Over the last few weeks, horrific crimes have dominated headlines across the country.

There was a father of four who was killed after at least three suspects broke into his home in Vaughan, Ontario. There was a mass stabbing attack on Hollow Water First Nation, just north of Winnipeg. The suspect had been out on bail. Last weekend in Edmonton, a woman was found shot to death in her car. The suspect in that case has a long history of run-ins with the law, including convictions for violent crimes, and was on probation at the time.

Politicians from every level of government have been talking about this, saying that we are at crisis levels.

So today, we’re trying to figure out what’s real here: is crime going up? For that, Irvin Waller, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa and the author of Science and Secrets of Ending Violent Crime joins the show. Then, Scott Reid, the co-founder of Feschuk.Reid communications and a political commentator, talks through the politics.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Quebec has introduced a new bill that would ban prayer in public spaces. It’s the latest in a series of recent moves by the province to reinforce Quebec’s secularist values. It comes as Premier François Legault is embroiled in a spending scandal and polls that show he’s the least popular provincial leader in the country. 

Will falling back on Quebec values and stoking anti-immigrant sentiment work in his favour? And if Legault and the Coalition Avenir Quebec are on the outs, is it time for the Parti Quebecois and the separatist movement to make a comeback?

Martin Patriquin, Quebec correspondent for The Logic, takes us through the province’s state of affairs.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Wednesday, 16 people — including Romana Didulo, the cult leader known as the “Queen of Canada” — were arrested in the tiny Saskatchewan village of Richmound. RCMP released them the following day, but then re-arrested two unidentified individuals.

Didulo and her followers have been holed up in a decommissioned school there for two years. Their presence has been a source of ire for many locals, and ratcheted up divisions between the townspeople.

Today: What happens when a cult comes to town — especially in a time of such intense societal polarization? 

Our guest is Rachel Browne, an investigative journalist and documentary maker who is currently working on a podcast for CBC about the impact that the “Queen of Canada” has had on this tiny village.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Late last week - a list of over 200 books, set to be removed from Edmonton school libraries by October made the rounds online. It was in response to an order set out by Alberta’s education ministry in July to take books with sexually explicit content from the shelves.

This applied from kindergarten to Grade 12.

On that list? Award-winning works like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Intense criticism from writers, educators, civil liberties groups followed and on Tuesday the Alberta government paused the order and announced that they’re reworking it.

The Investigative Journalism Foundation’s Brett McKay has been covering this push to remove sexually explicit content from school libraries in Alberta. He’s here to talk about the politics behind it, the uproar that ensued and how all this mirrors similar efforts to ban books in the U.S.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today on the show, James Elder is here. James is UNICEF’s global spokesperson, and he has made five trips to Gaza since the October attacks documenting what UNICEF has called a “war on children.”  

He joins us less than two weeks after a UN backed body officially designated the hunger crisis in Gaza a famine, one that the UN’s relief chief Tom Fletcher says is man-made, and the result of what he calls “systematic obstruction by Israel”. 

Elder has also reported from Darfur, Yemen, Afghanistan and more. But he says Gaza is unlike anything he’s seen. We’re going to talk about his experiences on the ground and the responsibility of a witness in a time of war.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In a trial entering its final phase, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stands accused of attempting to stage a coup, leading an armed criminal organisation, and plotting to have the country’s current president and a Supreme Court justice killed. 

In response Bolsonaro ally U.S. President Donald Trump slapped Brazil with steep 50% tariffs and sanctioned the Supreme Court justice presiding over the case. 

Will America’s interventions help Bolsonaro and his far-right movement or backfire? And what’s at stake for the future of Brazil as the verdict nears? Gustavo Ribeiro, founder and editor in chief of the Brazilian Report, joins us. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

NATO’s secretary general has warned Russia could launch an attack on the alliance within the next five years. Talk to NATO’s two newest members, Finland and Sweden, and they’ll tell you preparation involves a lot more than just boosting military spending. As Canada seeks to strengthen ties with both countries, what can we learn from our newest NATO allies about preparing for the worst? Supported by the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship, CBC’s The House producer Emma Godmere travelled to the two Nordic countries to visit bomb shelters, the Russian border and military training grounds north of the Arctic Circle to see and hear how Finns and Swedes are steeling themselves for whatever the future may bring.

Every Saturday, listen to The House for in-depth explorations of the biggest issues facing Canada. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/FBxTTND 

Last week, the U.S. released another round of sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, including a Canadian judge. They’re the latest in a string of attacks from the Trump administration this year, after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The sanctions come at a difficult time for the ICC as it operates without a chief prosecutor and is under increasing pressure to address the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. But what is really under the ICC’s jurisdiction and is it equipped to hold some of the most powerful leaders in the world to account? 

Kenneth Roth is the former director of Human Rights Watch and author of “Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Frontlines of Battling Abusive Governments”.

He’s here to parse through the Trump administration’s sanctions, and the history and efficacy of the International Criminal Court.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

American history has always been contested, but recent decisions by U.S. President Donald Trump to reshape the way it’s taught and remembered have put museums, schools, and memorials squarely in the crosshairs. 

Earlier this year, Trump passed an executive order that called for the removal of what he referred to as “divisive, race-centered ideology” from the nation’s museums. He’s targeted the Smithsonian Museum in particular, calling it “out of control” and “woke”, criticizing it for focusing too much on teaching the history of slavery. 

What does it mean to discourage the teaching of slavery and Jim Crow laws in a country that practiced chattel slavery for nearly 250 years, and had been led by at least 12 Presidents who themselves owned slaves?

Bryan Stevenson is a civil rights lawyer, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir ‘Just Mercy', and creator of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. He joins the show to talk about Trump’s attacks on American history, and the enduring legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial terror in the United States.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Prime Minister Mark Carney campaigned on big promises and bold action to save a country in crisis. It's now been more than 100 days since his cabinet was sworn in, but details and tangible results are still thin on the ground. How much of a runway does he have to start delivering on his promises on things like national infrastructure, housing, and a trade deal with the United States?

Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre has regained his seat in the House of Commons in a summer byelection. Will we see a new approach from Poilievre and the Conservatives, or will they stick with the strategy that brought them within striking distance of forming government in the spring?

CBC senior parliamentary reporter Aaron Wherry is here with a report card on the Carney cabinet’s first 100 days, and a look at the political opposition he'll be facing from Poilievre when parliament resumes next month. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts