Front Burner

Today is the sixth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, where the country remembers the 150,000 Indigenous kids who were taken from their communities and forced to enrol in Indian Residential Schools. While there, they were subjected to widespread abuse and mistreatment. Thousands died before they could return home.

There is a large historical record attesting to this fact. But tens of thousands of survivor testimonies are on track to be destroyed next year. These painful stories were heard and documented as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement agreement.

Connie Walker is the host of the Pulitzer and Peabody prize winning podcast Stolen: Surviving St. Michaels which looked at her own father's experience at a residential school. She has been working to build a new archive of residential school survivor testimonies. She talks about the urgency of preserving these stories, at a time when there's an upswing in residential school denialism.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In just over five weeks, Americans will head to the polls for the midterm elections and the contours of the vote are taking shape.

Republicans are defending narrow majorities in Congress. Trump’s approval ratings are underwater, with the economy and cost of living a central concern. In some Republican races candidates are beginning to put some distance between themselves and the president.

But what larger questions are Americans being asked to confront this November? Is this a referendum on Donald Trump? On the economy? On the war in Iran? Or will this be about the Democratic Party's attempt to carve out a coherent identity post-Biden?

Alex Shephard is a Senior Editor at The New Republic. He's our guest today.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A new investigation into the Tumbler Ridge shooter's use of ChatGPT has revealed some disturbing information. It has long been public knowledge that the 18-year-old had used the chatbot months before she killed her mother, half-brother, five students and an educator at school, before turning the gun on herself. That account was flagged and shut down.

But a story in the American outlet Mother Jones reveals the extent to which Jesse van Rootselaar is alleged to have used a second chatGPT account right up to the day of the massacre. CBC has not independently verified this reporting.

Mark Follman, the national affairs editor at Mother Jones, reported this story and has been looking closely at the role of ChatGPT in mass shootings and other violence. He joins Jayme to talk about what he found.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The United States is getting older, and so, increasingly, are the people charged with governing it.

The average age of a U.S. senator is 64-years-old and in the House it's 58, according to 2025 numbers. Dozens of elected officials are in their 70s and 80s. Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump both turned 80 in office. As a result, Americans have seen questions about the age and capacity of their leaders become a central feature of the national conversation.

What happens when the people at the top don't leave? And at what point does an aging society become a gerontocracy?

Samuel Moyn is a political theorist and professor at Yale university. He's the author of several books, including 'Gerontocracy in America'. He's our guest today.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby called a snap election, two years into his term. He said the province needs to show a strong response to American aggression.

This was just two days after the leader of the Opposition, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, resigned, following a tumultuous four months that included a string of firings and defections, leaks from caucus meetings, and allegations of spying.

Eby's critics are calling his timing "cynical" and "profoundly undemocratic." It could also end up backfiring, since the election call has been a rally cry for unity on the right.

Rob Shaw, who covers B.C. politics for CHEK news and Glacier Media, explains how divisions and dysfunction inside the B.C. Conservatives triggered a high-stakes political gamble in the province.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts