The Big Story

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN-sponsored body that periodically releases a synthesis of current climate science, doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know or experience. The Earth is hotter than it's ever been. Sea levels are rising and causing more extreme weather events. The report is a big deal for making the one conclusion no one can ever question again: climate change is human-caused and is having a tremendous impact. That impact isn't just on our planet but on us humans: our health, safety and well-being are at stake. The report tells us what actions we can take to protect ourselves. So what do governments, industries and individual citizens need to do?Guest: Rick SmithGuest-host: Fatima Syed We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

In recent weeks, as demands for a vaccine passport grow around the world, politicians are citing our rights to life, liberty and security as a reason to allow portions of our population to not be vaccinated. They say making vaccines mandatory will erode our rights, and nothing, not even a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, is worth that.We all have rights, but we also have a duty to keep each other safe. How do we do that?Guest: Emmett MacfarlaneGuest-host: Fatima Syed We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

The Liberal government has released new pay equity legislation that goes into effect on August 31. The goal is to provide all employees in a few federally regulated sectors "equal pay for work of equal value" and thus finally end a gender pay gap that hasn't been narrowed in decades.Canadian women have been waiting for this for 50 years, while many other countries have already taken proactive measures to force companies to report and correct the gender pay gap. Is this a turning point? And will we finally succeed?Guest: Andrea GunrajGuest host: Fatima Syed We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

On November 28, 2020, a 24-year-old was arrested for installing a shunt—a wire that mimics the electrical signal of a train and causes oncoming trains to derail—along the railway tracks near Bellingham, Washington. She is now facing 20 years in prison and terror charges. Reports suggest she was acting in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en movement fighting to stop the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.This is a form of radical and often dangerous act of protest that people are turning towards to demand change. Are these acts effective? And how far is too far?Guest: Hilary BeaumontGuest-host: Fatima Syed  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

After nine seasons as a Toronto Raptor, Kyle Lowry is leaving for a three-year, 90 million dollar contract with the Miami Heat. He led us to our first-ever championship and along the way become the heart and soul of an entire city and country — an honour awarded to few athletes.Who was the man behind the title? How did he shape the team? And how will they go on without him?Guest: Doug Smith, Toronto StarGuest-host: Fatima Syed We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

A new study by RBC found the number of people who left their jobs in June tripled compared to the same month in 2020. RBC expects 125,000 people to retire in the second half of the year as baby boomers just opt out of the daily grind. Managers are worried and trying to keep people by offering all kinds of mental health and wellness benefits. But nothing’s working because we’re still not addressing the root causes of burnout. We need a new kind of corporate workplace that doesn’t make us feel this way. How do we do that?Guest: Karen K. HoGuest-host: Fatima Syed We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

In recent weeks, there has been disastrous flooding in Europe, India, Arizona and in China. Summer temperatures have broken records from Canada to Pakistan. Toronto had the second worst air quality in the world because of wildfires in northern Ontario.Despite all this, we are still struggling to come to grips with the fact that we are living through a climate emergency. Why can't our brains process the reality in front of us?  If seeing the effects of climate change in our own backyards doesn't make us take the threat seriously then what will? Is there anything anyone can say that will wake people up to the need for serious climate action?The first step might be to stop framing it as the end of the world.Guest: Alex Steffen, The Snap ForwardGuest Host: Fatima Syed We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

In the pandemic's darkest months, millions of us were looking for comfort and solace. And we found it in an unlikely comedy about an American football coach going to England to coach a soccer team. But Ted Lasso's success is more than a funny script and a great cast—it's a sign that we're searching for more than an anti-hero, and as the culture gets meaner, kindness is more in demand than ever before.Why Ted? Why now? What does it mean to celebrate a privileged white man in an authority position simply for ... being nice? Will the show's second season explore the complexity of its characters? Does Ted Lasso have a dark side?GUEST: Norm Wilner, NOW Magazine We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

When Canada's intelligence agency warns about threats from foreign powers in the expected fall election, it's easy to assume they're referring to the kind of online meddling the United States saw from Russia in 2016. But they're not.Or at least, that's not all they're worried about. The latest warning from CSIS covers what might be called 'old-school' interference. The basics of blackmail, bribery and threats. So how is Canada preparing, and what should we be worried about when it comes to our election security?GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing Threats To Canada's National Security We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Over the past few weeks, Toronto police have stormed into at least three park encampments where homeless people have been living. They've been met with protesters and journalists, and police have sometimes responded with violence.In the end, not many people have ended up in homes, and the city's reputation is in tatters. How long can Toronto sustain this strategy? What could the city do differently, if it's willing to admit to its past failures? And what should other places in Canada who face similar crises, learn from this?GUEST: Leilani Farha, global director of Make The Shift We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter