The Current

In Renfrew County, near Ottawa, opioid deaths were at an all time high in 2023. That prompted first responders, city officials and outreach workers to band together, to rethink how they were dealing with the crisis. Now, nearly a year into a community care model, opioid deaths have dropped by more than half, and fewer people are ending up in emergency departments. Here's how it works.

Duration:00:12:29

Alberta is short on cash: What’s next?

Weak oil prices have meant a dip in resource royalties in Alberta. And Premier Danielle Smith pointed out that higher immigration is another reason. So, the province will hold a number of referendums this October. Albertans will weigh in on nine questions about immigration policy and constitutional issues. And if separatists are successful with their petitioning efforts, a question about whether Alberta should leave the country will be on the ballot as well. To help us unpack these developments, we talk to Kathleen Petty, host of the CBC podcast West of Centre, and Alex Boyd, who reports on Alberta for the Toronto Star.

Duration:00:19:21

How the forest is helping Ukrainian soldiers heal

A young soldier named Kyrylo Chuvak arrives in the Ukrainian countryside after surviving years in Russian captivity. His trauma treatment is documented in a new short film called No Time To Heal. Filmmaker Ksenia Savoskina, whose father was also a patient, says the site shields soldiers from the brutality of war, if only for a short while.

Duration:00:11:36

How dreams have the power to heal

Most of us give our dreams little thought. Karen Van Kampen wants to change that. Her new book is called "The Brain Never Sleeps: Why We Dream and What It Means for Our Health." Karen takes us on a journey into the dream world, exploring what our dreams reveal about our mental health and how we can work with them to improve our waking lives.

Duration:00:25:23

Are you lonely at work?

Loneliness has been called a public health crisis, but it’s also a workplace one. Julie McCarthy, a University of Toronto professor who reviewed more than 200 studies, says loneliness at work isn’t just about feeling sad. It affects engagement, productivity and even performance. As companies rethink hybrid work and return-to-office mandates, we explore what it really means to design workplaces for belonging, not just output.

Duration:00:11:56

From seniors to Gen Z, AI scams are everywhere

Winnipeg police have launched a campaign called "Just Hang Up" to warn seniors about scams, many of them fooled by artificial intelligence. But experts warn that it's not just older people getting duped out of money. It could happen to anyone, thanks to AI.

Duration:00:24:36

How smoking became cool again

A platter of cigarettes at Charlie XCX's wedding in Italy last year. Gracie Abrams, Charlie XCX, Will Arnett, Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams — all photographed openly smoking cigarettes recently. So is smoking cool again? And what does that mean for smoking rates?

Duration:00:19:29

Snow, snow and more snow in St. John's

With back to back storms, St. John's is digging out. Snow remover Mark Baker has been going full out — about 18 hours daily for more than a week. He'll tell us what it means to face down 100 cm of snow and help residents get back to school and work.

Duration:00:09:44

What OpenAI knew about the Tumbler Ridge shooter

OpenAI banned the Tumbler Ridge school shooting suspect’s ChatGPT account months before the attack, but didn’t alert police. On Tuesday Canada’s AI minister summoned the company’s safety team to Ottawa to explain its reporting protocols. Emily Laidlaw, a cybersecurity law expert and Canada Research Chair at the University of Calgary, joins us to explain who decides when AI companies escalate threats — and whether that threshold should be written into law.

Duration:00:11:13

Are you under surveillance in your own neighbourhood?

There's been backlash against Amazon's Ring doorbells after the company put out a commercial showing how footage from their devices can help find lost pets. Kristen Thomasen is the University of Windsor's Chair in Law, Robotics, and Society and she talks about why people should feel concerned about their privacy in their own neighbourhoods and what further guardrails need to be in place around surveillance technology

Duration:00:16:41

They both voted for Trump: one regrets it, the other is all in

As President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union, two people who voted for him reflect on their choice. Indiana contractor Pablo Payan says he made a mistake. But masonry, Jon Palaima still thinks Trump is the best of two bad options.

Duration:00:19:29

Would you wait in a virtual queue at an ER?

We've all waited in an online queue to get a table at a busy restaurant or buy concert tickets for our favourite big artist. But what about waiting to see a doctor at the emergency room? A hospital in Sault Ste. Marie, ON., is offering their patients just that --and staff say it's cut their patient wait times in half. We speak with Dr. Stephen Smith, an ER physician and the vice president of medical affairs at the Sault Area Hospital, who came up with the idea after a family vacation at Disneyworld.

Duration:00:10:43

Do class sizes matter?

As some provinces look to change or remove class size caps, experts are divided on whether it's the right choice. Research shows smaller class sizes have minimal affect on student achievement - but is that giving us a full picture? The teaching style, and curriculum being taught might be a better indicator of whether class sizes are impacting students at school.

Duration:00:13:40

Michael Pollan on the labyrinth of human consciousness

2/24/2026

Why is it so hard for us humans to come to grips with what it means to be conscious? We talk to bestselling author Michael Pollan about how scientists have tried, and often failed, to unlock the mysteries of consciousness, whether plants could be considered conscious, and why he believes that we need to "defend" human consciousness against those who may try to simulate it with computers and AI.

Duration:00:27:04

Cartels violence erupts across Mexico

2/24/2026

Mexico is reeling and Canadians are stranded after the Jalisco New Generation Cartel retaliates for their leader El Mencho’s death.

Duration:00:19:27

What it's like to live with OCD

2/24/2026

1 in 40 Canadian adults live with OCD. But work being done at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto is making life for some of those people a little easier. We hear from two people about their journey with OCD and how treatment helped, and why OCD is a mental disorder that deserves our attention.

Duration:00:25:01

Why you shouldn’t feel guilty about feeling guilty

We all feel guilt at some point in our lives, and for all kinds of reasons. It seems natural to feel guilty for what we've done, or not done, or should be doing. But can guilt be good for us? Chris Moore, the author of “The Power of Guilt: Why We Feel It and Its Surprising Ability to Heal,” tells us why he thinks guilt has an "image problem.”

Duration:00:26:45

Trump’s tariffs struck down — what’s next?

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled on Friday that the majority of Donald Trump's tariffs are unconstitutional. We’ll talk about what that decision means, and how it’ll affect Canada with Josh Gerstein, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, and Carlo Dade, the Director of International Policy and the New North America Initiative at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary.

Duration:00:19:31

What’s happening in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico?

Puerto Vallarta is a favourite vacation destination for Canadians. But yesterday, that region of Mexico exploded into violence after a cartel leader was killed during a clash with military special forces. The state of Jalisco remains under a “code red” status today. We speak with CBC's Jorge Barrera in Mexico City about the latest situation, and what Canadians there need to know.

Duration:00:05:13

How to build a made-in-Canada military