Storylines

As rat populations spike across North America, scientists search for new ways to curb the critters. It’s a pressing task, as scientists warn climate change is contributing to a perfect storm of rat-friendly conditions. And there’s a lot at stake. One rat expert calls them klepto parasites because they steal from us. Our health, our safety and our peace of mind.It’s why in an alleyway in Chicago, an experiment led by a Canadian scientist is looking at an innovative way to reduce rat numbers using birth control. 

A nine-year-old Haitian girl just wants to go to school, but her family is too scared to let her outside.They haven’t left the house in a while, fearing one of them will be detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers currently patrolling the streets of Minneapolis-St.Paul. In fact, the family is so worried they’re hiding at a fellow Haitian’s home in the Twin Cities.An act of “humanity”, according to their host, in the face of so much fear. People in Minneapolis-St. Paul are gathering food, standing in the streets, patrolling their neighborhoods, to protect their neighbours from the threat of being detained. Julia Pagel and Alison Masemann wondered what this moment feels like for the residents of these cities. These are the stories they found. 

You run. We will Shoot. And if you survive you can go.That’s what women were told by fighters in Sudan. They ran and somehow made it to a refugee camp in neighbouring Chad. There are about a million people from Sudan now in Chad, who escaped a brutal civil war that has raged for almost three years. Humanitarian groups are struggling to provide shelter, food and water while the world mostly looks away from what’s being called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. In this documentary, Surviving Sudan, journalist and filmmaker Michelle Shephard shares the stories of some of the people who made it out. 

Inmates recall seeing feces on the walls and using tampons for earplugs to drown out the constant screaming of other prisoners. Today in Ontario, thousands more people are behind bars than just a few years ago. But the number of cells remains the same.Reports of violence, lockdowns and inadequate healthcare are on the rise. Most inmates haven’t been tried yet and this is all happening while federal and provincial politicians debate new bail reform bills — legislation that could lead to even more accused people being incarcerated.Julie Ireton brings us this documentary called “Catch 22” 

Laura and Nick Bordignon fell in love with their daughter before she was born. They named her Makayla. They decorated her nursery. Nick snuggled up to Laura's stomach and read to her at night. But seven months into the pregnancy Laura stopped feeling Makayla's movements, and doctors confirmed the worst. Makayla is one of about 3-thousand stillborn babies delivered every year in Canada. And despite the devastation that comes with that experience – stillbirth is seldom talked about. For many it’s still taboo. This is one family's story of confronting that taboo and advocating for better medical care for those who experience it.

When Arthur Arnold resigned from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he walked away from one of the world's most prestigious symphony stages. This decision would bring him a world away, to Powell River, British Columbia, a town tucked between the ocean and the mountains with a population of 13,000.This town is at a crossroads. Two years ago, its economic heart, a massive pulp and paper mill, shut down. The plant closure left residents wondering what would come next.But some are hoping that the city’s past could help define its future. There’s a deep history of arts and culture that goes back to the very beginnings of Powell River. And now with people like Arthur Arnold bringing in world class musicians and building an arts hub in town - there’s hope that music could help fill the void left by the loss of the pulp and paper industry. Produced by Liz Hoath and Joan Webber. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit (This episode first aired in September, 2025)

In this episode, we step inside a Toronto classroom where some 30 students from diverse backgrounds lift their voices and sing as part of the University of Toronto’s first-ever Black gospel choir class. Led by Professor Darren Hamiliton, the students, many with no background in gospel music, learn that there is more to this musical tradition than they imagined. In this documentary, Let it Shine, CBC doc producer Alisa Siegel follows these students over the course of the academic year as they discover a deeper understanding of Black musical tradition and its message of faith, freedom and joy.  Produced by Alisa Siegel, with thanks to Julia Pagel and Greg Kelly and originally aired on The CurrentStorylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit(This is a repeat epiosde)

Stephanie Azzarello was dying. To survive, doctors told her she needed to find someone willing to donate part of their liver. Her story went out on social media and late one night, it reached the phone of a nurse and mother in Portland Oregon. There was something about Stephanie’s story that made Trisha Beard want to help. Liz Hoath brings us this story about two women whose lives became intertwined because of an act of generosity. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit (This show first aired in Sept. 2025)

In July 2024, seven fishermen from around New-Wes-Valley, Newfoundland set out on their fishing boat in search of turbot.  While at sea that day a fire broke out near the engine room, before long the bunkroom was full of smoke. The seven sailors had no choice but to abandon ship and before long they were sitting in a small life-raft. What followed was a 52-hour ordeal that tested not just their will to survive, but the bonds between them. The situation could not have been more dire, two of the men couldn’t swim, supplies were dwindling and a thick fog hampered rescue efforts.  In this documentary, 52 Hours Lost at Sea, find out what it was like to spend more than two days adrift in the North Atlantic. Produced by Mary-Catherine McIntosh and the Audio documentary unit / the doc originally aired on The Current. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit (This show first aired on Feb. 2025)

One Yukon community is fighting back against wildfires with an unlikely weapon —trees. The plan seems counterintuitive, using trees to stop a fire, but Aspens are fire-resistant unlike the flammable trees like spruces and pines found around the city.  But growing the almost two million trees to make the firebreak isn’t easy.  It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of little seeds. But if it works, it could be a game changer. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

Complaints are common. Cormorants kill trees. They eat too many fish. Their colonies stink. Warren Hoselton has had enough. After three years of watching his beloved trees around his Ontario home be decimated by cormorant poop, he wants action. The birds have to go. But not everyone has a hate-on for cormorants. Avian ecologists say it's not fair to fault birds for doing what nature designed them to do. The ones living in a park on the edges of Canada’s largest city, reached 20,000 this year, angering locals worried about their impact. In Toronto, they’re trying to relocate them. Elsewhere, hunters shoot them.  All across North America cormorants make enemies because of the mess  they leave behind. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

It was supposed to keep Canada together but a massive 1995 rally nearly did the opposite. In 1995, Canada was on the verge of breaking up. The province of Quebec was about to vote on whether to become a sovereign nation. Just days before a referendum on that very question, tens of thousands of Canadians from across the country poured into Montreal. Travelling by planes and trains - they gathered for what would become known as the Unity Rally. Carrying flags, singing the national anthem and declaring their love for Quebec – they pleaded for Quebecers to say “no” they would not leave.Despite this demonstration – many in the Province viewed the gesture as too little too late. 30 years later Francis Plourde looks at the legacy of the love-in, and the historic vote and what it says about Canada today.Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

Russian trucks drive across Canada’s arctic. Foreign ships appear along our northern shores. For decades, it’s fallen on Tuktoyaktuk to be Canada’s watchful eyes in the Arctic.But the recent surge of attention about arctic sovereignty and security from politicians in the south raises a host of concerns for residents. Will promised military funding and federal focus on security solve the local problems of high unemployment and rapidly deteriorating infrastructure? CBC documentary producer Julia Pagel traveled to Tuktoyaktuk to see what this conversation about arctic security looks like on the ground.Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

Stephanie Azzarello was dying. To survive, doctors told her she needed to find someone willing to donate part of their liver. Her story went out on social media and late one night, it reached the phone of a nurse and mother in Portland Oregon. There was something about Stephanie’s story that made Trisha Beard want to help. Liz Hoath brings us this story about two women whose lives became intertwined because of an act of generosity. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

As wind energy continues to grow in Canada, so does the body count for migratory bats.Biologist Cori Lausen has spent years advocating to help prevent bats from being killed by wind turbines. She even helped inform the rules around wind energy development and bats in Alberta. But she worries it may have been too little too late to prevent some species from going extinct. Molly Segal travels from Alberta wind farms to BC’s forests to discover if there’s a way to save bats without disrupting getting renewable energy from turbines. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit 

Indigenous communities in South America say mining threatens their water supply. But the world needs lithium for EVs to fight climate change.In the Salinas Grandes salt flats, which hold significant lithium deposits, some residents are saying no to mining. But towns are divided. Some want the jobs that come with mining while others fear what this lithium extraction will do to the water table.Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

In Finland, bomb shelters double as playgrounds. 900,000 reservists on standby. In Sweden, millions received war prep pamphlets. Defense spending doubled in four years.These Nordic nations aren’t taking any chances with Russia’s war in Ukraine raging. They remember what happened in 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded Finland. Both countries also joined NATO, so Canada is bound to defend them too. Emma Godmere travels to the Arctic Circle to discover what it means to live next to Russia, and what Canada can learn from its Nordic allies. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

At just 46, Jennifer Brady, a Halifax single mother and professor, made the shocking decision to apply to die. She couldn't get surgery in Nova Scotia for a painful condition called lymphedema. After six years of fighting, she saw medical assistance in dying as her only option. But what happened next set off a chain reaction that would take her case to the courts and the premier’s office.Angela MacIvor brings us the story of one woman's battle against the bureaucracy of the healthcare system.Produced by Angela MacIvor and Joan Webber / Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

When a grizzly bear swam to Texada Island, 5 kilometres off the mainland of BC, it arrived in a place that was known to have no predators. The bear, which soon had the nickname, “Tex,” quickly divided this community of a little more than 1000 people. Some saw a beautiful animal that deserved protection, while others saw a dangerous predator that needed to be removed.In her documentary, “A Bear Called Tex,” Molly Segal visits Texada Island to find out what happened when a community was forced to answer the complicated question of what to do with an unwanted grizzly bear. Produced by Molly Segal and Liz Hoath. This documentary originally aired on The Current. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit 

Starting when she was two years old, Robin Heald endured years of sexual abuse by her stepfather.  As a young teenager, she told police, child protection services and her mother what was going on, yet little changed. Her mother even chose to stay with the man who was abusing her. In the documentary, “It Ends with Me,” Robin takes us on a road trip to visit her mother and sister - a journey to explore their generational trauma, a system’s failure to protect children and Robin’s determination to break their family’s cycle of abuse. Warning: This episode contains discussions of childhood sexual abuse. Produced and reported by John Chipman with story editing by Julia Pagel and Joan Webber. This doc first aired on The Current in June of 2025.Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit