- ‘Torturing us as payback’: How Ontario jail guards exacted a violent, hours-long revenge against inmates
Friday, April 4th 2025
Guest: Brendan Kennedy, investigative reporter at The Star
On Dec. 20, 2023 a guard was assaulted by an inmate at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ontario. The inmate was then immediately removed from the facility. Two days later, jail guards in full riot gear carried out a violent, mass strip search of 192 inmates – none of whom were involved in the initial incident -- in a coordinated, collective punishment that spanned 48 hours.
A judge has called it a gross display of power, something that should never happen in this country. However, the Ministry of the Solicitor General, who oversees jails across the province, has remained relatively silent on the matter.
The incident has gone on to impact dozens of criminal cases across the province, as inmates seek to have their charges stayed or sentences reduced – and in some cases have received just that, as a recourse for having their Charter Rights violated.
Brendan Kennedy, investigative reporter with The Star, originally broke this story last year and has been doggedly trying to obtain security footage of exactly what went down at Maplehurst over the course of those 48 hours and what that tell us about the state of our jails.
PLUS: Hear from Rene Pearle, a former Maplehurst inmate who was there on that fateful day
This episode was produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Sean Pattendon and Paulo Marques.
- A Liberal candidate's controversial comments, an upcoming election and a crisis for Carney
Wednesday, April 2nd 2025
Guest: Toronto Star reporter Raisa Patel
Liberal candidate Paul Chiang's remarks suggesting a political opponent could be handed over to Chinese authorities for a bounty has fuelled outrage, an RCMP probe and a political firestorm for the Liberals ahead of an election. Initially Liberal leader Mark Carney was seen as supporting him held back from dropping Chiang as a candidate Markham-Unionville. As backlash grew, and pressure mounted, it was Chiang who ultimately stepped down himself. This episode takes a look at how things unfolded and what it reveals about the Liberal leader's decision-making and judgement, just around the corner from a federal election.
Audio sources: Global News
Produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques
- Why Canada must brace for U.S. interference in the 2025 election
Monday, March 31st 2025
Guest: Toronto Star reporter Allan Woods
Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney just had their first call since Carney took office, and by all accounts, it was productive. But also, the fact that this call is making headlines is just another sign of how much Trump and the U.S. will loom over Canada’s upcoming election. From Trump’s political influence and the spread of disinformation to the idea (his own) that his presidency actually helped keep the Liberals in power; this election is shaping up to be as much about the U.S. as it is about Canada.
Canada has always had to live in America’s shadow—but this time, the biggest foreign threat to our democracy isn’t Russia or China—it might be our closest ally.
Produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques
- Grandpa, what did you do in the trade war?
Friday, March 28th 2025
Guest: Ken Greenberg, urban designer and co-founder of Elbows Up Toronto
“This is not a trade war,” Charlie Angus said to a packed crowd at a church this week, “it’s an attack on who we are as people.” A lot of Canadians have been feeling that recently, as U.S. President Donald Trump not only imposes tariffs on us, but talks about taking our country over. The response in the public is like something few of us have seen, a swelling patriotism. But a lot of us have also been feeling a sense that while we want to do something, we aren’t sure how, beyond buying Canadian at the grocery store.
Ken Greenberg, who originally came to Toronto as a Vietnam war resistor before a career in public life as a planner and designer, is co-founder of a group called 'Elbows Up Toronto' aiming to organize people to turn those feelings into grassroots action. Their Monday night meetings are part rally, part brainstorming session, and serve as what Greenberg calls a “clearing house” where people can trade information and strategy and coordinate for further action. It is, he says, a chance to realize what Canadian culture really means (and can mean), and to emerge a better, stronger country for it.
This episode was produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Ed Keenan and Paulo Marques.
- A life spent undercover with terrorists trying to incite a race war
Thursday, March 27th 2025
Guest: Michelle Shephard, former Toronto Star reporter and co-author of “Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America’s Nazis”
Scott Payne spent his career deep undercover in the drug trade, criminal networks and among racist terrorists — and despite some harrowing close calls that saw him stripped naked and almost exposed, he lived to tell the tale.
The woman he told it to — former Star reporter Michelle Shephard, who co-wrote a new book with Payne — sits down with This Matters to talk about what he went through and what he learned. This includes a time when he found himself in a field in the American south under a literal burning cross at a KKK rally, and how he learned that famous racist organization is now “your grandfather’s white supremacists” given the threat posed by The Base, a newer racist terrorist group bent on spurring a race war to bring about the collapse of society. Shephard discusses how Payne tried to stay safe while putting criminals in jail, and the toll it took on his mental health and family life.
PLUS: the time Payne had a hood pulled off his head and found himself being unexpectedly “knighted” into the Ku Klux Klan.
This episode was produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Ed Keenan and Paulo Marques.
