Wednesday March 1 2007
THE LIES THAT LED TO WAR
Since the US-led invasion four years ago, the fifth estate has covered Iraq and the war on terror from virtually every angle--the military, media, intellligence, politics--revealing aspects of the story that you didn't find anywhere else.
Now, as the White House warns about the latest threat in the region, this time from Iran, we go back to examine the deception, suspect intelligence, even lies that convinced the world of the rightness of targeting Saddam Hussein.
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Wednesday February 28 2007
THE GOOD FATHER
For four decades, Father Charles Sylvestre tended a number of Catholic parishes in southwestern Ontario. He had committed his life to serving God on earth. But, during that time, Father Sylvestre had a secret--he sexually molested little girls between the ages of 9 and 12 and, for years, he got away it because the church kept silent, protecting the priest and its own public image. the fifth estate's Hana Gartner investigates the story of Father Sylvestre, through the testimony of some of his victims, police interrogation video, and senior members of the Catholic clergy.
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Wednesday February 21 2007
WEB OF DECEIT
When PEI native Melissa Friedrich was arrested in Florida and charged with exploitation of the elderly in January 2005, her past revealed a long and complex criminal history that began in the Maritimes and included a conviction for manslaughter in the death of one husband. Another husband died under what his family believes are suspicious circumstances and what finally landed her in a Tampa jail was enough evidence to convince authorities that yet another man might be at risk. Linden MacIntyre investigates the story of the woman who has been called a "black widow".
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Wednesday February 14 2007
THE ICEMAN
In August of 1989, Duncan MacPherson was setting off to start a new life as a hockey coach in Europe. But the 23-year-old Saskatoon native and former NHL first-round draft choice took a holiday detour to the Austrian Alps and then disappeared…for 14 years. Hana Gartner investigates the story of Duncan's disappearance and his mother's and father's determination to uncover the truth, in the face of bureaucratic obstinacy.
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Wednesday February 7 2007
ROAD WARRIORS
Experts say there is a potential 'road-rager' inside all of us. They also say that this brand of rage victimizes, from injury to death, more and more people every year. Tension fuels anger, anger fuels aggression…and according to the people who keep the stats, aggressive driving may be a factor in nearly two-thirds of all fatal car crashes.
the fifth estate's Gillian Findlay discovered that this trend has been heading the wrong way for years, but in this country we're only just starting to notice. Canada's roads are getting busier and busier and the most unlikely people can explode with rage. And there's no way to predict who will strike back. The highway may be the only place, one expert told the fifth estate, "where you'll see vengeance displayed on a daily basis." And the results can be devastating.
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Wednesday January 31, 2007
LOST IN THE STRUGGLE
For almost a year, three young men who grew up on the rough streets of the Jane and Finch area of Toronto, gave Gillian Findlay and
the fifth estate unprecedented access to the complexities that make up their neighbourhood and their world. For these three friends--Chuckie, Burnz and Freshy--the Jane and Finch area is a tough world to navigate, an even tougher one to escape. It is a story that will resonate in cities across the country.
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Wednesday January 17, 2007
AMONG THE BELIEVERS: CRACKING THE TORONTO TERROR CELL
Last summer, Toronto's mostly moderate Muslim community found itself in the glare of unwelcome public attention from the international media when eighteen men were charged with plotting terrorist attacks on Canadian soil. In a special co-production with PBS Frontline,
the fifth estate goes inside the alleged terror cell. A Muslim fundamentalist who infiltrated the cell reveals to
the fifth estate's Linden MacIntyre the inner workings of the cell and its members. These are young men who have adopted a brand of Islam that they believe sanctions jihad in their home city and against their fellow citizens.
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Wednesday January 10, 2007
THE STEVEN TRUSCOTT STORY: MOMENT OF TRUTH
For more than forty-five years, the murder of teenager Lynn Harper and the fate of the boy convicted of her killing, Steven Truscott, has haunted this country. At the age of 14, Steven Truscott was sentenced to hang for the crime. After ten years behind bars, his sentence was commuted and Truscott disappeared in anonymity, living under another name, in southern Ontario. But, lingering doubts about Truscott's trial and details around the murder never went away. Several years ago,
the fifth state uncovered evidence that showed the case against Truscott was dubious, at best, and in an exlcusive interview, Canada finally saw the man Truscott had become; a hardworking, dedicated father and grandfather, surrounded by people who passionately believe in his innocence. Now, Truscott faces what may be his final battle to clear his name; his conviction is before an appeals court and
the fifth estate updates our coverage of one of the most famous and controversial stories in Canadian history.
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Wednesday December 6, 2006
TSUNAMI: UNTOLD STORIES
the fifth estate reveals untold stories from people who were caught in the deadly force of the tsunami in December 2004 -- stories of super-human strength, twists of fate and dreadful loss. Their lives have been forever altered by one of the worst natural disasters in human history.
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Wednesday November 29, 2006
THE RAT
For months afterward, no one could make sense of the shocking shooting in a Toronto sandwich shop that left an innocent bystander, Louise Russo, paralyzed. With no motive and not a single clue, police investigators got an incredible break when Raffaele Delle Donne discovered that membership in the mafia brings no honour, no loyalty, no protection; only betrayal. Once a member of a Toronto mafia family, Delle Donne is now a man on the run, with a price on his head. His involvement in the mob hit that claimed Louise Russo as its only victim, convinced Delle Donne to risk his life, and the life of his family by turning police informer. He steps out of the shadows to talk to
the fifth estate's Hana Gartner. She investigates the story of the mob member turned rat and she talks to Louise Russo about that night in the Toronto sandwich shop when so many lives were altered forever.
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Wednesday November 22, 2006
LUCK OF THE DRAW: UPDATE
Earlier this season,
the fifth estate had the whole country talking about
Luck of the Draw, the story of lottery fraud and 82-year old Bob Edmonds of Coboconk, Ontario, who proved he had been cheated out of a quarter of a million dollar lottery winnings by a corner store clerk. He subsequently sued the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and regained what had been rightfully his all along. After that story aired, the OLG apologized to Bob Edmonds, calling his experience "regrettable" and that they believed it was "an isolated incident". That might have been the end of the story. It isn't.
the fifth estate's investigation found that Bob Edmonds' case was far from an isolated incident: documents leaked to
the fifth estate show that concerns about insider thefts have swirled around the OLG for more than a decade. One former investigator told
the fifth estate that our story could be "the tip of an iceberg."
the fifth estate now focuses on what may prove to be an even bigger problem than the weekly draws: the scratch-and-win games; how they have been manipulated by retailers and how the OLG kept quiet about a problem with the tickets.
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FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS: UPDATE
In November, 2005,
the fifth estate investigated the state of airport security in this country. In the wake of September 11, 2001, the Canadian government followed the lead of the Americans and quickly installed new technology in airports: state-of-the-art screening devices that could find hidden weapons or bombs or detect explosive materials. It all cost billions of dollars, but was it effective? One airport screener, Bill Butler, contacted
the fifth estate to tell us that, in his experience, the technology was only as good as the people operating it and in charge of it. You'd think his employer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), would have been grateful to have one of their employees expose serious flaws in their security systems. They weren't, and Bill Butler paid a very steep price for his candor.
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WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY?: UPDATE
When does a national pastime become a destructive personal obsession? In 2004,
the fifth estate brought you the story of one young man who has lived with that question for most of his life. Patrick O'Sullivan, a star in the OHL, was considered a sure thing for the first round of the 2003 NHL draft, but the brilliance of his play had been tarnished by the reputation of his father, John, an obsessive, even abusive, hockey father. Bob McKeown talked to Patrick, his mother and his father, as well as Don Cherry and Wayne Gretzky about hockey and the relationship between young players and their parents.
the fifth estate has continued to follow Patrick's career and now reports on his life and his progress in professional hockey.
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Wednesday November 15, 2006
THE DENIAL MACHINE
In the past few years, a hurricane has engulfed the debate about global warming. This crucial scientific issue has become a rhetorical firestorm with science pitted against spin and inflammatory words on both sides. Bob McKeown investigates why a debate that some say could determine the very future of our planet has become a partisan battleground.
The Denial Machine follows a small but powerful group of scientists who argue, among other claims, that global warming may be a good thing and it investigates their links to the oil and coal industries.
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Wednesday November 8, 2006
THE ICEMAN
In August of 1989, Duncan MacPherson was setting off to start a new life as a hockey coach in Europe. But the 23-year-old Saskatoon native and former NHL first-round draft choice took a holiday detour to the Austrian Alps and then disappeared…for 14 years. Hana Gartner investigates the story of Duncan's disappearance and his mother's and father's determination to uncover the truth, in the face of bureaucratic obstinacy.
WATCH THIS STORY ONLINE
Wednesday November 1 2006
IN A HAIL OF BULLETS
It was the RCMP's darkest day in more than a century. How did it happen? How could a lone gunman, James Roszko, shoot and kill four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers before turning his rifle on himself? Twenty-four hours after the tragic shootings on Roszko's farm -- with the image of dead Mounties lying in the snow forever seared into the national psyche --
the fifth estate set out to answer that question.
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Wednesday October 25, 2006
LUCK OF THE DRAW
It's a gamble that most of us have taken at one point or another: bought a ticket at a corner store and hoped that when those little white balls stop spinning we will be the newest lottery winner. Most of us remain disappointed in the results. But what if you did win the lottery? And what if you never found out? A
fifth estate investigation has uncovered new statistics about how often clerks or retailers are winning. A prominent statistician talks about the chances of this happening as often as it does. The results may astonish you.
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Wednesday October 18, 2006
AVENGING ANGEL
To his family and friends in Cape Breton, Stephen Marshall was a quiet, sweet-natured young man. But, on the Easter weekend of 2006, his family, his community, the country was stunned by the news that Stephen Marshall had gunned down two men whose names he'd found in a Maine sex offender registry on the internet and then killed himself. The quiet, young man from Cape Breton joined a growing list of killers whose crimes are swift, brutal, incomprehensible. The survivors are left asking why. Linden MacIntyre and
the fifth estate went in search of an answer.
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Wednesday October 11, 2006
CRIME PAYS
Some people have found that not only does crime pay in this country, but it can also be an extremely lucrative career choice. Bob McKeown looks at five individuals linked by their prosperous careers on the wrong side of the law. Find out about "Mr. Big" who runs a drug smuggling enterprise from the Halifax port. Who is the "Teflon Don" of Canada's organized crime families? Who is British Columbia's "Mister Clean", believed to be connected to all manner of criminal activity, but never been charged? In their private lives, they indulge themselves in expensive pastimes and toys, and it's great, as long as they can stay one step ahead of the law. It's life in the fast, and felonious lane.
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Wednesday October 4, 2006
LOST IN THE STRUGGLE
For almost a year, three young men who grew up on the rough streets of the Jane and Finch area of Toronto, gave Gillian Findlay and
the fifth estate unprecedented access to the complexities that make up their neighbourhood and their world. For these three friends--Chuckie, Burnz and Freshy--the Jane and Finch area is a tough world to navigate, an even tougher one to escape. It is a story that will resonate in cities across the country.
READ MORE ABOUT THIS STORY
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