The Current

Playwright Ava Alavi moved from Iran to Canada shortly before Mahsa Amini was arrested and beaten for allegedly violating Iran's headscarf law. Amini's death and the movement that followed inspired Alavi's new play, "Sound," which premiered at Ottawa's Undercurrents Festival in early February. Alavi shares how creating geopolitical theatre helps her deal with what's happening back home.

Justice Lise Maisonneuve weighs on what needs to change in sports in Canada so that athletes can feel safe. Plus, Adam van Koeverden, the federal Secretary of State for Sport on the government’s role.

Montreal is the gourmet capital of Canada, and the cookbook author and former restaurant critic Lesley Chesterman is an evangelist for the food culture of her hometown. For decades, she has been writing about what makes Montreal food great, from the bagels and smoked meat to the restaurants, markets, patisseries and cheese shops. Now, she wants you to cook like a local.We talk to her about her new book, A Montreal Cookbook: Recipes and Reflections From My Kitchen.

A CBC investigation reveals how RCMP spies surveilled, infiltrated and wiretapped legitimate political Indigenous organizations in the 1970s. "It just never leaves you," says Dene leader and former NWT premier Stephen Kakfwi. CBC reporter Brett Forester walks us through the story.

Canada's Auditor General Karen Hogan lays out her latest report findings, which detail lags in RCMP recruitment and gaps in sharing information around international students who have been flagged for potentially not complying with study permits.

For the past four decades, world renowned biologist Nalini Nadkarni has risked her life studying trees. In 2015, she fell from a 50-foot bigleaf maple tree in the Olympic Peninsula. She tells The Current host Matt Galloway what her recovery from that catastrophic fall taught her about resilience and trees.

Two pilots died when an Air Canada Express jet crashed into a fire truck. Former air traffic controller Michael McCormick says more than one thing likely went wrong and investigators will look at everything from the weather to control tower staffing to communication.

Kassy Zanjani in Vancouver found out she had been secretly recorded on a stranger's Meta smart glasses after seeing a video of herself on social media. It's a growing trend that's seeing men approaching women in public and recording their encounters for viral content. New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac talks about his reporting that Meta is considering integrating facial recognition technology into the glasses. University of Ottawa law professor Teresa Scassa talks about concerns around privacy in public spaces and whether our privacy laws are doing enough to protect Canadians.

Stuck ships, wrong ports, and higher costs: war in the Middle East is causing headaches for worldwide supply chains. New York Times reporter Peter S. Goodman explores the mounting impacts on supply chains that remain highly integrated.

With the legalization of sports betting in Canada, and much of the United States, watching your favourite team has changed. If you don't partake, you're bombarded with ads, and if you do, it's likely changed the way you view and cheer on your team. But it's changed the game for players, officials, and sports journalists too. Author Danny Funt on his new book Everyone Loses, The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling.

A new study shows the number of young Canadians treated for self-harm has more than doubled in the last 25 years. Montreal filmmaker Alex Anna talks about her own experience with self-harming and how it shaped how she saw herself as a teen.

New research from the University of Lodz in Poland seems to show that some birds get healthier if they use cigarette butts in their nests.

The Canadian Pediatric Society says "risky play" is good for kids’ mental, physical and social health — even if it might result in injury. In an interview from January, we hear what’s behind this new advice, why ”incredibly boring playgrounds” are part of the problem, and why parents might need to just take a deep breath.

CBC’s investigative program, the fifth estate--has spent months looking into two Canadian platforms and the role they play in monetizing hate--under the banner of free speech. Rumble and Entropy both promote themselves as cancel-free spaces and have attracted extremist voices--that many say spew harmful content that may lead to real world harm.

Millions of people in Cuba are still without electricity after the country’s power grid collapsed on Monday. It comes as the U.S. has an oil blockade in place in the country and as President Trump says he would consider “taking Cuba.” The CBC’s Jorge Barrera is in Havana and tells us how the blackout has been impacting people's lives there. Plus Sebastián Arcos, the interim director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, talks about what comes next at this pivotal moment for the country.

Is British Colombia’s push to recruit American doctors actually easing the strain on the healthcare system, or just offering a short-term fix? We look at what’s driving physicians to move, how the recruitment process really works, and if this approach is addressing the deeper, long-standing issues in Canadian healthcare.

From old cellphones and chargers to fridges and washing machines, Canadians are getting rid of more old technology than ever. We speak with two Canadian researchers who study electronic waste to find out how we should be dealing with the rise of e-waste, why it's so hard to make our technology last longer, and the unseen costs, before our favourite devices even make it into our homes.

Father James Martin is known around the world for giving voice to Catholics who are often excluded from their church, including those in the LGBTQ community. In his new book “Work in Progress” he writes about how he found faith in the margins and why his most important life lessons came working as a busboy in a busy small town restaurant.

Scientists say a proposal to launch a million satellites into Earth's orbit is short-sighted, and highlights the need for more regulations as companies look to capitalize on space. We hear from  Aaron Boley, Co-director at the Outer Space Institute and professor at UBC, about how having so many satellites in space can contribute to space junk and impact Earth's atmosphere.

Josh Wardle made puzzling cool with his enormously popular word guessing game Wordle. Now he has a new puzzle called Parseword that aims to make cryptic crosswords more accessible. The common thread in his games from his early days at Reddit until now -- connection.

The war between the US, Israel, and Iran is driving up the price of oil and sending shockwaves around the world -- especially in Asia, which relies heavily on oil from the Middle East. But the ongoing oil crisis is also highlighting our global overdependency on fossil fuels. We speak with a reporter in Bangladesh about the situation in Asia, and Andrew Leach, an energy and environmental economist and a professor at the University of Alberta, about whether this is the moment that forces world leaders to rethink where they get their energy from.

There is a growing cohort of younger Canadians being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Now, the Canadian Cancer Society is calling for the screening age to be lowered from 50 to 45. Dr. Shady Ashamalla is a surgical oncologist at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital, specializing in colorectal cancer and Miranda Fidler-Benaoudia, an epidemiologist at the University of Calgary, on the effects of cancer on young people.

After decades of mystery, an investigation by Reuters, spanning from Ukraine to New York, may have just revealed the street artist Banksy’s identity. Reporter Blake Morrision, talks about his investigation and if knowing who the artist is changes our relationship with his work.

The Prime Minister was in Norway last weekend, meeting with Nordic leaders to discuss strengthening defense capabilities in the Arctic. It came off the back of Carney announcing a $35 billion plan to boost defense and infrastructure in Canada’s north. Andrea Charron, Director of the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Defense and Security Studies, discusses where this funding is going and why closer ties with our Arctic neighbours is important. Natan Obed, President of Canada's national Inuit organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, talks about how this money will impact northern communities.

Do you speak Irish? Young people are picking up Ireland’s native language, both inside the country and here in Canada. The Current’s Padraig Moran asks some Gaeilgeoirs what they love about Irish, why they want to learn it — and why they say it’s definitely not a dead language.

Every few years, something magic happens in baseball: an eccentric mix of top major league stars and amateurs passionately pursuing the sport get the chance to suit up and represent their country on the international stage. Michael Clair, writer for MLB.com, shares some of this year’s most delightful storylines, from the espresso-guzzling Italians to a Canadian team that got farther than ever before. 

Bringing back a landline, buying a flip phone, setting strict screen time limits. With growing research showing the harm associated with smartphone and social media use, parents are rethinking how they let their kids use devices. But is an all or nothing approach the answer?

CBC's Chief Correspondent Adrienne Arsenault reports from Saudi Arabia on how the U.S.-Israel war with Iran is reverberating throughout the region; plus foreign policy experts Bessma Momani and Roland Paris reflect on an eventful and tumultuous year for Prime Minister Mark Carney on the world stage, and assess how he's positioning Canada.

Dr. Joss Reimer was a voice of calm for Manitobans during the pandemic and now she will bring that approach to a national stage as Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer taking over from Dr. Theresa Tam.

It's spring travel season. Maybe the part you're least looking forward to is the flight. Meet people who embrace what some of us hate about flying -- the meals, the bumps and the middle seat. 

Mark Arendz lost his left arm in a farm accident when he was seven. Now, the Para nordic skiier from PEI is one of Canada's most decorated Para athletes. With four races down and three to go in Milano Cortina, he reflects on how he's changed as an athlete since his Paralympic debut in Vancouver 2010. And what it's been like, for the first time, to have his younger brother by his side as his coach. 

A Nova Scotia man has been acquitted of some charges, after creating sexually explicit images of his classmates. CBC Reporter Blair Rhodes tells us more about the case, and Dalhousie law professor Suzie Dunn explains how the current gap in the law makes it hard to get convictions, when it comes to distributing AI-generated images. 

From hunting for a mythical treasure, to solving the mystery of life in the universe -- why some people are driven to dedicate their lives to unachievable goals, and what that commitment to optimism means to the rest of us.

Getting a good night's rest can be hard. A sleep expert helps you navigate advice from mouth taping to melatonin to cognitive shuffling and more. Aric Prather, author of The Sleep Prescription: 7 Days to Unlocking Your Best Rest, on what works, what doesn't, and why we might need to reconsider our attitudes to sleep.

With another MP crossing the floor to join the Liberals, Prime Minister Mark Carney edges closer to a slim majority following a few upcoming byelections — but the Liberal agenda could still face some hurdles. We dig into it with our political panel of former federal strategists: Erin Morrison, Marci Surkes and Fred DeLorey. 

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree condemned the Toronto shootings at three synagogues and has committed $10 million in security funds. Law professor Michael Geist says he welcomes the funding but leaders everywhere in Canada need to speak out more against antisemitism.

The Oscars are this weekend! For the audience, the movies are at the top of mind — and for many filmmakers, it’s also about the importance of going to the movies. Fewer people are going to the movies, but why? What does that mean for us, our communities, and for the industry? The Current's producer Meli Gumus joins us to talk about the magic going to the movies brings. 

Toronto author Jowita Bydlowska made waves with her 2013 memoir, “Drunk Mom.” Now she’s back telling the next chapter in the story of her relationship with alcohol, and with her son, in “Unshaming: A Memoir of Recovery, Relapse, and What Comes After.” 

After a 2024 decision to ban TikTok in Canada — shutting down the company's operations but not the app itself — the federal government is now doing a 180. Laura Osman, correspondent for the Logic, explains the timing of the decision, and whether the company's commitments on security and privacy will be enough to satisfy critics of the Chinese-owned social media company.  

A new international research study on cat cancer says yes, they can! The study - which was the largest of its kind - looked at similarities in genetic mutations across human and cat cancer cells. We speak with Geoffrey Wood, a professor at the University of Guelph and the co-seniour author of the study, about the study, his team's findings, and how they could help make advancements in cancer treatment for both our favourite feline friends and humans. 

Israel has responded to Hezbollah rocket fire with days of bombing, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. We hear fromTasnim Chaaban,  journalist with L’Orient-Today in Beirut about what's happening to more than half a million people displaced in the conflict. Followed by Middle East scholar Hussein Ibish, who says most Lebanese people are fed up with Hezbollah, creating an opening for the government to disarm it, but it will be difficult.

Since the late ‘70s, the American white pelican has summered along the South Saskatchewan River. The Pelicans fly south in the winter and their return north is eagerly awaited. There's even a Pelican Watch contest to spot the first pelican of the season. Fort Qu'appelle, Saskatchewan recently took their pelican love one step further, making it their town's official bird. Some locals even call themselves “Fort Qu’Appelicans.” We talk to Brian Strong, the mayor of Fort Qu’Appelle about the town’s love for pelicans. 

In some Canadian provinces, stimulant prescriptions for ADHD have doubled or tripled in recent years — particularly among young women. Experts say the uptick in prescriptions can be explained, in part, because of an increase in virtual health providers post-pandemic and more conversations about mental health over social media. But the speed of some of these diagnoses has some medical professionals worried some Canadians are being misdiagnosed.

Is there someone in your life who is a constant hassle, stressing you out? Researchers who study "hasslers" say there are a lot of them, and having a lot of them in our life can actually affect our health, and how quickly we age. We speak to Brea Perry, a Professor of Sociology, and Associate Director of the Irsay Institute at Indiana University about the health impacts of having a hassler in our life and how we can navigate these relationships. 

From gas prices, to air travel, to fertilizer costs, to interest rates… experts Heather Exner-Pirot, of the McDonald-Laurier Institute, and Neil Shearing, of Global Economics, break down how the conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran will affect Canadians — and the broader global economy. 

Our National Affairs Panel join us to talk about Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ten day trip to India, Australia and Japan, to drum up new trade deals, three by-elections that were announced for April 13th that could secure the Liberals a majority government, and also the war in the Middle East, and whether involvement is in Canada’s future. 

As war is waged in Iran and an Internet blackout continues, a special unit at the CBC has been working to speak with people in Iran.  We hear from  the CBC's Farzad Fatholahzadeh who has been part of the project.

Fans look back on  30 years of Pokemon, from video games to trading cards, and reflect on what keeps them playing, and collecting, this piece of 90s cultural history. 

Not long ago, Ty Sperle was living with a rare genetic disease called chronic granulomatous disease that impacted his immune system. Now he’s the first person in the world to be cured of the disease thanks to a cutting edge technique called prime editing. Ty tells us about how the treatment has changed his life and his doctor Dr. Stuart Turvey breaks down what this historic success means for treating other similar diseases.

The Conseil des Industriels laitiers du Québec is seeking a protected geographical indication for poutine cheese. We talk to Gilles Jourdenais, the owner of La Fromagerie Atwater in Montreal about what makes cheese curds part of Quebecois culture and what it would mean if the squeaky cheese got a geographical designation.