COMMONS

This episode was originally published on November 24, 2021. 

Twenty-six men were working underground when an explosion tore through the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia. Their friends and colleagues went into the wreckage to try to save them.

The story of Westray is one of managerial malice and the heroism of everyday people. But why is it that governments let this happen over and over again, at the expense of so many lives?

Migrant farm workers are the backbone of Canada’s agricultural economy. But because they can be fired and deported at will, their voices are rarely ever heard in this country.

But Gabriel Allahdua is one of the few who can now speak up. And the story he has to tell is startling.

It’s a story of racism and labour exploitation that goes back decades, even centuries. And it’s a prophecy of what is to come — that the hardships in...

The creation of the Canadian Farmworkers Union, as it would come to be called, was the first step in a struggle that continues to this day.

Because even now, farmworkers have far fewer rights than almost any other class of worker. And even today, the men and women who grow our food are subject to horrific working conditions and racial discrimination.

But to understand why the situation remains so bad, we need to go back in ti...

Across Canada, emergency rooms have been shutting down, leaving desperate people in the lurch. And at the heart of this health care crisis, is a labour crisis.

Nurses are leaving their jobs in droves, leaving hospitals understaffed and sometimes unable to carry out their most basic obligations.

In this episode, we'll tell you how nursing went from a profession hailed as heroic to one in an utter state of crisis, all through t...

Labour has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade. 

The rise of gig work and temp agencies have made employment more precarious than ever. In the interest of profits, companies are turning more and more towards temporary foreign workers and international students for minimum wage jobs. And even for those with seemingly secure employment, wages and benefits continue to be squeezed. 

One thing seems clear: wor...

Labour has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade. 

The rise of gig work and temp agencies have made employment more precarious than ever. In the interest of profits, companies are turning more and more towards temporary foreign workers and international students for minimum wage jobs. And even for those with seemingly secure employment, wages and benefits continue to be squeezed. 

One thing seems clear: wor...

In this bonus episode, COMMONS producer Noor Azrieh sits down with Peter Smith to discuss his reporting on right-wing conspiracy groups like Qanon and Romana Didulo.

Featured in this episode: Peter Smith

To learn more:

“Lead in the head”: Self-Declared Canadian Prime Minister and QAnon Adherent Calls for Executions of Officials Who Refuse Her Cease and Desists” by Peter Smith in The Canadian Anti-Hate Network

“Self Decl...

This episode was originally published on August 28th, 2023. 

Listen to Monopoly 1 - Lost in the Supermarket and Monopoly 17 - Food Fight

In the past several years, Loblaws, Metro and Empire have spent billions on their own stock – And at a time of food price inflation and grocery workers on strike. 

Why are they doing it? And why do some economists say stock buybacks should be abolished? 

Featured in th...

This episode was originally published on November 7th, 2022. 

Listen to episodes 1 & 3

Richard Marsh was born into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. He got out of the group he calls a cult and has made it his mission to expose the Brethren for their alleged abuses.  Now he’s on the run from Brethren members who’ve been searching for him for years. The man hired to hunt Marsh down? David Wallace. 

W...

We live in a world of obsessive fandoms. The Stans, Swifties, Potterheads, Beliebers, Trekkies, Bronies, Barbs and their ilk are everywhere to be found.

But at what point does it go from being harmless entertainment and turn into something more sinister?

Featured in this episode: Zoe Alderton, Robert Lawson

To learn more:

“‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom” by Zoe Alder...

Romana Didulo, the self-proclaimed Queen of Canada, is unlike almost any other cult leader Canada has ever seen. In an incredibly short amount of time, she’s been able to gain a mass following, despite her absurd claims and alarming rhetoric.

At various points, she’s claimed to be a political leader, a monarch, an interdimensional being communing with aliens, and so much more. She’s urged her followers to take up arms and execut...

Multi-level marketing isn’t based on rational business logic. It’s not even built on irrational business logic. It’s ideology. It’s faith.

MLMs have become such a ubiquitous part of North American life that their tenets are rarely ever questioned. The sector holds enormous political sway. Millions of people join, leave and rejoin every year, almost all of them ending up poorer for the experience.

And to call it a cult is not ...

Nearly 1.4 million Canadians and almost 50 million Americans are involved in multi-level marketing. And that sheer volume of people makes it a near certainty that you’ve encountered MLMs in your life somehow.

The promise of financial freedom can be an intoxicating lure. But MLMs, like so many other cultish enterprises, are about more than just money. They’re about transcendence.

And in their wake, they often leave behind ruin...

Mary-Jayne Blackmore is one of the oldest children of Winston Blackmore, the most famous polygamist in Canada. 

For decades, her family has been the subject of intense media and legal scrutiny because of her father’s 27 wives and 150 children. Their lives have been dissected in documentaries and in court testimony.

The name Blackmore has become synonymous with either faith-based persecution by the state or with cult-like...

In 1973, a French motorsports journalist claimed to have been visited by a UFO that revealed to him the secret origins of humanity. For the next half-century, the man known as Raël would go on to create a new faith with tens of thousands of adherents all around the world. 

The media have portrayed the Raelians as not just a cult, but a strange phantasmagoria of extraterrestrials, orgies and clones. But its followers insist ...

An explosion of new spiritual movements in the 1970s led to the creation of an entirely novel academic field. But right from the beginning, the discipline was riven asunder.

The Cult Wars have been raging for decades. They’re fought not only in academic journals and conference seminars, but in the press, the courts and in legislative assemblies. And their battles continue to have enormous consequences.

Featured in this episod...

In the 1960s and 70s, there was a fear that cult leaders were brainwashing young people into joining their new, strange movements. But is it even possible to “brainwash” anyone?

At a psychiatric hospital in Montreal, one mad scientist, with the help of the CIA, tried to find out.

Featured in this episode: Alison Steel, Lisa Ellenwood

To learn more:

Brainwashed by Michelle Shephard, Lisa Ellenwood & Chris Oke on CBC ...

The story of Brother XII still fascinates and even frightens some people in and around Nanaimo.

He’s often called the Devil of De Courcy Island for good reason.

Brother XII prophesied about the coming apocalypse. But instead, his story would presage something different. He was a forerunner of the strange, new religions that would sweep over the western world.

Featured in this episode: Bill Miner, Justine Brown

To learn ...

As organized religion declines in countries like Canada, we’ve experienced an explosion of what some call religious movements and what others call cults.

The idea of cults has become an omnipresent part of our discourse. But what even is a cult? And why have we become so intrigued by these groups?

And the language of cults has moved beyond just religion into so many different spheres — everything from fitness, to politics, to...