The Cult Queen of Canada from Uncover

It's the summer of 1985. Peter Hamer is a typical, goofy teenager partying with his friends. They're drinking beer and coolers. Then he invites his music teacher to join them, with sinister intentions. Thirty-three years later, Hamer returns to his high school band room to explain what happened next. Listener discretion is advised.

The coach was successful, charismatic and powerful, and in 1968 he treated student Rob Ferron like he was special. Years later, Madeleine Glaus discovers her son had been groped by the same coach, and had also been preyed on by a music teacher. Both men worked at the same school at the same time. How else were they connected? Listener discretion is advised.

In 1986, Peter Hamer told a school administrator about his vulgar, abusive music teacher. Soon, the teacher was gone. Other adults had known what was going on, but it was a different time. This episode explores the institutional failure that allowed the abuse to continue. Listener discretion is advised.

On a clear spring day in 2017, witnesses call 911 to report a fiery car crash. The driver of the car is a high school music teacher who’d been facing charges of sexual assault. That teacher's former student, Laurie Howat, is the one who pulls the thread that unravels a troubling web of secrets. Listener discretion is advised.

A predatory music teacher has his day in court, and victims are there to watch. When Peter Hamer tried to reveal his secret decades ago, authorities failed to act. Now they're listening. But after so much time has passed, will this man go to prison? Will survivors get the answers they've been seeking? Listener discretion is advised.

When the court documents are finally unsealed, they reveal a disturbing portrait of a sex offender who began preying on students in the late 1960s. Authorities, including police, were aware of the teacher's encounters with teens. The fresh details draw sympathy and forgiveness from some survivors, while others hold him responsible for failing to keep his demons in check. Listener discretion is advised.

There's a confrontation as a victim demands accountability from the institution he says failed them all. Meanwhile, the drama heads back to court, with more charges and fresh convictions. Survivors gather together with Peter Hamer to laugh, heal and shed the secrets they say are no longer theirs to keep. Listener discretion is advised.

Investigative reporter Julie Ireton unravels a complicated web of five decades of historical sexual abuse involving dozens of teens. They were preyed upon by three teachers who worked at the same school. Warnings were ignored and abuse continued. The Band Played On. Follow the journey as survivors seek justice and accountability, moving past years of shame to expose secrets that aren't theirs to keep. Listener discretion is advised.

What does a Philadelphia junk artist have to do with the deaths of a wealthy Canadian pharma giant and his philanthropist wife? Maybe nothing, but it’s odd that their bodies were reportedly posed like a piece of junk sculpture that the Shermans displayed nearby. But this strange coincidence is just one of many in this most baffling of unsolved murder cases in Canadian history. Host Kathleen Goldhar goes on a byzantine journey to find out what kind of life do you have to live that your death spurns on multiple theories about who might have killed you, including some involving your closest family.For transcripts of this series, please visit here.Leo Sewell’s websiteMatthew Campbell’s The Unsolved Murder of an Unusual BillionaireSaul Rubinek’s IMDB

The Shermans’ funeral is weird, the list of eulogists long, and it’s attended by Canadian boldface names. But ask anyone who knew Barry Sherman and they all say the same thing:he was the smartest person they'd ever met. Always finishing at the top of his class, Barry was smart enough to claw his way to the top of the infamously cutthroat generic drug industry and make billions of dollars. But he was also arrogant and unreasonable, driven and deceptive. Just the sort of man who dies under suspicious circumstances.For transcripts of this series, please visit here.Sherman funeral

To get ahead in the generic drug industry you need to be focused, hard-nosed and fearless. Especially because half the battle is taking on one of the richest, most powerful industries in the world — Big Pharma. Barry Sherman was the perfect generic drug lord — more litigator than innovator — but did his ability to win in court, and slough off the losses, end up getting him killed?For transcripts of this series, please visit here.Katherine Eban’s Bottle of LiesJeffery Robinson’s Prescription GamesNancy Olivieri’s How John le Carré Changed my LifeJohn le Carré The Constant GardenerNancy and Barry on 60 Minutes

It is no secret that some family members wanted Barry Sherman dead. And no one had a bigger grudge against Barry than his first cousins, Kerry Winter and his brothers. The Winter cousins were close to Barry — especially Kerry. They were father/son close. And the Winter boys lived well off Barry's money. But that good blood turned bad after a 10-year court battle that pitted cousin against cousin, in a fight over a billion-dollar fortune of which the Winters claimed their cousin robbed them.For transcripts of this series, please visit here.Kerry Winter on The Fifth Estate

If Honey Sherman showed up unannounced at her favourite hair salon and someone was in her chair — that person got moved pretty darn quickly. Honey wasn't the one who made the billions, but she certainly spent them. So much is known about her husband, but very little about Honey Sherman. A child of Holocaust survivors, family and community meant everything to Honey. And as for her friends? They aren’t talking.For transcripts of this series, please visit here.Rosemary Sexton’s website

The lack of justice, or any resolution, has left a void in this story that has been filled by online sleuths, investigative reporters, nosey neighbours, and conspiracy theorists. From Covid to the Clintons. From family to the Mafia. With more than a dozen theories on the table, and little information from the police, is it any wonder this case remains constant fodder for the darkest corners of the internet?For transcripts of this series, please visit here.WebsleuthsSnopesCorrina Oates’ Sleuthing WebsleuthsAnn Brocklehurst

After a notorious 2018 interview on CBC television, Kerry Winter became a familiar figure in the tale of the Shermans’ deaths. “The Cousin Did It” wasn’t just a snappy headline on the cover of The National Enquirer, it also became a favourite theory. Yet Kerry is not a suspect. And all these years later the humiliation, anger, and deep sadness Kerry feels towards his cousin Barry are still right on the surface. How did such a good thing go so bad, and why is Kerry so certain Barry killed Honey then killed himself? Was a man capable of “ripping off little orphans” also capable of killing his own wife? And himself?Kerry Winter on The Fifth EstateFor transcripts of this series, please visit here.

After our year-long investigation, in this final episode we revisit the murder/suicide theory. That misstep set the whole investigation off on the wrong foot, and might have derailed any chance of finding out who killed the Shermans. To the Sherman's children, it's one of the biggest police screw-ups in recent history – a botched job that muddled the truth and stained the family. But the theory hangs in the air because its adherents, especially Kerry Winter, aren’t budging. In the end, what is the Shermans’ legacy? And what was all that money really for?Itiel Dror’s Cognitive Bias in Forensic Pathology DecisionsDouglas Young’s websiteFor transcripts of this series, please visit here.

In the No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman, journalist Kathleen Goldhar looks into the lives and deaths of one of Canada's richest couples.

It’s the crack era.The most violent time in New York City history. The NYPD is fighting a losing battle and instead of protecting the city from drug dealers, some police officers have become them. This is the never-before told, first-person documentary of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. From Audacy Originals and Zak Levitt, the Emmy, Peabody, and NY Press Club Investigative Journalism Award winning creator of Root ofEvil, Gangster Capitalism, and Relative Unknown comes The Set.

To those that remember, it’s known simply as the bombing of West Philly. In the spring of 1985, the City of Philadelphia became the first in U.S. history to drop a bomb on a family of American citizens. The attack killed 11 people, including five children, and the ensuing fire set a neighborhood to ruins. The targets that day? A family of Black radicals known collectively as MOVE, who found themselves ensnared in a city — and nation’s — domestic war on Black Liberation. Over seven episodes, host Matthew Amha investigates the events that culminated in the MOVE bombing, and the long afterlife of a forgotten American tragedy. Through intimate conversations, The Africas VS. America offers an unseen look into the MOVE's origins and dynamics while looking ahead to the group's uncertain future.

In the early hours of May 13, 1985, police direct residents of Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia to leave their homes, and not return for 24 hours. It’s Mother’s Day, and authorities have come to resolve a years-long conflict with a family of local revolutionaries — the Africas, collectively known as MOVE. There are 13 people in the Africa home that morning. Six of them are children. By the end of the day, most will be dead, and a neighbourhood will lie in ruins.The Africas VS. America is nominated for a Webby! Vote for the series here.Binge all episodes of The Africas VS. America ad-free by subscribing to CBC True Crime Premium.Artwork by Yannick Lowery.

A quiet and reclusive young man is conscripted to war in Korea and returns having been made anew. Vincent Leaphart becomes the enigmatic John Africa, whose revolutionary vision will prove irresistible to followers seeking a new way of living. But what begins as a movement concerned with the protection of all life, will gradually turn to nonviolent direct action and large-scale civil disobedience in reaction to the state. This is the origin story of John Africa, leader of what will soon become known as MOVE.The Africas VS. America is nominated for a Webby! Vote for the series here.

By the 1970s, both local and federal law enforcement have perfected a system to subvert and neutralize Black liberation movements across the United States. The civil rights movement has been uprooted, and Black Power is now here. In Philadelphia, the most famous police officer in America is elected mayor. Frank Rizzo’s objective is to turn the city into centre stage in the nationwide fight against Black liberation activists. His power and influence will have deep implications for MOVE.The Africas VS. America is nominated for a Webby! Vote for the series here.

Complaints from neighbours about MOVE’s lifestyle lead to increasingly violent clashes with police. One confrontation turns deadly, and by 1978, relations between MOVE and city authorities have reached a crisis point. The MOVE home in residential Powelton Village becomes the scene of a two-months-long starvation blockade, and the site of a stand-off with police that will end in blood, gunfire, and the arrest of nine members of MOVE, collectively charged with murder for the death of an officer.The Africas VS. America is nominated for a Webby! Vote for the series here.

The MOVE 9 are catapulted into the international spotlight, facing more than 900 years between them for the death of Officer James Ramp — a crime for which they maintain their innocence. Central to the case is a former Black Panther and Vietnam vet named Delbert Africa, who will become a symbol of police brutality in Philadelphia. As all of this is happening, MOVE’s mysterious leader John Africa is on the run from local and federal authorities. When he’s finally found and brought up on charges, John Africa opts to represent himself in court, and an old friend takes the stand against him.The Africas VS. America is nominated for a Webby! Vote for the series here.

In 1983, the City of Philadelphia elects its first Black mayor as successor to Frank Rizzo. Woodrow Wilson Goode inherits Rizzo’s fight against MOVE, but he also represents a moment of hope for Black Philadelphians who believe his election could be a harbinger of progress for a city beset with racial strife. Instead, Mayor Goode’s administration unleashes a torrent of violence never before seen in American history in an effort to neutralize MOVE once and for all.The Africas VS. America is nominated for a Webby! Vote for the series here.

After a commission finds that city officials and police were negligent in their actions on May 13, 1985, a reeling city looks to heal, and surviving members of the Africa family redouble efforts to free the MOVE 9. Two senior members are released from prison having served more than 40 years. They now have reservations about the MOVE organization. A rift in the family opens up. By the end of 2020, all remaining MOVE 9 are free. Delbert dies only months after his release, and the family now turns its focus to the future. The descendents of MOVE remind us the fight for liberation continues.The Africas VS. America is nominated for a Webby! Vote for the series here.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John and Amanda piece together their shattered reality while facing a possible lifetime in prison. As the full picture of Project Souvenir emerges in court, they start to wonder if the deception goes even deeper. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/pressure-cooker-transcripts-listen-1.6563380

A mystery lingers about what role Canada's spy agency may have played in John and Amanda's case. The puzzling character known as Kaz could be the key to solving that mystery.

A leading human rights activist is found dead. Many immediately suspect murder. The assassinations of dissidents like her have become commonplace in Pakistan. But Karima Baloch's body was discovered off the shores of Toronto, the city where she fled for her life. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-kill-list-transcripts-listen-1.6514561

Months before Karima’s death, another prominent Baloch dissident is found drowned in a river in Sweden. Sajid Hussain had also fled Pakistan to start a new life in safety. His death bears a striking resemblance to Karima’s. Could the two be connected? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-kill-list-transcripts-listen-1.6514561

Mary meets those who have been told they are on a kill list. Exiles from Pakistan have sought safety through the Western world. But do they remain in danger, no matter how far they flee? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-kill-list-transcripts-listen-1.6514561

We learn about Karima’s final days from those closest to her, including a man who’s finally ready to speak. After escaping death in Pakistan, what evidence is there that Karima may have taken her own life? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-kill-list-transcripts-listen-1.6514561

We follow Karima’s dramatic return to Balochistan — where even in death, she’s considered a threat. And hear from those in her homeland still willing to risk their lives by speaking out. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-kill-list-transcripts-listen-1.6514561

New documents, witnesses and a renowned forensic scientist all lead to the same, unsettling conclusion about what really happened to Karima. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-kill-list-transcripts-listen-1.6514561

Long after the Kuper Island Residential School was torn down, the survivors are still haunted by what happened there. Investigative reporter Duncan McCue exposes buried police investigations, confronts perpetrators of abuse and witnesses a community trying to rebuild — literally on top of the old school’s ruins and the unmarked graves of Indigenous children.

Duncan McCue travels to Penelakut, an island off the coast of B.C., and the site of the Kuper Island Residential School. The community has torn down the reviled building, but the dark memories of what happened at the nearly-century old institution linger. Survivors James and Tony Charlie give a tour of their old school grounds, and we look into the mystery of what happened to one boy, Richard Thomas, who did not make it out alive. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551

What was it like to be a student at one of the most notorious residential schools in Canada? Survivors James and Tony Charlie share their own account of recurring sexual abuse at the hands of their teachers, starting with a fateful trip to Montreal's Expo '67. Their stories speak to how abuse rotted all facets of school life — and how at Kuper Island, no child was spared. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551

Survivor Belvie Brebber tells us about her five years at Kuper Island Residential School, a time filled with fear, cruelty and sexual violence. Belvie makes it out alive, but her younger brother Richard Thomas does not. She describes a terrible phone call that shattered her family forever, and why she never believed the school's story that her beloved brother died by suicide. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551

Richard Thomas was smart, kind and well-loved. He was having no problems in school and he wanted to go further in education. Then inexplicably, days before his graduation, he’s found dead in the Kuper Island school gym. His death was ruled a suicide — with no further questions as to why. We piece together a portrait of the teenager through his own writings, and find an old coroner’s report that raises more questions than answers about how Thomas died. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551

An archaeologist uses the stories of survivors and a ground-penetrating radar machine to pinpoint where children who died at the Kuper Island school were buried, sometimes in places where no one ever wanted them to be found. And we explore how the Hul'qumi'num people honour their ancestral dead, and why this work is important when it comes to unsettled spirits and unmarked graves. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/kuper-island-transcripts-listen-1.6622551