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Private Notes
It's a dark tale of people vanishing, mystery, and suspicion of murder: Nearly two decades ago in a secluded part of Ontario's cottage country, four elderly people disappeared without a trace. Police spent years searching for bodies, clues and answers. To this day, the seniors have never been found -- and no one has been held accountable for their disappearance.
t’s a fact that pit bulls, with their powerful jaws, can kill and maim. Google ‘pit bull attacks’ if you dare. But are pit bulls born bad or do humans make them that way? Therein lies an emotional – sometimes vicious - debate. On one side, traumatized families and public safety advocates. On the other, a powerful group of lobbyists who say pit bulls are the most misunderstood breed of dogs and are no more dangerous than any other pets.
They are crimes a regime wants to keep secret: tens of thousands of Syrians have “disappeared” in the past six years of civil war, swept away to government prisons and detention centres to be interrogated, tortured and worse.
He pulled off a first-ballot victory to become the new leader of the NDP, becoming the first visible minority to head a major political party in Canada.
It seemed so perfect, so scientific - a hair test that could objectively determine whether parents of young children were abusing drugs or alcohol. But it turns out the 'Motherisk' hair testing was flawed, and improperly administered all across Canada over twenty years. The results were devastating. Families broken up, children seized and irrevocably adopted out. The Fifth Estate tracked down parents who share stories for the first time on Tainted Tests: Broken Families. Mark Kelley reports. A joint investigation with the Toronto Star and CBC Radio’s The Current.
He was an undercover officer working on the streets of New Jersey before he started working with the FBI. In June of 2012, he got a call from his bosses. They wanted him to check out men they believed were involved in a terrorist plot to blow up a Canadian passenger train. Tamer Elnoury, who is an Arabic-speaking Muslim, was perfectly positioned to infiltrate a group of suspected terrorists. In an exclusive Canadian TV interview, an elaborately disguised Elnoury sits down with Habiba Nosheen and explains the life of an undercover agent, and the terror plot he foiled.
It's a story of dark money, dirty politics and powerful people. When Donald Trump gave TransCanada the nod to build a pipeline that would carry Canadian crude oil to the gulf of Mexico, it seemed like liquid gold for the Alberta-based company. But a group of angry farmers and activists in mid-western American states are trying everything they can to stop the 'ugly Canadians' from digging a pipeline and running oil through their beloved farmlands. But is anyone listening? Bob Mckeown investigates TransCanada’s influential allies in Washington and the deal to build Keystone XL.
So, your favourite band is coming to town and you are desperate to get tickets. You go online but can’t seem to get through…and when you do, the tickets are all gone…but then they pop up on a different site at a vastly inflated price. What happened? You may have just lost out to a super-scalper, possibly assisted by ‘bots’ that scoop up tickets online faster than any human can. The Fifth Estate delves deep into the incredibly lucrative world of online ticket sales with the story of a Canadian Super Scalper – as revealed in the Paradise Papers.
More than five decades after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November, 1963, for many people there remain troubling questions about the official story: Was Lee Harvey Oswald the killer? Did he act alone or was it a conspiracy?
Now, thousands of once-secret classified documents about the Kennedy assassination have finally been made public. Can those recently-released records explain the inexplicable -- and what’s in the thousands of assassination records they still refuse to release? When The Fifth Estate first broadcast its investigation into the JFK assassination back in 1983, it was the most watched show in the program’s history. Now Bob McKeown updates that story, with new interviews with some of the leading investigators of the JFK mystery: what did they find in those files, and what questions do they still have?
On a late September day in 2015, three women were brutally killed in Renfrew County, Ontario. And now 59-year-old Basil Borutski stands convicted of those crimes, the details of which he revealed in a rambling five hour interrogation in which he cast himself as victim. The truth is that Borustki had been well-known to police for years. How did the system that’s supposed to protect women go so disastrously wrong? Gillian Findlay investigates, with revealing interviews with family members, friends of victims and witnesses ... and excerpts from the Borutski confession.
There have been 10 suspicious deaths since 2009 at London, Ontario's Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre, often just known as EMDC. Some by suicide, others from drug overdose and even brutal murders. EMDC has gained a reputation as one of Canada's most notorious and deadliest jails, so much so that even some correctional officers fear for their lives behind those walls. Habiba Nosheen investigates why so many inmates keep dying inside this institution and why more isn't being done to keep staff and inmates safe. And in a face to face interview with a man who murdered his cellmate, she tries to find out what is going on inside what some people call, the devil's playground.
When it comes to gambling, Canadians have plenty of skin in the game. Last year, we spent about $13 billion on legal, government-run gambling. That's more than we spend on movies, hockey tickets, and Tim Horton’s -- combined.
It sounded like a bad Hollywood horror movie. Patients at a psychiatric hospital subjected to intensive shock treatments, LSD and drug-induced comas. But for hundreds of Canadians, it was an all-too real nightmare. They were brutal experiments on human guinea pigs -- funded by the Canadian government and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
He was a rich kid who stood to inherit millions from his father's aviation business. But he was into self gratification - the kind that came from throwing wild parties and engaging in petty crimes like robbery and drug-dealing. And into his life walked Laura Babcock, an impressionable young woman and an aspiring actress. The deeper she got drawn into Millard's web, the more dangerous it became. In the summer of 2012, Laura Babcock disappeared, never to be seen again. Last month Millard was convicted of killing her, just as he had been previously of murdering a young man named Tim Bosma...This is the story of the murderous ways of Dellen Millard.
Rocked by allegations of sexual harassment, Soulpepper -- one of Canada’s most famous theatre companies -- promised “renewal and change.” But a fifth estate investigation into how the company handled past allegations of sexual harassment raises troubling questions about secrecy and transparency with its staff.
As Canada prepares for legal pot, the federal government plans to spend as much as $80-million to train 750 police officers to smoke out high drivers. But how sound is the test? A Fifth Estate investigation raises serious questions, showing it can lead to false arrests, is prone to police bias and, according to one scientific expert, is no better at detecting high drivers than “flipping a coin”.
Barry Sherman was Canada’s top pharmaceutical executive, worth over $4 billion dollars. His wife, Honey was a philanthropist who raised millions for charities. They were loved and admired for their success and generosity. But Barry also had a long list of enemies which had grown over time as he battled rivals in courtrooms and boardrooms, always determined to win, whatever the cost… So when the couple were found strangled in their Toronto home in December, the whispers began. Did someone really hate them enough to kill them? Was it a professional hit, an act of bitter vengeance from someone known to the Shermans, or was there another explanation? The Fifth Estate uncovers new leads in the mystery of the Sherman murders.
It was a strange thing to do - go backpacking in war-torn Afghanistan in 2012. But Joshua Boyle and wife Caitlin Coleman were keen on adventure. Instead they would be picked up, locked up and held hostage for five years by the Taliban. Caitlin would give birth to three children in captivity. While their release in October ended one hideous nightmare, their lives in Canada have come with daunting new challenges. Habiba Nosheen talks to Caitlin Coleman about her years as a hostage, and her early months of freedom.
Secret audio tapes and an exclusive television interview with an industry whistleblower reveal a shady practice that is industry-wide. A Fifth Estate investigation shows how Costco pressed one generic drug company for illegal payments to stock their products -- undermining government attempts to protect consumers.
It was news of an alleged serial killer that shocked a community, a city and a country: In early 2018 Bruce McArthur was charged with six counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of missing men from Toronto's gay village. But the case is far from closed and as the police continue their investigation, the death toll is expected to rise. The allegations are that McArthur spent years masterfully covering his tracks. McArthur denies all the accusations.
