was like to be a test subject and be part of shaping what we know about the muc...

A Star investigation has revealed the incredible toll on Amazon warehouse workers, based on internal company records. Worker injuries have spiked during COVID-19 with injury rates doubling in Toronto area sites since 2016. That is a significant rise. The injury rate is 15 per cent higher in Canada than in the U.S. The Star's work and wealth reporter Sara Mojtehedzadeh joins Saba Eitizaz to talk ab...

Facebook is facing an antitrust lawsuit brought forth by the Federal Trade Commission and 48 U.S. Attorney Generals accusing it of monopolistic behaviour. This may lead to unwinding its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, two other popular social networks. John Biggs, editor-of-chief of Gizmodo, joins "This Matters" to discuss whether or not this could be the beginning of regulation and conseq...

Ontario marked the first recipient of the Health Canada-approved Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, with at least 96,000 more to follow by year's end. Distribution will be the next challenge. Who gets the vaccine first? What "high priority" regions will be reached? What can we expect over the next 12 months? Toronto Star reporter Rob Ferguson joins "This Matters" to talk about the vaccine plans, t...

Premier Doug Ford seemed to strike a different tone in the first half of the pandemic, but now some critics think he's back to business as usual. His recent move to grant degrees at controversial religious school and repeated use of a strong-arm development tactic has conservationists concerned. Martin Regg Cohn is the Star's Ontario Politics columnists and he joins "This Matters" to discuss the F...

Crime is like a virus in a pandemic. Just this week, news broke a hacker gained access to documents related to Pfizer and Biontech's vaccine and in another case, $11 million was stolen from pandemic relief funds in Ontario. The Star's Peter Edwards and Robert Benzie joins "This Matters" to discuss how organized crime is at play in these uncertain times and how the authorities are trying to track d...

Kaavan, once dubbed the world's loneliest elephant, captured worldwide attention last month when he was rescued from miserable conditions at a zoo in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad where he was held for 35 years and sent to an animal sanctuary in Cambodia. There was one key person behind the effort to move him: pop star Cher. Secunder Kermani reports on Pakistan for the BBC, and he joins Saba...

In the second wave of COVID-19, just as The Star reported in the first, Toronto Public Health data shows the inequality of the virus and who is impacted most. High positivity rates reveal racialized people and poor people — who often working essential but low-paying jobs — are more likely to be exposed to the virus and yet often have fewer options and resources. Toronto Star reporters Jennifer Yan...

A vaccine has been a hope for many locked in, exhausted people grappling with the pandemic and today we learned an option for vaccination is a lot closer for Canadians than we thought. There has been a lot of buzz, curiosity and questions around vaccines, so we have asked one of Health Canada's top doctors to shed light. Dr. Supriya Sharma is chief medical advisor at Health Canada and she joins "T...

Christopher Lau and his 10-year-old son join Raju Mudhar to discuss their father-son investigation into why the odds of getting prized Tim Hortons NHL cards did not appear to be in their favour. After getting ankle deep into the card collecting world, there appeared to be possible answers to why prized cards seemed to be missing, fuelled by high resale values and collectors who weigh the risks, an...

"This Matters" heads back to the ER with Dr. David Carr, an emergency room physician in Toronto, to share the experiences of frontline health care workers, the health care lessons that have been learned, and what his best day of the pandemic means for everyone else.

Social media harassment is about more than words. It is violence and it is dangerous. We've witnessed a lot of ugliness during these polarizing and pandemic times, and a lot of it has been directed at women, particularly women of colour. As cyber misogyny has increased steadily, so have challenges to the notion that women's online harassment is a matter of specific and particular concern. But in f...

While Toronto transforms in the summer, it seems to go into hiding in the winter. But now with COVID considered, it may be wise to embrace the season as cities like Montreal, Quebec City and Winnipeg do. Can Toronto remake this city as a place that embraces winter (and finally shake that embarrassing incident about calling in the army to help clear the snow)? Columnist Shawn Micallef joins Adrian...

Despite the name, access to rapid tests for COVID-19 in Canada is moving at a glacial pace. The federal government has purchased 38 million tests and rolled out 5.5 million to the provinces, where they are used in a limit capacity or just stockpiled for future use. What is the hold up? Star reporter Jacques Gallant joins This Matters to discuss why the drive for rapid testing isn't moving faster.

The COVID-19 pandemic stirred the greatest shift in our workplaces in a generation when 3.4 million Canadians moved from their offices to work from home. That is not going to change anytime soon. Now what happens to the thousands of offices and retail spaces that used be filled up? Is there a way we can re-purpose these spaces and buildings to meet the needs of a post-pandemic life? City Hall colu...

Whatever you want to call it, the only way to characterize Trump's post-election actions are extraordinary. From court challenges to pressuring state electors, the U.S. President took steps to stay in power despite how the vote turned out. With the transition underway, the Star's Washington Bureau chief Edward Keenan joins This Matters to discuss what's next for the Republican Party and the "Celeb...