The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Video)

Erin Kelly, CEO of Advanced Symbolics Inc., returns to The Agenda to discuss what Polly the AI pollster has learned about how Canadians view the anti-Black racism protests sweeping the globe, the movement to defund the police, and other topics.

As parts of Ontario begin to open up, physical distancing continues. The Agenda discusses how the pandemic will change how people move around this province.

As businesses and offices around the province slowly reopen, contact tracing is being signalled as the next frontier in battling COVID-19. And as social interactions increase, so does the need to track those interactions. Painstakingly following people, and potentially the virus's movement involves thousands of investigators. Ashleigh Tuite, an epidemiologist at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health; and Nancy Bevilacqua, a public health official and contact tracer at York Region Public Health, discuss how it all works and how Ontario has been doing?

After initially saying the province needs to operate as "one unit," Premier Ford is moving forward with a regional approach to reopening Ontario. What will a jurisdictional recovery look like and is it really the right move given the risks involved? The Agenda welcomes Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson; London Mayor Ed Holder; and Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer Public Health, Sudbury & Districts.

After months of restricted access to tests during this pandemic, Ontario has updated its testing strategy for COVID-19. But are the changes too little, too late? Infection control epidemiologist Colin Furness of the University of Toronto explains the update and offers his take on it.

There's nothing more iconic about Pride month than the various parades throughout the province. But what happens when those public celebrations have been cancelled? Northwestern Ontario Hub journalist Jon Thompson talks about how Fort Frances is adapting Pride activities to pandemic circumstances, and the importance of supporting the LGBTQ populations in Ontario's smaller and rural communities.

In the past week, protests over the death of George Floyd, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, and other Black men and women have erupted all across the U.S., Canada, and all over the world. The Agenda discusses solutions to end anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination.

Bernard Baskin, officially a rabbi for 60 years, continues to educate as a resident of a Toronto retirement home. He just turned 100, so naturally, holds a lot of wisdom. He talks to Steve Paikin about his thoughts on where God is during this global pandemic.

Steve Paikin talks to filmmaker Leora Eisen about her TVO Original documentary, Rescuing Rex, about international dog adoption, and the social-justice minded millennials who are driving the trend that is seeing many Canadian rescuing dogs from foreign locales.

COVID-19 has derailed the plans of many cultural institutions and events, from book launches and theatre performances to films and television series. Steve Paikin talks to poet Madhur Anand, filmmaker Barry Avrich, and television producer Carrie Mudd about how the pandemic has ruined plans to launch or finish their latest projects.

In March, the almost 900,000 post-secondary students in Ontario were told to vacate their student residences, as all campuses closed and classes and exams, shifted online. Three months later, the question for many of them is what will they be going back to in September? A group of post-secondary students gives us their thoughts.

Universities and colleges are grappling with how to deliver post-secondary education as we live with the presence of COVID-19. A panel of experts looks at the logistics of delivering classes safely but effectively, what this means for students, particularly foreign students, and how universities are coping with funding challenges in the face of a global pandemic.

Protestors across the United States, and in cities in Canada and around the world, are saying enough is enough, after the recent death of George Floyd, killed by police in Minneapolis last month. His is only the most recent incident of police brutality against members of the Black community, and despite a pandemic, it has prompted hundreds of thousands to take to the streets and call for change. To discuss his perspective as a dual citizen of Canada and the U.S., The Agenda welcomes journalist Morgan Campbell.

To say that the Canadian economy is tied to the U.S. economy is an understatement. Billions in trade, supply chain interconnectivity, commerce via tourism, hospitality, services and so on, make them an indispensable partner. But as the uncertainty and economic fallout from this pandemic stretches on, does that also mean that Canada's reliance opens us up to a dangerous level of risk?

Before the pandemic, dire warnings outlined how vulnerable the global food system had become. How vulnerable is it now? Sarah Rotz and Evan Fraser, authors of "Uncertain Harvest: The Future of Food on a Warming Planet," discuss how to move forward post-COVID-19.