As It Happens

A guide tells us he's proud of the work -- even if survivors are giving it mixed reviews. The legal director for the National Council of Canadian Muslims talks about opening her email to see a video of an attack on a Muslim woman at a pizza parlour in Oshawa, Ontario. A horrifying incident she tells us is, disturbingly, not rare. An inquiry finds British colonizers in Australia committed genocide against Indigenous people. A witness at the commission says reckoning with that past is the first step in moving forward. In response to a growing rat problem, Toronto considers taking a page out of New York City’s book -- and appointing a “rat czar" to get the vermin under control. Scientists catalogue the traits that give me -- I mean, someone -- the indefinable yet indisputable quality of “coolness.” And the results are surprisingly conclusive.

We'll hear from a reporter who was there to capture the chaotic reaction outside the courthouse. The head of a French hotel and restaurant association reacts to the country's new limits on outdoor smoking -- by saying that if they come for his patios, it would be a drag. On the fourth anniversary of the deadly fire in Lytton, B.C., one first responder tells us he and his team have learned to be prepared to fight off new fires all the time -- as they had to do just this week. Remembering the late Jimmy Swaggart's appearance on this program in 1987, when he accused fellow televangelist Jim Bakker of immoral character -- just months before his own catastrophic fall from grace. A British musician explains how she created a haunting piece of music with an orchestra made up of more than 80 species of moths. And…Thousands of Norwegians were told they'd won millions in the lottery -- only for the lottery CEO to tell them they hadn't, and apologize for accidentally putting the decimal point in the wrong place. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that thinks that took a lotto nerve.

A volunteer at a radio station south of the border goes all in on Canada Day by programming twenty-four hours of exclusively Canadian music. In a bid to thwart talk of separation, a new petition is asking Albertans if they want to stay in Canada. The former politician behind that push tells us why he's confident the result will go his way. We'll revisit my interview with the CEO of Metis Crossing in Smokey River, Alberta -- when the wildlife park was celebrating the birth of 7 new bison calves, a century-and-a-half after the last wild bison were seen there. A cross-border rivalry between the top-ranking jogglers in Canada and the U.S. -- as in, joggers who juggle -- wasn't always a toss-up. From our archives, a conversation with the 9-year-old who found the largest maple leaf ever recorded -- which turns out to be a real rake-up call. And...the way she gives the cake really takes the cake. Every Canada Day, a baker in one Ontario community makes a cake big enough to feed thousands. We'll talk to her as her massive cake makes the high-stakes journey from the kitchen to the centre of town. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that knows the thing about a layer cake is it always ends in tiers.

An Idaho mountain community mourns two firefighters slain in what officials say was an ambush by an arsonist. A nearby resident tells us how the situation unfolded. Canada reverses course on a long-promised tax on tech giants, in order to bring Donald Trump back to the negotiating table -- which has us asking finance minister François-Philippe Champagne just how many concessions it'll take to get a trade deal. A University student from Attawapiskat First Nation canoed 400 kilometres to set up an encampment in Ontario's Ring of Fire, protesting laws that could fast-track mining projects there. And he tells us he’s not going anywhere soon. Seoul is overrun with love bugs, whose trick of mating on the move is just one reason residents say the city should clear the air. Feeling the heat. A heat wave gripping parts of Europe has temperatures soaring. Residents and visitors explain how they're keeping their cool while the sun sizzles. On Canada Day eve, we hear from the editor of a dictionary of Canadianisms -- who has just updated the tome to include up-to-the minute Canuck catch-phrases, including "elbows up" and "maple-washing." As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that loves a sappy ending.

There are a lot of questions about a Canadian citizen who died in immigration custody in Florida -- and his defence lawyer says his family deserves answers. After a shocking auditor general's report finds Newfoundland and Labrador overspent millions on agency nurses, the head of the provincial health authority tells us change is coming. The brand-new members of the CDC vaccine advisory committee meet for the first time since RFK Jr fired their predecessors. A CDC vaccine expert tells us why that drove her to resign. We remember the prolific composer Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the memorable music to all kinds of TV shows and movies -- including one piece that absolutely refuses to self-destruct. After nearly 40 years of striking fear in the hearts of computer users, Microsoft announces the death of the Blue Screen of Death -- to be replaced by a black as cold as a pitiless void. Researchers discover that orcas off the coast of B.C. use seaweed to scrub each other's skin -- a technique that could have both physical and social benefits. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that gets by with a little kelp from its friends.

As the projected costs for Vancouver to host a handful of FIFA World Cup games next year jump again -- our guest says it's time for the city to bow out -- and use that money to help people across the province who are struggling to make ends meet. A Francophone busker is shocked by a new rule requiring musicians to sing in French only in certain areas of Quebec City. He calls the change out of tune with his diverse community. Bill of health. Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general tells us the provincial health authority’s questionable and excessive spending on agency nurse contracts should raise serious alarms. Oscar-winning Canadian director Denis Villeneuve is taking on the next James Bond film. An expert on all things double-0-7 says it is a dream scenario for the next phase of the franchise. And, Cuss célèbre. An animal rescue goes viral for its post about a macaw with an "R-rated" vocabulary. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that guesses that means Parrot-al Guidance is Advised.

At the NATO summit, the Prime Minister promises to spend a lot more on defence; Cesar Jaramillo, the chair of a Canadian disarmament group says that if the aim is to make the world safer, the move is way off target. Chandra Pasma, a provincial parliamentarian, tells us about her efforts to get the Ontario government to do more to address extreme heat in schools and other workplaces across the province. An activist in Kenya tells us she thought things would be peaceful today, when protestors commemorated a deadly protest one year ago. Instead, history repeated itself. People have started to return to Denare Beach, Saskatchewan, after wildfires ripped through their village. One resident tells us going home isn't easy -- but it's therapeutic all the same. We remember ground-breaking Quebecois musician Serge Fiori, whose band Harmonium changed the music scene in the province by paving the way for homegrown talent. A poorly-timed wardrobe malfunction leads to an unfortunate photo finish -- in which an American hurdler wins the race while trying -- and failing -- to keep his shorts in place. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that always double-checks its equipment.

An Ottawa mom had to take her son to the ER when he came home from class with heat exhaustion; she says school administrators need to do a better job of keeping students safe. Before the shaky ceasefire with Iran, Israel attacked a prison in Tehran that houses political prisoners -- and today, friends and family are still waiting on news about their loved ones. The Democratic primary for mayor falls on New York City's hottest day in years -- and a strategist says the close race between an establishment moderate and outsider progressive could point to where the party heads next. Two Nigerian communities are taking oil giant Shell to court over longstanding pollution caused by spills -- which they say has infiltrated their drinking water. We hear from an artist in the UK about her project that could take decades: drawing every pub in London. A British nightclub becomes the site of a sinister mystery -- when someone leaves behind a surprisingly large, and just surprising, sausage. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that loves a club banger.

A non-proliferation expert says that no matter what Donald Trump says, there's no way to know if U.S. bombs destroyed Iran's nuclear program. But they did make it more likely that Iran will pursue the bomb in secret. An advocate for Arab residents of Israel tells us too many of their communities have too few of the reliable protections that are commonplace in Jewish-majority cities across the country. After five years, an opposition leader is freed from prison in Belarus. His wife -- who took up the leadership in his absence -- tells us about their family reunion, and her husband's drive to get back to work. Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is released after over a hundred days in ICE detention. We'll hear some of what he told the crowd that gathered to celebrate his return to New York. A triathlete is doing okay after a giant black bear ran in front of his bike during a race this weekend -- at which point he ran into the bear. One of the scientists who discovered little sea spiders that eat methane says the tiny creatures are playing an outsized role in the deep sea ecosystem. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that warns: they may be compact, but they're gas-guzzlers.

British journalist Dom Phillips’s mission was to expose the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. In this episode, Nil's feature conversation with two of the people responsible for finishing a groundbreaking, posthumous book by Phillips, who was killed three years ago in Brazil. Phillips got his start as a music writer -- whose main claim to fame was coining the term "progressive house", and writing a celebrated history of the rise and fall of superstar DJs. Then, in 2007, his work on electronic music took him to Brazil, where he fell in love. First with the place. And then with a person: Alessandra Sampaio. But it would be another ten years before Dom began covering the story that would become his sole focus: the brutal destruction of the Amazon rainforest. In 2018, he traveled to the remote Javari Valley with Bruno Pereira -- an advocate for Indigenous peoples' rights in Brazil. And in 2022, the pair went back...and then, they went missing. In the years since, Brazilian police have charged five people in relation to their murders. And now, a collective of their friends and loved ones has published the manuscript Dom Phillips was working on at the time. It's called "How to Save the Amazon: A Journalist’s Fatal Quest for Answers".

A resident tells us she's determined to disrupt billionaire Jeff Bezos's lavish Venice wedding -- even if it involves jumping into a canal to block the floating wedding party. A hiker at the scene of a deadly rock slide in Banff National Park describes how she and fellow hikers sprang into action to help survivors, after a part of the mountain gave way. An Iranian-Canadian tells about her tense eleven-hour bus ride from Tehran to the Turkish border -- watching the skies for Israeli missiles the whole time. The daughter of celebrated language keeper Sophie McDougall says a new stamp in her mother’s honour is a reminder to protect the critically endangered Metis language. Michigan wildlife experts free a black bear that had a plastic lid stuck around its neck -- ending a very uncomfortable two-year ordeal. Chinese researchers discover a way to embed coded messages in frozen bubbles -- opening a new frontier in penguin espionage. As It Happens, the Friday edition. Radio that reminds you: someone else's bubble code is none of your fizziness.

A Canadian man whose partner was visiting family in Iran when the bombs began to fall tells us about his struggle to reach her -- and about why she won't leave until she knows her loved ones will be safe. The sky's the limit...for foreign-owned airlines. But Canada's competition bureau wants more of them to be allowed to take flight -- to bring down the price of air travel in this country. Researchers investigate the impact of expensive beauty products on their preteen users -- and find that the potential harms are more than just skin deep. As the flood waters recede in South Africa, the extent of the damage is becoming clear. Our guest says she'll never forget watching her own house disappear in the deluge. A new study finds that -- when they stick around -- baboons are surprisingly involved fathers. And baboon daughters who maintain strong bonds with their dads appear to live longer. Patients in the Czech Republic will be down in the mouth to learn that the young dentist who worked on their teeth over the past few months has been arrested for not being a dentist at all. As It Happens, the Thursday Edition. Radio that guesses it was just a case of enamel magnetism.

A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers pushes to prevent Donald Trump from unilaterally going to war with Iran. But a congresswoman admits there's no guarantee he'll heed their resolution, even if it passes. A university professor in Tehran says the attacks on his country were unprovoked -- and that if the U.S. joins in, it should expect severe retaliation. Canada's cancer screening guidelines are set for an overhaul. An oncologist tells us the changes are long overdue. Celebrity chef Robert Irvine remembers his late friend Anne Burrell -- who started out cooking in restaurants, and wound up on the Food Network. An Alberta kindergarten teacher shows how well she knows her students, by identifying everyone of them just by the sound of their voices. Turns out Asteroid 2024 YR4 may still affect us Earthlings -- because if it does collide with the moon, the resulting moon fragments could really mess with our satellites. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that proves the moon isn't made of the green cheese -- it's made of debris.

Amid deadly Russia attacks in Kyiv, and the absence of a disappearing Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney announces billions in new support for Ukraine at the G7 summit. The federal government says its recently tabled "Strong Borders Act" is meant to keep Canadians safe. But a lawyer says it's a thinly veiled excuse to give police access to personal data. Today, the IDF killed dozens of Palestinians who were waiting for flour; the UN's special rapporteur says that proves armed peacekeepers should be deployed to protect aid convoys. A mother and daughter describe the surreal – and memorable – moment that they were both called to the bar at the same ceremony yesterday. As the G7 summit in Alberta wraps up today, minus one key player, a reporter says Donald Trump's sudden departure was a snub, but not exactly a surprise. A once-in-a-lifetime screening of a long-lost original print of "Star Wars" stuns an audience because it looks a lot more amateurish than they'd expected. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that hears even Chewbacca looked sloppy – and that's just a Wookiee mistake.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's team says he made great progress on tariffs during his meeting with Donald Trump at today's G7. But our guest warns that the president could still blow everything up – because he has before. A Minnesota state politician remembers his longtime friend and colleague, Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated along with her husband this weekend by a shooter targeting politicians. A non-proliferation expert says Israel's explanation for bombing Iran doesn't hold water. He believes it's not about nukes – it's about regime change. A Holocaust researcher gets the rare chance to see footage from Jerry Lewis's unfinished, long-buried Holocaust film "The Day the Clown Cried" – and says it's full of surprises. We'll hear about the late Betsy Jochum, who made history as a pioneering player in the first professional women's baseball league. A secret report reveals that Edinburgh, Scotland fears an influx of middle-aged, drunk, rowdy people when Oasis plays there. And one of the Gallaghers is not a fan of that description of his fans. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that tells Edinburgh: where there's a will, there's Oasis.

This morning, Iranians were awoken by massive explosions from Israeli airstrikes -- and this evening, Israelis huddled in shelters as missiles hurtled their way. We'll hear from people in Tel-Aviv and Tehran. As Washington prepares for a massive military parade tomorrow, we hear from a U.S. Army veteran who says he and his fellow vets are not impressed. After her husband admits that he's cheering for the Edmonton Oilers, a Calgary woman -- and devoted Calgary Flames fan -- posts him for sale...at a low, low price. A Yukon teen creates a new algorithm to help skiers choose the best wax. He waxes eloquent about his hopes that it will help Team Canada. A friend and biographer remembers Gary England, a trailblazing Oklahoma meteorologist who guided the state through more tornadoes than he could count. We wish we could eradicate bed bugs -- but a new study shows their numbers exploded during the beginning of civilization, and have a talent for out-matching whatever we throw at them. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that knows, for bed bugs, box spring's eternal.

More than 260 people are dead after an Air India flight bound for London crashes into a residential neighborhood. Karishma Mehrotra of the Washington Post is in Delhi. She tells us what she’s learned about how the disaster happened. A potentially game-changing vaccine against Lyme disease is currently in clinical trials. A scientist in Nova Scotia – where ticks are rampant and ravenous – says it can’t come fast enough. Dozens of states join forces to try to prevent the bankrupt biotech company from selling millions of people's DNA, and other deeply sensitive data. A Montreal business owner says last year's Formula One race was a fiasco, but the city seems to have gotten its act together for this weekend's big event. A Cambridge University professor became so spellbound by the many murders in medieval England that he began to map out where they all took place, and he's thrilled to death that his project has just been published. The asteroid we once feared would hit the Earth has switched targets, and may now be on course to smack right into the poor innocent moon. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that supposes it's for the crater good.

His district in Los Angeles has been targeted by ICE raids, and Democratic California Assembly member Isaac G. Bryan says Donald Trump's deployment of U.S. troops has made the city a testing ground for democracy itself. Philomena Lee’s name has become synonymous with the scores of unmarried mothers whose children were sold to American families by Irish nuns. Now her daughter is fighting to make sure every survivor gets the compensation they're owed. Steven Page reflects on the musical genius of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, and tells about the surreal moment Brian Wilson sang him his song, which is called "Brian Wilson". The mayor of St. Mary's, Newfoundland hopes a shuttered fish sauce plant that's been stinking up the joint for two decades will be cleaned up at last. A satirical article claiming Cape Breton has its own new time zone that's 12 minutes ahead of the rest of Nova Scotia has been causing some confusion for AI, which doesn't seem to be in on the joke. A Canadian author's cookbook titled "Every Salad Ever" is not sold on Amazon. But to Greta Podleski’s chagrin, Amazon was selling something that looked awfully similar -- a fake, AI-generated version of the book. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio warns against taking the slaw into your own hands.

As the high profile sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team wraps up, an advocate calls on Ontario to drop its ban on restorative justice, to give complainants a better option than court. The auditor general exposes the ballooning cost of the F-35 program, but Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canada needs to revive its military with new spending regardless. An Israeli human rights lawyer says Canadian sanctions against two far-right government ministers for inciting violence with their rhetoric are long overdue, but very welcome. California lawmakers decry Donald Trump's deployment of U.S. troops to the streets of Los Angeles, and one spars with the Defence Secretary over whether it's even legal. A museum manager in Taber, Alberta tells us about the moment she found a grenade while going through boxes, and the moment she started seriously panicking. The owner of a giant pencil in Minneapolis tells us about this year's grand sharpening, which happens with great pomp and ceremony on his front lawn. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that warns you: one of the following stories includes graphite content.

The Prime Minister announces a huge boost to military spending, to the relief of a former Canadian Army commander who says that, in an unstable world, that investment is long overdue. An Australian woman is accused of killing her inlaws by serving them Beef Wellington with poisonous mushrooms, and her trial has become a national obsession. While our guest was photographing protests in Los Angeles, he was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet. He tells us the President's decision to send in the National Guard has only made Angelenos less safe. In an annual tradition, staff at a Winnipeg high school all become guidance counsellors, and what they're guiding is a family of ducks. A Canadian classic rock banger has become a staple of this year's Stanley Cup playoffs; we'll get Rik Emmett from Triumph on the line to lay his feelings about "Lay It On The Line" on the line. When a group of young Black men posted a video in which they tried matcha for the first time, it got a lot of love, and a lot of noisy haters. But their videos, and their joy, are proving infectious. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that celebrates a matcha made in heaven.