For Family's Sake: exploring the joys and sorrows of having kin

CBC Radio Specials51:25For Family's Sake: exploring the joys and sorrows of having kin

Host Andrea Bellemare explores the messy relationships that come with having kin. We asked CBC reporters across the country to get in touch with stories about family that have stayed with them. 51:25

Reporters don't often talk publicly about how stories they've worked on have affected them – especially not personal ones.

So for this Family Day special, host Andrea Bellemare asked CBC reporters across Canada to follow up on stories about family that they can't stop thinking about and to find out how the families are doing now the stories have aired. 

She got replies from across the country: Stories of hope and humour, as well as stories about coping with loss and rebuilding broken family ties.

CBC Winnipeg producer Donna Carreiro said of her interviews with Eva Yassie, "I've been a journalist for more than three decades and many stories stay with every single journalist, every journalist has that right? Eva, I definitely think this is a story that will stick with me more than other story." You''ll hear more of her relationship with Eva Yassie and the forced relocation of the Sayisi Dene in northern Manitoba, alongside other stories from across the country.

This special was produced by CBC's Mieke Anderson.

Featured on the show: 

• The Al-Hendi family moved to Canada from Syria 25 years ago and started a butcher shop in Kitchener, Ont., that has brought the family closer together. Now their shop acts as a community centre for Syrian newcomers who have arrived in Canada in the last year.
• CBC Montreal's Shari Okeke met twins Sachin and Mara Tartamella, and explored their mixed-race identity with them. That piece changed the way the Tartamella family talks about race. We'll hear from Dawn and Lorezno Tartamella about how the family is doing now.

• Tom Zink spoke with CBC's Jan Lakes about losing his brother Steve, when they were still teenagers. Tom says his family didn't talk about it much, but a surprise discovery decades later helped Tom cope with Steve's death. 
• Donna Carreiro, a producer with CBC Manitoba, travelled to northern Manitoba to meet Eva Yassie, a woman who survived a forced government relocated. Yassie is still struggling with the disappearance of her sister, Annie, decades later. 

• Liz Gordon and Shannon Clarke both went to the same high school, but they didn't realize they were related until a mutual friend introduced them. The sisters share a biological mother, but Clarke was adopted at a young age. They share their thoughts on building their relationship with CBC's Rachel Zelniker. Plus, it turns out there's another family connection they're just learning about.
• It's not every day six generations of women from the same family are all living at the same time. CBC Calgary's Caroline Wagner met the family – and found out the secret to living a long life.