The Decibel
Episodes
Putting a price on how nature protects us
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is the price of a wetland? A forest? A river? How can you even go about assessing the value of natural habitats? How do you factor in the watersh...
A Mountie, a residential school and a cover-up
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1957, a lone Mountie in northern B.C. heard rumours about sexual abuse of boys who attended the Lower Post residential school.The Mountie and a gro...
Why global powers fear Russia’s preparing to invade Ukraine
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine and U.S. intelligence officials, as well as online sleuthers, have noticed a buildup of Russian troops along most of the border separating the...
Boosters, breakthroughs and another COVID-19 winter
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In December of 2020 there was a lot of hope in the air as the first shots of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Canada. Fast forward a year and...
November’s big job boom and what it means for Canada’s economy
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The experts said there’d be about 38,000 jobs added to Canada’s labour force in November. So when Statistics Canada announced that that number was...
Gun laws 32 years after the École Polytechnique mass shooting
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It has been 32 years since the École Polytechnique massacre, which left 14 women dead and spurred a debate about gun control in Canada. Progress on t...
The business case for being bilingual
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The debate over the place and importance of the French language in Canada erupted into the corporate world after Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau gave ...
Why this was the moment for Barbados to leave the monarchy
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Barbados has moved on to a new future after the country declared itself a republic and replaced Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state with its recen...
Why conversion therapy is still legal in Canada
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A bill first introduced in March 2020 is back in Parliament, as its backers try for the third time to put conversion therapy in the Criminal Code of C...
Omicron is here. Don’t panic – yet
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week the world learned about Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant. It was first detected in Southern Africa and many countries quickly tightened res...
What’s stopping people from buying cannabis-infused drinks
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many producers and investors had high expectations that cannabis-infused drinks would offer new and existing users a new way to get high. Some predict...
The unsolved mystery of vandalism at movie theatres in Ontario
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, two Cineplex movie theatres in Richmond Hill and Oakville Ontario were vandalized. Both theatres were showing the South Indian film, Kurup,...
The flooding and rebuilding of B.C.'s farms
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The floods in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley have left much of the area in ruin. One community that has been particularly hard hit is farmers. Dam...
Infighting in the Conservative Party as Parliament resumes
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pretty much as soon as the election was over, murmurs began, questioning how much longer Conservative leader Erin O’Toole would lead. Now there’s ...
What Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai’s disappearance means for the Beijing Olympics
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai disappeared from the public eye after accusing the former vice-premier of China of sexually assaulting her. The accusat...
How Tik Tok made spotting intimate partner violence go viral
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gender-based violence often doesn’t get reported to authorities, and the signs that someone might need help are easily missed by friends, family and...
The refugees caught in a political chess game
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A border between Poland and Belarus which has been at the centre of a geopolitical conflict is now quiet. Thousands of asylum-seekers, many of them fl...
Pushing back against America’s protectionism
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It has been five years since the North American leaders have gathered together for one of their so-called Three Amigos Summits. And while U.S. Preside...
Understanding the extreme flooding in B.C.
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Record rainfall has caused flooding and mudslides in several parts of Vancouver Island and southern mainland B.C. Hundreds were trapped in their cars ...
Lessons from the life of Lee Maracle
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lee Maracle’s career inspired a generation of Indigenous writers to write about their own experience. The author, poet and activist died last week a...
Why $4 treaty payments haven’t changed in 146 years
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A recent Ontario Court of Appeal ruling found that the Crown violated two treaties signed in 1850. The agreements cover a vast part of Northern Ontari...
What we learned when the world went quiet
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Humans make a lot of noise – in our streets, in the skies and in our seas. All this anthropogenic clamour is not just annoying, it can be detrimenta...
Remember who we left behind in Afghanistan
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Retired Corporal Robin Rickards did three tours of duty with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, and he kept in touch with Afghans who worked in...
Why you might be paying more for dairy soon
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The price of Canadian dairy products might be jumping early next year and that’s because of the Canadian Dairy Commission. Recently, they announced ...
An inside look into how deals are made at COP26
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are only a few days left at the 26th annual Conference of the Parties, and negotiators from over 200 countries are still working on trying to ha...
The Supreme Court debates condoms and consent
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stealthing – the act of someone deliberately removing or not wearing a condom after their partner insists on one – is currently being addressed by...
The reality of life in Canada for international students
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s an enticing promise that’s being sold: Come to Canada as an international student and find prosperity. And it’s being heavily sold to young...
B.C.’s new plan to stop old-growth logging
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over 100 countries – including Canada – made a pledge this week at COP26 to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. It’s a commendable goal that ...
Are worries about inflation inflated?
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the global economy revs back up after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand is up. Supply chains are bogged down. So prices are spik...
A social worker’s 14-year fight against discrimination in child services
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring society, has been at the heart of an ongoing battle with the federal...
COP26 is under way – here’s what’s at stake
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve already warmed the climate by 1.1 C and we’re starting to see the effects with more frequent extreme weather events. On Monday, political le...
Is there a point to the COP26 climate summit without China’s Xi?
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
China’s President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend COP26, leaving some to wonder how countries will be able to agree on bold moves to lessen climate...
New ministers, new ministries and new priorities for Trudeau’s government?
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Only nine people in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet remained in their old jobs. The massive shakeup in the team included putting a clima...
What to do about sexual misconduct in Canada’s military
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last year, almost a dozen senior Canadian military leaders have been accused of either enabling or perpetrating sexual misconduct, prompting ...
COVID-19 vaccines for kids are almost here. Are we ready?
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The largest childhood mass vaccination campaign since polio could soon be underway in Canada. Health Canada recently received a submission from Pfizer...
A family-fuelled drama within Rogers
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first sign that there was fighting at the highest levels of power at Rogers Communications Inc. appeared in late September. That’s when it was a...
The cowboy culture of cryptocurrency
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, created a whole new market – and it felt like a whole new world to journalist and author Ethan Lou. He wrote Once a Bi...
How a Dave Chappelle comedy special led to a staff walkout at Netflix
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix comedy special, The Closer, has been getting a lot of criticism since its release on October 5th. That’s because a...
Why Alberta voted on changing the Constitution
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Monday, Albertans headed to the ballot box to cast their votes on a number of things: municipal leaders, the merits of daylight savings and whether...
Iqaluit’s contaminated water
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
People in Iqaluit are in the midst of a water crisis. On Oct. 12 a state of emergency was declared when some of the 9,000 residents in Nunavut’s cap...
What happened to the pandemic baby boom?
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the early days of the pandemic, many speculated that being locked down with partners would inevitably lead to a baby boom. Recently, Statistics Can...
The legacy of an ISIS 'fanboy'
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A terrorism hoax charge has been withdrawn years after a Burlington, Ont., man told multiple journalists that he had travelled to Syria and worked as ...
Why don’t people want to work at restaurants?
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Restaurants in Canada are facing an exodus. Over the past 19 months the hospitality industry has lost 15 per cent of the work force. Labour issues hav...
The federal parties regroup before the next Parliament
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to set a date for the reopening of Parliament nearly a month after the federal election.Parliamentary reporter M...
City Space: Should all Canadian cities be 15-minute cities?
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're bringing you an episode of City Space, a new podcast from The Globe and Mail about how to make our cities better, hosted by Adrian Lee.The...
The debate over mandating COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A deadline to get the COVID-19 jab – or lose their job – is quickly approaching for unvaccinated health care workers in Quebec and British Columbi...
What a triple murder-suicide tells us about the missed red flags in domestic violence cases
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On February 23, 2018, Ulla Theoret was murdered along with her son and her mother by a neighbour who was obsessed with her. More than three years late...
How to fix Facebook
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a busy few days for Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. On Sunday, the former lead product manager for Facebook’s Civic Misinformatio...
Brace yourself for an expensive winter: Explaining the energy crunch
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What do blackouts in China, surging natural gas prices in Europe and Asia and renewable energy have to do with each other? They are all wrapped up in ...
SIM Swapping, port fraud and the dangers to your identity
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, The Globe’s telecom industry reporter Alexandra Posadzki was hacked via a cell phone scam known as SIM swapping. This allowed the hacker to...
Why nursing homes in Quebec crumbled under COVID-19′s first wave
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than 4,000 care home residents have died in Quebec during the pandemic, but not all were directly due to COVID-19. Some were left to languish –...
Can we measure reconciliation?
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As Canada marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we remember its origin in Orange Shirt Day, and explore how to meaningfully measu...
Robyn Doolittle interviews lawyer Marie Henein
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Marie Henein is one of Canada’s most famous criminal defence lawyers. Her successful career is highlighted by her representation of well-known clien...
The two Michaels: Where do Canada-China relations go from here?
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After spending more than a 1,000 days in Chinese detention, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor arrived back in Canada on Saturday. Just hours earlier, ...
How America is dealing with Haitian migrants at its border
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a four-lane bridge that separates Del Rio, Texas from Acuña, Mexico. As far as border crossings go, it’s not that remarkable. But until t...
Could ketamine help treat depression?
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What do you do when your depression doesn’t respond to traditional treatments? Especially when that depression is severe and causes suicidal thought...
Why investors are worried about China’s Evergrande failing
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande, owes about US$300-billion in liabilities, sparking fears that the property developer could de...
A reckoning over alleged sexual assaults at Western University
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There is a reckoning happening on campus at Western University. The London, Ont., post-secondary institution is reeling after allegations that young w...
Unpacking the federal election results
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada won their third straight election, but failed to capture a majority mandate in Canada’s 44th federal ...
COVID-19 in Alberta: When the worst-case scenario happens
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One hundred and eighty two. That’s how many COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit (ICU) beds at the peak of Alberta’s third wave in May. B...
Federal Election: One-on-one with Jagmeet Singh
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the start of the federal election campaign, we asked the three major federal party leaders to come on the show. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’...
What you need to know to be a climate-informed voter
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time, all four major federal parties have credible climate plans. And there is even some agreement between them. For example, they all w...
What’s behind the recent protests at hospitals
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In scenes that have baffled many across the country, groups of people have been protesting COVID-19 legislation outside hospitals. Despite the fact th...
Federal election: How the parties plan to make life more affordable
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The increasing price of everything from cell phone bills to housing to child care can feel overwhelming. And when a federal election rolls around, it’...
The story of how three Afghan families escaped Kabul
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mohammed Sharif Sharaf and Mukhtar Amiri worked for The Globe in Afghanistan alongside our correspondents. Between them, their work for the newspaper ...
Growing up Muslim in the shadow of 9/11
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Omar Mouallem was just a kid growing up in High Prairie, Alberta when the World Trade Center in New York was brought down by two commercial airplanes ...
Conservatives are gaining in the polls — here’s why
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With less than two weeks to go, the federal election campaign is heating up with two official election debates back-to-back. While Jagmeet Singh’s N...
How to make remote work fair for everyone
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Women were hit harder than men by layoffs during the pandemic, and those who were caregivers or parents and kept working had to contend with COVID-19 ...
How going back to school could save kids’ mental health
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Even before COVID-19, one in five kids in Canada met the diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder. Since school closures, lockdowns, job loss, and of...
Hong Kong democracy activists sentenced in a city ‘transformed’ by new law
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seven Hong Kong democracy activists were sentenced to prison this week for their roles in the 2019 protests that saw hundreds of thousands of people p...
Making the most of going back to school
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re heading into the third school year of the pandemic. For 18 months now, students and their parents have had to deal with unpredictable school d...
What the fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes could reveal
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The fraud trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has started in California. Holmes has been accused of defrauding investors and patients by lying ...
The final days of the Afghanistan evacuation
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Monday it was announced that the last American troops had left Kabul’s airport, ending 20 years of Western military presence in Afghanistan. Cana...
The Winnipeg 'city kid' fighting climate change to help heal Indigenous communities
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In his new memoir, environmentalist Clayton Thomas-Müller recounts growing up surrounded by love and strength – but also family violence, relentles...
Stress Test: Salary negotiation 101 - How to ask for a raise
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As a bonus, we're bringing you an episode of Stress Test, a podcast about personal finance from The Globe and Mail, hosted by Rob Carrick and Roma Luc...
Afghanistan, COVID-19 and housing: the campaign trail so far
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Despite the pandemic, Canada’s federal election campaign has felt somewhat normal. There have been socially-distant campaign events and speeches ful...
How courts can account for racism in sentencing
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Should judges take race into account when deciding on punishments for crimes? The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled last week that it should. Judges i...
How Shein’s low prices are setting fast fashion on fire
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Shein may be one of the most successful clothing brands that you’ve never heard of. The fast-fashion giant is where Gen Z shoppers go to find cheap,...
Why upgrading the electric grid matters to the climate
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Canada has an opportunity when it comes to electricity. We’re ahead of the game in some ways. A sizable part of the electrical grid is already decar...
Who are the Taliban now?
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, they imposed an extremist interpretation of Shariah law on its people, harboured Osama bin Laden as he pl...
Why the fourth COVID-19 wave is different
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After 17 months of lockdowns, masking, social distancing and vaccinations, it looked like we might finally be cresting the worst of the pandemic. But ...
The Canadian effort to relocate Afghans
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Taliban’s capture of Kabul has caught NATO governments flat-footed in their efforts to extricate their embassy staff and the Afghan nationals wh...
The 'hostage diplomacy' connecting Canada and China
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been almost 1000 days since Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained by the Chinese government. The move was widely seen as re...
Stress Test: What’s a wedding worth?
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As a bonus, we're bringing you an episode of Stress Test, a podcast about personal finance from the Globe and Mail, hosted by Rob Carrick and Roma Luc...
Why Trudeau may want an election to start next week
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s last federal election was in the fall of 2019, and the Liberals won a minority government. Now, as some experts say the fourth wave of the ...
How will the world treat climate refugees?
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Monday’s IPCC report brought together the world’s latest science to tell us what we know about what causes climate change and what exactly it’s ...
‘Code red’: What the new IPCC report tells us about our climate future
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the latest scientific knowledge about climate change has been released,...
Investigating the Catholic Church’s wealth
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the summer, more than 1,200 probable unmarked graves have been located on former residential school sites in Canada, which were mostly run by the...
Toronto Raptors say goodbye to Kyle Lowry
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beloved Toronto Raptors point guard, Kyle Lowry, announced he’s leaving the team to play for the Miami Heat. Lowry was a big part of the Raptors’ ...
Why Canada is fighting to save an oil pipeline in Michigan
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the connecting waterway between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, lies Enbridge Line 5: a pipeline built in 1953 bringing...
Would a four-day work week solve our work-life struggles?
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Working four days a week instead of five has often come up as a way people can reclaim some of their time from their employers. But who exactly would ...
Dispatch from Tokyo 2020: Simone Biles, extreme heat and Canada’s performance so far
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
American gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from both the team and individual all-around competitions, a few athletes have passed out from the Tokyo July h...
MuchMusic’s revival, TikTok, and the power of nostalgia
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Before there was Youtube and Vevo, there was MTV and MuchMusic. These TV music stations were the curators of cool. And when millennials were teenagers...
Vaccine hoarding and Africa’s COVID-19 crisis
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
African nations have a problem. They can’t get enough COVID-19 vaccine doses. Vaccine hoarding by wealthy nations and an underserved COVAX program –...
The case for vaccine passports
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The summer is half over, vaccination rates are rising, but we aren’t out of the pandemic woods yet. And since we last explored vaccine passports, th...
Your eyes are lying to you: What data tells us about Olympic swimming
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To keep their edge after a fantastic showing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Swimming Canada got serious about their data-mining mission. They tracked all k...
The push to diversify corporate Canada
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent swell of Black Lives Matter protests, companies rushed to declare their alliance to the cause of ...
A new challenge in the COVID-19 pandemic: Nurses quitting
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A growing number of nurses are leaving hospitals. The relentless workload, the crushing experience of watching so many people get very sick from the n...
Who Canada left behind in Afghanistan
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the U.S. continues to pull its troops out of Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of fighting, the Taliban is taking back more and more territory. Thi...
Coming Soon: Going to the movies post-lockdown
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ontario movie theatres will reopen on July 16th. For some – like in the Greater Toronto Area – it’ll be for the first time in about nine months....