Now or Never

Across Canada, we've been hit with blizzards, snow squalls and extreme cold.
So what keeps you from going stir-crazy in the dead of winter?

On this episode of Now or Never, hear about the wild and creative ways people are avoiding cabin fever.

After living in the Yukon for over 40 years, Cindy Billingham and her husband, Ron, moved to a small town in Newfoundland to live out their retirement years. But not too long after they renovated their home and settled in, Ron suddenly passed away. As Cindy navigates grief and newfound loneliness, she’s on a mission to find a new group of friends who can help her avoid “getting bushed” — a slang term she picked up in the Yukon that describes feelings of isolation and restlessness during the winter months.

Maggie Glossop is an 80-year-old artist, affectionately known as the 'Bear Lady', thanks to her charming sculptures. Every winter for the past eight years, Maggie has stepped into Ottawa's Kitchissippi woods to build bears out of snow. Nearly a decade into the tradition, her sculptures continue to inspire people from near and far to get outside and hunt for the snow bears on the trail.

For members of Cat Lake First Nation, winter offers an opportunity to bring much needed supplies into the community, via the winter road. As the climate changes, Rachel Wesley is trying to help her community navigate an uncertain future — and a difficult trade-off in trying to find an alternative to the winter road.

We’re often told to fight back against peer pressure but at one work place, it’s the secret tool to get people out and moving. Trevor joins a group of colleagues in Winnipeg for their weekly workouts at Canada's windiest, coldest intersection, Portage and Main.

And, 10,000 aluminum cans. That's how many cans Jeff Hamilton needs to collect, to pay for a projector and pull off his very first “Can Film Festival” in Whitehorse. It’s all part of his plan to bring people together to watch movies in the dreariest part of winter. But with only 5 days left until opening night, he’s still 363 cans short. CBC Yukon producer Andrew Hynes brings us the story of one man’s quixotic quest, and why he's so determined to do this, one can at a time.

Are you feeling paralyzed by the firehose of terrible news?

We get it. We feel that way, too. So we did what Mr. Rogers always told us to do when we're feeling scared: look for the helpers.

On this episode, hear how people just like you are channeling their feelings of helplessness into action, doing small things in the face of big problems.

As a school bus driver in Minneapolis, Jodi has watched her bus empty out as four-year-olds of colour are too scared to come to school. Her neighbours won’t leave their house to go to the laundromat. So now Jodi, a Canadian with only a green card, has gas masks by her front door so she can take to the streets in protest against ICE actions in her city.

A group of Iranian-Canadians in Calgary are working around-the-clock to help people send messages to loved ones in Iran, during the country's ongoing communications blackout and deadly protests. Their lifeline? Satellite TV. Armin Zarringhalam and Sepidar Valian explain how it’s possible, and what it’s like trying to protest the Islamic Republic in Iran from afar.

How do you laugh through a crisis? When Sudanese-Canadian comedian Faris Hytiaa was working on what would become his Juno-nominated album, Homesick, he was more afraid than he's ever been. Every member of his family was in Sudan as the war broke out in 2023, fighting to stay alive and make their way to Canada. Faris shares how the ongoing war in Sudan is impacting his comedy, and his identity.

And last week we asked you how you're channeling your feelings of helplessness into action, and we got an earful. From attempting to organize your first benefit concert (with zero experience) to volunteering with refugees, hear what people are doing.

Five trailblazing Canadians tell us how they smashed barriers in the worlds of soccer, aviation, AI, education, and.....eating the most hot peppers in a single sitting?!?

As a kid, Zoey Williams used to tag along on her dad's flights. That planted the seed for Zoey, who went on to be the first Black female pilot at Air Canada. Zoey and her dad Captain Orrett Williams tell us what it takes to break through barriers in a profession that remains largely white and male.

22-year-old Danielle Boyer invented a robot that uses AI to teach kids her community's language, Anishinaabemowin. Thinking deeply about the ethics of AI and technology, Danielle says just because you can build it, doesn't mean you should.

Mohamed AbdAllah is on a mission to create the first Islamic private school in Newfoundland and Labrador. While the province is predominantly Christian, its Muslim population is growing substantially, meaning more and more families are searching for a faith-based education option outside the public school system.

People have called him insane, but Mike Jack has traveled around the world, breaking 20 Guinness World Records in extreme chili pepper eating. Which begs the question: why?

Jade Kovacevic made history as the first player to sign with the National Super League, Canada's first professional women soccer's league. But after getting injured, Jade was forced to retire after one season with Toronto AFC. Jade reflects on the bittersweet moment of her trailblazing career coming to an end, and what comes next.

There is a power in publicly declaring you no longer own, support, or believe in something. Meet five Canadians doing just that.

Jess Klaassen-Wright is part of a small but growing movement of young people in Canada renouncing their generational wealth. And right now, Jess is grappling with what to do with an unexpected $300,000 inheritance. Jess tells us why it’s important to talk more openly about money, including how much you have, where it came from, and asking yourself how much you really need.

Since Dominique Gené was a kid, religion and her relationship to God have been her anchor. She spent a good chunk of her life in church. Until 2024, when she decided to permanently part ways with her faith.

Two years ago, Gavin MacNeil said goodbye to his smartphone and social media accounts for good. Now at 18, and months away from moving away from home for the first time, can he hang on to his commitment?

When Franklin Fontaine ended up in jail, it derailed his up-and-coming rap career. While he was inside he decided to renounce the drugs and gangs that had messed up his life. Now he’s using his story to try to help kids not make the same mistakes.

And remember "Elbows Up," when thousands of outraged Canadians vowed to stop buying U.S products after Trump's 51st state comments? We check in with Mike Robitaille, a guy who took this boycott to the extreme, to see if he's still going strong almost a year later.

Whether it's through sheer luck or hard work, you've been handed an opportunity you've maybe only dreamed of. What do you do with it?

Actor Feaven Abera has been hustling in the industry since she was 17 years old. She remembers taking jobs to pay for acting classes, commuting from Hamilton to Toronto and back for auditions and student films, and sometimes coming up short on bus fare. At 25, she was ready to call it quits, until a phone call changed everything.

When Joey Gibbs spotted a lost stuffed bunny at the Vancouver airport, he decided it needed to go on an adventure of a lifetime too before being reunited with the owners.

On a whim, Amanda Buhse entered her name to be a seat filler at the Emmys. When she got the call, she had less than 24 hours to get from Winnipeg to LA and be camera ready to rub elbows with the stars on TV.

Edith Lemay, Sebastian Pelletier and their four children have swam with dolphins in Indonesia, sailed high above Cappadocia in a hot air balloon, and jumped into ancient lakes in Mongolia. But this epic around-the-world-adventure is more than just fun - they're also trying to create 'visual memories' before three of their kids lose their eyesight permanently.

What do you pack to take to space? How do you handle the fear? And how do you prepare your family to watch you blast off? Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen gets personal ahead of his mission to the moon.