Thursday, June 25th 2020

The Big Story turns two today. We're officially entering our toddler years, just in time to throw a tantrum at the news cycle with two of our favourite guests. This year is not yet half done and it either feels like it's been a week or a decade long. How will we remember 2020? Among the thousands of things that we've changed so far this year, which ones will last when things return to normal? How have we done, as the media, covering history as it happens? And is there ANY good news in this year? ... Anything?

GUESTS: Sarah Boesveld and Fatima Syed

We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

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Wednesday, June 24th 2020

The allegations in a recent lawsuit are horrifying to read. Teenagers allegedly being bullied and abused by older teammates as coaches watched and did nothing. These aren't the first stories to come from Canadian junior hockey players and they likely won't be the last.

The initial reaction from those without a stake in the game, including our host, is to burn the whole system down. Is that the only way to fix it? What needs to change for the game we love to be safe for the kids who play it? Who's standing in the way of that? And what does real change look like inside locker rooms everywhere?

GUEST: Brock McGillis, former OHL and pro player, LGBTQ+ speaker and advocate

We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

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Tuesday, June 23rd 2020

Today is the 35th anniversary of the Air India bombing, which killed 329 people, 280 of them Canadian citizens. In the immediate tragedy, the terrorist attack was seen largely as a foreign incident. As recently as 2007, not even half of Canadians considered it a "Canadian" tragedy. Why did the largest mass murder of Canadians in the country's history remain for so long a story about India and Ireland? And how have things changed in the past decade to reframe it?

GUEST: Chandrima Chakraborty, Professor, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University

We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

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Monday, June 22nd 2020

When we discuss how COVID-19 has changed everything on this show, there's one big topic we haven’t covered yet. It’s sensitive. It’s intimate. It’s not easy to talk about even when there is no pandemic. It’s … just messy.

It’s marriage. And living together. And partnership, with kids or without. If you’re married, or partnered, you haven’t been alone through all this. So you’re lucky. But you’ve also likely spent the last few months navigating an entirely different landscape, adjusting to a new daily life and, probably, fighting. At least sometimes.

GUEST: Stephen Marche, host, How Not To F**k Up Your Marriage Too Bad (Available on Audible for free until July 11)

We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

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Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Friday, June 19th 2020

You might expect the world's biggest technology companies to have your data and know a lot about your life. But your favourite (or least favourite) coffee chain?!

This is the story of what happened when one reporter saw a notification on his phone and followed it down a rabbit hole to find out what, exactly, Tim Horton’s knows about him—and you too, if you use their app. Also, why exactly do they need to know that stuff? And what do they do with it?

And who else might be doing it? Because if your local coffee chain can compile this stuff...what’s stopping everyone else?

GUEST: James McLeod, business and technology reporter, Financial Post

We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:

Through email at [email protected] 

Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter