Front Burner

As many came out in Ottawa to celebrate Canada Day weekend, others turned out to protest for their definition of freedom — like thousands did in the winter when the so-called Freedom Convoy took over an area around Parliament Hill, protesting vaccine mandates and other COVID-related restrictions.

But now, most of the COVID-restrictions have been removed, so what does this movement stand for?

Today, CBC News senior investigative journalist Jonathan Montpetit on what happens to the anti-mandate movement when the mandates are mostly lifted.

Buffy Sainte-Marie is one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of the past century. For 60 years her music has quietly reverberated throughout pop culture, and provided a touchstone for Indigenous resistance. In this five-part series, Mohawk and Tuscarora writer Falen Johnson explores how Buffy’s life and legacy is essential to understanding Indigenous resilience. More episodes are available at hyperurl.co/buffy

The Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are spreading quickly. They already make up a majority of new COVID infections in the U.S., and it appears they are much better at getting around immunity. Research from Harvard Medical School shows the BA.5 subvariant “may escape antibody responses.

The spread of these subvariants has coincided with the lifting of mask mandates and the relaxing of many public health measures nationwide.

To provide you with details about the latest COVID-19 variants and the state of the pandemic here in Canada heading into the summer, we are joined once again by Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton.

The Liberal government faced tough questions this session on everything from accusations they pressured RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki on the Portapique investigation, to their decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in the winter, to inflation.

Today, CBC Parliamentary Bureau senior writer Aaron Wherry explains why those questions won’t just disappear over the summer, and why the Liberals are “arguably in as difficult a stage as it has maybe ever been, which is a funny thing to say for a government that’s been through some pretty major crises.”

More than a month after 19 students and two teachers were murdered in the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, questions about what happened during the 77 minutes prior to law enforcement entering the classroom the gunman was occupying are starting to be answered.

The picture that is being painted of the police response by journalists and investigators is one of miscommunication, confusion and inaction. Who is to blame for what Texas Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw has criticized as an “abject failure,” depends on who you ask.

Today on Front Burner, as anger and scrutiny continues to grow among the families of the victims, politics reporter with The Texas Tribune, James Barragán, tells us about what is known about the police response so far and what’s left to uncover.

The constitutionally protected right to abortion was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, leaving millions of women in the U.S. with less control over their own bodies than they had the day before — and for nearly 50 years before that.

Despite right-wing jubilation over the ruling, overturning Roe v. Wade may not be widely popular in the U.S.; recent polling by CNN suggests about two-thirds of Americans didn’t want it to happen. But there are so-called trigger laws on the books in at least 13 states that ban or severely limit abortion and come into effect virtually as soon as Roe v. Wade was overturned. Other states may also move to restrict or ban abortions soon.

Today on Front Burner, UC Davis legal historian Mary Ziegler — author of Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment — discusses why the conservative-majority court overturned Roe v. Wade, why modern abortion bans have dangers not seen since the 1970s and what widespread criticism of the decision means for the perceived legitimacy of the court.

WARNING: This episode deals with sexual assault

Rick Boguski's brother Darryl has cerebral palsy, is blind and has autism. And on April 20, Darryl's 62nd birthday, Rick was told by the RCMP that his brother had been identified as one of five victims of sexual assault that allegedly occurred at Shepherd's Villa, a group home for the severely disabled in Hepburn, Sask.

The suspect, Brent Gabona, had cared for Darryl at the home for years.

Since then, Gabona, 52, has been charged with five counts of sexual assault and three of sexual exploitation of a person with a disability — which court records say occurred between 1992 and 2006. But other families who had loved ones in his care wonder if there may be more victims, and are pressing the RCMP to dig deeper.

Today on Front Burner, CBC's Jorge Barrera shares what he learned after his conversations with Rick — and with Gabona himself.

It's Pride month, but a string of violent threats and extremist confrontations are looming over the celebrations.

Police arrested 31 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near a Pride event in Idaho, saying the men were planning a riot. Proud Boys and other extremists have protested and stormed drag performances. And a teen in Mississauga, Ont., was arrested and charged for allegedly threatening a mass shooting at an event in Florida.

Today, a conversation about the forces behind a right-wing surge in anti-LGBTQ sentiment, and how the rhetoric is driving real-world threats. Guest Parker Molloy spent years with progressive media watchdogs, and she's been covering recent threats in her newsletter The Present Age.

Did Donald Trump break the law in his attempt to stay in power after 2020? That's what the Jan. 6 House committee is trying to prove — with lots of evidence and dozens of witnesses, including some of Trump's closest allies and even family. This week, Republican state representatives from Arizona and Georgia testified that Trump tried to pressure them to find votes and overturn the election. This week, on the fourth official day of public hearings, more evidence was presented showing the lengths Trump, and some in his inner circle, went through to push the "big lie" that the 2020 election was rigged.

Today on Front Burner, the Washington Post's Aaron Blake — on the evidence, the unanswered questions and what it would take for a criminal indictment against the former president.

After many months of hype, the cryptocurrency market is crashing. Last week, the trading and lending platform Celsius Network paused all withdrawals, citing extreme market conditions. Another trading platform, Coinbase, laid off nearly 20 per cent of its workforce warning of a potential extended "crypto winter." Some $2 trillion in value has been wiped out.

Today, how that wipeout has been felt by one cryptocurrency investor.

Plus, an explanation of why this crash is happening now, and what could be next, from New York Magazine business and economics reporter Kevin Dugan.