Ideas

It was the biggest labour action in Canadian history: on May 15, 1919, over 35,000 workers took to the streets of Winnipeg for six weeks. It began peacefully and passionately; it ended in lethal violence, and disagreement over what it meant. Contributor Tom Jokinen in Winnipeg talks to experts on how the strike happened, why it occurred in Winnipeg - and through the use of archival tape, brings us the voices of people who were right there, on the streets, and on strike.

The songs and stories of prehistoric humans are gone. All that remains of their culture is their art. It's the one thing that can bridge the vast, silent chasm of time between then and now. IDEAS contributor Neil Sandell introduces us to the French archaeologist Jean Clottes, a man who's devoted his lifetime trying to decipher the rich, enigmatic world of cave art.

Harvard historian James Kloppenberg traces the long and tortuous tradition of American liberal democracy. He argues that the United States has arrived at such a precarious place in its political evolution that the very conditions that make democracy possible are under threat.

"Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world." Jean Vanier, who founded the l'Arche movement in 1963 for people with profound disabilities, quickly learned that "normal" people have much to learn about being human by watching those we perceive as weak. Jean Vanier died today in France at the age of 91. IDEAS pays tribute to Jean Vanier with this encore presentation of documentary series by producer Philip Coulter.

"Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world." Jean Vanier, who founded the l'Arche movement in 1963 for people with profound disabilities, quickly learned that "normal" people have much to learn about being human by watching those we perceive as weak. Jean Vanier died today in France at the age of 91. IDEAS pays tribute to Jean Vanier with this encore presentation of documentary series by producer Philip Coulter.

n 2015, the poet-musician Grzegorz Kwiatkowski made a strange discovery at the site of the former Stutthof concentration camp in Poland - something he calls "a carpet of abandoned shoes". But these were more than shoes: they're both artifacts and symbols of the Holocaust - as well as a flashpoint of nationalist denialism and historical amnesia - especially in the current climate of authoritarianism, and the rising ghosts of neo-fascism.

Dany Laferrière is one of the most celebrated writers in Canadian literary history. He has over 27 books to his name, and a raft of awards and honours - including the Order of Canada, and the Prix Medicis. In 2013, he was elected to the prestigious Académie Française in Paris - where he now lives. Radio-Canada contributor Danny Braun met up with Laferrière to talk about the his latest book, Self-Portrait of Paris with Cat.

World-famous environmental photographer Edward Burtynsky and IDEAS host Paul Kennedy both grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario. In fact, their childhood homes were less than 300 metres apart, and paper-boy Paul delivered a daily dose of newspaper comic strips to eventual visual artist Ed. They return to their old home town and revisit their roots, including the site of the now-dismantled GM Plant # 1, where both of their fathers worked; and the new subdivision that's recently replaced Meadowvale School, where they both started kindergarten, so many decades ago

From the inventive journalism of "Serial", to the sexual horror of "The Keepers", to the chatty storytelling of "White Wine True Crime", we appear to be obsessed by tales of murder and mayhem. It's a darkly popular form of entertainment in this era of podcasts and streaming docuseries -- particularly for women. Yet True Crime narratives have been hugely popular for more than 400 years. Producer Lisa Godfrey investigates our murder story obsession.

They said it couldn't be done, but Sudbury did it! Forty years ago, nickel mines and smelters around a relatively small city in Northern Ontario had created one of the most dramatic examples of environmental devastation in the history of this planet. The adjacent landscape was completely dead and totally blackened. Nothing could grow, and people were dying. These days, Sudbury boasts the cleanest air of any city in Canada. Lakes - and there are 330 substantial lakes within the city limits - have come back to life. The surrounding countryside is almost completely green!