Storylines

One evening in 2015, Montrealer Kenrick McRae was pulled over by police. The officer told him his licence plate lights weren’t bright enough. So after having the dealership verify his lights were in fact working fine, Kenrick got another light and mounted it himself to make sure he would never be given the same reason again. But he still was. In fact, no matter how scrupulous he is, Kenrick, who is Black, says he has been stopped by Montreal police multiple times. After Kenrick's girlfriend filmed him being handcuffed and detained during a traffic stop one night in 2017, he lodged a formal complaint with Quebec's police ethics committee, determined to prove that what's happening to him is because of the colour of his skin. This is the story of one person's ongoing experience of racial profiling by police, and how it has undermined every facet of his life.

The Doc Project and Replay Storytelling have teamed up for our first ever LIVE Zoom show! Recorded in front of a live-at-home audience, five performers from across Canada share stories about the kinds of relationships we have with those who raised us. From crashing your own dad's funeral, to helping your divorced mom navigate online dating, to the grandmother who drove you crazy, to that cherished last photo you took with your mom, enjoy the season with five festive family stories. Featuring Nisha Coleman, Veronica Antipolo, Yaw Attuah, Colette Micks, and Chris Graham. Hosted by Acey Rowe and Paul Aflalo.

It was a surreal delight for Kent Hoffman to produce an interview with the American mentalist 'The Amazing Kreskin' on CBC Radio in 2009. But what really surprised Kent was when, a few months later, he received a Christmas card from Kreskin... and every single Christmas since. It turns out that Kreskin sends out thousands of holiday cards, every year, and it means as much to him as it does to his legions of grateful Kreskin card recipients. PLUS, Ever get a present that made you wonder, “Does this person know me at all!?” Comedian Bob Kerr has wondered this repeatedly, every time his mother insisted on giving him jewelry. Even a jewelry box to keep it all in. The only problem? Bob doesn't... wear jewelry.

Since Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) was legalized in Canada in 2016, the process has relied not only on the doctors and practitioners who help carry out people's right to die, but a group of people you may not have heard of: volunteer witnesses. Two independent witnesses — who are not involved in the care of the applicant, nor stand to benefit from their death — must sign and date every application for MAiD. Three volunteer witnesses reflect on the process, as a bill that would amend their role winds its way through legislature.

Michel Groulx lives in a tent, in an encampment just east of downtown Montreal. Michel, armed with his own recorder, takes us into his world, introduces us to his neighbours. And explains why, even with winter coming, he has no intention of relocating to a shelter. PLUS, In March, at the beginning of the pandemic, Stephen Smith lost his sense of smell. But he set aside his concerns while his wife, an asthmatic, struggled with more serious COVID-19 symptoms. As time went on and his wife got better, Stephen noticed that his sense of smell still hadn't returned. He couldn't smell spring in bloom. In fact, his sense of smell (and taste) became strangely warped, turning favourite scents foul. Now, eight months on, Stephen's worried that some smells, and the memories they evoke, may never return.

In the mid-2000’s, childhood friends Paul Nguyen and Mark Simms started a website about their Toronto neighborhood: Jane-Finch.com. The website had news, community boards, and videos that the guys would make, usually with local rappers. The website got a lot of love -- until suddenly that changed. A Toronto talk radio station broadcast a series of interviews that largely condemned the rap videos, saying they encouraged gang violence. Paul and Mark only found out this had been happening months after the interviews started. Their website took a hit, and the guys were scared, angry… and largely silent. Now, 15 years later, they’re talking about what went down.

For decades, Robert Keating had been searching for his birth mother with no success... Until an unlikely encounter with a customer at his pet store, and a 19th century painting, provided the clues he needed to find her. PLUS, writer Ivan Coyote on the moment their grandmother, even in the midst of her late stage dementia, made Ivan feel fully seen.

In 2002, Bob Kerr made a grand romantic gesture that was so downright embarrassing, it still makes him cringe. Now, nearly 20 years later, Bob is reaching back out to his ex-girlfriend Zoey, to find out what she really thought of his bid to win her heart… and learns the script is never what you think it is. PLUS, In 1999, Pasha Malla and Mark Trenwith made a strange trade: they traded personal stories. Each agreed to only tell the other guy's story as if it was his own. 19 years later we got them on the phone to re-tell the stories they traded... and see how they held up. (Spoiler alert: they didn't; hilarity ensued.)

When two librarians in Kelowna B.C. decide to hold Drag Queen Story Hour for kids, they plan everything… from the books about inclusion and diversity that educational assistant Tyson Cook will read while in character as “Miss Freida Whales,” to the rainbow wand-making craft they’ll lead with the kids and the music breaks they’ll take so the kids can get up and move around between books. But what Ashley and Chris don’t plan for… is the ideological tempest that is unleashed on the city of Kelowna — engulfing librarians, activists, parents and politicians. Drag Queen Story Hour turned into a pitched battle to define what is the role of a library, who is it for, and who gets to decide?

Two stories about COVID and companionship: Dusty Springfield is the luckiest cat on earth. When COVID-19 hit, Dusty’s owner, Jennifer Yoon, was suddenly home all the time. What a luxury for a rescue cat with abandonment issues! PLUS, Jean Grevstad is an active 91-year-old in a seniors’ residence in Nelson, B.C. Bob Keating meets and spends time with her, taking down her life story for posterity. But when COVID-19 hits, Jean is left facing a second pandemic of loneliness.