The Big Story

The territory went more than seven months as the last Covid-19-free spot in North America, but the past weeks have seen one case turn into a couple of dozen. Why did the bubble work so well for so long? What are the unique dangers the virus poses to Northern communities? How will officials try to reign in spread now that the virus is here? And what can we learn from how long the bubble kept Nunavut safe? GUEST: Kent Driscoll, APTN National News 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

Almost two weeks after the American election, leading social media platforms are inundated with false claims about the results. Claims that are supported and amplified by Donald Trump and key members of his administration. After talking tough regarding disinformation in the months leading up to the election, and even slapping warnings on the president's posts, have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok lived up to their promises? And the big question: Will Twitter ever ban Donald Trump? Where would their business be without him? GUEST: Jesse Hirsh, researcher and futurist, metaviews.ca 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

This is the finale of our five-part series in partnership with The Narwhal. Scientists have found protecting nature can provide more than one-third of the emissions reductions required to meet the world’s 2030 climate targets, thrusting Canada — home to 25 per cent of the planet’s wetlands and boreal forests — into the hot seat. There are more than enough challenges facing those fighting to save the climate, but there are some solutions right in front of us, too. GUEST: Emma Gilchrist, Editor-in-Chief of The Narwhal You can learn more at thenarwhal.ca. 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

This is part four of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. There are no viable solutions to stop the tide of selenium leaching into Canadian and U.S. water from a 100-kilometre stretch of coal mines near Elk Valley, B.C., which are owned and operated by mining giant Teck Resources. Deformed fish, a potential fish population collapse and contaminated drinking water signal more trouble to come... GUEST: Carol Linnitt, Managing Editor You can learn more at thenarwhal.ca. 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

This is part three of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. Alberta’s oil and gas workers can be underrepresented — or even maligned — in conversations about an energy transition in Canada. The Narwhal met with former oil and gas workers to learn more about their lives and personal reasons for transitioning to solar, and look at the process as a whole. GUEST: Sharon J. Riley, Alberta investigative journalist You can learn more at thenarwhal.ca. 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

This is part two of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. Canada’s westernmost province markets itself as 'Super, Natural, B.C.,' but more than 2,000 species of animals and plants are at risk of disappearing — and unlike six other provinces, British Columbia still has no endangered species law, despite the NDP's election promise to introduce one GUEST: Sarah Cox, environmental reporter You can learn more at thenarwhal.ca. 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

This is part one of a five-part series in collaboration with The Narwhal. Two communities — one in Canada, one in the U.S. — share both a border along the St. Marys River and a toxic legacy that has contributed to high rates of cancer. Now the towns are banding together to fight a ferrochrome plant planned to process chromite from Ontario’s Ring of Fire, in turn generating the so-called ‘Erin Brockovich contaminant’ hexavalent chromium. GUEST: Hilary Beaumont You can learn more at thenarwhal.ca. 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

Almost everything the President of the United States has been saying since election day is false. His family and supporters are following suit. How is the internet handling a flood of misleading claims and outright lies? What makes the post-election disinfo so hard to debunk? How did we end up so far down this rabbit hole and is it even possible to climb back out? GUEST: Jane Lytvynenko, Disinformation Reporter, BuzzFeed News 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

As of Wednesday night, things looked relatively positive for Joe Biden's bid for the presidency. But Donald Trump's team is filing lawsuits, demanding recounts, or halted counts, and looks like it plans to scrap tooth and nail to win the election in the courts no matter the results on the ground. How successful that attempt will be depends on the judges themselves—but either way it puts the leaders of democracies around the world, including Canada, in a tough position until someone concedes. How would a protracted court battle for the American presidency impact Canada? What changes if Biden wins cleanly? What will Trump's mark on America's international reputation be if he is a one-term president? And what if he actually manages to find his way to a victory? GUEST: Balkan Devlen, senior fellow at McDonald Laurier Institute, Superforecaster for Good Judgment, Inc. 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

No, the US election is not what spawned this question. New research in a field called 'simulation theory' pegs the odds that we're just AI creations in somebody's supercomputer at about 50-50. Really? How can we possibly determine this? What does simulation theory propose? What evidence do we have? Will we ever really find out? And could humanity one day create a simulation of our own? GUEST: Anil Ananthaswamy, Scientific American, author of Through Two Doors At Once 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