It’s the summer of 2019, and a flight bound for Australia has just experienced some extreme turbulence. One passenger thought the plane was going down, another said it felt like King Kong grabbed the plane and shook it. Their plane recovered, and those with injuries were taken to hospital. When the incident was analyzed, a representative from Air Canada said the terrifying moment was a result of clear air turbulence. A form of Turbulence that is on the rise because of climate change. Julia Pagel tells us why that is, and what, if anything, can be done about it.

When Dr. Jadah Johnson first met Nora Scott, she thought she was going to die. The woman from High River, Alberta was a patient at the psychiatric unit where the young psychiatrist worked. Four years earlier, Nora had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She recovered, but had now relapsed. Her family described all the expected symptoms: depression, mania, psychosis. But the diagnosis didn’t sit right with Dr. Johnson because Nora had other non-psychiatric symptoms too. 

The psychiatrist believed Nora had a rare autoimmune condition attacking her brain that was mimicking a mental disorder. Dr. Johnson’s colleagues told her repeatedly that she was wrong, but she wouldn’t let it go. In the end, she was right. 

In this documentary, CBC producer John Chipman visits an Alberta family whose life was turned upside down by a rare medical condition that’s challenging psychiatrists the world over.

Rachel Collishaw is looking for a better way to live. She wants more connection, strong community, and support as she ages. She found a group in Ottawa wanting the same thing, and the excitement is palpable. 

They want to build something called Cohousing, where homes get built with the intention of spending more time with your neighbours, sharing meals, and support for young and old. 

As Julia Pagel follows the group, she hears stories of how cohousing can mean beautiful mountain homes with children running freely, but also stories of community tension, money lost, and for Rachel a price tag that might be too high to manage.

Leila Afshari’s brother went missing in January when he joined protestors filling the streets of Iran. They were calling for regime change but instead were met with bullets. Thousands were killed and many more arrested. The internet was shut down and Iranian Canadians were left in the dark, not knowing what had happened to their loved ones. This documentary traces their efforts to search for the truth of what is going on in Iran.

As rat populations spike across North America, scientists search for new ways to curb the critters.

It’s a pressing task, as scientists warn climate change is contributing to a perfect storm of rat-friendly conditions. And there’s a lot at stake. One rat expert calls them klepto parasites because they steal from us. Our health, our safety and our peace of mind.

It’s why in an alleyway in Chicago, an experiment led by a Canadian scientist is looking at an innovative way to reduce rat numbers using birth control. 

A nine-year-old Haitian girl just wants to go to school, but her family is too scared to let her outside.

They haven’t left the house in a while, fearing one of them will be detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers currently patrolling the streets of Minneapolis-St.Paul. In fact, the family is so worried they’re hiding at a fellow Haitian’s home in the Twin Cities.

An act of “humanity”, according to their host, in the face of so much fear. 

People in Minneapolis-St. Paul are gathering food, standing in the streets, patrolling their neighborhoods, to protect their neighbours from the threat of being detained. 

Julia Pagel and Alison Masemann wondered what this moment feels like for the residents of these cities. These are the stories they found. 

You run. We will Shoot. 

And if you survive you can go.

That’s what women were told by fighters in Sudan. They ran and somehow made it to a refugee camp in neighbouring Chad. 

There are about a million people from Sudan now in Chad, who escaped a brutal civil war that has raged for almost three years. Humanitarian groups are struggling to provide shelter, food and water while the world mostly looks away from what’s being called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. 

In this documentary, Surviving Sudan, journalist and filmmaker Michelle Shephard shares the stories of some of the people who made it out. 

Inmates recall seeing feces on the walls and using tampons for earplugs to drown out the constant screaming of other prisoners. 

Today in Ontario, thousands more people are behind bars than just a few years ago. But the number of cells remains the same.

Reports of violence, lockdowns and inadequate healthcare are on the rise. Most inmates haven’t been tried yet and this is all happening while federal and provincial politicians debate new bail reform bills — legislation that could lead to even more accused people being incarcerated.

Julie Ireton brings us this documentary called “Catch 22” 

Laura and Nick Bordignon fell in love with their daughter before she was born. They named her Makayla. They decorated her nursery. Nick snuggled up to Laura's stomach and read to her at night. 

But seven months into the pregnancy Laura stopped feeling Makayla's movements, and doctors confirmed the worst. Makayla is one of about 3-thousand stillborn babies delivered every year in Canada. And despite the devastation that comes with that experience – stillbirth is seldom talked about. For many it’s still taboo. This is one family's story of confronting that taboo and advocating for better medical care for those who experience it.

When Arthur Arnold resigned from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he walked away from one of the world's most prestigious symphony stages. This decision would bring him a world away, to Powell River, British Columbia, a town tucked between the ocean and the mountains with a population of 13,000.

This town is at a crossroads. Two years ago, its economic heart, a massive pulp and paper mill, shut down. The plant closure left residents wondering what would come next.

But some are hoping that the city’s past could help define its future. There’s a deep history of arts and culture that goes back to the very beginnings of Powell River. And now with people like Arthur Arnold bringing in world class musicians and building an arts hub in town - there’s hope that music could help fill the void left by the loss of the pulp and paper industry. 

Produced by Liz Hoath and Joan Webber. 

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit 

(This episode first aired in September, 2025)