Over the past several years, podcasts have become one of the most popular ways to consume media. They’re a quick and easy way to learn something new, stay up-to-date on current affairs, have a laugh, or hear from your favourite public figure. Whether you’re listening on your morning commute or during your daily dog walks, podcasts allow you to multitask while listening, one of the main reasons why people love them so much.
If you’re new to the world of podcasts, you may not know where to start. Here are a few of our favourite Canadian podcasts that we think are worth checking out!
Our Recommendations
Unascertained
“Unascertained” recounts what really happened to Soeiman Faqiri, a 30-year-old Canadian man who was found dead in his jail cell on December 15, 2016. Faqiri suffered a schizophrenic episode and was waiting for a mental health assessment when he had a run-in with a group of officers that ultimately ended in his death. “It’s a story of a family’s loss, mental health failures in the prison system, and a search for justice.”
Host: Yusuf Zine
Number of Episodes: 11
Length of Episodes: 20-50 minutes
Strong and Free
“Strong and Free” tells a few of the crucial stories of Black Canadians from the earliest Black settlers to people who have just recently arrived in the country. Black history is Canadian history.
Number of Episodes: 6
Length of Episodes: 23-33 minutes
Life Jolt
“Life Jolt” takes us into Grand Vallet Institution prison, the federal penitentiary for women in Ontario. The team was able to access that facility for a year, during which they followed the lives of various women navigating life in a Canadian prison. This series, “explores a wide range of issues including parenting behind bars, segregation, the over-representation of Indigenous women, addiction, trauma and the many obstacles of reintegration.”
Number of Episodes: 9
Length of Episodes: 25-45 minutes
Host: Rosemary Green
Telling our Twisted Histories
“Words connect us. Words hurt us. Indigenous histories have been twisted by centuries of colonization.” Story by story, word by word, “Telling our Twisted Histories” seeks to decolonize the minds of Canadians who have been fed twisted stories for centuries.
Number of Episodes: 11
Length of Episodes: 16-25 minutes
Host: Kaniehti:io Horn
We all know that media trends come and go, but it looks like podcasts are here to stay! That’s why we’ve introduced three podcast categories across the National Magazine Awards, National Magazine Awards: B2B, and Digital Publishing Awards.
Have a podcast that you think deserves to be recognized by the National Media Awards Foundation? Submissions for the 2023 awards season are now open!