Plus: A housing advocate isn’t surprised a Montreal encampment has popped up again, just weeks after being dismantled by police. And an encore presentation of our feature-length conversation with Kevin Kwan, who rose to fame with his novel, Crazy Rich Asians. The Singaporean-American author has made a career of satirizing the richest of the rich. His latest book, "Lies and Weddings" features exactly as much of both as you'd hope.
Jan 01, 2025•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: A Toronto artist gives unwanted presents a second life at the Museum of Bad Gifts. And an encore presentation of our feature-length conversation with author and educator Solomon Ratt, on how he carried his mother’s stories with him during his time at residential school -- and found healing, refuge and connection in the written word.
Dec 30, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: We reach the man who helped make the bald eagle…finally…the official bird of the United States. And our holiday readings continue. In this episode we bring you Al Maitland’s reading of Zlateh the Goat by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Dec 27, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast We delve into the As It Happens archives to celebrate the guests who saw something broken — and decided to fix it.
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Christmas Eve tradition since 1979. As It Happens presents Frederick Forsyth's The Shepherd, read by our late host “Fireside” Al Maitland.
Dec 24, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: New Zealanders know there’s only one way to make the biggest splash. We reach scientists who studied the manu…and its epic impact. And we present Chris Howden’s reading of the Alistair MacLeod short story To Everything There Is a Season.
Dec 23, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: We revisit Nil’s conversation with British broadcaster Mishal Husain, whose memoir brings her journalistic skills to bear on own family's story. And as we build toward The Shepherd on December 24, tonight’s reading is another “Fireside” Al Maitland classic: The Gift of the Magi.
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: We reach a medic in Italy who helped rescue a caver trapped deep in the dreaded Bueno Fonteno Abyss. Also: Our holiday readings continue. Tonight, former As It Happens host Barbara Budd reads from ‘Who Has Seen the Wind’.
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: The director of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation brings the holiday classic home…to Montreal. Also: For 40 years, CBC producer Karen Levine told some of radio's most moving stories, and amplified women's voices on and off the air. Today, she's been appointed to the Order of Canada -- and says she's thrilled at the honour.
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson is free after Denmark refuses a Japanese extradition request — and he says he's ready to get back to work. Also: Ex-Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes says the PM’s feud with Chrystia Freeland is part of a troubling and potentially anti-feminist pattern; and a Wendat lyricist helps reimagine the Huron Carol through an Indigenous lens.
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: New archeological evidence of a horrific cannibal attack that shows the lengths our predecessors might have gone to dehumanize their enemy. Also: Postal workers get set to return to work -- but given the backlog and the holiday rush, a small business owner tells us it won't do him much good.
Dec 16, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: An ancient stone tablet of the ten commandments goes up for auction, minus one commandment. It’s still very expensive. Also: Why Switzerland is reinvesting millions in its incredibly comprehensive system of nuclear shelters; and at a combined age of 202 years and 271 days, Marjorie Fiterman and Bernie Littman are the oldest recorded newlyweds ever.
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Scrim the stray dog has become a New Orleans folk hero. We reach the person working day and night to track him down. Also: We reach Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey, as he negotiates a historic energy deal with Quebec.
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: She helped restore the artwork of Notre-Dame de Paris. Today she sang there as part of a workers choir. Also: The Washington Post’s Dan Diamond brings us the latest on Luigi Mangione and we remember the late, great Amazing Kreskin.
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Kwame Alexander remembers difficult and joyful days with his former teacher, the legendary poet Nikki Giovanni. Also: Dahlia Scheindlin on Benjamin Netanyahu’s day in court.
Dec 10, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: We reach Michael Jarman…winner of the 2024 Microsoft Excel World Championship -- a huge achievement that comes with an even huger belt. Also: NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on why he thinks elements of the proposed GST holiday should become permanent.
Dec 09, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: We speak to Nathalie Provost, survivor of the mass shooting at Montreal's École Polytechnique, 35 years after the day that changed her life. Also: We remember Mary McGee -- who shattered gender barriers by becoming the first American woman to race motorcycles. Haley Watson, who directed the ESPN documentary ‘Motorcycle Mary’, tells us she was a force of nature both on and off the track.
Dec 06, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nil Köksal talks to the acclaimed director and the NBC News correspondent about their documentary ‘Separated’. It chronicles the Trump administration’s migrant family separation policy.
Dec 06, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: A retired German Shepherd named Bear springs into action to help rescue an injured man who was hurt and lost in the woods. Also: New York Times reporter Corey Kilgannon on the epic manhunt underway in Manhattan.
Dec 05, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: King Charles samples kava on his trip to Samoa, sparking hopes the South Pacific intoxicant could one day be legalized. Also: A protester in Seoul describes the energy in the crowd as they call for the resignation of South Korea's president for declaring martial law.
Dec 04, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: An Iowa man who melted hearts with his effort to create new Christmas memories of his wife of 53 years. Also: Rising sea levels on the island of Carriacou have turned a inland cemetery into a shoreline graveyard. Now, Grenada is making its case before the International Court of Justice, demanding for accountability on the climate crisis.
Dec 03, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Belgian sex worker Mel Meliciousss on the country’s landmark decision granting health insurance, parental leave and sick pay. Also: Why “brain rot” is the Oxford University Press Word of the Year.
Dec 02, 2024•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: A British penguin called ‘Flop’ regains her footing, thanks to the use of an improvised baby bouncer and some help from a Canadian zoo. Also: Two Irish librarians cook their way through hundreds of years of occasionally-questionable recipes; A Canadian man travelling with medical-use cannabis products is sentenced to life in prison in Dubai; and teenage journalist Leo Puglisi questions Australia’s new social media ban.
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Yes! A “Turkey Bomber” tells us about her Thanksgiving tradition of airdropping frozen birds to rural Alaskans. Also: A new study suggests that a single injection could revolutionize care for asthma and COPD sufferers; and a Newfoundland woman celebrates the Senate’s passage of an intimate partner violence bill bearing her name.
Nov 28, 2024•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: A 12 year old takes on her Colorado school district, lobbying for the return of a pandemic casualty: snow days. Also: A doctor tells us how he ended up starting a program to refurbish pacemakers. And why reusing those devices could improve the lives of people who can't afford them otherwise.
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: The “selfie bear” went viral for all the wrong reasons. But now she’s finally been released back into the wild. Also: Aaron David Miller on the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on what another Trump presidency means for the world — and what democracy means to her. Also: HarperCollins strikes a deal allowing its authors’ work to be used to train artificial intelligence; a doctor makes a pitch for CPR mannequins with breasts; and an archaeologist challenges widespread beliefs about when alphabetic writing first emerged.
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: An anti-monarchist weighs in on the price tag of King Charles III’s £72 million coronation. Also: A Los Angeles school district promises to be a sanctuary for students facing the threat of deportation; and why the appearance of multiple “doomsday” fish on U.S. shores is actually good news.
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: “Words I never thought I’d say.” Maurizio Cattelan’s banana duct-taped to a wall fetches $6.2 million USD at auction. Also: Police are encircling an abandoned South African gold mine, hoping to arrest an untold number of illegal miners currently inside. And their tactics have advocates worried for the Zama zamas’ safety.
Nov 21, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Plus: A new study determines exactly where in the UK and Ireland a phoney accent is most likely to be found out. Also: Lloyd Axworthy helped lead the push to ban landmines. We reach him now that the US has given the go ahead for their use in Ukraine.
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast