The store owner who pushed for your right to shop on Sunday
If you’ve ever had a cheeseburger delivered in the middle of the night, you might find it hard to believe there was a time when shopping on Sundays was against the law. But back in 1982, a plucky Calgary drug store decided to flout that law, got slapped with a ticket, and inadvertently changed the way Canadians shop, forever. Host Falen Johnson and journalist Allison Dempster bring us the story of R. v. Big M Drug Mart, and the twenty-something shop owner who gets so sick of paying fines for being open on Sunday, she fights the charge all the way to the Supreme Court, sparking a nation-wide debate about the need for a day of rest.
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Part 3 | The girl whose life became a battleground for Indigenous child welfare
Teenage Leticia, feeling alienated from her mostly white community, starts getting into trouble. But when her adoptive mother threatens to send her back to the child welfare system — the 13 year old is shocked. Would she really give up the child she fought all the way to the Supreme Court to adopt? Host Falen Johnson and journalist Dawna Dingwall unpack the impact of the court judgement on Leticia, her personal struggles to overcome the trauma that followed the SCC ruling, and her quest to understand how Racine v Woods impacted not just her — but children across Canada.This episode is part three of three.
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Part 2 | The girl whose life became a battleground for Indigenous child welfare
After years of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court of Canada is set to decide Leticia's fate — will she stay with her former foster parents or go back to her First Nation with her birth mother? With more and more Indigenous children being put into care outside their communities, the decision unearths broader questions about who gets to decide what is best for a child — and what is really best for Leticia.Host Falen Johnson and journalist Dawna Dingwall recount the court battle, the attitudes it uncovered, and the impact on 7 year old Leticia — including the judge’s decision to ban her birth mother, Linda, from seeing her until she’s 12.This episode is part two of three.
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Part 1 | The girl whose life became a battleground for Indigenous child welfare
Leticia is just an infant when she’s taken into foster care. But by the time she’s a year old, a legal battle over who should raise her is brewing, with her birth mother pushing to take her back to her First Nation and her foster parents saying she belongs with them. Host Falen Johnson sets the stage for journalist Dawna Dingwall and Leticia Racine to travel back to southwest Manitoba — where they both grew up — and their journey to try and piece together how Leticia ended up at the centre of precedent-setting court case, and the mark it made in her life.This episode is part one of three.
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The man who picked a fight with a piece of junk mail
MR. JEAN MARC RICHARD HAS WON A CASH PRIZE OF $833,337! In 1999, a letter with this claim from Time Magazine lands in a Montreal man’s mailbox. Most people would call it junk mail and toss it, but Jean Marc Richard is determined to get his promised payout, launching a court battle with one of North America’s biggest publishers.Host Falen Johnson and journalist Craig Desson rip open the case of Richard v Time to uncover one man’s quest for an elusive cash prize that somehow escalates into a Supreme Court battle over misleading advertising, and sets a standard for consumer rights that is still used today.
The stories behind the legal battles that changed Canada — and the unlikely people who made it happen. Some were sh*t disturbers, some were convicts, and some were just regular folks dragged into a fight.Each week, host Falen Johnson teams up with a journalist to dig into a case that challenged the status quo, and asks: what kind of person takes on the law? What are the costs? And what would our lives look like if these cases never happened?Because let's be real, just because a case is closed doesn't mean the story’s over.New episodes weekly from Tuesday Sept. 16 to Nov. 4, 2025.
Canada - english