Shows / The Big Story
The Big Story
An in-depth look at the issues, culture and personalities shaping Canada today.
Episodes
The Big StoryA tsunami of disinformation is coming from the White House
Almost everything the President of the United States has been saying since election day is false. His family and supporters are following suit. How is the…
The Big StoryWhile America counts, the world waits to exhale
As of Wednesday night, things looked relatively positive for Joe Biden's bid for the presidency. But Donald Trump's team is filing lawsuits, demanding…
The Big StoryAre we living in a simulation?
No, the US election is not what spawned this question. New research in a field called 'simulation theory' pegs the odds that we're just AI creations in…
The Big StoryWhat to expect when American democracy is at stake
Is Democracy on the ballot in the American election tonight? How real is the threat of violence at the polls? What happens if Donald Trump squeaks out a…
The Big StoryInside Canada’s most notorious heists
Why don't more Canadians know about the criminal masterminds behind some of Canada's most legendary capers? A new audiobook, True North Heists, tells the tales…
The Big StoryHow long can Hollywood stay in limbo?
In a normal year, the start of November would mark the beginning of the prestige movie push, with award hopefuls, franchise films and feel-good family flocks…
The Big StoryPorn and the Pandemic: A study in adaptability
It was perfect timing, really, for OnlyFans. The website was growing in popularity because it allowed people to charge followers for exclusive content, and it…
The Big StoryWhere is Ontario’s real gun violence epidemic?
You might think that it's gang-related shootings in Toronto that drive gun-violence statistics in the province. You'd wind up surprised. A new study examined…
The Big StoryShould Canada worry about a huge deficit?
Our government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars supporting Canadians through this pandemic. They're deep in debt—but how worried should they be?…
The Big StoryMeet the new leader of Canada’s Green Party
Annamie Paul made history earlier this month when she became the first Black woman to lead a Canadian party when she became the successor to Elizabeth May. Now…
The Big StoryA trip to a beautiful little deadly beach
It's called Six Mile Beach, and it sits in a remote part of British Columbia. It’s not on any of the tourism brochures. You need to know how to find it to get…
The Big StoryWhat happens when you give homeless people money?
Not your pocket change, either. We're talking about thousands of dollars in a no-strings-attached payment. A project in British Columbia did just that, and…
The Big StoryHow Halloween highlights the COVID-19 communication paradox
Trick or Treating is cancelled in some Ontario hotspots, and it's easy to be upset on behalf of the kids and wonder why. After all, we've been told the safest…
The Big StoryAlleged abuse, coverups and years of trauma: Inside the legacy of the Basilian Fathers
For almost two years an investigative team has been digging into into claims of child sexual assault by priests who belong to a Canadian Catholic order known…
The Big StoryRemote work has been about survival. What’s happened to careers?
In the early days of the pandemic, it was fun to compare crude work-from-home setups. Eight months later, with no end in sight, the novelty is long gone…
The Big StoryA little bit of Hope
Amir Omidvar left Iran during the revolutionary crisis in 1982. For twenty months after leaving his home, Amir did everything he could to cross the Atlantic…
The Big StoryHow Canada’s legacy of slavery lingers on today
Most Canadians didn't learn much about slavery in Canada in history class. Curriculums in this country have mostly focused on the Underground Railroad and…
The Big StoryHow to prepare for a winter in lockdown
Unless you’re lucky enough to live in some of the areas of Canada that are largely free of Covid-19, you’re likely staring down a long few months spent…
The Big StoryInside the Atlantic Bubble, where life is close to normal
We don’t have to look as far as New Zealand to find examples of how the battle against COVID-19 can be won. We have a success story right here in Canada, where…
The Big StoryClimate change reporting needs hope as well as fear
You have heard plenty of dire predictions and seen hundreds of horrible photographs. The Earth is in trouble, there's no doubt. But when coverage of climate…
The Big Story“All we can do is brace for impact”: Canada plans for US political chaos
Our neighbour is in trouble. Whatever the results of the American election on November 3, there's only a small chance they won't be contested. The upheaval…
The Big StoryWhat one refugee’s journey can tell us about Canada
Many of us take pride in Canada's diversity—but not all of us embrace it. And critics cite large numbers when discussing immigration policy. What that does is…
The Big StoryInside Nova Scotia’s complicated lobster fishery fight
In mid-September, commercial fishers began to protest and threaten First Nation lobster fishermen who were exercising their treaty rights to make a moderate…
The Big StoryHow some churches get permission to use illegal drugs
The federal government may not be working towards decriminalization of banned substances, but if you follow the proper procedures, as some churches have, you…
The Big StoryHow do you vaccinate an entire planet?
If all goes well, sometime in the next six months, one of the many Covid-19 vaccine candidates will receive approval for human use. It will be a day to…
The Big StoryHave you been sold a lie about recycling?
You're a good citizen, so you probably toss your plastic into the recycling bin. Especially if it has those little recycling arrows on it. Why wouldn't you?…
The Big StoryB.C. is going to the polls during a pandemic. Why?
September was a month for rising COVID-19 case counts in British Columbia. October will be a month for an election. Why now? That depends on who you ask. The…
The Big StoryOn the front lines as COVID-19 surges in Ontario
Cases are increasing exponentially. Hospital admissions are beginning to follow them. The doctors who oversee ICUs are nervous. And the public is looking for…
The Big StoryIn a strange year for sports, the Toronto Blue Jays had the strangest year of all
They played zero games in Toronto. They spent the first three weeks on the road. They lost their best hitter for half the year. Their ace welcomed a baby…
The Big StoryHow are kids coping with Covid-19 and school?
If you think that parents are nervous about Back To School, imagine how the kids are feeling. You’re going back to school, or maybe trying to learn from home…
The Big StoryIs there really life on Venus? How do we find out?
Last week, an unlikely research project made a startling discovery: Phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus. That's something that, as far as we know, is…
The Big StorySavour your morning coffee now…
Because the coffee bean is in danger. A rapidly spreading fungus is threatening both the plants themselves and the farmers who make a living from them. The…
The Big StoryHow conspiracy theories exploded in Quebec
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Quebec police estimate threats made against public officials are up about 400 percent. Most of the people arrested for…
The Big StoryThis model predicted the collapse of America
It’s not Donald Trump’s fault. He’s just an accelerant. America has been churning towards a crisis of democracy for decades. Our guest today created a model…
The Big StoryA look inside Canadians’ lives during a pandemic
On this show, we usually talk to experts—and that means during Covid-19 we've been speaking with doctors and infectious disease specialists, researchers and…
The Big StoryThe case that gave birth to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit
In 1988, Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby represented the family of a young man named Michael Wade Lawson. Though neither Ruby, the family or anyone else involved…
The Big StoryInside the making of an incel
This November, accused killer Alek Minassian will face trial for the 2018 Toronto van attack that killed 10 people and injured 16. In the aftermath of that…
The Big StoryHow hospitals are helping teachers as kids return to school
There are a lot of things that provincial back-to-school guidelines don't cover—because they can't. Every school is different, and so are the neighbourhoods…
The Big StoryThey defended their land, then the government abandoned them
It's been 25 years since the Ipperwash crisis and the killing of Dudley George. Long enough that there's a generation that doesn't remember it—but they have…
The Big StoryDo you need a news detox?
Are you addicted to the news? Don't lie! It's understandable. This year has been hard, and everything feels like a crisis sometimes, and some of us can't look…
The Big StoryBack to school for some. Private learning pods for others.
It's been a chaotic and eventful—and still not yet close to done—return to schools across Canada. A majority of parents have chosen to return their kids to the…
The Big StoryA story about the family that just kept growing
In a large house, in a very nice area of Toronto, in the 1970s and 80s, there lived a normal family: Mom, dad, kids. Roughly thirty kids, actually, most of…
The Big StoryWill outer space become the new Wild West?
When SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy took off from a NASA launchpad this year, it marked a new era of manned spaceflight, one in which private businesses have as much of…
The Big StoryCanada’s new approach to treating obesity
A lot of Canadians are obese. That's a fact. But a lot of the things you think you know about that fact—why they're obese, how they could lose weight, what…
The Big StoryYour guide to government benefits after the CERB
It was a program created at unimaginable speed under incredible circumstances. And it has helped millions of Canadians. But six months later—two months longer…
The Big StoryHow police use private donations to buy big-ticket items
One of the goals of the movement to defund the police is to limit a police force's ability to acquire expensive, military-style equipment. Even if that…
The Big StoryWould you do jury duty in a pandemic?
It's already something some people try to avoid—and the thought of spending hours in a courtroom with others, masked or not, doesn't make jury duty any more…
The Big StoryInside the Trudeau government’s own-goal on solitary confinement
The practice of solitary confinement in Canada had been found to violate inmates' human rights. The government had been given a year to fix it, and last…
The Big StoryWinter is coming. Are we ready?
It sucks to think about cold weather and flu season when BBQs and beaches are still on the menu, but that’s the life of epidemiologists during a global…
The Big StoryA Sip of Black Tea
We're bringing you a special episode of our sister show, Black Tea. In this one, Mel and Dalton talk to Celina Caesar-Chavannes, a former Member of Parliament…
The Big StoryA special message from The Big Story
A special episode of the Big Story looks at what has happened in sports over the past 48 hours and asks a question: If it isn't business as usual, and talking…
The Big StoryHow the pandemic poured gas on the income inequality fire
You’ve probably lived most of your life with rising income inequality. The rich steadily get richer while the rest of us just try to keep up. It’s difficult…
The Big StoryWho is Erin O’Toole? And should Justin Trudeau be worried?
He loves Top Gun, but he admits he's not Maverick. He courted the social conservative vote, then turned around and made a play for moderates. He wants a more…
The Big StoryWhat it’s like to get cancer care during a pandemic
It's perhaps the worst news you can imagine getting—and the only way to make it worse is to get it via videoconference in the midst of a pandemic. COVID-19 has…
The Big StoryNow we know how COVID-19 has changed the workday
The past six months have featured a lot of speculation about what the pandemic has done to the average workday for those lucky enough to have a job that can be…
The Big StoryWhat ‘Anne With An E’ fans taught us about cultural politics
Anne With An E is a reimagining of Lucy Maude Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables tales. It ran for three seasons, and then got cancelled. And the fans took it…
The Big StoryWhat the hell just happened in Ottawa?
Since Monday, the nation’s federal government has seen a high-profile resignation, a historic appointment, a prorogation of parliament in the middle of a…
The Big StoryWhat is “It is what it is”?
You probably first heard it from the mouth of a losing coach or player—but that's not where it came from. You may have noticed that US President Donald Trump…
The Big StoryWhat does the future of dining out look like?
In most places, restaurants can reopen for indoor dining—with a whole lot of restrictions. But with limited seating available, it's going to be impossible for…
The Big StoryTracy Moore brings blunt anti-racism to daytime lifestyle TV
Tracy Moore took over as host of Cityline 12 years ago, the first black woman to host a Canadian daytime lifestyle show. The reaction to her debut was…ugly…