Ideas CBC Discover & Learn

In the 1980s, Douglas Janoff marched outside the United Nations to promote 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Then, after several decades as an activist, he became a Canadian diplomat — and started pushing for change from within. He shares his experience through the complex and delicate world of queer diplomacy. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 7, 2024.

Robert Macfarlane says his writing is about the relationship between landscape and the human heart. His books share his encounters with treacherous mountain passages, mammoth glaciers flowing perceptibly into the sea, and harrowing descents into fissures inside the Earth. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 25, 2023.

Can Indigenous people dream a better future into being? Anishinaabe scholar Riley Yesno explores Indigenous futurism and the connection between dreams and new realities, inspired by playwright Cliff Cardinal’s Huff. This episode is part of our ongoing series of talks, each inspired by a theme in a play at Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre.

The World Wildlife Fund lists the Wabanaki-Acadian old-growth forest as endangered — with only one percent remaining. The Wabanaki-Acadian forest stretches from parts of the Maritimes and Southern Quebec down into New England states. IDEAS explores the beauty and complexity of this ancient forest.

IDEAS presents the first of the BBC Reith Lectures delivered by Ben Ansell. The Oxford professor and author of Why Politics Fails examines the threats facing modern democracy, how artificial intelligence can distort its integrity, and how politicians can invest in a democratic future.

Canadian philosopher George Grant was known for his pessimism, and is best known for his book Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism. PhD student Bryan Heystee makes the case to revive Grantian philosophy and make it work for the 21st century. *This episode originally aired on Dec. 6, 2023.