The Cult Queen of Canada from Uncover

In this live discussion from the Hot Docs festival, Africas VS. America host Matthew Amha joins Falen Johnson on stage to speak about the stories journalists choose to tell — and how they tell them. He reflects on the personal cost of infusing his own experiences into his journalism, and how he navigated the MOVE organization’s historically fraught relationship with the media.

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

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It’s 1971 and Ruth Dakin is going through a messy divorce and fears for the future of her young children, Pauline and Ted. She meets Stan Sears, a United Church Minister, a man who offered comfort and safe harbour. But the encounter would change her life – and the lives of her children – forever. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766 Soon, odd, unexplained things start to happen and the young family is suddenly on the run, uprooted from their cozy home in North Vancouver to Winnipeg and then eventually to New Brunswick. The children are told not to tell anyone, and there are no goodbyes — not even to their father. Also on the move? Stan and his wife Sybil.

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

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Now a teenager living in Saint John, the secrecy and unexplained moves wear Pauline down. Eventually she graduates and starts a career in journalism thinking she can start to live a normal life. That changes in February 1988 when her mother Ruth says she’s finally ready to tell Pauline everything. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766 Sitting alongside Stan, Ruth’s secret shocks Pauline. Pauline realizes her life is in danger — and she will never look at her past the same way.

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Based on her mother and Stan’s stunning revelations, Pauline and her brother Ted start sifting through their childhood memories and matching them to the once unexplained events. Stan and Ruth, now openly a couple, are going deep undercover — and they want Pauline to join them. Pauline must choose between joining her mother in the unknown and leaving behind everyone else she loves in the world she knows. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Pauline is struggling with doubts — the details of her family’s secret seem outrageous. But why would Stan and her mother lie to her? Pauline sets up a sting to find out once and for all if Stan and Ruth are telling the truth. And what she discovers changes her relationship with Ruth forever. Pauline, desperate to reconcile what Ruth has done to her, turns to understanding her mom’s troubled past. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Pauline sets out to understand Stan’s mind and motives. She meets up with his son, John, who has some very strange stories of his own. And Pauline finally comes across a potential answer – something that could explain all of Stan's actions. But will it be enough to forgive him? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Police intercept two homegrown – and very peculiar – extremists intent on murder and mayhem at a national holiday festival. Pressure cooker bombs. Just like the Boston Marathon. But something about the official version of the story doesn’t add up. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/pressure-cooker-transcripts-listen-1.6563380

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Meet the misfit suspects behind the foiled attack. Learn how they fell down a rabbit hole of conspiracy, hate and terror. And how they crossed paths with a mysterious financier who pledged to fund their diabolical plot. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/pressure-cooker-transcripts-listen-1.6563380

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

John and Amanda’s struggles with addiction complicate their fledgling plot. Will these oddballs be able to pull off an attack? Police spending escalates as Project Souvenir gets more elaborate by the day. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/pressure-cooker-transcripts-listen-1.6563380

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

John and Amanda are losing their grip on reality, frustrating Abe and his shadowy accomplices. John has doubts and asks for spiritual guidance from an imam, but time is running out as zero hour approaches. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/pressure-cooker-transcripts-listen-1.6563380

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🔎 You heard Uncover: The Cult Queen of Canada.

📁 [Here's what's NOT in the episode.]

🧩 Evidence photos.  
🗺️ Unreleased maps.  
📼 Interview outtakes.  
📄 Witness statements (redacted → unredacted).

⛔ [82% of listeners never see this.]

👇 [Be the 18%.]
— [Before this gets locked.](freehealth.ca/)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━