Canada’s public broadcaster and the top-ranked podcast publisher has released its podcast slate for Spring/Summer 2022. The lineup (see below) features several all-new series including Kuper Island, an examination of the dark history of the notorious Kuper Island Residential School and its abuse of Indigenous children; and the return of the award-winning investigative series Someone Knows Something; The Abortion Wards.
Details, as sent to us by the CBC:
KUPER ISLAND – Launching Tuesday, May 17
Long after the Kuper Island Residential School was torn down, the survivors remain haunted by what happened there. In this eight-part series, investigative journalist Duncan McCue exposes undisclosed police investigations, confronts perpetrators of abuse, and witnesses a community trying to rebuild on top of the old school’s ruins and the unmarked graves of Indigenous children.
“When the former chief of Penelakut first told me how her community has grappled with the restless spirits of children ever since the Kuper Island Residential School closed, I knew it was a story more people needed to hear,” said McCue. “I wanted to go beyond the cold, hard numbers of unmarked graves, to help people understand the deaths of children at a residential school aren’t a thing of the past. These tragic deaths travel like ripples over water, touching generations. These were children who were loved and had dreams – and their loss still impacts Indigenous lives today.”
SOMEONE KNOWS SOMETHING: THE ABORTION WARS – Launching Wednesday, May 25
Following a two year hiatus due to the pandemic, the top-rated investigative series SOMEONE KNOWS SOMETHING returns for its eagerly awaited seventh season. This time, host David Ridgen teams up with investigative journalist Amanda Robb to dig into the 1998 murder of Robb’s uncle, a New York doctor killed for performing abortions. They uncover a network of anti-abortion activists linked to violence in North America and Europe. Twenty years later, with Roe v. Wade in the headlines, they ask “could more violence be on the horizon?” Listen to the trailer here.
THE VILLAGE: THE MONTREAL MURDERS – Launching Tuesday, June 7
As more and more gay men are found murdered in 1990s Montreal, the city reckons with both the AIDS crisis and a possible serial killer. Faced with police indifference, despite mounting evidence, a group of activists takes matters into their own hands. This seven-part series, hosted by journalist Francis Plourde, explores the birth of a movement and the slow march toward justice. In a unique first, podcast production teams from CBC and Radio-Canada joined forces to tell the same story in English and French. Radio-Canada’s sister podcast Le Village : meurtres, combats, fierté hosted by Marie-Eve Tremblay also launches June 7 exclusively on Radio-Canada OHdio.
BUFFY – Launching Tuesday, June 21
Buffy Sainte-Marie is one of the most prolific singer-songwriters of the past century and her music has quietly reverberated throughout pop culture and provided a soundtrack for Indigenous resistance for the last 60 years. In this five-part series, Mohawk and Tuscarora writer Falen Johnson (co-host of Secret Life of Canada) explores how Buffy’s life and legacy is essential to understanding Indigenous resilience.
THE KILL LIST – Launching Tuesday, July 12
When the body of human rights activist Karima Baloch is found off the shores of Toronto, an investigation into her mysterious death leads all the way back to Pakistan, the country she had previously fled. In this six-part series, host Mary Lynk explores the rampant abductions and killings of dissidents in Pakistan, the dangers that follow those who flee to the West, and a terrifying intelligence agency with tentacles around the globe. How did Karima die? And would Pakistan really carry out an assassination far beyond its borders? This is a story that a powerful state doesn’t want to be told.