In praise of putting yourself out there.Lynn Sainté has never planned an event before. But she wants to relive her church choir days, so she's booked a venue, hired musicians, and sent out invites to everyone she knows for a pop-up choir event. Now the question is….will anyone show up?One year ago, Shelby Sappier, known as the musician Beaatz, made a bold prediction on Instagram: That 2024 would be his biggest year in music ever. Now that the year is almost over, Ify checks in to find out he’s one of only six people in the first ever Indigenous Music Residency at CBC. Now he just has to figure out how to keep this momentum going. Ben Shannon and his 9-year-old daughter entered an international whistling competition on a lark. But then they got accepted, and things got serious. Find out how this father-daughter faced tough-talking whistling coaches, a case of stage fright, and Ben’s own shield of teenage irony.19-year-old Callum Long needs to find a job, but being on the autism spectrum is making his search a little more complicated. Trevor tags along with Callum and his dad in the family mini-van, as Callum puts on his best dress shirt and hands out resumes -- in the hopes someone says to him, "You're hired!"For Brenda Hernandez-Acosta, making empanadas and churro cheesecake has always been her love language. But now she’s ready to turn her hobby into a full-time business. She tells Trevor why she's finally ready to bet big on herself.
--------
45:20
--------
45:20
What doesn't kill you: Stories of survival, and what comes after
People survive all kinds of things - sickness, accidents, heartache. On this episode, we're exploring how people come out on the other side of that.Shannon Cornelsen knows she is from a family of survivors. On her mother’s side, many of her loved ones lived through the residential school system. And that’s what's motivating her to take on the task of reconnecting families of those who died in the Camsell, a hospital where many Indigenous people were taken from the North and never came home.15-year-old Yemaya Azania-Merchant went viral on TikTok for bearing a striking resemblance to Adonis Graham, the son of Canadian rap superstar, Drake. It didn't take long for the negative comments to start pouring in. Yemaya tells us how they survived the wrath of the Internet.Three hundred and seventy two days. That’s how long Justin Barbour survived living off the land while trekking across the tundra of northeastern Canada. It was a self-imposed expedition that pushed him to his limits - but for Justin, the biggest challenge was leaving the woods and returning to his regular lifeTrousdale's General Store in Sydenham, Ontario has been around since 1836 - surviving two world wars, pandemics, even Amazon. Fifth-generation store owner John Trousdale shares the secret to lasting this long.Back in 2016, Philippe St-Pierre's annual hunting trip with friends turned into a nightmare, when the plane he was piloting experienced engine failure and crashed into the woods. Philippe survived, but his two friends Alain Lafontaine and Eric Cossette did not. Philippe tells us how being the sole survivor left him wrestling with some big questions.
--------
53:02
--------
53:02
Show me what you got! A celebration of your weirdest and wildest talents
Today we're celebrating all the cool stuff people are good at, in our own version of “Canada’s Got Talent.” When Rick Ammazzini sees a locked safe without a key, he doesn’t see an impenetrable door, he sees an opportunity to test his skills as an amateur safe cracker. For Rick, it's not about discovering potential riches inside, it's about unlocking a portal to a specific time in history.The newest member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is also their youngest. 17-year-old Julin Cheung shares his thoughts on being labelled a prodigy, and what it really takes to be talented. Tanya Ryan is a talented singer-songwriter from Alberta who's won country music ‘Rising Star’ awards and performed at Calgary Stampede. But after 12 years of trying to make it in the music industry, Tanya is hanging up her guitar for good. She tells us about coming to terms with the fact that talent isn’t always enough.Don Vickers of Sydney Mines, NS says he has a horrible memory, but he still managed to break a world record in the competitive world of memory sports.And Paul Anthony’s "Talent Time!" is a long-running live show in Vancouver with a very broad definition of what it means to be talented. A seniors' vaudeville troupe, a kids' Kung Fu class, a rabbit agility club – all have a stage here. Paul tells Ify why he doesn’t want to put the notion of ‘talent,’ or his show, in a box.
--------
58:30
--------
58:30
Why would you volunteer for that?!?
There are lots of reasons to volunteer - and many excuses not to. So as Canada faces a critical volunteer shortage, what is motivating those who do?Ify takes to the streets of Toronto to find out where and why people are volunteering (or not).Seven days a week, Ashley Van Aggelen is coaching kids in hockey, basketball, soccer, and badminton. She gives up all her evenings, barely sees her friends, and bounces between multiple practices and games in a week. So what keeps this super-volunteer going?After getting fed up with the lack of emergency services in his community, Ian Hicks decided to buy a fire truck from the set of Rambo: First Blood. And just like that, a small town B.C. fire department was born. How a rag-tag collection of volunteers transformed into critical first-responders.Michele Botel grew up afraid of felines. So why did she volunteer to feed a colony of feral cats?Lyall Davis has one mission: to keep the community radio station in Killaloe, Ontario from going off the air. But without volunteers, the station will have to sign off for good - something he's worked too hard to let happen.Vanessa Genier (Missanabie Cree First Nation) shares what she gets out of volunteering her time making quilts for residential school survivors.Angela McBride volunteers to sit with people at the end of their lives - listening to music, playing games, and talking about whatever people want to talk about. What these end-of-life conversations have taught Angela about living.Correction: An introduction to Now or Never originally broadcast on December 21, 2021 and rebroadcast on December 5, 2024 reported that the remains of 215 children were found at the site of a former Indian Residential School near Kamloops, B.C. in 2021. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation reported in May, 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had located remains. Community leaders later clarified that ground-penetrating radar had identified about 200 potential burial sites.
--------
53:51
--------
53:51
From menopause parties to "sex-mas," what unconventional milestones do you celebrate?
Hear the stories behind the one-of-a-kind anniversaries people mark on their calendars.Every December before Christmas, Now or Never producer Ariel Fournier goes with her mom to visit the cemetery where her dad was interred. It’s a tradition they mark on December 15 – her parents’ anniversary. But it’s not the day they got married, or the day they met...it’s the first time her parents (ahem) became intimate. Ariel and her mom, Adrienne Drobnies, address the awkwardness and discuss the deeper meaning of sharing this day together. For the last 102 years and counting, descendants and friends of what was once the largest Black settlement in Canada travel from all over to come to a homecoming celebration like no other. Michelle Robbins' family has been there for it all, and shares what this celebration means to her.3…2…1…MENOPAUSE! How do you enter menopause? Well, if you’re Coral Short, you ask guests to wear red, prepare an array of red foods, and throw a party.We asked Now or Never listeners to share a personal date they commemorate, and how they do it.And World AIDS Day on December 1 is a personal one for Anita Ikwue. Not only is it a chance to remember her father who died of AIDS when she was four years old, it’s a time to celebrate and fight stigma for the 27-year-old who was born with HIV.
In a world that can feel pretty scary, it’s easy to get stuck. This is a show that celebrates what it takes to try. To take the risk. To have the talk. To rock the speedo. Because making even the tiniest change takes courage, and hosts Ify and Trevor are here to remind you that you’re not alone when you do. New episodes every Thursday.
USA