Ideas

In the age of growing polarization, how do you tackle injustice without demonizing your enemies? Former Harvard Law School dean Martha Minow tackles that question in her 2023 Horace E. Read Memorial Lecture.

Identity is a hot topic in our era, but also a complex reality. Five literary writers — all of them winners of 2023 Governor General’s Literary Awards — read from new poems, essays, and stories that consider the ways that seemingly solid identities can be altered, questioned, or entirely subverted.

In the 1980s, Douglas Janoff marched outside the United Nations to promote 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Then, after several decades as an activist, he became a Canadian diplomat — and started pushing for change from within. He shares his experience through the complex and delicate world of queer diplomacy.

From the interpersonal to the societal: what is reasonableness? And in a democracy, how reasonable can we reasonably demand that others be? Five Canadian thinkers try to define what “reasonableness” means, and what it is to behave and think reasonably.

For many people around the world, Cuban cigars are a luxury. But for Cubans, they’ve symbolized the country’s rich history and culture. Now as an economic crisis is gripping the country and people are leaving, the cigar is a bellwether of Cuba's uncertain future.

What does it mean to be a good person? Irish scholar and writer Declan Kiberd argues that Ulysses — James Joyce’s iconic novel — has lessons to teach us about the art of everyday living.

Research around social media was already hard to do. Now it’s even harder. Researchers describe how Big Tech and right-wing lawsuits block efforts to hold social media giants accountable.

Our bodies are a great paradox. We are made up of trillions of cells that are both independent and interconnected units of life. IDEAS travels into the microscopic complexity of the human body to explore sophisticated nanomachines — and probe the deep mysteries of a subatomic world.

Climate change has transformed the Arctic faster than most places on the planet. Inuit know this better than anyone. But as Arctic ice researcher Dr. Shari Fox argues a colonialist approach to Arctic research by academia has largely disrespected and sidelined traditional knowledge. She's working to change that. *This episode originally aired on Jan. 11, 2023.

Chava Rosenfarb, Holocaust survivor and Canadian Yiddish writer, was born 100 years ago in Łódź, Poland. In 2023, Łódź celebrated “The Year of Chava Rosenfarb." In this episode, producer Allison Dempster revisits a 2001 IDEAS documentary that profiles Rosenfarb’s legacy and the politics of Holocaust remembrance in Poland today.

Our series exploring five years in the 20th century that shaped the world ends with the year 1989. The Berlin Wall comes tumbling down. There are democratic uprisings in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary. A riot in Tiananmen Square in Beijing is met with a fierce crackdown.

In part four of our series exploring five years that shaped the world, IDEAS examines 1973. Augusto Pinochet comes to power in Chile, and dictators rule Portugal, Greece, Uganda and beyond. The OPEC oil embargo sets the world on a new path. The American Supreme Court legalizes abortion in Roe v. Wade, 50 years before it would be overturned.

Our series continues as we focus on the year 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads a march on Washington, the Pan-African movement ushers in a new era for Africa, President Kennedy is assassinated, and the war in Vietnam heats up.

On the eve of the Second World War, Hitler annexes Austria and escalates antisemitic persecution, Japan wages war on China, and the parallel collapse of democracy in both the East and West sets the stage for war. This is the second episode in our series exploring five years that have shaped the world.

After the First World War, the Western powers create new borders and carve out spheres of influence, leaders from the Global South fight for self-determination, and the League of Nations and the Communist International are formed. In this series recorded at the Stratford Festival, IDEAS explores five years in the 20th century that have shaped our world today.

Last week, South Africa and Israel were at the International Court of Justice with two starkly opposed versions of the conflict in Gaza: South Africa’s legal team argued Israel’s actions there violate the Genocide Convention. Israel’s lawyers argued it is acting in self-defence. The court must first decide whether to order emergency measures to stop the violence until it considers the bigger question. IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed was in the Hague. This episode features excerpts from the two-day hearings.

In her book, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing, Dr. Jillian Horton shares her personal story of burnout and calls for developing a compassionate medical system, with a more balanced and humane understanding of what it means to heal and be healed.

For nearly five years, Turkey imprisoned one of its most significant writers. Fifty-one Nobel laureates called for his release. Now free, the resilient Ahmet Altan reflects on the meaning of freedom, inside and out.

Celebrated Turkish writer Ahmet Altan spent almost five years in jail. He wrote his memoir which was smuggled out on bits of paper. This award-winning documentary aired in June 2020 while he was still imprisoned. Tomorrow IDEAS features a conversation with CBC producer Mary Lynk and the now-freed Ahmet Altan.

These are anxious times for journalism and democracy. As part of an event hosted by the Samara Centre for Democracy, former news anchor Lisa LaFlamme tells IDEAS what can and must be done to bolster journalism so it can better safeguard democracy.

Rome fell, because of... divorce. Or was it immigration? Maybe moral decay. IDEAS producer Matthew Lazin-Ryder explores the political history of 'the fall of Rome' — a hole in time where politicians, activists, and intellectuals can dump any modern anxiety they wish.

Indigenous artists from the Arctic and the Amazon regions came together for an art exhibition — a culmination of years of research and conversation. Despite coming from apparently disparate territories and traditions, they shared deeply on histories, present circumstances, and future worlds.

Broken violins, cruel love, absent fathers, the thought that a fleeting glimpse of happiness is a mere worthless illusion. At the end of the 19th century, Émile Nelligan wrote hundreds of tragic, passionate, sonnets and rondels on these subjects and more. And yet, most English-speaking Canadians seem never to have heard of the Quebec poet.

Considered one of the first writers of mysteries and the father of detective fiction, Wilkie Collins used the genres to investigate the rapidly changing world around him. UBC Journalism professor Kamal Al-Solaylee explores his work and its enduring power to make us look twice at the world we think we know.

As the calendar page turns, it's time for the annual New Year's Levee. IDEAS' producers and contributors preview what they're working on for the opening months of 2024. Topics run the gamut, from salmon to cells, and from the domestic state of marriage, to the neglected verse of a tragic teen poet.

Scientists agree that dogs evolved from wolves and were the first domesticated animals. But exactly how that happened is hotly contested. IDEAS contributor Neil Sandell examines the theories and the evolution of the relationship between dogs and humans. *This episode originally aired on March 1, 2021.

A childhood full of Christmasses in Wales has left IDEAS producer Tom Howell pining for a certain kind of nostalgic poem this winter. So he turns to poets to put into words a strange feeling of homesickness, nostalgia, and yearning. *This episode originally aired on December 17, 2020.

At the surface, Bear is about a woman who develops a sexual relationship with a bear. And though the 1976 novel earned Marian Engel a Governor General's award, it's been largely forgotten. Contributor Melissa Gismondi explores its mystery, meaning and relevance today. *This episode originally aired on January 4, 2021.

Christmas is a minefield of deep philosophical quandaries, like — is it ethically correct to lie to children? Who does a gift really benefit the giver, or receiver? How do we really know Santa exists, or doesn't? Join us on a dramatic journey through the philosophy of Christmas. *This episode originally aired on December 23, 2020.

The undeniably cool saxophone has been a staple of jazz music and popular culture for nearly a century. But some music historians say that what’s often been overlooked are its deep roots in spiritual beliefs and religious ritual. *This episode originally aired on March 3, 2020.

The inner city isn’t just a place — it’s an idea. And in Winnipeg, it’s an idea whose meaning and future have been fiercely contested. Nahlah Ayed joins Owen Toews, author of Stolen City, for a walking tour of inner-city history — and speaks to Indigenous organizer and “inner-city builder” Kathy Mallett.

For the last 20 years, members of ARC Ensemble have dedicated themselves to recovering the forgotten works of exiled composers. Recently, the ensemble revived the works of Frederick Block — music that hasn't been performed publicly in nearly a century.

In 1967, pianist Glenn Gould made a radio documentary for CBC about the Canadian North. He applied the technique of contrapuntal music to documentary-making. This 2017 documentary explores Gould's life and his revolutionary ideas about music and radio.

Autocratic governments, like democratic ones, have a sphere of influence and a logic of diplomacy. In a time of crisis, is it possible to have honest and pragmatic engagements when the diplomatic temperature is set to a default slow?

An Iraqi soldier crawls off to die in a bunker. But he’s saved by an Iranian medic. Nearly 20 years later, and halfway around the world, they meet again in a breathtaking coincidence for another life-saving encounter. *This episode originally aired on December 23, 2014.

Take a look at the motivations behind homophobia and racial prejudice, and you’ll find a shared emotion: disgust. At a time of increasing social divides, theorists say we need to reckon with an emotion that keeps us safe — and can make the world more dangerous.

In times of bitter conflict, what does it take to make peace? An experienced mediator and two former heads of state who helped to end some of the world’s most intractable conflicts discuss how to get warring sides beyond the dehumanization and rage.

American short story writer H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937. Now he's more popular than he was in his lifetime. IDEAS examines why his brand of “cosmic horror” resonates in the 21st century, and how new writers are dealing with his racist legacy. *This episode originally aired on January 22, 2021.

In 1853, Mary Ann Shadd Cary became the first Black woman publisher in Canada with her newspaper, The Provincial Freeman. As a lawyer, publisher, and educator, she laid the groundwork for Black liberation in Canada. Descendants and other guests share her remarkable story.

Canadian philosopher George Grant was known for his pessimism, and is best known for his book Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism. PhD student Bryan Heystee makes the case to revive Grantian philosophy and make it work for the 21st century.

There’s a lot of hope, hype and fear around artificial intelligence. That it’ll solve the climate crisis, or turn us all into paper clips. IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed speaks to two tech experts about the promise and perils of AI, as part of the Provocation Ideas Festival.

In November 1721, a massacre began on the Zong slave ship. The tragedy inspired the Canadian poem Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip. She reflects on the mass murder, the bizarre court case, and the work of art still rising from its depths. *This episode originally aired on November 29, 2021.

The cost of food is on the rise, and more Canadians are having a hard time knowing if they can afford their next meal. IDEAS hears from four leading experts in the field of food insecurity to explore the root causes and how our food systems can evolve to support us all.

How does the act of dehumanization pave the way for exploitation, humiliation and ultimately killing? In this episode, experts and survivors discuss dehumanization during war and whether there's a way back when the killing is done.

Physicist and jazz musician Stephon Alexander muses about the interplay of jazz, physics, and math. And cosmologist Katie Mack unpacks the latest thinking about the mysteries of dark matter, as part of the Perimeter Institute Public Lecture series.

Feeling the weight of a world? A lecture on hope might be a much needed balm. Scholar Shannon Murray shares lesson in hope, patience, empathy and 'freudenfreude,' and how Shakespeare’s words have become the narrative soundtrack of her life.

Three Canadian media bosses face explain why their institutions are losing people's trust. Toronto Star vice-president Irene Gentle, the CBC's Brodie Fenlon, and Global News' Sonia Verma joined moderator IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed to discuss how media outlets can regain the trust of the audience.

Who will speak for the cormorant? This unusual water bird gets culled by humans for overfishing and killing trees. But maybe it is humans and their cultural assumptions that are the source of the problem, say defenders of the cormorant. *This episode originally aired on October 6, 2021.

Translation is a form of “resurrection,” argues Canadian scholar Irena Makaryk. And in the 400 years since Shakespeare shuffled off this mortal coil, he has been resurrected too many times to count. In the final episode of IDEAS at Stratford, we consider what’s lost in translation, what’s found, and how translation can shine a new light on the ideas in a familiar story. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 3, 2021.

Sometimes, ghosts 'appear' for very human reasons. Loss, change, and grief can alter our perceptions of reality. In this episode, the reasons why ghosts are seen everywhere from new high-rises in Mumbai, to urban food courts, to a gay gym in San Francisco. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 25, 2022.

Robert Macfarlane says his writing is about the relationship between the landscape and the human heart. He's a modern-day re-interpreter of the sublime — whether he's writing about following ancient foot trails or descending into the mysterious world beneath the Earth's surface. He spoke at a special event at the Royal Ontario Museum, where he accepted the inaugural Weston International Award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to recognize excellence in nonfiction.

Astrophysicist Hubert Reeves is one of the world's leading experts on the Big Bang theory. He was also a riveting storyteller. Reeves died this month at the age of 91. IDEAS producer Mary Lynk spoke to the acclaimed astrophysicist in 2019 at his country home in Burgundy. This is the second episode in a two-part series.

The Arctic and the Amazon may be far apart geographically, but art connects them intimately. As part of a public art project bringing Indigenous artists from both regions together, Inuk artist Niap and the Shipibo artist Olinda Silvano worked on a mural that now graces the campus of Toronto Metropolitan University. They share their inspirations and their collaboration.

The camera may not lie, but it can produce very convincing fiction. The wedding photograph and the headshot are just some of the ways our everyday world gets defined through the frozen image. Award-winning playwright Guillermo Verdecchia presents a sound portrait of a very "visual" medium in this 2001 IDEAS episode.

What was supposed to be an on-stage interview about Donna Morrissey's latest novel, Rage The Night, expanded to a conversation about Nietzsche, Carl Jung, and sudden grief after her husband died from a stroke. The Newfoundland author was in conversation with IDEAS producer Mary Lynk in Halifax.

Indigenous scholar Noel Pearson concludes his series of lectures on Australia's history and current relationship with Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal peoples. In these later talks, Pearson views that relationship through the lens of the economy, schools, and cultural identity. He draws attention to the commonalities between Australians of all backgrounds.

Hubert Reeves is one of the world's foremost experts on the Big Bang and the origins of time. In Quebec, where he was born, he's called their Einstein. Reeves died this month at the age of 91. IDEAS producer Mary Lynk spoke to the acclaimed astrophysicist in 2019 at his country home in Burgundy, as part of a two-part series.

Chris Brookes was a documentary producer who influenced generations of radio makers worldwide. In April 2023, he died in a tragic accident. IDEAS honours the spirit of this master craftsman of sound with a documentary made by his longtime friend and colleague, David Mairowitz.

Andrey Kurkov (Grey Bees) is Ukraine’s leading novelist. Masha Gessen is a dissident Russian-American journalist. Each chronicles Ukraine’s fight for independence on the ground, and critique what we outsiders know, for the 2023 PEN Canada/Graeme Gibson Talk.