CANADALAND

It's a story about deception, coverups, and some say, about murder. This is a story about Groundhog Day. The true story of Wiarton Willie.

CANADALAND Editor Jonathan Goldsbie digs into the shell game of dead groundhogs that spans decades. 

Featured in this episode: Liam Casey, a reporter/editor in the Ontario bureau for the Canadian Press; Frank Gunn, a national photographer for the Canadian Press

Further reading:

• Yet another Wiarton Willie is dead. Here's a look at the strange history behind the beloved groundhog, Liam Casey, Canadian Press/CBC
  

• The legend of Wiarton Willie lives on (2011), Toronto Star
  

• Frank Gunn's photo of 1999 Wiarton Willie funeral, Canadian Press/Toronto Star

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How many anti-vax trucker convoys were there?! And people are making the case to break up the CBC again.
Canadaland contributing editor Danielle Paradis cohosts. 
Further reading & links:

• GoFundMe actually froze money for the convoy's campaign
• Tom Hooper's investigation into Pride Toronto and the misuse of money from the federal government
• The Narwhal's story on the maple syrup meltdown

Sponsors: Zensurance, Squarespace, Freshbooks, Rotman

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Canada has a nuclear problem... a nuclear waste problem. Since the dawn of nuclear power technology, solutions to waste have all been remarkably temporary given the longevity of the danger the material presents. 

For decades, the hunt for a solution has spanned across provinces — even across countries. But the hope is that by 2023 Canada will have found a home - and permanent solution - for all of the country's nuclear waste.

This endeavor is pitting neighbour against neighbour — community against community. And the stakes are high for the future of the nuclear industry.

CANADALAND senior producer Sarah Lawrynuik ventures to Northwestern Ontario to bring you this story.

Further reading:

• Small northwestern Ontario town considers if it's willing to house nuclear waste from across Canada, CBC News
• Holding in the deep: What Canada wants to do with its decades-old pileup of nuclear waste, The Narwhal
• Nuclear's Role in Canada's Low-Carbon Future?, Energy vs Climate podcast
• 30,000 shipments of nuclear waste would move through Ontario cities, farmland under draft plan, CBC News
• How to build a nuclear warning for 10,000 years' time, BBC News

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The hunger for stories about Toronto's snow backfires. And when a story is about a hostage situation at a synagogue, why is there reluctance to call it antisemitism?

Canadaland contributing editor Danielle Paradis co-hosts.

Links: 

• A tribute to CBC Edmonton's radio host Adrienne Pan
• CBC's piece on Texas Synagogue Hostages

Sponsors: Zensurance, Hot Docs Podcast Festival, Freshbooks, Squarespace

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There's a mystery disease that's plaguing people in New Brunswick. It starts with some muscle pain or spasms, before basic tasks like reading become impossible. For many, the disease progresses to full-blown dementia. For patients and families, government response has proven to be lackluster and desperation and frustration is taking hold as the search for answers drags on.

Further reading:

• Whistleblower warns baffling illness affects growing number of young adults in Canadian province, Leyland Cecco, The Guardian
  

• New Brunswick monitoring more than 40 cases of unknown neurological disease, CBC News
  

• N.B. health minister questions validity of mysterious neurological disease after report, Global News
  

• New Brunswick's Mystery Disease: Why Did the Province Shut Out Federal Experts?, The Walrus

• No longer a sure thing: Records show how N.B. investigation into mystery illness changed over time, CBC News

• Help Gabrielle battle unknown neurological disease, GoFundMe
  

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Healthcare workers against pandemic restrictions tell on themselves by suing for libel. And two Haitian journalists die reporting for a Montreal online radio station. 

Columnist Emilie Nicolas co-hosts. 

Links:

• Gofundme page for the Haitian journalists' families

Sponsors: Policy Me, Dispatch Coffee, Squarespace

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A CBC employee resigned from the public broadcaster because she says it's become too woke.

The article she wrote about her departure has caused quite the buzz since it dropped. The National Post put it on the front page of the paper. Fox News, America reporter Glenn Greenwald, the British Daily Mail, and Canada's Leader of the Opposition Erin O'Toole have all wanted a piece of this story.

But who the heck is the author, Tara Henley? And is any of this criticism warranted? Or is it a feeding frenzy for conservatives who are eager to jump on the "defund the CBC" bandwagon?

Further reading:

• Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Tara Henley, Substack
• 'CBC produces clickbait that's a parody of the student press': Senior journalist quits broadcaster over its 'radical political agenda', 'woke worldview' and belief 'that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others', Daily Mail
• WOKE NIGHTMARE: In her first chat, Tara Henley sounds off on CBC's radical editorial agenda, Toronto Sun
• Canadian journalist quit CBC over woke ‘radical political agenda', New York Post

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Publishing record COVID case counts might not be that helpful anymore. And a woman quits the CBC to start her own thing and Jesse isn't sure how to feel about it. 
Writer Nora Loreto co-hosts.

Sponsors: Freshbooks, PolicyMe, Squarespace

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After we turn off our microphones, here at CANADALAND, it would be great to think we brought you the definitive version of the story. But what actually happens is that life keeps on rolling and stories continue to add new chapters.

Three stories CANADALAND originally aired in 2021 demanded that we add another chapter to the story we told.

First, the case of pretendians and how Indigenous identity has been co-opted by people who are not, in fact, Indigenous.

Second, the story of MindGeek, Canada's largest tech company, that is known the world over for its porn platforms, like Porn Hub. When last we left the company, they were under a fair amount of scrutiny...

And lastly, in October, we brought you the story of Madeline who was considering medically-assisted death once she ran out of money for the expensive treatments she needed to manage her life-long disease. What ever happened to her?

Further Reading:

• How disgraced health expert Carrie Bourassa passed as Indigenous for years, New York Post
• Universities across Canada addressing Indigenous identity fraud in wake of Carrie Bourassa investigation, CBC News
• Quebec Ink: Inside ‘Project Narsil,' a Canadian cannabis entrepreneur's bid for porn giant MindGeek, Martin Patriquin, The Logic
• MindGeek payouts to owners grew amid scrutiny over illegal content, new filings show, The Logic
• Madeline's GoFundMe page

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Short Cuts is off this week, so we are sharing an absolutely shocking story from Commons' current season on mining in Canada. 

For a century, Canada was one of the world's leading exporters of asbestos, most of it mined from the small town of Asbestos, Quebec. But during that time, governments and corporations in Canada did everything they could to hide the fact that asbestos is deadly.

They went to extraordinary lengths — secret organ smuggling, corporate-supervised police torture — to keep the ugly truth from the world.

Today, there's no longer a town called Asbestos, QC. But more people than ever are dying from what was mined out of the ground there. 

Featured in this episode: Heidi von Palleske, Jessica van Horssen, Tavia Grant (The Globe and Mail)


To learn more:

A Town Called Asbestos: Environmental Contamination, Health, and Resilience in a Resource Community by Jessica van Horssen

“No Safe Use: The Canadian Asbestos Epidemic” by Tavia Grant in The Globe and Mail

“Asbestos: Canada's Dirty Secret” by CBC's Fifth Estate

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