Looks Like Me

Jane and Finch, an area in the northwest corner of Toronto, is one of the city’s most densely populated areas. It’s also a food desert—somewhere with limited access to affordable and nutritious food. Black Creek Community Farm is doing everything it can to change that. This week, Christina Hoang, an Urban Harvest assistant, introduces us to the farm where she works and the people that benefit from it, whether through community-building, after school activities, or nutritious food. How can giving a community control over their own resources change their world for the better? This is Black Creek Community Farm’s paradigm.

If you’ve ever lost a loved one, you know that grief can be hard to process. But what if you knew exactly how much time that loved one had left…because they chose it for themselves? In 2018, producer Emily Morantz’s grandmother chose to end her battle with cancer with a medically-assisted death (MAiD). In this deeply personal story, we push past the controversy of MAiD to explore the experience of grief—and what one decision can tell you about who a person really was. This is Emily’s paradigm. *Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions about death, illness, and suicide. *

No matter where you’re from, there’s probably a restaurant or a dish that reminds you of home. It’s the best food in the world to you because it makes you feel something: that cozy sense of belonging that’s hard to find these days. In this episode, producer Radiyah Chowdhury introduces us to her home in Scarborough, ON. Come explore the food scene in this oft-underestimated area of Toronto, where the cuisine represents a long and tangled history of colonialism, immigration, and the search for home. This is Radiyah’s paradigm.

Do you have a favourite animal? Probably, but have you ever thought about why? Producer Joe Fish is particularly drawn to the wombat, an animal so full of contradictions, it looks like it shouldn’t exist. In this episode, he sets out on a quest to understand his very special connection with this particular animal. Travel to Australia and back as Joe seeks out experts and friends to tell him why these fuzzy, weirdly muscular little creatures have burrowed their way into his heart. This is Joe’s Paradigm.

Deep in Appalachia, hours away from basically anywhere, Kent has always lived the life of a coal miner. Now, Kent has black lung, the same illness that killed his father, also a coal miner. The job that’s been in his family for generations is literally killing him… but Kent still doesn’t think the mines should close. Producer Annalise Nielsen tells the story of how coal got a stranglehold on Appalachia—and why, despite the health problems, danger, and the effects of climate change, the people in the area are so reluctant to let it go. This is Annalise’s paradigm.

The last racially segregated school didn’t close in Ontario until 1965. Since then, a lot of things have changed—or have they? Producer Shem Parkinson explores the history of racism in Ontario’s public school system and one student’s much-more recent experience with anti-Black racism at school. It all starts with one not-so-simple question: when was the first time you had a teacher who looked like you? This is Shem’s paradigm.

Blink and you could miss it—the Richview Memorial Cemetery sits nestled on a thin slice of land between two of North America’s busiest highways. The cemetery is guarded by one Randall Reid, but not all such places are so fortunate. In our first episode, producer Stefanie Phillips digs into the world of “cemetery hunters”, a unique special interest group that tracks down cemeteries that are forgotten, bereft of the churches and communities that once surrounded them—and in imminent danger of being paved over to become parking lots. What does the future of our cemeteries look like—and who will save them when we’re gone? This is Stef’s paradigm.

What can our experiences teach us about the world we live in? Paradigm will introduce you to people you’ve never met and places you’ve never been. These are people with a unique perspective on the issue at hand, sometimes with their own stake in the story. Meet the people behind the most important issues in our society. Coming October 22, 2020.