Storylines

For the past eight years, author Christy Ann Conlin has been living a life that used to, in part, belong to someone else: her husband Andy’s first wife, Meg, who died of cancer at age 43. Now, Christy Ann is married to Meg’s husband, lives in Meg’s house in rural Nova Scotia, and has formed a blended family with Meg’s children. But it was the surprising relationship with Meg’s three sisters, and her unexpected relationship with Meg herself, that has Christy Ann asking, what does it really mean to be a family? And how to, if not fill someone else’s shoes, walk beside them?

In the midst of the pandemic lockdown, Kent Hoffman faced one of the most difficult years of his life. One of his oldest friends, Bob Rogers, died. Kent’s wife was diagnosed with cancer, and embarked on a long treatment and recovery. Other family members got sick and died. The personal losses seemed relentless. And many of the rituals and ceremonies that Kent would usually rely on for solace were cancelled or upended: memorial services and birthdays, Christmas and his kids' graduation ceremonies, even the simple greeting ritual of a handshake was gone. So, in the face of mounting grief — Kent set out on a quest to find rituals again, and to squeeze meaning out of the year that was. Once lost, can rituals ever be recovered?

At the Edmonton Indian Residential School in 1961, a teenaged student named Helen Campbell Johnson was starving. And she was angry. On top of enduring relentless, daily abuse, the 147 kids at the school that year were hungry all the time. Helen worked in the cafeteria. And she knew that while she and the other kids ate meagre rations of inedible canned pork and lumpy oatmeal, the teachers and staff enjoyed a full spread. One Saturday, standing in that cafeteria, something in her snapped, and Helen took action. This is the true story of a group of kids who -- at enormous risk to themselves -- tasted freedom one unforgettable day 60 years ago.

In 1979 Andrew Nguyen’s family escaped Vietnam on board a cargo ship named the Skyluck. Andrew was only 4 and can barely remember the trip that changed his life. So when he discovered that his mom, Tina Nguyen, had kept detailed journals of their escape tucked away in a shoebox in their hall closet, Andrew begged her to read them to him. This year... she agreed. The Skyluck Journals document a harrowing story aboard a ship that was never intended for human passengers, and one young woman’s determination to save her family when nobody wanted to offer them safe harbour.

At the start of the pandemic, the entire Hamadi family found themselves living together under the same roof for the first time... in a long time. The three adult siblings - Adonis, Rima and Rami - hunkered down with their parents, keeping themselves entertained watching movies and pulling pranks. One day, after watching a cooking competition on TV, they decided to try their own cook-off. But what was intended as just another way to pass the time ended up helping the Hamadis, and hundreds of others, make a difference in ways they never could have imagined.

We're back! The new season of The Doc Project kicks off with two stories of longshots, and of keeping the flame alive when the odds aren't on your side. First up: They're sometimes called "paper candidates" or even "sacrificial lambs" - federal election candidates who enter so-called "unwinnable" races. As election day approaches, four former candidates from elections past describe what it’s like to be the horse no one’s betting on. Next: Zeppelin the cat lived a good life, and when his pet parent, Desiree Hobbins, discovered he died in September 2020 she mourned him and spread his ashes in a favourite spot. After eight months of mourning, Hobbins got a call from the Regina humane society saying they found Zeppelin and he was ready to come home. But her cat died… right? She spread his ashes... right?

Julian Uzielli has suffered from clinical depression for as long as he can remember. Over the years, Julian's taken several different antidepressants and seen as many different therapists. Nothing’s worked. Then this past year, pandemic stress set off one of his worst bouts yet. Suicidal thoughts were creeping in with alarming force. Desperate, Julian decided to try something new: medically supervised, legal, guided ketamine therapy. [If you’re in crisis and need help, you can call the Canada Suicide Prevention Service at 1-833-456-4566, or you can send a text to 45-645. They’re there to help.]

Two stories for Father’s Day. Emily Gan’s father, Howard, has embarked on a new project in his retirement: building an edible bird’s nest farm back in his homeland of Malaysia. Swiftlets are tiny swallows whose nests are delicacies in Chinese cuisine. Howard dreams of reconnecting with his roots and providing a prosperous future for his three (now grown) daughters. But the swiftlets are not so easily convinced... As a kid, Adriel Smiley was close to his dad, Allister, a pastor originally from Jamaica. But during Adriel's teens, they often butted heads. That didn’t change much... until George Floyd. In the weeks after Floyd’s killing, Adriel was struck by how deeply it affected his father. As the world reeled, father and son came together to talk about police, race, and life -- finding a new closeness.

When Sara DuBreuil found out she was expecting a baby girl, she and her husband Matt chose the name Cecilia -- Ceci for short. Sara thought Ceci’s arrival would be the best day of her life. She kept picturing the moment when Ceci, tiny and pink, would be born and placed on her chest. But that's not how it played out. Instead, it was a day of crisis that Sara felt totally unprepared for. She’s spent the first year of Cecilia's life coming to terms with what happened. Sara had never heard of “birth trauma” before, but as she grapples with her experience, she's learning many women have lived it, most of them in silence.

Dawn Murphy always had big dreams. Growing up in “The Cache”, a small community in Prince George, B.C., she fell in love with wrestling. After getting scouted at 15, Dawn became a crowd favourite in the Canadian pro-wrestling circuit under the name Princess Delta Dawn, before going on to wrestle in Japan in front of thousands of fans. Dawn retired from wrestling in 1994 — but now, three years after being inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, she's telling her story, from her take-no-prisoners wrestling moves to embracing her Carrier First Nations culture both in and out of the ring.