Explore every episode of the podcast The North

Brent Butt is heading to Yellowknife. He's in conversation with Cabin Radio's Emily Blake. Plus a musical that gives a Pride and Prejudice side character a new, queer life is making its Canadian debut in the city – the writers flew from New York City to join us.

Also in this episode: Hockey Helps the Homeless plans a February NHL alumni game in Yellowknife, and Emily Smejkal argues now is the time to re-evaluate geothermal energy in the North.

In tonight's newscast: Two RCMP officers in Yellowknife face charges over the March 2025 death of a 56-year-old, Lawrence Blackduck, while in police custody.

Also tonight: The Union of Northern Workers faces a lawsuit brought by former members of its executive, Yellowknife's two mayoral candidates discuss their federal affiliations, and the writers of a musical about a Pride and Prejudice side character arrive in the NWT for their show's Canadian debut.

In tonight's newscast: the IRC sets up a vote later this month on whether chair Erwin Elias should be removed from office following an investigation into unspecified allegations.

Also tonight: the GNWT releases new cell phone guidelines, Inuvik's mayor hopes to move on from a summer of bear problems, Canada's cultural sector waits on a promised $600-million federal funding bump, and a former NWT prosecutor launches a novel about a northern homicide.

Thirty-two grizzly bears were killed in Inuvik this summer. A new landfill fence has a lot to do with it. We heard from one of the people tasked with protecting the community as the bears sought a new food source.

Also in this episode: Emily Blake asks experts how Yellowknife and the NWT should be handling artificial intelligence in elections.

After an unlikely meal, Ollie interviewed China's consul general – the country's top diplomat in Alberta, Sask and the NWT – about Chinese-Canadian relations. China has a clear message it wants to get across after Mark Carney visited the country earlier this year, but the North spends a lot of time worrying about Chinese influence in the Arctic, in mining and in infrastructure. Zhao Liying took our questions.

(For the record, we bought our own Ricky's.)

Also on the show, Nova Scotia Senator Mary Coyle explains to Natasha her bill calling for a national energy poverty strategy. What exactly would that do in the North?

In our nightly newscast: a change in advance voting dates catches out some Yellowknifers, a $42-million LNG plant for Fort Simpson is going ahead, a Yellowknife daycare clears three suspended staff of wrongdoing and the Major Projects Office reacts to Indigenous frustration over consultation timelines in BC.

In our 15-minute nightly newscast: NWT RCMP's commanding officer on the rise in gun crime, online bookings open for some Yellowknife health services, what we know about the coming flu season, and new funding for music at two schools.

Elsewhere in the world: the Pope is diagnosed with lung cancer and cyber attacks hit French fridges as Alberta referendum advance voting begins.

Note: You'll now get each nightly newscast as a dedicated episode and our best interviews as separate episodes on the feed! Even more to look forward to.

Jay Bulckaert wants to convince you that AI can be a powerful tool for good in the North.

Bulckaert just left Artless Collective, one of the territory's leading video agencies, to create a company that helps northerners get to grips with AI. He believes he can help give people back more time for innovation. He explained his philosophy to Ollie.

Also in our 15-minute newscast, The North Tonight, we examine the prospect of a national energy poverty strategy and – on an unrelated note, despite the name – we hang out with Cold Fusion, who are bringing jazz fusion back to Yellowknife.

Six women's university basketball teams are in Yellowknife for the North of 60 Classic, a new tournament. It's a big deal for the sport and for discussions of what sporting legacy should look like in the North, and how you inspire northern kids into higher-tier sports. Coaches from Mount Saint Vincent and Lakehead are on the show.

So is Marc Casas, the executive director of the Ekati mine's Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, which the GNWT is threatening to shut down. Casas thinks now is precisely the wrong time for that to happen.

In The North Tonight, our 15-minute newscast, hear about a new approach to handing child and family services to Indigenous governments, plus a new self-government agreement in the Sahtu receives royal assent.

The NWT wants tax credits tweaked to help get northern zinc mines off the ground, promising the territory alone can double Canadian production. Industry minister Caitlin Cleveland is on the pod from Ottawa.

Also on the show: the GNWT could shut down another diamond mining environmental watchdog, there's a watch party coming up for a Yellowknife team's Family Feud appearance, and Cabin Radio's Adult Spelling Bee champion Kai Tan makes a morning show appearance.

In 20 minutes, we'll give you all the key moments from Yellowknife's big mayoral debate.

Plus in our newscast, The North Tonight, NWT Indigenous leaders arrive in Ottawa to present a united front on major projects and other requests. And a Subway is coming to Hay River.

The two candidates for mayor of Yellowknife, Melissa Syer and Garett Cochrane, take questions from Ollie Williams in front of a live audience. This is the full, unedited broadcast. We'll also bring you a highlight reel in our regular podcast later.

Compete against our finalists as we play you the climax of Cabin Radio's Adult Spelling Bee. Plus Premier RJ Simpson discusses how the GNWT is preparing to hand control of child and family services to Indigenous governments that ask.

In our newscast, The North Tonight, the federal government makes new spending commitments to build more northern health infrastructure – but answers on funding for medical travel are still missing.

In The North Tonight: Yellowknife director Jen Walden introduces us to Lumi, the Arctic sci-fi movie that'll open this year's Yellowknife International Film Festival on November 4.

Also on the pod: DJ Shub, formerly of A Tribe Called Red, joins Sarah Erasmus to talk about his artistic journey and the evolution of the electric pow wow. And Vicki Tompkins looks back at a quarter of a century in Yellowknife retail as she announces she'll close For Women Only.

Ainsley Dempsey is part of the group taking over Yellowknife's movie theatre. She'll tell you what to expect when it reopens, which is expected to be early next year.

Also on the pod, the new boss of Yellowknife's francophone cultural association has a challenge for the city's anglo residents.

And in our newscast, a busy day: big news for the Gahcho Kué mine, a lot happening at the Dene National Assembly and an update on the investigation into June's fatal air crash near Fort Simpson – plus the premier explains more about his nuclear deal with Alberta and Sask.

Leilani Farha has dedicated her life to understanding housing worldwide. She's presenting a CBC Massey lecture in Yellowknife this week that looks at how we have a human right to adequate housing – and how that right is so often denied.

We wanted to know whether she believes real solutions are practically achievable.

Also on the show: celebrating trailblazing Inuk pilot Doris Ipeelee.

The GNWT is planning a new arm's-length agency to get the Mackenzie Valley Highway built. Caroline Wawzonek walks us through it – and we ask how the territory is going to ensure northerners get meaningful jobs and economic development from major projects.

Elsewhere, Cabin Radio legal eagle Gillian Bourke talks us through the Residential Tenancies Act. What do renters and tenants need to know about the basics?

In the newscast: the Dene National Assembly begins and the Office of the Auditor General starts examining the NWT's emergency management.

A survivor of multiple NWT residential schools, Antoine Mountain will make an appearance at a flag-raising ceremony marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Also on the show, former YWCA NWT executive director Lyda Fuller discusses the fallout from the charity's decision last week to sack her successor.

In our 15-minute newscast, The North Tonight, Behchokǫ̀'s chief celebrates – but says more has to happen – as the community receives around $5 million to fix decades-old water pipes that have caused big problems.

Yellowknife borrowed some horses all summer so residents could ride. There was only one "unplanned dismount." The organizers are on the show. So is the director of Ptarmigan Ptheatrics' version of Come From Away, which started its audition process today.

In The North Tonight, our 15-minute newscast: upheaval at YWCA NWT, Gwich'in groups try to get through their latest conflict, and a northern union objects to new federal legislation.

Cabin Radio reporter Cody Punter wants to hear from you as he finishes a year-long project following the NWT's court system. Outgoing Yellowknife mayor Ben Hendriksen is also on the pod to discuss why he withdrew from next month's election and what kind of leader the city needs next.

In The North Tonight, our 15-minute newscast: an NDP MP presses the Liberal government over funding for residential school survivors and the NWT records Canada's only shrinking population.

A new fund might offer some hope for affordable housing in the NWT, plus why the territory is moving to permanent DST.

In our 15-minute newscast, The North Tonight: KFN's chief resigns, a school lockdown in Behchokǫ̀, a $100K lotto winner somewhere in the NWT and an alpaca farm makes its return in Fort Smith.

Meet Yellowknife's answer to Iron Man plus our Ottawa reporter breaks down a busy return to Parliament through an NWT lens.

Includes The North Tonight, our NWT and world news roundup, for September 22, 2026. Today: RCMP have a wish list for the GNWT, Inuvik holds a public meeting on safety, the GNWT and City of Yellowknife say no to the Canada Winter Games, and the Bank of Canada's governor heads to Yellowknife.

The North Tonight is our new 15-minute evening newscast. Here's the first episode, plus legal aid outreach lawyer Gillian Bourke joins Ollie.

Lyle Fabian wants to build a data centre in the NWT. He says it's nothing like the huge AI data centres generating so much opposition in the south. Hear some perspectives on data centres and the North.

Also in this episode: meet the man attempting to recreate a century-old ascent of a Yukon mountain.

Travel author Paul Theroux has a new book out – True North: On the Road in Canada. He tells Ollie Williams about the Canada he saw on that trip, and how he thinks what's happening in the United States is making a big difference to Canadian identity.

Chief Melody Lepine of Mikisew Cree First Nation explains why she hopes United Nations inspectors who just visited Wood Buffalo National Park will conclude the area is endangered.

Also, Conservative northern and Arctic affairs spokesperson Bob Zimmer sets out how his party is approaching the politics of the North after a big Liberal shift in how much attention – and how many funding promises – the NWT appears capable of commanding.

Ollie reports on the Fort Smith shooting, its aftermath and its impact on the town's annual Fireweed Festival.

Beyond the weekend's tragic events, there's a chance to meet the "vintage widows" who saw the festival's car rally as a chance to remember their late husbands, and you can hear from Fort Smith Métis musician Tom Hudson as he releases his first album in nearly 30 years.

Our tribute to Pi Kennedy, the NWT trapper and musher whose extraordinary life touched on everything from bush radio to the Boston Red Sox. Pi has passed away, aged 99. You can see photos from his life and read our obituary for him on our website.

Martin Emslander just reached 25 years as the technical brain behind dozens, if not hundreds of productions at Yellowknife's Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. Miriam Bosiljevac hosts a celebration of his work.

Miriam Bosiljevac speaks with Dana Bowen about her debut novel Girls with Fake Names, NWT artist Erin Suliak has a new exhibition at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada in Saskatoon, and Calem Watson sets out to canoe from the Arctic to the tropics.

Miriam Bosiljevac, in for Ollie, hears from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami about a poverty reduction strategy and Inuit-led framework to replace Nutrition North.

Plus we spend time with Diamond Dramatics, a northern theatre program for kids.

Miriam Bosiljevac, in for Ollie, speaks to UNBC research associate Annie King about how Dene and Métis people who live near the Norman Wells oil field are (and aren't) listened to by those in charge.

Meanwhile, Cabin Radio intern Kai Wilson spends time at a hide tanning camp.

Miriam Bosiljevac, in for Ollie, speaks with photojournalist Jesse Winter about his experiences covering Canada’s wildfires and the release of his new book – which features the NWT's 2023 fire season.

First, Cabin Radio’s Claire McFarlane walks Miriam through a three-part series examining an incident that occurred in Fort Simpson and its lasting ramifications for education in the village – and the community's social fabric.

Heather Exner-Pirot studies northern, Arctic and Indigenous economic development for a living. Here's how she evaluates what's happening to the NWT economy right now. Her key question: "What sticks?"

How should Yellowknife residents expect the city's approach to encampments, homelessness and public safety to evolve? We asked the mayor. Plus the federal secretary of state for rural development has advice for small northern communities who worry about their economies

Longtime Gwich'in leader James Ross on the tribute he built online to his late brother, Carmen Braden on composing before decomposing, and university basketball heads north.

Meet Andrew, who describes himself as a Theravāda Buddhist monk from the US. He's living in the forest on the edge of Yellowknife, which is where Cabin Radio's Alice Twa tracked him down.

Meanwhile, Claire McFarlane speaks with some of the teenagers who took over the NWT legislature as youth MLAs late last month.

Dene multidisciplinary artist Melaw Nakehk'o joins Sarah Erasmus to talk about her Sobey Art Award longlist nomination and the work that got her there – her path through art school and back home to the Dehcho, her role in the urban moose hide tanning revival, and her contribution to a new exhibition heading to the National Gallery of Canada this June.

Ollie spends time backstage as a group of Yellowknifers prepares a Gershwin musical for the NWT stage, and hears from Kathryn Patel about the online second-hand bookstore she's opening on May 1.

The military held a public meeting in Yellowknife to talk about billions of dollars in coming investment. These are the best questions residents asked.

Ollie is joined by a teachers' association leader and the NWT's education minister to look at what we're expecting when Jordan's Principle cuts fully bite this fall – and what solutions exist, if any.

Plus former MLA Rylund Johnson takes a moment to celebrate the scrapping of seasonal time changes, announced this week.

Yellowknife's draft community plan is out. It calls for 2,000 new homes in the next 25 years, including 1,000 in a new neighbourhood built on green space north of Frame Lake.

City planning director Charlsey White explains what City Hall is trying to do with this plan, Mayor Ben Hendriksen gives us his first take as council starts scrutinizing it, and Becca Denley examines the draft through the lens of healthy urban planning.

Canada says it's spending $35 billion on Arctic defence. Yellowknife and Inuvik expect billions in investment over the next decade. We know that.

But why?

P Whitney Lackenbauer, one of Canada's leading experts in northern defence policy, thinks we're sometimes quite vague about the actual threats underpinning that spending. Here's how he thinks about it.

Emily Blake explores a Yellowknife choir concert that features an original song about the last person imprisoned in Canada for homosexuality, while Ollie Williams hears about a new Northwestel initiative that uses the same satellite internet technology Starlink has popularized – but with a twist.

The spring carnival in Behchokǫ̀ is being postponed because the community's water supply has been in chaos for weeks through so many frozen pipes. That's just the tip of the iceberg, Chief Bertha Rabesca Zoe says. She's at the Liberal Party's convention in Montreal to bug the prime minister for money to fix the issue.

Also on the show: Premier RJ Simpson just said sorry for the hurt caused when wildlife officers searched a Łútsël K'é Dene First Nation cultural camp in 2022. Chief James Marlowe joins us to respond to that apology.

Is there a way to bring Yellowknife's only movie theatre back from the dead? Join us at the theatre's last night, then hear from a documentary producer who's studying the broader phenomenon of small theatres closing – and the society that rescued a theatre in Whitehorse.

Google flew influencers to Yellowknife this month to promote its Pixel phones and Gemini AI. The result – AI videos that manipulate the city's snow sculptures – have the sculptors raising some questions.

Yellowknife snow sculptor Cat McGurk talks through some of the implications as the rapid rise of AI meets a niche northern art form. Plus NWT Tourism's Donna Lee Demarcke looks at the Google trip – and AI's advances – through the lens of northern tourism.

Cabin Radio's Claire McFarlane walks us through some of the reaction to last week's big NWT announcements from the prime minister. What's set to change and how are different people looking at this?

Tell your knuckles and fingers to cover their ears: this is our 2026 Arctic Winter Games recap podcast, and it's a hard one on your hands.

Avery Groenewegen describes the winter camping trip gone horribly wrong that nearly stopped her competing in ski biathlon. Chris Stipdonk talks us through his knuckle hop world record. And Governor General Mary Simon tells us which sport she most wants to compete in.

Emily Blake checks out two new attractions in the NWT capital: the newly unveiled Islamic Centre of Yellowknife and the inaugural edition of a set of dog races on a local lake designed for amateurs and their pups.

Plus Niki Mckenzie on snow carving at a Finnish festival and Paul Gruner on the Tłı̨chǫ Investment Corporation's decision to invest in housing firm Arcan.