IDEAS for the week of August 11

Senin, 11 Agustus 2025

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IDEAS airs Monday to Friday on CBC Radio One
at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT) and 4 a.m. (4:30 a.m. NT)

In his 2017 CBC Massey Lectures, human rights lawyer and scholar Payam Akhavan describes how fleeing Iran and watching his homeland from afar helped him discover human rights. He says, 'there can be no global outcry if we don't raise our voices.' (Sinisa Jolic/CBC)

*Please note this schedule is subject to change.

The theme of the week is...

This week on IDEAS in the summer, a special series that celebrates 60 years of the CBC Massey Lectures.

MONDAY, AUGUST 11

Massey at 60: Payam Akhavan

In 2017, renowned Canadian human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan delivered the Massey Lectures — In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey. The lectures recount how some of his most formative experiences — his family's flight from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, his work for UN Tribunals prosecuting those responsible for ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in the early 1990s and for the Rwandan genocide of 1994 — galvanized his commitment to pursuing justice for the victims of human rights abuses. As part of the Massey at 60 series, marking six decades of the Massey Lectures, Akhavan reflects upon how the themes explored in his lectures have taken on even more relevance in the divided, conflict-ridden world of today. *This episode originally aired on June 26, 2024.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12

Massey at 60: Miglena Todoroa on Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing addressed Canadian audiences with her CBC Massey Lectures in 1985, using the opportunity to warn us against groupthink and what she called the intellectual "prisons we choose to live inside". Now, a response from the present day: Miglena Todorova reflects on Lessing's message and puts it into the context of today's politics, as well as Todorova's own upbringing in socialist Bulgaria. This conversation between Todorova and the words of Doris Lessing took place in front of a live audience at Massey College in Toronto, as part of the institution's 60th anniversary celebrations. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 7, 2024.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13

Massey at 60: Jane Freeman on Ursula Franklin

Technology is much more than a tool; it's a system, according to physicist and peace activist Ursula Franklin argued — one so powerful that it can shape our mindset, our society and our politics. Her observations were prescient when she delivered her Massey Lecture in 1989 and they are all the more relevant today. Ursula Franklin's friend and collaborator University of Toronto Professor Jane Freeman reflects on the power of Franklin's message. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 3, 2024.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14

Massey at 60: Jennifer Welsh

As IDEAS revisits various CBC Massey Lectures, this episode ocus on the 2016 lecturer, Jennifer Welsh. Born in Regina, educated at Oxford, she has worked in the field of International Relations and Political Science across Europe and in Canada, most recently at McGill University in Montreal. Her lectures were called The Return of History — a wake up call to those of us who may have felt a little too optimistic about the future after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Executive Producer Greg Kelly interviewed Jennifer Welsh before an audience at Massey College, about wealth, authoritarianism, and what it was like to see the wall come down back in 1989. *This episode originally aired on May 9, 2024.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15

Massey at 60: Tanya Talaga

In 2018, award-winning journalist Tanya Talaga, presented her CBC Massey Lectures, entitled All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward, in which she explored the legacy of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples. For Talaga, that cultural genocide has led to a forced disconnection from land and language by Indigenous peoples. In her lecture series, she focused on the present-day need for Indigenous self-determination in social, cultural and political arenas.
As part of an ongoing series marking the 60th anniversary of Massey College, a partner in the Massey Lectures, Tanya Talaga sits down with IDEAS producer Naheed Mustafa to reflect back on her lectures and how the stories of Indigenous peoples offer lessons for Canada today. *This episode originally aired on March 6, 2024.

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The Pig War of 1859 was based on a dispute between the United States and Great Britain over the San Juan Islands, located between Vancouver Island and Washington Territory. (Shutterstock)

IDEAS IN THE AFTERNOON

MONDAY, AUGUST 11 at 2 p.m.

A pig was shot dead in 1859. It sparked a British-U.S. war

In 1859, an American shot a pig that belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company. Suddenly the U.S. and British Empire were on the brink of war once again. Over the years, tales about the conflict have been embellished and conspiracy theories were invented. But behind the folklore is a story of peace, diplomacy, and how we make meaning out of history.