Now or Never

We're all getting older, but not everyone likes thinking or talking about it. So what's the secret to aging well? Five seniors share their best tips about aging, and what they love about getting old. Gail Rice is refusing to fade away. For her 70th birthday, she hired an escort. That encounter didn't lead to a happy ending for Gail, but it did help her reclaim what she'd felt had been disappearing...

An estimated four million Canadians currently live abroad. So what compels someone to ditch their life in Canada and start over in a different part of the world? From Bogotá to Tokyo, Cape Town to València, Now or Never crisscrosses the globe with expats living out some big, bold adventures right now. Joshua Will dreamed of living in Japan since he was 14-years-old, so when he got a job with the J...

Now or Never celebrates ten years of diving in with people as they gather the courage to take a leap into the unknown, with a live show from Winnipeg's Gas Station Arts Centre! There are always surprises in a Now or Never story, and this live show is no exception.  Winnipeg couple Trish Cooper and Sam Vint’s life together has been filled with hilarious and surprising (mis)adventures together,...

Breakups can look a lot of different ways: slow dissolves, out-of-nowhere blow-outs, mutual partings-of-ways. But the truth is, they all hurt. Today on Now or Never , we revisit the stories of people in the thick of it, and the surprising ways they're getting through. When Litia Fleming broke up with Richard Kemick after 10 years together, it came as a shock to Richard. But two weeks later, they g...

Towns and neighbourhoods all across the country are facing their own challenges. Now or Never is flying into a few to find out what it really takes to hold a community together, when everything's trying to pull it apart.  Little Jamaica has been the heart of Toronto for generations of Caribbean and African residents and entrepreneurs. Then the subway came. It took 15 years of constant constru...

The fire to compete can drive you to push against your limits, and go further than you knew possible. On this episode of Now or Never, competitive hosts Ify Chiwetelu and Trevor Dineen introduce you to people vying to win, and putting in the work to come out on top.  Identical twins Miriam and Ruth Turk have been competing with each other for as long as they remember. So what happened when th...

Today an estimated 35,000 Canadians are behind bars in a provincial or federal prison. But what happens to people once they get out? Transitioning back into society can be challenging, with barriers around housing, employment, and the stigma of a criminal record. According to one study, around 70 per cent of inmates with addiction or mental health issues end up back in prison within three years. S...

As more Gen Z and Millennial daters turn away from dating apps and report ‘swipe fatigue,’ people are looking to find love in the wild again. The problem is, we’re a little rusty. So on this episode, Now or Never takes you into some real-life dating stories as people take the first tentative steps to find love IRL.  What better way to boost your dating profile than having your friends hype yo...

At some point we all feel the squeeze of the clock. On this episode, every story is a race against time. If you get lost in B.C.'s wilderness, search and rescue volunteer Evan Johnson jumps into action, knowing he's in a race against time that can mean the difference between life and death. As an Afghanistan vet, Evan’s seen what no one should. So why would someone with PTSD volunteer to do this j...

For years, Melissa MacMillan' s opioid addiction brought chaos to her life - especially with her daughter Eden. Now, almost five years into recovery, Melissa and Eden share the tough conversations they're having as they try to rebuild their relationship. What does it take to be truly 'out of the woods,' getting through one big life hurdle, only to face a whole new set of challenges? That's what th...

You know the feeling. You’re unsure. Stuck between two choices. The imposter syndrome is bubbling up, and you just need a little help. So who do you turn to for advice? And how likely are you to take it? This week on Now or Never, we’re sifting through the opinions, mantras, and clichés, to find out what works (and what doesn’t) when you get and give advice. Ify and Trevor call up the Winnipe...

Across Canada, we've been hit with blizzards, snow squalls and extreme cold. So what keeps you from going stir-crazy in the dead of winter? On this episode of Now or Never , hear about the wild and creative ways people are avoiding cabin fever. After living in the Yukon for over 40 years, Cindy Billingham and her husband, Ron, moved to a small town in Newfoundland to live out their retirement...

Are you feeling paralyzed by the firehose of terrible news? We get it. We feel that way, too. So we did what Mr. Rogers always told us to do when we're feeling scared: look for the helpers. On this episode, hear how people just like you are channeling their feelings of helplessness into action, doing small things in the face of big problems. As a school bus driver in Minneapolis, Jodi has watched...

Five trailblazing Canadians tell us how they smashed barriers in the worlds of soccer, aviation, AI, education, and.....eating the most hot peppers in a single sitting?!? As a kid, Zoey Williams used to tag along on her dad's flights. That planted the seed for Zoey, who went on to be the first Black female pilot at Air Canada. Zoey and her dad Captain Orrett Williams tell us what it takes to break...

There is a power in publicly declaring you no longer own, support, or believe in something. Meet five Canadians doing just that. Jess Klaassen-Wright is part of a small but growing movement of young people in Canada renouncing their generational wealth. And right now, Jess is grappling with what to do with an unexpected $300,000 inheritance. Jess tells us why it’s important to talk more openly abo...

Whether it's through sheer luck or hard work, you've been handed an opportunity you've maybe only dreamed of. What do you do with it? Actor Feaven Abera has been hustling in the industry since she was 17 years old. She remembers taking jobs to pay for acting classes, commuting from Hamilton to Toronto and back for auditions and student films, and sometimes coming up short on bus fare. At 25, she w...

‘Tis the season for exchanging greetings, sending salutations, and dashing off (humblebrag) holiday letters.  But chances are, there’s someone you haven’t reached out to yet…so what are you waiting for? Today Now or Never is nudging you to finally get those meaningful messages out into the world, starting with our own Trevor Dineen. For the past three (!) years, a complete stranger with Trevo...

This week, stories of people racing to save something before it disappears completely. For most of his life, Gerry Smerchanski has watched the stars from his property in the small town of Teulon, Manitoba. But now the town has grown up around his home, and the amateur astronomer’s night sky is disappearing because of light pollution. Find out how he’s fighting to preserve the night sky, and why it...

Messing things up is part of the human experience. But what happens when you fail at something so big, and so publicly...how do you come back from that? On this episode, four people confess their most epic fails, and what they're doing to dig themselves out. Edmonton’s Kayla Huszar used to cajole, bribe and beg her children to brush their teeth. But her "gentle parenting" approach led to both her...

Roommates. They can be great, they can save you money....and they can also make your life a living hell. Roommate households are the fastest growing living arrangement in Canada, so we wanted to know, how are people making it work? (or not) Five stories of people navigating some tricky real-life moments with their roommates. Deb King never thought she’d need to find a roommate at 67 years old, but...

Saying goodbye can be hard — whether it's to a relationship, a job, or the place you call home. On this episode, hear how people knew it was time to say goodbye, and what happened after they walked away. Ify pops in for one last visit to the Imperial Pub, an iconic neighborhood bar in Toronto that's closing its doors after 81 years. Long-time owner Fred Newman reflects on the end of an era, while...

Asking what someone does for work is more complicated these days. More than a million Canadians, or 5.6 per cent of the working population, are holding down multiple jobs. So today on Now or Never we’re looking at the art, and real cost, of the side hustle. After two decades in the education industry, Lethbridge, Alberta teacher Verna Mabin didn’t expect she’d still be working a side hustle…and se...

Just in time for Halloween, stories of people being scared out-of-their-mind about something, but doing it anyway. The last time Mike Bahuaud  ran a half-marathon, he went into cardiac arrest and collapsed at the finish line, where his heart stopped beating for nearly five minutes. One year later, he's determined to run the exact same marathon, to finish what nearly ended him.  It was a...

If you, like us, are not a runner, it might seem nuts to risk the muscle pain, the boredom, not to mention the chafing. So we asked a bunch of people what keeps them moving, and got some really surprising answers. Four days ago, Tata Shifrin finished her first full marathon in Toronto. Which is not what her doctors would have predicted, since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014 and t...