Early in the morning in Winnipeg, outside a grocery store, Dmytro is about to start his shift. Dmytro, who is in their mid-20s and identifies as non-binary, has only been in Canada for 18 months. They fled Ukraine when the Russian invasion was looming and could only leave the country because of a medical condition.

However, Ukraine amended its medical military exemptions, and Dmytro now fears they would be considered fit for duty. Plus, under Ukraine’s new conscription laws, they is required to return to Ukraine and register with a military enrollment office. Dmytro, though, wants to stay in Canada.

A version of this story is happening across many Ukrainian diaspora communities, as the Ukrainian government wants Ukrainian men living in countries like Canada to return and fight.

But many, like Dmytro, wish to remain where they are, as going home and putting on a uniform can mean being sent to the front and fighting in a war where there is a very real possibility of being killed.

However, for the Ukrainian government and for many who chose to go fight, this war is an existential fight for survival, and they need all the soldiers they can get.

In his documentary "Flight or Fight," John Chipman goes to Winnipeg, where the new conscription laws are sparking tensions among Ukrainians who fled the war, and those who stayed behind to fight. It’s a conflict over what it means to be loyal to your country.

Reported by John Chipman. Story Editing by Julia Pagel. The documentary originally aired on Sunday Magazine

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit

30 years ago, the Stanley Cup playoffs ignited a rumour that has been messing with Jane Macdougall’s life ever since.

It was June 14, 1994, and the Vancouver Canucks had made it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Rangers. The Canucks were magic on ice, so when they lost by just one goal, fans expected the team to come back blazing the next year.

Instead,1995 was a total letdown. The team seemed to have lost its chemistry and when a popular defenceman was abruptly traded, stories started swirling. The rumour became that the defenceman was having an affair with the goalie’s wife, destroying team morale and leaving the franchise flailing.

For nearly 30 years, Jane Macdougall (the goalie’s now ex-wife) has been dealing with the fallout of that rumour. She says she’s harangued about it constantly from all directions—strangers at parties, kids at her son’s school, even her accountant—they all have something to say about her “affair”.

But not only is the rumour false, it’s not even possible.

On this week’s Storylines, Acey Rowe tracks the Canucks rumour from locker rooms to chat rooms to NHL legends to figure out how a story like this snowballs, how it survived for 30 years, what really happened to the Canucks way back when, and what it is about sports fandom that makes rumours like this so common—because Jane Macdougall is far from alone.

Reported and produced by Acey Rowe. Story Editing by Willa Paskin and Evan Chung from the podcast Decoder Ring by Slate Magazine. Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit.

At a union hall in Detroit’s industrial River Rouge neighborhood, workers have come together to vote for a new leader. The event feels festive, with a fire pit, a tent, and even 'walking tacos,' which are taco meat mixed into a bag of Doritos. But there are dark clouds on the horizon for the future of their industry.

Many of these workers are employed by the Great Lakes Steel Works, a massive steel mill that provides raw materials for the U.S. automotive industry.

These workers have a lot on their minds. The company that runs their plant, U.S. Steel, might merge with the Japanese steel company Nippon Steel. Then there’s the rise of EVs, which will potentially disrupt the U.S. automotive sector. Layoffs have already been happening. Four years ago, the steel mill shut its blast furnace, and more than a 1000 workers lost their jobs.

People are worried about their futures, and how they see that future might impact the U.S. election.. Michigan’s 15 electoral college votes are critical for Biden's path if he hopes to get re-elected. Michigan is a swing state, which Biden won in the last election, but Trump took the first time he ran.

To understand what’s on these Michigan workers' minds, Pete Mitton traveled to Detroit to better understand the dynamics of the upcoming election and the economic realities of the blue-collar workers there for this documentary 'Detroit Takes the Wheel'.

Reported by Pete Mitton. Story Editing by John Chipman. This documentary originally aired on The Sunday Magazine.

Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit