IDEAS is a place for people who like to think. If you value deep conversation and unexpected reveals, this show is for you. From the roots and rise of authoritarianism to near-death experiences to the history of toilets, no topic is off-limits. Hosted by Nahlah Ayed, we’re home to immersive documentaries and fascinating interviews with some of the most consequential thinkers of our time. With an award-winning team, our podcast has proud roots in its 60-year history with CBC Radio, exploring the IDEAS that make us who we are. New episodes drop Monday through Friday at 5pm ET.

Latest episodes

How absurdist theatre is an act of resistance

October 6, 2026 · 54 min

Theatre of the Absurd was born in the wake of the Second World War as a recoil against the violent fetish that totalitarian regimes had for “order.” For 75 years, absurdist playwright Eugène Ionesco's plays have been running continuously…
How to Defeat Authoritarianism | Today's Authoritarians

October 5, 2026 · 54 min

The 21st century is witness to resurgent global authoritarianism, driven by leaders who answer to no law other than their own. Nahlah Ayed and panelists consider the rise of today’s authoritarians — Trump, Putin, Orban, Duterte and beyond…
Grief and the cost of outsourcing feeling

October 2, 2026 · 54 min

Hanif Abdurraqib lives his life heart-forward. His writing is informed by the many losses he's endured, but also by his commitment to "love deeply" and to not let machines do his thinking and feeling for him. Doing so, he says, risks…
The Billionaire Age Pt 4 | How democracy can beat back the oligarchs

October 1, 2026 · 54 min

Feeling despair over the threats to democracy coming out of The Billionaire Age? Let alone the predictions we'll see 10 trillionaires within three years. Well, there are concrete solutions. Relatively straightforward ones. Thinkers from…
How Iqaluit's learning institute gave a generation of Inuit adults a path back to Inuktut

September 30, 2026 · 54 min

Younger generations in Nunavut today are less likely to grow up immersed in Inuktut. At a language school in Iqaluit, Inuit adults who didn’t grow up speaking Inuktut now have the chance to learn it as a second language at the Pirurvik…
How Indigenous art makes truth visible

September 29, 2026 · 54 min

“Truth telling is profoundly visual. Art created by Indigenous peoples is not mere expression — it is cognitive, ceremonial, and political," writes Gerald McMaster in Art,Truth and Reconciliation. His book is the first of its kind…
How to Defeat Authoritarianism | Bashar al-Assad's Syria

September 28, 2026 · 54 min

In 2000, Bashar al-Assad became president of Syria, also known as the authoritarian "Kingdom of Fear" that his father Hafez al-Assad had created three decades earlier. The younger Assad continued and intensified the use of imprisonment…
When words get in the way, vocal improv saves the day

September 25, 2026 · 54 min

Would you 'doo-be-doo' if you know it would help bridge divides? Try vocal improvisation — singing sounds, rhythms and melodies. PhD graduate Erwan Noblet teaches the practice and says it's a great way to open up and connect at another…