Advertise on podcast: The North

The Capitol Theatre, Yellowknife's only movie theatre, will close on March 31. It had been losing money for years. Theatre general manager Chris Wood joined Ollie to talk about why it's going away.

Billions of dollars in spending appears headed for Yellowknife and Inuvik to ramp up the Canadian Armed Forces' presence and enforce Arctic sovereignty. To what extent is this the North's next big economic driver? The two communities' mayors took our questions.

Norman Wells is losing its wells. Does that mean it's losing everything? Imperial Oil announced on Friday it will end operations at its Norman Wells facility, which is more than a century old, later this year. Norman Wells exists because of the oil field, so our reporters asked residents and leaders what this means for the community.

Harley Minakis and his family were travelling home from a trip to Costa Rica for a wedding. Their return involved a short layover in Houston, Texas before catching a flight to Toronto. That's when Minakis, who is Gwich'in, says he was detained at the airport by US border agents. Here's the story. Plus: how two NWT jerseys ended up being worn by Connor McDavid, and why the Northern Journalism Training Initiative is closing.

Sydney Galusha and Brynn Chorostkowski are 16. Ella Skauge is 17. They are three fifths of the NWT's Team Kaufman at Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the women's curling national championship that starts on Friday. Meet the team here.

What can Yellowknife and the NWT learn from the Nordic countries about defence and emergencies? Ambassadors from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Finland were in the territorial capital this week. Plus AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse condemns Trump over Greenland as she opens the Dene National Assembly in Fort Good Hope, and we'll hear some of Prime Minister Mark Carney's World Economic Forum speech that resonated worldwide on the same day. And the new chair of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation will be Erwin Elias. Hear a little of his pitch to voters this week.

The NWT's MP joins Ollie to preview 2026, walk us through her priorities and discuss how Canada should be responding to US threats toward Greenland. Plus Janet Dean explains why her Territorial Agri-food Association has decided Yellowknife needs a new coffee festival. And if you hadn't previously heard of civet coffee... well, you might be surprised.

Kenny Ruptash has had about eight months as chair of Aurora College's board of governors. What does he want the college to achieve this year? Should it move its Yellowknife campus to a downtown mall? What about its Inuvik and Fort Smith campuses? And will it ever become a polytechnic university as planned? He joined us to talk about those topics. Plus Yellowknife's mayor and city manager take questions after City Hall announced elevated lead levels had been found in the water at some municipal facilities.

A compilation album being released this month promises to unite 30 bands from the past 30 years of NWT music history. Tyler WhiteKeyes tells us more. Plus: If someone sent you a voice note in Finnish, how would you dance to that? A Yellowknifer and a Thai-Norwegian are at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, figuring out the answer.

Air Tindi president Chris Reynolds walks us through how the airline responded to a crash that investigators say highlighted a problematic safety culture. The investigation report came out this week. Reynolds said big changes have been made since the accident. And Dian Papineau-Magill looks back at CKHR, the Hay River community radio station, which is no more. After years off the air, the CRTC has revoked CKHR's licence at its own request. The station was nearly 50 years old.

It's 10 years since Brenda Dragon started Aurora Heat, a Fort Smith-based firm making beaver fur hand warmers and related products. A decade on, the company is targeting people with chilly hands across the continent. Here's how. (Plus: Brenda describes how she's dealing with the stigma fur still attracts in places online.)

NEW NORTHERN PODCAST ALERT! Melaw Nakehk’o and Brie O’Keefe are rewatching CBC classic North of 60, set in a Dehcho village. Episode one is out today. Here's what to expect. Listen to Lynx River Revisited here. New episodes weekly!

Mahalia Yakeleya Newmark is Tulı́t'a Dene. She describes her life's work as being reconciliation and advocacy for murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls. Following the death of Tara Carpenter in Inuvik, Yakeleya Newmark is calling for a renewed focus on MMIWG and violence in the North. In an interview with Cabin Radio, she set out the steps she believes leaders and residents can take to help avoid tragedies and help families who are dealing with this form of loss.

What did you do with your weekend? Meet some Yellowknifers who spent their Saturday trying to run 6.7 km every hour for 24 hours at Yellowknife's ski club. The winner ran more than 107 km in 16 hours.

The History Channel's reality show Ice Road Truckers is back after an eight-year hiatus – and it has a new Yellowknife driver in the hot seat. The legendary Alex Debogorski may no longer be a star, but Scott Yuill has stepped up to represent the NWT. He joined Ollie to talk about the new season, which debuts on October 1, 2025.