Shows / The Big Story
The Big Story
An in-depth look at the issues, culture and personalities shaping Canada today.
Episodes
The Big StoryIs history at a turning point? How can we meet the moment?
You may have heard the phrase this week, or even just this year, that we are living history right now. The truth is we are always living history, but some of…
The Big StoryU of T medical school’s first solo Black female valedictorian graduates, and leaves behind a legacy of activism
Chika Stacy Oriuwa graduated from the University of Toronto's faculty of medicine on Tuesday as valedictorian—the first black woman in the faculty's history to…
The Big StoryPolice brutality is not just an American problem. What needs to happen here?
There’s a natural instinct a lot of Canadians have to look at the United States and feel better about ourselves. It’s obviously not a great look for us as a…
The Big StoryHow to be an ally in everyday situations
The images of police killing black men or assaulting protesters are horrifying and disgusting, but they are just the most visible tip of an ugly, ugly iceberg…
The Big StoryInvestigating the Toronto Blessing: A beautiful mystery
On January 20th, 1994, strange things started happening at a small Christian church in Toronto, Canada. Worshipers found themselves laughing, shaking, falling…
The Big StoryHannah Georgas on what it’s like being a musician in the COVID-19 era
Imagine you're a Canadian musician about to go international. You've been working your way up the charts, year by year, with awards, acclaimed albums, and…
The Big StoryWhat’s the next disaster we need to prepare for now?
You may have heard that lots of people saw this pandemic coming. We still weren't adequately prepared. So what do we need to do now to make sure we are ready…
The Big StoryWhat is Ontario doing wrong on COVID-19?
New infections are up. Testing is down. Contact tracing is late. People are partying in parks. A report from members of Canada's armed forces on conditions in…
The Big StorySchools and students in limbo as virtual fall term looms
Imagine being a high-school graduate right now, deciding whether to pay your tuition for post-secondary education in the fall. How do you know what you'll be…
The Big StoryHow workers are fighting for their rights in a dangerous gig economy
A few months ago, a group of couriers won a huge victory for gig economy workers in Canada. And you won't believe what happened next... We're relying on this…
The Big StoryWill COVID-19 bring down Airbnb?
Nearly every story on a housing crisis casts Airbnb as one the chief villains driving up rents and home prices. So it should not come as a shock that the…
The Big StoryA groundbreaking terrorism charge against an alleged ‘incel’
The crime itself did not generate many headlines at the time it happened. Partly because the COVID-19 pandemic was ramping up, and partly because women are…
The Big StoryHow isolation is changing our use of substances
Have you found yourself joking about drinking your way through quarantine? You are, anecdotally and statistically, not alone. We know more people are reporting…
The Big StoryAn employment lawyer explains what we need to know as workplaces open
Employees returning to work is a positive sign in our battle against COVID-19, but it's also scary, and raises a lot of questions. Is my workplace safe? What…
The Big StoryAlone and threatened on a boat far out to sea…
Every bottom-trawling fishing boat off the coast of British Columbia has an independent observer on board. The observers monitor the catch and protect against…
The Big StoryWhat we do (and don’t) know about COVID-19 and kids
Schools in parts of Quebec reopened this week—though they look different. And other parts of the country will likely be considering this move soon. And as this…
The Big Story“Is this year really possible?” A COVID-19 vaccine explained
You know the timeline we've been quoted every time a COVID-19 vaccine is discussed: 12-18 months. But how accurate is that? What if we get lucky? What if we…
The Big StoryA very Canadian solution to a problem we’ll hopefully never face
You've seen the stories and images from around the world. Hospitals built in China in 10 days. Convention centres turned into temporary Covid-19 care centres…
The Big StoryWill a Universal Basic Income finally get a real shot?
If there was one thing almost all governments—liberal, conservative, whatever—agreed upon when disaster struck, it was the need to get money into people's…
- The Big Story
Oh great…now Murder Hornets?
Well, you probably shouldn't call them that. They may kill—but they don't intend to murder, which is what passes for good news in 2020. Since a New York Times…
The Big StoryAid programs, partisan politics and the path forward: A dispatch from Ottawa
Over the past two months, several programs worth billions upon billions of dollars were rolled out to Canadian people and businesses faster than we could have…
The Big StoryA supply chain explainer, or why you can or can’t find flour
OK, maybe it's not necessarily flour, but surely there's been something missing from your shopping list since COVID-19 struck. You might be surprised to know…
The Big StoryInside the strange world of designing psychoactive drugs
All of the psychoactive recreational drugs you can name are illegal in Canada. But if you're smart enough to make a new drug yourself? Well, it's not on the…
The Big StoryWill we have to trade privacy for freedom to get ‘back to normal’?
In order for us to go back to day-to-day lives that are even close to normal, we’re going to have to be able to track contacts of people who test positive for…
The Big StoryEverything but ‘Why?’: What we know now about the Nova Scotia shooting
In the days after Canada’s worst mass shooting, there were dozens of questions we couldn’t answer. The list started with things as basic as "How many victims?"…
The Big StoryLearning, innovating and grieving: Inside a Canadian ICU
This is a report from the front lines, and it's about both tragedy and triumph. When the COVID-19 crisis began, Canadian ICU doctors looked at their colleagues…
The Big StoryWhat does COVID-19 mean for cottage season and rural communities?
It sounds like a first-world problem: "What if people can't visit their second homes?" But behind the stereotype there are hundreds of thousands of people…
The Big StoryHow did BC successfully flatten the curve? And will it stay that way?
Ontario and British Columbia discovered their first cases of COVID-19 just one day apart. B.C. was the first province to report community transmission. But…
The Big StoryHow long can we all follow strict social distancing orders?
All the reports say that, so far, Canada's strategy is working. The curves from province to province are beginning to flatten. That's thanks to Canadians…
The Big StoryA distraction for every type: What to watch during lockdown
We figured you might have exhausted your first choices and the obvious options by now—and with at least a few more weeks to go of self-isolation and sheltering…
The Big StoryWhat does the future of sports look like?
It's been six weeks since every major sports league hit pause on their seasons. We still don't have a timetable for their return. But the world of sports is as…
The Big StoryWhat COVID-19 can teach us about being wrong
Dr. David Fisman has been at the forefront of the battle against infectious diseases, from SARS to COVID-19. We asked him about this new virus in January, and…
The Big StoryWhat we know and don’t know about the Nova Scotia shooting
It’s been almost 48 hours, and police still aren’t sure how many people are dead. But it’s at least 19. It’s the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history…
The Big StoryHow COVID-19 could change our cities forever. Or not.
Open-concept floor plans. Roads designed for peak traffic at peak times on week days. Apartments built for sleeping and eating but not extended isolation…
The Big StoryHow to eat well (enough) during quarantine
In the early days of self-isolation, for some people food was an adventure. For others, an obstacle. But now that we've been at this for a while, perhaps…
The Big StoryCOVID-19 and domestic violence: A meeting of two pandemics
Shelters and advocates and even governments have sounded the alarm about what our efforts to stay in our homes and battle COVID-19 means for people who have an…
The Big StoryHow a health reporter does her job when every story is urgent
Health stories are basically the only stories now. There are reams of sometimes-conflicting data, no shortage of sources (though some are much better than…
The Big StoryA Canadian experiment looks for a ‘Hail Mary’ COVID-19 treatment
It's been used in desperate times of disease for a century—but there's never been a large-scale study of its effectiveness. It's relatively simple to…
The Big StoryA guide to COVID-19 scams and how to protect yourself
A global pandemic has trapped most of us inside our homes. We're cut off from friends and family. We're scared and lonely and worried about our jobs and the…
The Big StoryHow many restaurants will survive this Spring?
An early estimate says perhaps one in 10 non-chain restaurants have already closed for good. This month could add 15-20% more. The hospitality industry depends…
The Big StoryHow a Nfld. funeral home became the centre of Canada’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak
When Shannon Fleming's loved ones gathered to mourn her passing, there hadn't yet been any official bans on gatherings of this size in Newfoundland. Attendees…
The Big StoryCOVID-19’s great mask debate
Everyone you know probably has an opinion on whether or not we should be wearing masks outside. So does Canada's chief public health officer—and her opinion…
The Big StoryHow COVID-19 is changing B.C.’s approach to the opioid crisis
Pandemics force us into a lot of changes that otherwise might never have been made. Some of those changes are horrible choices between 'bad' and 'worse'. But…
The Big StoryWhat it’s like to have COVID-19 (but not get tested)
The novel coronavirus presents in different ways for different people, and that means that experts think we're likely missing lots of cases due to mild…
The Big StoryA stealth virus, the missing infected and playing the long game: Inside the COVID-19 numbers
POP QUIZ! If a province's report says it has 426 new cases of COVID-19 in one day, which brings the provincial total to 2392 and represents a 22% increase…
The Big StoryMontreal faces a rental crisis in a pandemic
For decades, the image of Montreal apartments has been a lure to the rest of Canada: Huge, spacious units in beautiful old walkups, for prices that wouldn't…
The Big StoryHow to stay positive in self-isolation
These are stressful times, to put it lightly. And the message from Canada's health officials is that there's no clear end in sight for physical distancing…
The Big StoryHospitals plan for the worst, as a community steps up
The last time we talked to Dr. Michael Warner, he was headed in a week leading his time in the critical care unit at a Toronto hospital. He joins us to update…
The Big StoryCanada’s COVID-19 aid package and you
Do you qualify? How much will you get? For how long? What if you still have a tiny bit of income, but it's not enough to live on? What if you're already on EI?…