The Current

Should all autistic people share one diagnosis? Right now, there's only one diagnosis, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and some people want to change that. We speak with Alison Singer, the President of the Autism Science Foundation and the Autism Science Foundation of Canada. She says having one diagnosis hurts people like her daughter who is non-verbal and needs a lot of support — and that there should be a diagnosis of profound autism to help unlock research and support.

One Canadian dies every two days waiting for an organ. Stephanie Azzarello feared she'd be one of them. For people waiting for a liver, like Azzarello, there’s an option to find a living donor. Usually it comes from a family member or close friend… but not always. The woman who offered to help Azzarello after seeing her social media post was a stranger who lived in another country, had never met her. In her documentary, Because of Her, Liz Hoath brings us their story — and how their lives were brought together.

Our national affairs panel weighs in on the biggest political stories of the day. We assess the fallout from Mark Carney's latest visit to Washington D.C., and why an abandoned pipeline project may be back on the table. Plus, by the Grey Cup weekend we are expecting a federal budget, and another round of "nation-building" projects. Will one of them be the pipeline Alberta is pushing for and that coastal First Nations say is a non-starter? And when was the last time the Grey Cup was such a big deal on the political calendar? We break it all down with Stephanie Levitz of the Globe and Mail, Rob Shaw of CHEK News in B.C., and Jason Markusoff of CBC Calgary.

Some of the most major changes and inventions in history started with someone being told they were wrong, and them not taking “no” for an answer. And for Terry O’Reilly, those are the most captivating stories. In his new book,  Against the Grain: Defiant Giants Who Change the World,  the host of CBC’s Under the Influence, explores what we can learn from these mavericks, including Taylor Swift — and why in a world where we always need new ideas to grow, our first instinct is to reject them?

He’s one of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs and is behind companies like X, Tesla and Space X. But what role is Elon Musk playing in the tech industry’s shift to the right, and how did growing up in apartheid South Africa shape his worldview? Jacob Silverman is the host of the new CBC podcast Understood: The Making of Musk and the author of “Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the radicalization of Silicon Valley.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed his Middle East peace deal, but the future for Palestinians and Israelis remains uncertain. Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti wants guarantees so there will be no backsliding into war and self-determination for Palestinians. Political expert Shira Efron explains the sands have shifted in Israel and that a new relationship with Palestinians will have to be forged, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will resist it.

All 20 remaining living hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023 have now returned to Israel. 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1700 detainees are also freed today. After two years of war, a historic peace process is unfolding in the Middle East. We speak with CBC’s senior international correspondent Margaret Evans in Jerusalem, Amir Tibon, journalist for the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz and the author of  "The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal and Hope in Israel's Borderlands,” and Omar Omar, the founder of the Gazan Canadian Families League who has been trying to get his family out of Gaza and bring them to Canada about what’s next as part of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace deal — and will this lead to lasting peace in the Middle East?

For decades, CBC’s foreign correspondent Brian Stewart covered events that changed the world, from the famine in Ethiopia to brutal regimes in Latin America, to the fall of the Berlin Wall. But it was his reports from Ethiopia that galvanized Canadians to send humanitarian aid to the region, and led to Live Aid, one of the biggest charity concerts in history. Brian Stewart reflects on his remarkable career on the front lines of history.

Imagine having your data stolen at your work, and your most sensitive information ending up for sale on the dark web. A Fifth Estate investigation reveals that's what happened to thousands of employees at B.C.'s Interior Health. A data breach has exposed the information of healthcare workers, leaving some to have their identity stolen repeatedly, while the agency denies the breach ever happened.

This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney raised the prospect of reviving the Keystone XL pipeline with Donald Trump, while Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and BC Premier David Eby sparred over her proposal to build a new bitumen oil pipeline through B.C. to its northern coastline. We speak with a First Nations chief, a small town mayor on BC’s coast, and a retired pipeline executive in Calgary.