In this episode, we step inside a Toronto classroom where some 30 students from diverse backgrounds lift their voices and sing as part of the University of Toronto’s first-ever Black gospel choir class. Led by Professor Darren Hamiliton, the students, many with no background in gospel music, learn that there is more to this musical tradition than they imagined.

In this documentary, Let it Shine, CBC doc producer Alisa Siegel follows these students over the course of the academic year as they discover a deeper understanding of Black musical tradition and its message of faith, freedom and joy.

Produced by Alisa Siegel, with thanks to Julia Pagel and Greg Kelly and originally aired on The Current

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

(This is a repeat epiosde)

Stephanie Azzarello was dying. To survive, doctors told her she needed to find someone willing to donate part of their liver.

Her story went out on social media and late one night, it reached the phone of a nurse and mother in Portland Oregon. There was something about Stephanie’s story that made Trisha Beard want to help.

Liz Hoath brings us this story about two women whose lives became intertwined because of an act of generosity. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

(This show first aired in Sept. 2025)

In July 2024, seven fishermen from around New-Wes-Valley, Newfoundland set out on their fishing boat in search of turbot.

While at sea that day a fire broke out near the engine room, before long the bunkroom was full of smoke. The seven sailors had no choice but to abandon ship and before long they were sitting in a small life-raft.

What followed was a 52-hour ordeal that tested not just their will to survive, but the bonds between them. The situation could not have been more dire, two of the men couldn’t swim, supplies were dwindling and a thick fog hampered rescue efforts.

In this documentary, 52 Hours Lost at Sea, find out what it was like to spend more than two days adrift in the North Atlantic.

Produced by Mary-Catherine McIntosh and the Audio documentary unit / the doc originally aired on The Current.

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

(This show first aired on Feb. 2025)

One Yukon community is fighting back against wildfires with an unlikely weapon —trees. The plan seems counterintuitive, using trees to stop a fire, but Aspens are fire-resistant unlike the flammable trees like spruces and pines found around the city. But growing the almost two million trees to make the firebreak isn’t easy. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of little seeds. But if it works, it could be a game changer.

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

Complaints are common. Cormorants kill trees. They eat too many fish. Their colonies stink.

Warren Hoselton has had enough. After three years of watching his beloved trees around his Ontario home be decimated by cormorant poop, he wants action. The birds have to go.

But not everyone has a hate-on for cormorants. Avian ecologists say it's not fair to fault birds for doing what nature designed them to do.

The ones living in a park on the edges of Canada’s largest city, reached 20,000 this year, angering locals worried about their impact. In Toronto, they’re trying to relocate them. Elsewhere, hunters shoot them.

All across North America cormorants make enemies because of the mess they leave behind.

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

It was supposed to keep Canada together but a massive 1995 rally nearly did the opposite.

In 1995, Canada was on the verge of breaking up. The province of Quebec was about to vote on whether to become a sovereign nation. Just days before a referendum on that very question, tens of thousands of Canadians from across the country poured into Montreal. Travelling by planes and trains - they gathered for what would become known as the Unity Rally. Carrying flags, singing the national anthem and declaring their love for Quebec – they pleaded for Quebecers to say “no” they would not leave.

Despite this demonstration – many in the Province viewed the gesture as too little too late.

30 years later Francis Plourde looks at the legacy of the love-in, and the historic vote and what it says about Canada today.

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

Russian trucks drive across Canada’s arctic. Foreign ships appear along our northern shores. For decades, it’s fallen on Tuktoyaktuk to be Canada’s watchful eyes in the Arctic.

But the recent surge of attention about arctic sovereignty and security from politicians in the south raises a host of concerns for residents. Will promised military funding and federal focus on security solve the local problems of high unemployment and rapidly deteriorating infrastructure?

CBC documentary producer Julia Pagel traveled to Tuktoyaktuk to see what this conversation about arctic security looks like on the ground.

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

Stephanie Azzarello was dying. To survive, doctors told her she needed to find someone willing to donate part of their liver.

Her story went out on social media and late one night, it reached the phone of a nurse and mother in Portland Oregon. There was something about Stephanie’s story that made Trisha Beard want to help.

Liz Hoath brings us this story about two women whose lives became intertwined because of an act of generosity. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit