x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

This Matters

The world is changing every day. Now, more than ever, these questions matter. What"s happening? And why should you care? This Matters, a daily news podcast from the Toronto Star, aims to answer those questions, on important stories and ideas, every day, Monday to Friday. Hosts Saba Eitizaz and Ed Keenan talk to their fellow journalists, experts and newsmakers about the social, cultural, political and economic stories that shape your life.

news documentary

All Episodes

19:25

Why diaspora communities are losing their first language

This Matters ·

2023/11/29

Guest: Mark Ramzy, reporter Canada is home to thousands of diaspora communities. It’s known as the hub of multiculturalism and diversity, which is sown into the social fabric and even its legislation Data shows that out of the 1.3 million immigrants who arrived in Canada between 2016 and 2021, more than 900,000 had a mother tongue that was neither English nor French. There are almost 400 nonofficial mother tongues in the country today, but why are the younger generations of these diaspora

en

45:40

Bathroom kings and tricky things in Toronto this week

This Matters ·

2023/11/24

Guests: Matt Elliott and Shawn Micallef, contributing columnists So much has been happening in Toronto this week. As encampments are cleared, the mayor and the federal government are fighting over shelter and housing dollars and the city is cancelling plans for public washrooms even as it opens all of its ice rinks. Joined by Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott issues his first look at how Mayor Olivia Chow’s council support has lined up in her first months (and the dynamic duo of consistent

en

23:30

Why many international students skip meals to survive...

This Matters ·

2023/11/23

Guests: Nicholas Keung and Andy Takagi, staff reporters For years, Canada has been a dream destination for young people around the world with a record number of international students arriving in 2023. But that dream is unaffordable for many. As the cost of living keeps rising and tuition remains high for students from out of country, many international students have limited resources and turn to strained food banks for support. Yet, one Brampton food bank banned international students and

en

27:08

A white-nationalist murderer, made in Canada

This Matters ·

2023/11/22

Guest: Wendy Gillis, crime and policing reporter Over the past nine weeks, a Canadian courtroom heard disturbing testimonies of how and why 22-year-old Nathaniel Veltman murdered three generations of a Muslim family in 2021. Now guilty for the deaths of Salman Afzaal, his wife Madiha, 15-year-old daughter Yumna and 74-year-old mother Talat, and for the attempted murder of Salman’s nine-year-old son, the upcoming sentencing will be a significant litmus test for Canada’s anti-terror laws. What is

en

22:54

Jog along with a world-record holder

This Matters ·

2023/11/21

Guest: Toronto Star reporter Kerry Gillespie The interview today is timed to run 17 minutes and 28 seconds, the exact length of Stouffville 12-year-old Sawyer Nicholson’s world-record-breaking 5-kilometer run. So listeners are invited to jog along as they listen and see how their own progress stacks up. Star reporter Kerry Gillespie talks about the tiny running phenomenon, and how she took up running as training for another sport, how she developed, and the blowback her family has gotten online as a

en

21:29

Labour trafficking victims working in plain sight

This Matters ·

2023/11/18

Guest: Sara Mojtehdzadeh, investigative reporter Did you know that a victim of labour trafficking could be right in front of you? Hundreds are working in plain sight, changing our hotel sheets, renovating our houses and growing the food we eat. In an investigative series by reporters Sara Mojtehdzadeh and Rachel Mendlesen called “Work Forced,” The Star identified 10 cases across the GTA and southwestern Ontario since 2019 where police have raided labour trafficking operations. They have led to

en

15:55

A discussion on Canada’s foreign farm workers’ rights

This Matters ·

2023/11/17

Guest: Ghada Alsharif, business reporter Concerns of worker exploitation, especially on farms, are escalating as Canada significantly increases its foreign workforce in order to race towards an ambitious $100-billion food export target. In the momentum to win this race, is enough being done to secure the rights and protections of those migrants who arrive under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers program? This episode was produced by Paulo Marques, Kevin Sexton and Saba Eitizaz.

en

37:03

'We are not doing that well': Mayor Olivia Chow on...

This Matters ·

2023/11/16

In our series, “The Kids Aren’t All Right,” the Star has been highlighting the many ways in which children are struggling in Toronto. Mayor Olivia Chow joins “This Matters” to talk about why she thinks a lot of these areas stem from housing affordability and about her plan to try to break the logjam on that file. She also discusses her history of advocating for children at the city and what inspired it, and gives some concrete steps she plans to take in the next year or two to try to make things

en

23:50

Nearly 30,000 Ontario kids are trapped on...

This Matters ·

2023/11/14

Guest: Dr. Amy Gajaria, psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Wait times of up to two years. There are not enough publicly funded therapists. Emergency rooms are overwhelmed by children in crisis. Ontario’s child and youth mental health system is at a breaking point. The Mental Health Commission of Canada reports that mental illness affects more than one million children and youth in the country. And while the provincial government has stood up and started to take notice

en

19:24

New prescribing powers for Ontario’s nurses

This Matters ·

2023/11/13

Guest: Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa Ontario’s registered nurses will now be able to independently prescribe some medications such as vaccines, medicines to quit smoking and for pain relief or wound care. The government sees this as an effort to tackle Ontario’s acute health care crisis, where more than two million people currently lacking a family doctor. This is the latest in a series of recent moves to expand

en

19:24

Ford’s fast-track MZOs sped up nothing

This Matters ·

2023/11/09

Guest: Noor Javed, city news reporter At the peak of the pandemic, the Ford government turned to Minister’s Zoning Orders (known as MZOs) as the speediest solution to the housing crisis and direly needed construction of long-term-care facilities. Former housing minister Steve Clark issued more than 100 MZOs between 2019 and 2023. But in the wake of the Greenbelt scandal, scrutiny is now shifting to these MZOs and if they have actually fast-tracked development efforts. The Star did its own analysis

en

27:42

Why women’s basketball isn’t coming to Toronto

This Matters ·

2023/11/08

Guest: Richard Warnica, business feature writer When Toronto hosted a packed WNBA exhibition game in May, hopes were high that the city would soon get its own team, but by then, “the game was already over,” writer Richard Warnica says. Local sports powerhouse Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) had already considered and rejected the idea, mostly because two particular members of the board were set against it. At a time when women’s professional sports seem to be awakening across the continent,

en

20:20

Ontario schools are failing kids with ADHD

This Matters ·

2023/11/06

Guest: Katie Daubs, senior writer As Ontario’s schools struggle with resources and ripple effects of the pandemic, experts say students with diverse needs like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) aren’t getting the help they require. ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children, yet there is no official ministry categorization making it difficult to support in classrooms. As part of the Star’s “The Kids Aren’t All Right” series, senior writer Katie Daubs

en

22:11

Kids and violence: catching up with ‘the boy who lived’

This Matters ·

2023/11/03

Guest: Jennifer Pagliaro, crime reporter Many parents across Toronto struggle to balance keeping their kids safe and letting them develop a sense of independence. In a city where crime concerns are rising and rising faster for younger people, some weigh on that balance more than others. In one family, their son was shot before he was two years old. For the Star’s “The Kids Aren’t All Right” series, reporter Jennifer Pagliaro looked at life after a shooting and what could work to prevent others from

en

18:08

As green space shrinks, how do we raise kids in a...

This Matters ·

2023/11/02

Guest: Kate Allen, climate change reporter Fresh air, trees, grass on bare feet. The sound of birds while playing on a playground. Leisurely swinging in the shadow of a tree. Many of us have childhood memories outside in parks and forests, and research shows this time is key to our physical, mental and social well-being and development. So what about the children being raised in urban centres like Toronto, where green space has shrunk significantly over the past two decades as the region faces

en

20:43

Kids are going hungry. What can we do about it?

This Matters ·

2023/11/01

Guest: jade guthrie, FoodShare Toronto When kids don’t get enough to eat at home or they worry about running out of food, it can affect everything in their lives from their ability to learn and grow, to their ability to be healthy and resilient. Yet food insecurity is the reality of 1.8 million kids in Canada. In this episode from the Star’s “The Kids Aren’t All Right” series, guest host Alyshah Hasham and jade guthrie of FoodShare Toronto discusses what we can do to turn the crisis around. This

en

21:44

What it is like for kids who lose the place they call...

This Matters ·

2023/10/31

Guest: Victoria Gibson, affordable housing reporter Housing affordability and accessibility are only getting worse. For many Canadians, they might be just one bill or unexpected expense away from being unable to afford that month’s rent. Renovations, rent, or repair expenses are all factors that have led to more than 600,000 kids growing up in precarious housing across the country. As part of the series “The Kids Aren’t All Right,” we take a look at what that means and how a child might experience

en

20:21

Thousands of children are waiting for surgery. Some...

This Matters ·

2023/10/30

Guest: Megan Ogilvie, health reporter Ever since the COVID pandemic, Canada’s health care system is near a breaking point and may take years to fix. Among the issues, experts are worried that many children are not getting needed surgery within the safe medical window. An estimated 17,000 children are on long waiting lists for surgeries that could improve the quality of their lives. Some of them wait for months or years. Some might never recover. The Star’s health reporter Megan Ogilvie unpacks the

en

30:10

How we know the kids aren’t all right

This Matters ·

2023/10/26

Guest: Amy Dempsey, series editor In many different aspects of life, kids in Toronto are struggling right now. Housing is unaffordable, educational supports are lacking, surgical wait times are long and the social safety net is frayed. Amy Dempsey is editor of the series “The Kids Aren’t All Right,” which looks at the varied and interconnected ways we’re letting down the next generation and what we might start doing to fix it. This episode was produced by Sean Pattendon, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston

en

37:37

100 days of Olivia Chow

This Matters ·

2023/10/25

Guests: David Rider and Ben Spurr Since her election in June, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has begun the work she was elected to do — building relationships with councillors and the premier, trying to kick start affordable housing and working to fix the city’s budget hole. David Rider, city hall bureau chief, and Ben Spurr, reporter, have talked to her allies, opponents and city experts to evaluate how far she’s come, how much further she has to go and potential political landmines in the coming

en

1,105 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS News

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci