- Voices from the ground: a glimpse inside Canada's student encampments
Thursday, May 16th 2024
Guests: Journalists Samira Mohyeddin and Christopher Curtis
Student protests that first erupted across the United States have now spread northward, igniting across Canada, including campuses at University of Toronto, McGill University, University of British Columbia and University of Alberta among others. The students say they want to end a war that’s claimed more than 34,000 Palestinian lives, according to local officials, destroyed or damaged every university in Gaza and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The recent Israeli offensive against Gaza began after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants which killed almost 1,200 Israelis with dozens still held hostage. The students are specifically calling for universities to cut all financial and academic ties with any Israeli company or campus that supports the military or illegal West Bank settlements based on international law. In this episode we take a look at what's going inside the University of Toronto and McGill University campuses through the eyes of two independent journalists, Samira Mohiyeddin and Christopher Curtis, co-founder of The Rover, who have been reporting from within the encampments.
Audio sources: CBC News, Samira Mohyeddin, Christopher Curtis, Lance McMillan
This episode was produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Paulo Marques and Saba Eitizaz
With files from Marco Chown Oved
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- PWHL is creating superstars and superfans
Tuesday, May 7th 2024
Guest: Toronto PWHL season ticket holder and superfan Connie Hamers
At the inaugural game of Toronto’s professional women’s hockey team, Connie Hamers had front-row seats, and immediately took a liking to the play of rookie Emma Maltais. By game two, she’d labelled her section “Emma Nation” and began bringing team swag she made (or had made) herself — signs, team roster reference lists, mini-sticks, hockey cards — to games to distribute freely to others sitting around her. She travelled with the team to other cities, founded a social media fan group, and quickly became one of the most well-recognized and liked people in attendance at games. As the team prepares for its first-ever playoffs, she sits down with fellow season ticket holder Edward Keenan to discuss a first-place finish for the team, the astonishing MVP-calibre performance of Natalie Spooner, what she loves about Maltais, why she has put so much time and energy into supporting and helping promote the team, and what she’s looking forward to in the playoffs. Plus, Hamers shares how she left her “Emma Nation” mark in places around the U.S. and Canada.
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- Ontario has banned cellphones in class. We take a deeper dive into the new rules for schools
Thursday, May 2nd 2024
Guests: Jasmine Eastmond, Tristan Kim and Kristin Rushowy
The Ontario government has announced a crackdown on cellphones and vaping in schools, new regulations that are being seen as some of the toughest in Canada. According to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, the new government policy for cellphones, with some exceptions, is out of sight, out of mind. With this new move to ban cellphone use in classrooms, Ontario has joined a global movement with similar restrictions being imposed in the UK, Australia, France and some Scandinavian countries. There are many questions about enforcement and effectiveness, chief among them: how are teachers going to keep young people away from their phones in an increasingly digital ecosystem?
Audio sources: CP24
This episode was produced by Paulo Marques and Saba Eitizaz. With files from Emily Fagan
- After the verdict, Umar Zameer reflects
Friday, April 26th 2024
Guest: Betsy Powell, courts reporter
After the death of police Const. Jeffrey Northrup, the trial of Umar Zameer for first degree murder galvanized attention (and political rage) in the Toronto area. Now that he’s been found not guilty, people are left with questions about a prosecution that always seemed to be based on flimsy grounds. Reporter Betsy Powell covered the case for the Star from its beginnings to its conclusion, and spoke one-on-one with Zameer following the verdict. Now on “This Matters,” she shares her overview of the case, how the judge had expressed skepticism all along and the rare apology that judge issued to the defendant. We also share Zameer’s own reflections on the trial from Powell’s interview.
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- A Q&A with Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
Tuesday, April 23rd 2024
Guest: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
Even before Sophie Grégoire Trudeau married Prime Minister Justin Trudeau she was an advocate for mental health, openly sharing her personal struggles with eating disorders. She discusses her new book. She shares those struggles afresh, along with tales of her parents, her schooling, her relationships, in her new book, “Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other,” which she describes as a personal journey toward empowerment.
