Saturday, November 18th 2023

Guest: Sara Mojtehdzadeh, investigative reporter

Did you know that a victim of labour trafficking could be right in front of you? Hundreds are working in plain sight, changing our hotel sheets, renovating our houses and growing the food we eat. In an investigative series by reporters Sara Mojtehdzadeh and Rachel Mendlesen called “Work Forced,” The Star identified 10 cases across the GTA and southwestern Ontario since 2019 where police have raided labour trafficking operations. They have led to complex legal proceedings, which are ongoing, dozens of arrests and involve more than 200 victims – desperate to make a better life for their families – who got caught in this web. Mojtehdzadeh talks about it on the podcast.

This episode was produced by Paulo Marques, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston and Saba Eitizaz.

Friday, November 17th 2023

Guest: Ghada Alsharif, business reporter

Concerns of worker exploitation, especially on farms, are escalating as Canada significantly increases its foreign workforce in order to race towards an ambitious $100-billion food export target. In the momentum to win this race, is enough being done to secure the rights and protections of those migrants who arrive under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers program?

This episode was produced by Paulo Marques, Kevin Sexton and Saba Eitizaz.

Thursday, November 16th 2023

In our series, “The Kids Aren’t All Right,” the Star has been highlighting the many ways in which children are struggling in Toronto. Mayor Olivia Chow joins “This Matters” to talk about why she thinks a lot of these areas stem from housing affordability and about her plan to try to break the logjam on that file. She also discusses her history of advocating for children at the city and what inspired it, and gives some concrete steps she plans to take in the next year or two to try to make things easier for families and children.

Tuesday, November 14th 2023

Guest: Dr. Amy Gajaria, psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Wait times of up to two years. There are not enough publicly funded therapists. Emergency rooms are overwhelmed by children in crisis. Ontario’s child and youth mental health system is at a breaking point. The Mental Health Commission of Canada reports that mental illness affects more than one million children and youth in the country. And while the provincial government has stood up and started to take notice with new funding announcements this year, there remain simply not enough resources to help young people suffering from mental illness. As part of “The Kids Aren’t All Right“ series, reporter Kenyon Wallace – who wrote on mental health and children – speaks with Dr. Amy Gajaria.

Audio Sources: CBC News

This episode was produced by Paolo Marques, Brian Bradley and Kenyon Wallace.

Monday, November 13th 2023

Guest: Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa

Ontario’s registered nurses will now be able to independently prescribe some medications such as vaccines, medicines to quit smoking and for pain relief or wound care. The government sees this as an effort to tackle Ontario’s acute health care crisis, where more than two million people currently lacking a family doctor. This is the latest in a series of recent moves to expand the role of some health professionals to try and fill the gap, including pharmacists and midwives. We explore what this means for health care.

This episode was produced by Paulo Marques, Brian Bradley and Saba Eitizaz.