Episodes

  • Is our right to privacy meaningless in this tech age? (Part Two)
    Jul 8 2025

    Can we really protect our privacy, a right included in the UN's Declaration of Human Rights? This document, which is over 75 years old, reads: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with [one's] privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon [one's] honour and reputation." It's a right with profound implications for our lives in the 21st century, from digital surveillance to sexuality and autonomy. This is the second part of our five-part series exploring the protections promised in this old document, and asks what rights we need to add for the future. *Episode originally aired on Sept. 3, 2024.

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    54 mins
  • Who has a ‘right to life’? (Part 1)
    Sep 2 2024

    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was published more than 75 years ago. It's a different era now. IDEAS explores the rights promised in this document and what rights we need for the future in a five-part series. We start with an examination of what the right to "life, liberty, and security of person" means, and how it could transform our world. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 2, 2024.

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    54 mins
  • How did the Taj Mahal turn into a bouncy castle?
    Jul 4 2025

    The answer is art by artist Divya Mehra, a 2022 recipient of the Sobey Art Award. She explains the meaning behind her inflatable art installation and joins the four finalists to discuss and celebrate where new art is taking us. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 9, 2023.


    Guests in this episode:


    Azza El Siddique

    Stanley Février

    Krystle Silverfox

    Tyshan Wright

    Divya Mehra

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    54 mins
  • What you may have missed in this famous painter's artwork
    Jul 3 2025

    For years, people have made the journey to Algonquin Park to see the landscapes that inspired Tom Thomson's famous paintings. IDEAS producer Sean Foley was one of them, exploring the great Canadian artist's muse while also examining Indigenous artists' perspectives of the same landscapes that Thomson and the Group of Seven may have overlooked. *This is the second episode in a two-part exploration of the Canadian painter. It originally aired on Dec. 18, 2018.

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    55 mins
  • The mysterious death of a great Canadian painter
    Jul 2 2025

    Tom Thomson is one of the most mythologized Canadian painters of his time — and ours. Over 100 years ago, the artist died suddenly on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, when he was at the peak of his powers. IDEAS producer Sean Foley delves into what we think we know about Tom Thomson and examines the tales that have evolved over the past century. *This episode originally aired Nov. 9, 2018.


    Guests in this episode:


    Gregory Klages, historian and author of The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction.

    Sherrill Grace, Professor Emerita at the University of British Columbia and the author of Inventing Tom Thomson

    Ian Dejardin, art historian and the former executive director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

    Pete Telford, chairman of the Friends of Leith Church, Leith, Ontario.

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    55 mins
  • Why Canadian patriotism right now isn't blind nationalism
    Jul 1 2025

    The outrage over threats by the U.S. to become a 51st state indicates Canadian nationalism is very much alive. IDEAS shares this 1992 award-winning documentary, which includes music compositions inspired by Glenn Gould. Composer Christos Hatzis discusses the meaning and enduring relevance of The Idea of Canada, saying, "Canada allows you to be patriotic and not to be nationalist."


    Credits:


    Composer Christos Hatzis

    Producer Steve Wadhams

    Audio engineers Laurence Stevenson and Rod Crocker.

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    54 mins
  • The heart of Canadian pride shines through Joyce Wieland's art
    Jun 30 2025

    "Canada can either now lose complete control — which it almost has, economically, spiritually and a few other things — or it can get itself together," said artist Joyce Wieland in 1971. In the 60s and 70s, the artist painted, sculpted and stitched the Canadian flag and our sense of national identity. Her art called on the need to preserve its distinctness from the United States. Now, a quarter century after her death, the artist's work and words form a clarion call. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 12, 2022.

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    54 mins
  • Voices of a silenced history: inside Bulgaria's Gulag
    Jun 27 2025

    During the Communist era in Bulgaria, anyone who opposed the government could be arrested, sent to the Gulag. For 20 years, Lilia Topouzova has been collecting the stories of those who survived. She recreated a Bulgarian room where her conversations with survivors can be heard, a space about the absence of memory and what that does to a people.

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    54 mins