Front Burner

There are fewer restrictions on vaping devices in Canada than on tobacco, cannabis or even alcohol. Health Canada made e-cigarettes widely accessible based on an understanding that they could be used as a smoking cessation tool. Now, Canada is investigating almost a dozen possible or confirmed cases of vaping-related lung disease and the U.S. is tallying up thousands of lung injuries and over 40 deaths.

This week, TikTok was in the news for pulling a video critical of China's mass detention of Uighurs. Most of the popular Chinese-owned social media app's users are children and teens who share lip-syncing videos, dance crazes and comedy skits. But in today's episode, Alex Hern, technology editor at the Guardian, explains why — behind the memes and music — there are some real concerns about censorship, privacy and foreign influence.

This week, the Liberal government was in a federal court, as part of its fight against an order to compensate First Nations children affected by the on-reserve child welfare system. The order is part of a Canada Human Rights Tribunal ruling that took nearly a decade to achieve. The government says the order is an unfair over-reach, and that it plans to deliver payment through a class-action lawsuit instead. Today on Front Burner, CBC Indigenous unit's Jorge Barrera on the long backstory to this week's court hearings, and the discrimination First Nations children face on-reserve.

The systematic detention of a Muslim minority for surveillance, indoctrination and psychological modification is taking place at re-education camps in China, according to leaked official documents revealed this week by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and CBC News . Today on Front Burner, The National’s Adrienne Arsenault delves into China’s crackdown of Uighurs, its aggressive international surveillance of the minority group and how the world is responding to these revelations.

In 2008, Sandra Hart wanted to get her son Christopher some extra help. He lives with autism and has limited verbal skills, and his mother was frustrated by mainstream medical treatments. Christopher saw a chiropractor for cranial adjustments, and later went for electro-dermal testing. Sandra Hart is not alone: alternative therapies are getting so popular, the Canadian Pediatric Society has created guidelines to help doctors deal with questions from patients. Today on Front Burner, CBC health reporter Vik Adhopia on the boom in “pseudo-scientific” treatments advertised to treat autism.

Céline Dion is one of Canada’s most successful recording artists — and according to some, the country's most culturally unappreciated star. But lately, she has found herself in a strange new place: people aren't snickering at her music or even hiding the fact that they like her. In fact, she's become a meme-able national treasure, an even bigger LGBTQ icon and a fashion plate for cutting-edge designers — a veritable "Célinaissance." On Front Burner, guest host Elamin Abdelmahmoud is joined by Carl Wilson, a music critic for Slate and the author of Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, to discuss the Canadian icon.

A bill to fire Alberta's election commissioner has passed in a legislature dominated by United Conservative Party MLAs. That's while the commissioner is investigating the UCP leadership race, won by Premier Jason Kenney. The opposition is outraged. Today on Front Burner, we talk to Maclean's Alberta correspondent Jason Markusoff about how Kenney has been using his strong majority, and how the electorate may respond.

On Wednesday, Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet was sworn in at Rideau Hall. The scene was a lot different from 2015 when Trudeau was coming in with a majority mandate and coming off a campaign based on hope and change. This time around the days of “sunny ways” are gone thanks to some high-profile scandals and deepening regional divides. Today on Front Burner, CBC’s John Paul Tasker analyzes how the government tried to address some of it’s biggest issues through it’s 2019 cabinet appointments.

A conspiracy theory about the death of millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been turned into a meme. The phrase "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself" is appearing in tweets, TikToks, on live television, even on ugly Christmas sweaters. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office conclusively ruled Epstein's death in jail was a suicide. But that hasn't stopped the conspiracy theory from thriving on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. Today on Front Burner, Anna Merlan, author of Republic of Lies: American conspiracy theorists and their surprising rise to power, on why she thinks this conspiracy theory has morphed into a widely shared, macabre meme.

Violent confrontations at Hong Kong’s universities are yet another escalation in almost six months of demonstrations. Today on Front Burner, we talk to the former head of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, Emily Lau, about the longstanding tensions between Hong Kong and China, what’s at stake for the protesters, and whether there’s an appetite for a peaceful solution.