Advertise on podcast: Now or Never

They send you emails, they call your phone, they try to lure you on social media. But their promises are empty and they’re really just after your money. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, scams cost Canadians at least 554 million dollars last year. But when you talk to the victims of these schemes, it becomes clear that more than money was lost. This week on Now or Never we’re with people as they put their lives back together and are trying to fight back after they’ve been scammed.  When 9-year old Beydan, and her 8-year old sister Fatima, were ripped-off while playing Roblox, their mom Rahma Shafi took the game away. Today they’re getting it back plus a lesson on how to be safe online In London, Ontario, Kim Stevens saved all her life for retirement, but is now declaring bankruptcy after being scammed out of her life savings just a few months ago. Now she is  actively sharing her experience in the hope of helping others. Over the years, Bonnie Bednarik has received multiple phone calls  from someone claiming to be her grandson, saying he’s in trouble and needs cash. Normally, Bonnie hangs up on these phone scammers. But one day, Bonnie decided to try something a little different. This 75-year-old Windsor grandmother shares how she set up her own sting operation to take the scammers down and the surprising turn her life took after that. On the west coast Kwagiulth artist Jason Henry Hunt has been carving for more than 30 years, like generations of his family before him. But it’s his unofficial job that takes up much of his time — battling the market of fraudulent Indigenous artwork that has flooded gift shops and even some galleries, and is threatening the future of the craft.  Toronto’s Cindy Browne still looks at the picture of the man she was in love with years after she discovered he wasn’t real and stole $26,000 from her. Because he may have been fake, but her love was true. What does she have to overcome to try and love again? And just in case you’re losing your faith in humanity, a story of when trusting strangers goes right:  International students Sele Akere and Dipo Oksesola saw an ad for a room to rent in Kelowna, they thought it was a scam by a tough biker. But they reached out anyway and discovered Kelowna’s Bill Pittman is really a big softie..and that probably saved Bill’s life.

Could you imagine solving a Rubik's Cube in under one second? Or summing up your entire life in 6 minutes? On this episode, every story is a race against time. SIX MINUTES. Richard Kemick is looking to dip his toe into the dating world again. There’s just one problem. His living situation is a little…..complicated. And tough to sum up in the six minutes he has to make a good first impression at an upcoming speed-dating event. He shares the terror and exhilaration of trying to distill your life’s story in a crunch. ONE YEAR. Find out what's on the line for Shandy, a single mom in Winnipeg counting down to one year of sobriety. TWO WEEKS: Lisa Lapointe is just weeks away from retiring as British Columbia’s chief coroner. And in the time she has left, she is sounding off about the toxic drug crisis in her province that is claiming seven lives every day. ONE HUNDRED DAYS: As kindergarten kids get closer to celebrating their first 100 days in school, Trevor sits down with some five-year-olds to find out what time means to them. 24 HOURS. She had less than 24 hours to get to L.A. and be camera ready for a gig at the Emmy Awards, so Amanda Buhse dropped everything and said yes to a whirlwind adventure and evening with the stars. ONE SECOND: What can you do in one second? Probably not much...but If you're Kyle Santucci, you can solve a 2x2 Rubik's Cube and set a national record. And the crazy part is…he thinks he can do it even faster. TEN DAYS: Even on vacation, there’s always one nagging thought on Kelly Konieczny’s mind: will the call about her kidney transplant happen today? In February, Kelly is part of an intense 10-day window where she has the best chance of finding a donor. After 30 years of waiting, will she finally find a donor?

When you don’t see eye-to-eye on something, how do you bridge the gap? Stories of people trying to understand each other better across cultural, generational, and family divides. After his father’s sudden death while on vacation in the Philippines, Jim Agapito rushed to his funeral. But when he arrived, he was thrown into an unfamiliar world where his somber understanding of mourning was replaced by superstition and festivities. Skipping school, debating strangers, and making muffins lowers the heat on climate change conversations for 16-year-old-old climate activist Teegan Walshe. On Tiktok and Instagram, content creator Nimay Ndolo is bold, funny, and incredibly open in ways that has her cousin Ify wondering just how well she knows her. Tired of being the only girl on the high school cricket team, Mahee Patel helped create Manitoba's first, and only, all-girl cricket team. Mahee and her teammates share about finding their competitive spirit and unexpected friendships on the cricket field. Desiree Kendrick may not always understand the acronyms in the frequent texts she gets from her daughter, Devonne, but when it comes to bridging the generation gap, this mom and daughter are BFFs. (OMG IMO this story is GR8) And be it resolved: Debating teams can argue passionately on both sides of a polarizing disagreement. Yay or Nay? Ify and Trevor seek advice on how to disagree more constructively with newly crowned national champions, the University of Northern BC debate team.

When humans and nature collide, you never know what will happen. This week on Now or Never, stories of close encounters with the natural world. Andrew Phung brings us into the battle zone: the laneway of his Toronto home, where he faces off every day against a team of raccoons.  After witnessing the effects of the climate crisis in BC this past year, Hafsa Salihue and Ryan Laing are on opposite sides about whether they should have a child.  Meet Colleen Cassady St. Clair, the Queen of Coyotes! This University of Alberta professor has dedicated her research to Edmonton's urban coyote population, and her freetime to getting coyotes and humans to co-exist peacefully. It just involves some weighted tennis balls, umbrellas, and a very loud voice.  And in the face of  town bylaws and disapproving neighbours, Beth and Craig Sinclair are determined to let the lawn of their Smiths Falls, Ontario home go wild.

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? Seven days a week, Ashley Van Aggelen is out there coaching. She gives up all her evenings, barely sees her friends, and bounces between multiple basketball, hockey, and soccer games in a single 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? Ify takes to the streets of Toronto to find out why people are volunteering (or not). 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. Since the remains of 215 children were uncovered at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, Vanessa Genier (Missanabie Cree First Nation) has been volunteering her time making quilts for residential school survivors. And 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.

In an age where over-sharing and trauma-dumping has become the norm, is there such a thing as TMI anymore? On this episode, hear how people are navigating the freedom and discomfort of letting it all out. Would you reveal how old you are? The last time you cried? How much money is in your bank account? Trevor and Ify get nosy with their fellow CBC Radio hosts Paul Haavardsrud (Cost of Living), Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe (The Block, CBC Music), and Piya Chattopadhyay (The Sunday Magazine), to find out how much personal information they are willing to reveal...on air. After serving as an intelligence officer during the Persian Gulf War, Sean Bruyea risked everything to expose a government secret - and he’s still experiencing the consequences of that today. Lindsay Wong is a bit of a conundrum: She's uncomfortable with attention, but she also wrote a best-selling memoir about her family's struggle with undiagnosed mental illness. Five years after spilling her family's secrets, Lindsay is reconsidering how much is too much to share in such a public way. Hairstylist Meghan Kinitaon reveals the most jaw-dropping things people have told her in the salon chair - and how she deals with trauma-dumping. And writer Danny Ramadan says challenges to his children's books as being "too much information" for their LGBTQ+ content feel personal. Why he's not letting these challenges slow him down.

It’s January in Canada, and if the cold and dark is getting you down, Now or Never is offering you an escape. Turn on your SAD lamps, turn up the heat and tune in to be transported to summertime. Eight-year old Simon Khaoniam of Winnipeg wants to go to a sleep away camp for the first time. But because of his life threatening allergies, mom Morgan Klachefsky is struggling to let him go. Cochrane’s Bailey Shellenberg made history as the first girl to qualify in junior steer riding on one of the biggest rodeo circuits in the country in 2019. In this encore presentation we hear her try to take a title. A ring for a ring. That’s the ultimatum British Columbia's Justin Griffore’s girlfriend gave him when he asked if they could put a wrestling ring in their backyard. Hear what happened next in this encore presentation. Host Ify Chiwetelu and her younger sister Chisom hop in a tandem kayak and head out on Lake Ontario for the first time, even though neither of them can swim. After a life-changing accident injured his spinal cord, Manitoba engineer Corey Mazinke used his skills to invent devices that help him navigate his new normal. Including a wheelchair that will take him to the beach. Minnie Schentag spent more than 40 years building her backyard Winnipeg garden, but had to move due to failing health. When she heard the new owners planned to tear up the plants, neighbour Gail Howell sprang into action to preserve Minnie’s garden. (encore presentation)

On this winter solstice -- the longest night of the year -- we're jumping in with people finding ways to bring light into the dark. As the sun sets earlier and earlier, thousands of Winnipeggers head to the zoo to bask in the glow of 1.5 million Christmas lights. Trevor Dineen joins in the fun and asks kids just how important it is to brighten up the night. Lena Griffin zip ties thousands of lights along a swaying suspension bridge over a wild northern river in her Nisga'a village, to create a dazzling display that honors lost family and friends. In Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord), Nunavut, the northernmost community in Canada, Laisa Watsko shares a glimpse of life in the middle of dark season. Virginia O’Dine, a stand-up comedian on the small town circuit, tries to make sense of the joy and pain in her life, after her daughter’s Olympic victories and the loss of her son to cancer. As the sun dips behind the rocky mountains in southern Alberta, Tracey Klettle and Tim Mearns are strapping on snowshoes for another stargazing tour. It’s their way of passing along messages from Tim’s mom, about the importance of making friends with the dark. Kerry Kijewski shares her changing relationship with darkness as she becomes almost totally blind, and more Now or Never listeners share their solstice traditions and memories.

If you're scrambling to find the perfect gift this holiday season, get inspired with stories and advice from people working through their gift-giving dilemmas. (And best of all...most of these gifts are completely free!). After 23 years of marriage, M.J. Kang is determined to break the gift-giving rut she and her husband Oren have fallen into…as soon as she finds the perfect gift. After a northern miner’s home burns to the ground, more than 100 strangers in a distant city pitch in to help him rebuild. So why is it so hard for Guy Martial to accept their gift of kindness? Ophira Eisenberg attempts some high-level negotiations with her 8-year-old son over his epic Hanukkah wish list. Newly dating couple Marcello Di Cintio and Shari Beverage have thrown down a Christmas challenge for each other: all their gifts have to be made by hand. Except Marcello isn't particularly crafty. And the wooden nesting dolls he's painting look like a horror show. We check in on how they're each dealing with the pressure of high (and crafty) expectations. Singer-songwriter Ila Barker gifted herself a tiny chihuahua puppy for her birthday two weeks ago, to celebrate a whirlwind year of travel and hustling to promote her music. Will Sunny the puppy behave as she and her musicians perform? Luna Bella Zuniga has transformed hundreds of kids’ bedrooms over the years, using nothing but paint and her imagination to create lush forests, starry ceilings and playful shrines to Elmo. How the gift of a magical space to call their own helps kids going through tough times.

Relationship need a rescue? All our friends are talking about how to keep it hot, so we scoured the country to bring you six couples who are #relationshipgoals and asked them for their secrets. Thank us later. T.A. and June MacKay have been together more than 60 years and rarely fought. Why these 90-year-olds swear by a double bed. Amelia Merrick and Res Krebs climb into a bath together and share why she chose him as her first lover when she was a 39-year-old virgin. Martine Dugazon slid into Michelle Osbourne’s DMs and went from the friend zone to engaged thanks to acts of service and words of affirmation in Quebec City. Taunting,teasing, and making each other laugh. That’s how Sheena Melwani and her husband, 'The Real Indian Dad' keep it hot and share with their over 10 million followers on Tik Tok. For Peter Verge and Shelley Hunt, living apart - but under the same roof - has actually brought them closer together. Find out why the laundry room is their favourite room in the house. With parenting getting in the way of romance, Toronto's Domenique Raso and Josh Roarke are finally heading out on a date. The last one was an epic fail…will they make it out the door this time?

Come along for the big moments Canadians are experiencing around the world right now. He used to be a DJ at The Moose radio station in small-town Smithers, BC. Today, Dancin’ Wayne hypes up tens of thousands of soccer fans as a World Cup stadium host, energizing crowds with his breakdancing, chanting, and hot-pink suits. When Stephen and Sara Cole decided to sell their home in Fergus, Ontario, they knew they wanted something different -- but they never dreamed they’d end up with an 11-bedroom, 6300 square foot chateau in Southwestern France. Or the upkeep that comes along with it. #chateauproblems News headlines, social media posts, and messages in the family group chat carry Lima Al-Azzeh, a Palestinian-Canadian living in Vancouver, straight into Gaza. 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 moon mission next November. And ten years after a life-changing car accident left Jen Schuringa with a traumatic brain injury that impacts her ability to move voluntarily and speak, she and a group of family and friends take on Spain's Camino de Santiago.

Stories of people saying enough is enough, and taking matters into their own hands. Seven days a week, Jenny McDougall drives from homeless shelters to motels and tents by the river, delivering prescription medication to drug users, hoping to stop overdose deaths.  Sophie Davie always knew she wanted kids, but at the age of 35, she hadn’t found the right partner. So instead of waiting, she decided to have a baby on her own. At five months pregnant, Sophie shares how she's preparing for single parenthood - and why she chose a sperm donor who's really good at basketball. Shawn Bath wouldn't exactly call himself an eco-warrior. Yet this former fisherman spends all his free time and money cleaning up trash dumped into the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. Tired of seeing the impacts of violence they witnessed in their community, Mohamed Hassan and Ahmed Shiddo decided to take action by hosting gatherings for Somali youth in the GTA.  And Amanda Caskenette and Dave Barrett are fed up with capitalism -- so for the past five years, they’ve been trying to remove themselves from the system by growing most of their own food, and experimenting with off-the-grid living on the shores of Lake Superior.