The Sunday Magazine for January 26, 2025
This week on The Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay:
How Donald Trump's executive orders may stand up to legal scrutiny
Donald Trump kicked off his first week back in the White House by signing a slew of executive orders that serve to reshape the U.S. government's approach to immigration, the environment, diversity initiatives, and more. But legal challenges are quickly mounting, including a judge blocking Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship on Thursday. Mark Joseph Stern is a senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate. He joins Chattopadhyay to discuss how well all the president's Sharpie strokes may stand up to legal scrutiny.
Polar politics heat up, with plenty at stake for Canada
It's shaping up to be a new cold war at the top of the world... and not just because of Donald Trump's interest in acquiring Greenland. Climate change, Russia's war in Ukraine and China's sea route pursuit are all making the geopolitics of the Arctic increasingly complicated, with much at stake for Canada. Chattopadhyay explores the wider world of polar politics with Marc Lanteigne, a political scientist at the Arctic University of Norway, and Andrea Charron, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba.
Closure of Quebec Amazon warehouses delivers new questions about labour practices
Amazon has announced it's closing all its Quebec warehouses, including one in Laval, which made history last May as Canada's first Amazon facility to unionize. The company denies the closures are related, but the move has brought fresh scrutiny to its labour practices. In her documentary Union, Canadian filmmaker Brett Story captured the story of the first unionized Amazon workplace in the United States. She joins Chattopadhyay to talk about the relationship between workers and tech giants in our shifting political landscape.
Displaced teacher in Gaza begins the long journey home
Sunday marks one week since a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, meaning people displaced by the war in Gaza can begin making their way home. That includes Farida Algoul, an English teacher we first spoke with in October. She shares what life's been like since the fighting paused, and her hopes of reuniting with her parents when she begins the long journey by foot back home on Monday.
Living with 'little monsters': Author David A. Robertson shares his mental health journey
David A. Robertson is an award-winning author, editor and sought-after speaker on Canadian arts and Indigenous issues. But he says his interior life is filled with "little monsters" – chronic, often-debilitating anxiety and depression. Robertson joins Chattopadhyay to talk about why it's important for him to share his mental health struggles with his new book, All the Little Monsters, and what pillars of support have helped him along the way.