PAST Programs

Overboard She was the adventurous daughter of Canadian hockey icon Bob Gainey and when Laura Gainey was swept overboard from the deck of the tall ship, the Picton Castle, last year it was reported as a tragic accident. But, Gillian Findlay and a fifth estate team have investigated and found that there are disturbing questions about the safety conditions on the ship and about two conflicting reports about what happened the night Laura was swept into the Atlantic Ocean. more

Brian Mulroney: The Unauthorized Chapter, Update Watch the story that ignited a political firestorm. In Brian Mulroney: The Unauthorized Chapter, Linden MacIntyre and a fifth estate team report new revelations about the relationship between the two men as well as details about the attempt to cover the trail of the $300,000 the former Prime Minister received from Schreiber. Karlheinz Schreiber goes on the record to talk about a story from inside the world of Canadian politics. more

Twice Lucky It's a fantasy most of us have indulged in. A lucky break that sets us up financially for life. When one young woman hit the jackpot and won more than $12 million, she got another lucky break. When there were questions about how she got her lucky lotto ticket, the crown corporation looking into it was too disorganized to get the answers. Linden MacIntyre reports. more

Downhill Racer He was one of the greatest skiers Canada has ever produced. But, of all the Crazy Canucks, Dave Irwin was also known for something else: his spectacular crashes. In 2001, while training on a ski slope in Banff, Irwin crashed again, compounding the concussions of years before. But, this time, when he opened his eyes, there was nothing and no one he recognized or remembered. Bob McKeown has the miraculous story of Dave Irwin. more

The Lady Vanishes When a woman leaves her home in Nova Scotia to travel to England, it isn't usually cause for an international criminal investigation. But, the script for Heli Munroe's trip is straight out of Alfred Hitchcock. Heli's husband, Sandy, says she simply vanished one day and that her own brother was her kidnapper. Now, he can't get her back. With a story like that, Sandy reaped a lot of public sympathy. But, what really happened? Hana Gartner investigates. more

Brian Mulroney: The Unauthorized Chapter The launch of Brian Mulroney's volume of memoirs was the publishing event of this year. But, in more than 1,000 comprehensive pages of anecdote and information there is one notable name missing--Karlheinz Schreiber--the German dealmaker at the centre of the darkest chapter of Mr. Mulroney's life. Linden MacIntyre and a fifth estate team report new revelations about the relationship between the two men as well as details about the attempt to cover the trail of the $300,000 cash the former Prime Minister received from Schreiber. more

UPDATE: Denial Machine In the past few years, a rhetorical firestorm has engulfed the debate about global warming, pitting science against spin, with inflammatory words on both sides. That debate only intensifed recently when former Vice-President Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize for his populist environmental campaign. Last season, the fifth estate's Bob McKeown investigated the roots of another kind of campaign--one to negate the science and the threat of global warming. You can watch The Denial Machine again, more timely than ever, with new, updated information. more

If Justice Fails It seemed like and open and shut case for the police and the prosecutors. A carload of dubious characters, a blast from a sawn-off shotgun, a body and then a trial that delivered Erin Michael Walsh to a penetentiary to serve a life sentence. For more than 30 years, the convicted killer proclaimed his innocence. Now, Linden MacIntyre reports, recovered evidence has put vindication within Erin Walsh's grasp, but there is a new urgency to have his name cleared: doctors have given him another kind of life sentence. more

Bust-Up in Bountiful This is the next chapter in the fascinating story of the notorious polygamous community of Bountiful, British Columbia. Since the fifth estate first visited the town and met its leader, Winston Blackmore, much has happened both within and without this break-away sect of Mormons. Authorities, in the United States and Canada, are investigating them and a bitter, potentially dangerous, power struggle has developed between Winston Blackmore and the sect's self-proclaimed prophet, the American Warren Jeffs. Hana Gartner again visits the once idyllic community of Bountiful and sits down to talk to Winston Blackmore. more

Firestar .45 The story of two journeys--a .45 calibre handgun from Jonesboro, Georgia and a young boy from Jamaica--and how their fates collide tragically in a home in suburban Toronto, is the subject of the fifth estate's season premiere. The Firestar .45 that killed six-year-old Michael James is just one of the illegal handguns that flood across the U.S. border and end up in Canadian cities where they become weapons of mayhem and murder. Bob McKeown takes us from the gun dealer to the violent streets of American cities, through the halls of power in Washington and into the heart of America's gun industry, a National Rifle Association convention, and illuminates a story that is filling today's headlines. more

The Lies that Led to War Since the US-led invasion four years ago, the fifth estate has covered Iraq and the war on terror from virtually every angle--the military, media, intellligence, politics--revealing aspects of the story that you didn't find anywhere else. Now, as the White House warns about the latest threat in the region, this time from Iran, we go back to examine the deception, suspect intelligence, even lies that convinced the world of the rightness of targeting Saddam Hussein. more

The Good Father For four decades, Father Charles Sylvestre tended a number of Catholic parishes in southwestern Ontario. He had committed his life to serving God on earth. But, during that time, Father Sylvestre had a secret--he sexually molested little girls between the ages of 9 and 12 and, for years, he got away it because the church kept silent, protecting the priest and its own public image. the fifth estate's Hana Gartner investigates the story of Father Sylvestre, through the testimony of some of his victims, police interrogation video, and senior members of the Catholic clergy.more

Road Warriors Experts say there is a potential 'road-rager' inside all of us. They also say that this brand of rage victimizes, from injury to death, more and more people every year. Tension fuels anger, anger fuels aggression…and according to the people who keep the stats, aggressive driving may be a factor in nearly two-thirds of all fatal car crashes. the fifth estate's Gillian Findlay discovered that this trend has been heading the wrong way for years, but in this country we're only just starting to notice. Canada's roads are getting busier and busier and the most unlikely people can explode with rage. And there's no way to predict who will strike back. The highway may be the only place, one expert told the fifth estate, "where you'll see vengeance displayed on a daily basis." And the results can be devastating. more

Among the Believers: Cracking the Toronto Terror Cell Last summer, Toronto's mostly moderate Muslim community found itself in the glare of unwelcome public attention from the international media when eighteen men were charged with plotting terrorist attacks on Canadian soil. In a special co-production with PBS Frontline, the fifth estate goes inside the alleged terror cell. A Muslim fundamentalist who infiltrated the cell reveals to the fifth estate's Linden MacIntyre the inner workings of the cell and its members. These are young men who have adopted a brand of Islam that they believe sanctions jihad in their home city and against their fellow citizens. more

The Steven Truscott Story: The Moment of Truth For more than forty-five years, the murder of teenager Lynn Harper and the fate of the boy convicted of her killing, Steven Truscott, has haunted this country. At the age of 14, Steven Truscott was sentenced to hang for the crime. After ten years behind bars, his sentence was commuted and Truscott disappeared in anonymity, living under another name, in southern Ontario. But, lingering doubts about Truscott's trial and details around the murder never went away. Several years ago, the fifth state uncovered evidence that showed the case against Truscott was dubious, at best, and in an exlcusive interview, Canada finally saw the man Truscott had become; a hardworking, dedicated father and grandfather, surrounded by people who passionately believe in his innocence. Now, Truscott faces what may be his final battle to clear his name; his conviction is before an appeals court and the fifth estate updates our coverage of one of the most famous and controversial stories in Canadian history. more

The Rat For months afterward, no one could make sense of the shocking shooting in a Toronto sandwich shop that left an innocent bystander, Louise Russo, paralyzed. With no motive and not a single clue, police investigators got an incredible break when Raffaele Delle Donne discovered that membership in the mafia brings no honour, no loyalty, no protection; only betrayal. Once a member of a Toronto mafia family, Delle Donne is now a man on the run, with a price on his head. His involvement in the mob hit that claimed Louise Russo as its only victim, convinced Delle Donne to risk his life, and the life of his family by turning police informer. He steps out of the shadows to talk to the fifth estate's Hana Gartner. She investigates the story of the mob member turned rat and she talks to Louise Russo about that night in the Toronto sandwich shop when so many lives were altered forever. more

The Denial Machine In the past few years, a hurricane has engulfed the debate about global warming. This crucial scientific issue has become a rhetorical firestorm with science pitted against spin and inflammatory words on both sides. Bob McKeown investigates why a debate that some say could determine the very future of our planet has become a partisan battleground. The Denial Machine follows a small but powerful group of scientists who argue, among other claims, that global warming may be a good thing and it investigates their links to the oil and coal industries. more

The Iceman In August of 1989, Duncan MacPherson was setting off to start a new life as a hockey coach in Europe. But the 23-year-old Saskatoon native and former NHL first-round draft choice took a holiday detour to the Austrian Alps and then disappeared…for 14 years. Hana Gartner investigates the story of Duncan's disappearance and his mother's and father's determination to uncover the truth, in the face of bureaucratic obstinacy. more

Luck of The Draw It's a gamble that most of us have taken at one point or another: bought a ticket at a corner store and hoped that when those little white balls stop spinning we will be the newest lottery winner. Most of us remain disappointed in the results. But what if you did win the lottery? And what if you never found out? A fifth estate investigation has uncovered new statistics about how often clerks or retailers are winning. A prominent statistician talks about the chances of this happening as often as it does. The results may astonish you. more

Avenging Angel To his family and friends in Cape Breton, Stephen Marshall was a quiet, sweet-natured young man. But, on the Easter weekend of 2006, his family, his community, the country was stunned by the news that Stephen Marshall had gunned down two men whose names he'd found in a Maine sex offender registry on the internet and then killed himself. The quiet, young man from Cape Breton joined a growing list of killers whose crimes are swift, brutal, incomprehensible. The survivors are left asking why. Linden MacIntyre and the fifth estate went in search of an answer. more

Crime Pays Some people have found that not only does crime pay in this country, but it can also be an extremely lucrative career choice. Bob McKeown looks at five individuals linked by their prosperous careers on the wrong side of the law. Find out about "Mr. Big" who runs a drug smuggling enterprise from the Halifax port. Who is the "Teflon Don" of Canada's organized crime families? Who is British Columbia's "Mister Clean", believed to be connected to all manner of criminal activity, but never been charged? In their private lives, they indulge themselves in expensive pastimes and toys, and it's great, as long as they can stay one step ahead of the law. It's life in the fast, and felonious lane. more

Lost in the Struggle For almost a year, three young men who grew up on the rough streets of the Jane and Finch area of Toronto, gave Gillian Findlay and the fifth estate unprecedented access to the complexities that make up their neighbourhood and their world. For these three friends--Chuckie, Burnz and Freshy--the Jane and Finch area is a tough world to navigate, an even tougher one to escape. It is a story that will resonate in cities across the country. more

Failing Jeffery Five-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin was found dead in his grandmother's east Toronto house in 2002. Officially, Jeffrey died of pneumonia, the result of breathing in his own feces, but the real cause was severe, prolonged malnutrition. Four months after his death, his grandparents, in whose care he had been placed by the Toronto Catholic Children's Aid Society, were arrested and ultimately convicted of second-degree murder. The grandparents, Elva Bottineau and Norman Kidman had a history of child abuse; Jeffrey was not the first child to die in Elva's care. And this history of abuse was detailed in CCAS files. Gillian Findlay and the fifth estate have investigated the death of Jeffrey Baldwin to find out why and how this couple could have been given custody of Jeffrey and his siblings. more

What Happened Next At the fifth estate we like to check back in on some of the reports we've broadcast and find out what happened next to the people we've met. We'll be bringing you updates on four stories: A man wrongly convicted of murder and finally exonerated finds a life outside of prison that involves an unbelievable Hollywood-style transformation. Find out if a maverick judge, long a thorn in the side of her province's judiciary and its government and who fought to keep her place on the Bench, was able to do so. Shannon, Quebec was a small community with a big problem when we first met them--the military base next door was slowly poisoning their water supply. They fought back, with surprising results And when Ted Nolan was awarded the NHL's Coach of the Year, his career should have been secured. So, why wasn't it? And what's he doing now?

The Choking Game When an Edmonton mother went looking for clues and answers as to why her well-adjusted nine-year-old son might have committed suicide, she discovered some information about a disturbing social phenomenon called the choking game. Linden MacIntyre reports that doctors and medical examiners in Canada and the United States are slowly beginning to re-assess how widespread the game is and whether deaths, once thought to be suicides, may in fact be victims of this deadly game. more

Local Hero When he was a little boy, Elwood Battist was a longshot to survive at all, let alone thrive. What happened to him was a typical scenario for someone so disabled--decades in an institution, little hope for a life "outside". But, Elwood's story has taken a remarkable turn and the impact of one man and his attitude on the Ontario town where he lives has turned him into a local hero. more

You Be the Judge For most of Wayne Carlson's life, the only thing between his life inside prison and the outside world seemed to be a revolving door. Finally, several years ago, Wayne Carlson was released from a prison in Drumheller, Alberta and it looked as though he was about to put his life of crime and institutions behind him. He married a good woman, wrote a book called Breakfast With The Devil, courted celebrity and then, inevitably, those who know him would say, he landed back inside. Now, at 63, he is struggling to convince a parole board and those who know him best, perhaps his last chance to do so, that he is capable of redemption and deserves another chance on the outside. Granted unusual access, Linden MacIntyre and a fifth estate team attend Carlson's parole board hearing and let you be the judge. more

Money, Truth and Spin An exclusive story from inside the world of Canadian politics. For the first time, dealmaker Karlheinz Schreiber sits down in front of television cameras to answer questions about his secretive past and about his relationship with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. As Linden MacIntyre reports, Schreiber goes on the record to talk about the $300,000 the former Prime Minister received from him, where that money came from and the fallout, both public and private, that ensued from it. more

On the Edge of Glory They can travel across the ice at more than 30 km an hour. They can withstand G forces twice as strong as the wildest roller coaster ride. But for competitive skaters a career can come crashing down in just four and a half minutes. With unprecedented behind-the-scenes access, the fifth estate follows five figure skaters, each with a dream of making the Canadian Olympic team: Jeff Buttle, Emanuel Sandhu, Christopher Mabee, Joannie Rochette and Lesley Hawker. On the Edge of Glory is an intimate look at these skaters as pressure increases, the months tick by and the competitions become more fierce. more

The Murdered Bride This is a story of forbidden love; the story of Jassi and Mithu Sidhu. Jassi, a young Canadian woman and Mithu, an impoverished rickshaw driver met when Jassi was visiting India. She knew her family would never accept Mithu, so they eloped. Not long after their marriage, the two were attacked on a deserted road. Mithu was left for dead. Jassi was found, the next morning, in a ditch, her throat slit. The men arrested for her murder swore their orders came from Canada. In 2001, the fifth estate uncovered new information about Jassi's murder, but the official investigation into the case, in India and in Canada, was far from complete. Bob McKeown travels to India to find Mithu and to confront Jassi's killers. more

Bust-Up in Bountiful This is the next chapter in the fascinating story of the notorious polygamous community of Bountiful, British Columbia. Since the fifth estate first visited the town and met its leader, Winston Blackmore, much has happened both within and without this break-away sect of Mormons. Authorities, in the United States and Canada, are investigating them and a bitter, potentially dangerous, power struggle has developed between Winston Blackmore and the sect's self-proclaimed prophet, the American Warren Jeffs. Hana Gartner again visits the once idyllic community of Bountiful and sits down to talk to Winston Blackmore. more

A Knock on the Door In December 2001, the Connelly family of Ottawa was given the worst possible news: their 22-year-old son John, a third-year university student, was dead. Police told them that their son had committed suicide, jumped off the roof of his ten-storey apartment building. the Connellys could not believe that John would kill himself. So they began asking questions about their son's death and soon found themselves doing the investigation the police had not done. Bob McKeown tells the tale of one family's fight to find the truth behind the official story. more

BLACK DAWN What would happen if the World Health Organization declared what has long been expected and feared: human-to-human transmission of the avian flu virus? Black Dawn is a docudrama featuring leading epidemiologists, doctors and emergency planners who imagine the impact avian flu would have as it spreads around the globe. Some predict the coming pandemic will be more lethal than all of the world's previous plagues. Black Dawn combines expert opinions with dramatic recreations to paint a starkly realistic picture of life during the next pandemic. more

Tsunami: Untold Stories the fifth estate reveals untold stories from people who were caught in the deadly force of the tsunami in December 2004 -- stories of super-human strength, twists of fate and dreadful loss. Their lives have been forever altered by one of the worst natural disasters in human history. more

In a Hail of Bullets It was the RCMP's darkest day in more than a century. How did it happen? How could a lone gunman, James Roszko, shoot and kill four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers before turning his rifle on himself? Twenty-four hours after the tragic shootings on Roszko's farm -- with the image of dead Mounties lying in the snow forever seared into the national psyche -- the fifth estate set out to answer that question. more

Frost Bite The story of the young NHL player who hired a hit man to kill his agent filled newspaper pages and television newscasts. Last November, a fifth estate investigation revealed that there was much more to the story of Mike Danton and David Frost than was previously known. Previously unheard tapes of conversations between Danton and Frost, showed that despite Danton's conviction for the crime, the bizarre bond between the player and his agent is as strong as ever. Now, Bob McKeown and a fifth estate team have investigated new revelations about Frost's involvement. more

Giving Death a Hand In Giving Death a Hand, the fifth estate's Hana Gartner investigates the Canadian connection to a mysterious death in Dublin, Ireland. The connection is a 72-year-old grandmother from British Columbia named Evelyn Martens who, last year, was charged, tried and acquitted by a Canadian jury for her part in assisting suicides. Gartner profiles Martens from her childhood in Depression-era Saskatchewan, her marriages and children, to her role in an international network dealing in death. more

A Few Bad Apples They were the photos that shocked the world. Detainees in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison attacked by dogs, made to crawl on all fours while on the end of a leash, hooded with electrical wires attached to limbs. This humiliation, even torture, was carried out by their guards, members of the American military. President Bush and his government wanted the public to believe that this was the work of just a few bad apples. But, an investigative team from the fifth estate, led by reporter Gillian Findlay, takes us inside one of these notorious images, talks to the American soldiers who were there, and finds a markedly different story. more

Fasten Your Seatbelts In November, 2005, the fifth estate investigated the state of airport security in this country. In the wake of September 11, 2001, the Canadian government followed the lead of the Americans and quickly installed new technology in airports: state-of-the-art screening devices that could find hidden weapons or bombs or detect explosive materials. It all cost billions of dollars, but was it effective? One airport screener, Bill Butler, contacted the fifth estate to tell us that, in his experience, the technology was only as good as the people operating it and in charge of it. You'd think his employer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), would have been grateful to have one of their employees expose serious flaws in their security systems. They weren't, and Bill Butler paid a very steep price for his candor. more

Dark Crystal Sweeping across the towns and cities of western Canada and headed eastward at an alarming pace is the drug known as crystal meth. It's more addictive than heroin or cocaine at a fraction of the cost and the high it gives can last for days. And, unlike heroin or cocaine, it can be cooked up in an kitchen or basement lab using a recipe posted on internet sites and with ingredients found on the shelves at the local pharmacy. Gillian Findlay investigates how two towns in British Columbia's interior are dealing with a crystal meth epidemic among their young people. more

Web of Deceit When PEI native Melissa Friedrich was arrested in Florida and charged with exploitation of the elderly in January 2005, her past revealed a long and complex criminal history that began in the Maritimes and included a conviction for manslaughter in the death of one husband. Another husband died under what his family believes are suspicious circumstances and what finally landed her in a Tampa jail was enough evidence to convince authorities that yet another man might be at risk. Linden MacIntyre investigates the story of the woman who has been called a "black widow".

THE BIG BREAK Where do the great ships go to die? When these behemoths are no longer fit to sail safely on the seas, they're dismantled piece by piece and sold for scrap. Most end up in third world countries, where thousand of workers risk their lives for mere pennies a day dismantling the world's ships, including Canada's. It's some of the most dangerous work in the world, done in the name of profit for shipping companies, where it's cheaper than a certified facility in our own backyard. more

First, Do No Harm Almost everyone has the same feeling: there may be a few bad doctors out there, doctors who harm their patients, but not MY doctor. My doctor's terrific. But, what if that wasn't the case? What would happen then? Gillian Findlay investigates the case of one doctor, Errol Wai-Ping, a gynecologist accused of mistreating, misdiagnosing and botching the surgeries of dozens of women. And yet, complaints from patients to medical authorities went unheeded for more than a decade. more

What Happened Next In the course of producing our stories for the fifth estate we meet some remarkable people. Life doesn't stop for them after our television cameras go away, so we like to check back in and find out what happened next. If there's a theme in this group of stories then it's that everyone you'll meet is a fighter of some kind. Hana Gartner has two stories--the first, a young woman in Medicine Hat, Alberta named Melanie Serr, who has fought the odds against a terrible disease. The other, Margaret Sidoroff, we first met as a female World boxing champion, a real-life Million Dollar Baby. Linden MacIntyre re-visits Jeffrey Wigand, a man who fought the powerful tobacco industry and became a whistleblower immortalized in the Hollywood movie The Insider. And Bob McKeown tells us about Luben Boykov and Elena Popova. When we first met the young Bulgarian couple they had fled Communist repression and were fighting to be able to stay and create a new life in Newfoundland. Find out what happened next.

Blood Brothers Imagine if your child had a life threatening illness. There is a potential cure, but it's risky and controversial. What would you do? Last season we brought you the story of Jason and Michelle Whittaker's extraordinary battle to provide a cure for their desperately ill son, Charlie, by creating Britain's first designer baby. They created a life to save a life. The news of the Whittaker's decision created a ferocious debate with accusations of creating a "spare parts" baby, something the Whittakers vehemently refuted. In the concluding chapter of this story, Charlie receives the stem cell transplant from his baby brother, Jamie. It's the hardest decision of the Whittakers' life. What hangs on their decision is Charlie's life.

Sticks and Stones The United States is in the midst of a very un-civil war. It's a war of words that's pitting conservative against liberal, that's already divided the country into red and blue. The new gladiators are commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter and their forum is the television studios of networks like Fox. It's loud, it's raucous, but does it have anything to do with the truth? more

The Canadian How does a Canadian, born and raised in our nation's capital, end up on a list of international terrorists? Hana Gartner reports on the federal government employee who went to work on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday morning last March 29, unaware the RCMP was watching his every move. Hours later, he was led away in handcuffs as part of a global anti-terrorist sweep, involving Canadian security, American intelligence and British secret service. Anonymous computer whiz Momin Khawaja instantly became notorious as the first person to be charged under Canada's new anti-terrorist law.

War Without Borders On March 11, 2004 bombs ripped apart commuter trains arriving at Madrid's Atocha Station. Nearly 200 people died, more than 1400 were injured. The day became known in Spain as 3/11. The moment marked a new battlefront in al-Qaeda's war against the West, a war in which the enemy is invisible, in which the objective is mass murder. The Emmy-awarding winning team of reporter Linden MacIntyre and producer Neil Docherty are joined by the New York Times and PBS' Frontline, in an investigation of al-Qaeda's war without borders. more

You Bet Your Life We gamble for the fun of it, the thrill of it; we gamble to win. No one gambles to get hooked. But, that's what's happening more and more to Canadians who push the buttons on a VLT machine at the neighbourhood bar. The rate of gambling addiction is at an all-time high in this country. And, more troubling, is the growing link between gamblers and suicides. What are our provincial governments doing to stop this explosion of addiction? Not enough, critics argue. In fact, they say, governments themselves have become addicted; addicted to the money, the tens of millions of dollars every year, that they reap from gambling revenues.

Mr. Nobody Five years ago, a young man walked into a downtown Toronto hospital, bloodied, beaten and robbed he claimed of any identification. He could not recall anything about his life before that day. The doctors diagnosed amnesia and the story of the man without a past quickly attracted national headlines. But, instead of solving the puzzle of his identity, the mystery surrounding him only deepened with time. During these five years, he adopted and then dropped a few names and now seems less interested in finding out his real identity than he once claimed to be. the fifth estate's Linden MacIntyre goes in search of the real Mr. Nobody.

Do You Believe in Miracles Benny Hinn may be the most popular personality in the Christian world today. Thousands pack arenas to see him heal the sick and the afflicted. Tens of thousands more watch his television program. Millions of dollars are donated every year to his ministry, none of which he says goes to him personally. But, what about those miracles? And where does all that money go? Bob McKeown investigates. more

The Girl in the Suitcase A young woman from a well-to-do Montreal family follows her dream of an international singing career to London. Yet, one day, instead of heading home to Montreal, her body ends up stuffed into a suitcase. Despite overwhelming evidence, the prime suspect in her murder is allowed to slip through the nets of one of the most vaunted police agencies in the world, Scotland Yard. What happened, who did it, and why couldn't Scotland Yard seal the case? After all, they had plenty of evidence on videotape. more

Eve of Redemption When PEI native Melissa Friedrich was arrested in Florida and charged with exploitation of the elderly in January 2005, her past revealed a long and complex criminal history that began in the Maritimes and included a conviction for manslaughter in the death of one husband. Another husband died under what his family believes are suspicious circumstances and what finally landed her in a Tampa jail was enough evidence to convince authorities that yet another man might be at risk. Linden MacIntyre investigates the story of the woman who has been called a "black widow".

Becoming Ayden Changing sex. Not simple, not well understood, not consistently regulated, but here to stay and getting complicated. One Canadian clinic is carrying out 250 sex reassignments per year. Women and men, some still in their teens, believe that identity is not as simple as what kind of genitalia they happen to be born with. In order to find their true identity, they're prepared to undergo major surgery-which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and is most often irreversible. more

The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney American Vice-President Dick Cheney has walked the corridors of world power for three decades. His use of intelligence and his access to the key players in government and industry have made him one of the most powerful men in the world. This is the story of Dick Cheney's vision of America. But he has selective vision. Cheney's remarkable life story involves the relentless accumulation of power in every form. He's been uniquely involved in a large share of U.S. policy and strategy over the past two decades, and regardless of the outcome of this fall's election, he will continue to be one of the most powerful and well-connected men in the world. the fifth estate will show how he accomplished this, what it involved in terms of costs for others, and what history's judgment could be. more

DEAD IN THE WATER There's a problem with the world's water supply. One in four people on earth doesn't have access to clean drinking water. Water and sanitation infrastructures are crumbling. We keep using more of it, yet continue to degrade and deplete it. Powerful companies spotted a crisis and saw a business opportunity. From Moncton, New Brunswick to Atlanta, Georgia and Buenos Aires, Argentina to Soweto, South Africa, the fifth estate's Linden MacIntyre investigates the results of the effort to privatize what many consider a public trust. more

Whose Life is it Anyway? When does a national pastime become a destructive personal obsession? In 2004, the fifth estate brought you the story of one young man who has lived with that question for most of his life. Patrick O'Sullivan, a star in the OHL, was considered a sure thing for the first round of the 2003 NHL draft, but the brilliance of his play had been tarnished by the reputation of his father, John, an obsessive, even abusive, hockey father. Bob McKeown talked to Patrick, his mother and his father, as well as Don Cherry and Wayne Gretzky about hockey and the relationship between young players and their parents. the fifth estate has continued to follow Patrick's career and now reports on his life and his progress in professional hockey. more

No Way Home They beg in the streets and bed down under bridges. Over the past two decades, in Toronto alone, the number of emergency beds for homeless-often-abused-kids has gone up 450 per cent. Shelters and services for the homeless are now costing Canadians a billion dollars a year. Hana Gartner traces the journey of three kids who ran to the streets at age 13. Through the eyes of their street mom "Angel," and the unusual shelter she operates, No Way Home offers a rare glimpse into a parallel society populated by lost children on the run.

Tragically Smart What is smart? "The Tragically Smart" looks at people with exceptionally high IQ’s, and finds that although they are brimming with intelligence, they may not be what we expect.

Talking at Canadians The relationship between Canada and the United States is one of the most envied in the world, but it has not been without its moments of tension. The tone is often set by Washington's man in Ottawa, the ambassador. Currently, that's Paul Cellucci, a former governor of Massachusetts who, in the last year has chastised the Canadian government frequently on a range of issues, perhaps most importantly on Canada's refusal to take part in the Coalition of the Willing. Linden MacIntyre examines what price Canada may have to pay for going its own way.

After the Cameras Went Away What happens to the people we meet in the course of producing our stories after the television cameras go away? Last season, the fifth estate re-visited just a few to see how their lives have changed since we last saw them. The result was so interesting and so popular that we're doing it again this year. Linden MacIntyre returns to Saskatchewan to talk to the central figure in our story The Scandal of the Century. In 1985, Hana Gartner met a fourteen year old whiz kid who said he wanted to win a Nobel Prize. Find out what he's doing now. And Bob McKeown re-introduces us to a young woman, a victim of childhood sexual abuse, whose life has taken an amazing turn.

Run for Your Life For thousands of young Hondurans, the only hope of finding a way out of the grinding poverty of their existence is to hop a train headed for el norte - the north; either the United States or Canada. They'll risk their lives on a dangerous and illegal 5000 kilometre journey. The fifth estate's Bob McKeown follows the perilous journey of a group of young men as they embark on a desperate race for el norte. more

The Education of Shannon For years the community of Shannon, just outside Quebec City, has been using a water supply seriously contaminated by a chemical called TCE. The TCE seeped into Shannon's water system from the neighbouring Valcartier military base, owned by the Department of National Defence, and residents believe the number of cancers that have shown up in the town is the result. Now Shannon is fighting to find out who knew about this contamination and for how long. Was there an effort by some government departments to keep this contamination secret? And are there other cases, just like Shannon, at hundreds of other government-owned sites across the country?

A Baby to Save Our Son A Baby To Save Our Son tells the story of a British couple, Jayson and Michelle Whitaker, and their seriously ill son, Charlie. Their only hope of finding a cure for Charlie and saving his life is to use a controversial gene technology--produce a baby that is a perfect genetic match for Charlie and harvest stem cells from the baby's umbilical cord. We follow the Whitaker's two-year journey through a minefield of emotions and ethical issues, from one continent to another, as they prepare to create one baby to save another child.

Death of a Beauty Queen An unsolved forty year-old murder remains vividly alive in the memories of a Saskatchewan community with help from one of Canada's foremost novelists. Linden MacIntyre investigates the murder of The Girl from Saskatoon.

Bear Hug After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the way seemed clear for a new Russia - at once democratic and capitalist. But the road since then has been rough. In the early 1990's, as the country drifted in and out of chaos, President Boris Yeltsin handed over key elements of the economy to a handful of emerging entrepreneurs, who would become known as the 'oligarchs', from the Greek for 'rule by a few'. Host Bob McKeown tells the story of one of them and what happened when a thriving Canadian oil company fell afoul of him and the Russian legal system.

Deathrow.com Should inmates on Death Row have access to the Internet? U.S. lawmakers say no, but if you believe you've been wrongly convicted, the World Wide Web could be a crucial tool. A well-meaning Canadian couple got involved by providing Death Row inmates with their own websites, but controversy exploded when people saw what a few of those inmates, some of America's most despicable, did next.

Little Helpers You may take them, and if not, then you certainly do know someone who does. "They" are anti-depressants, and not that long ago they were a novelty. But, as we've used them to treat everything from jangled nerves to far more severe problems, they've largely come to be taken for granted--and "take" them we do, in the millions: they're one of Canada's most-prescribed groups of drugs. But have we grown TOO comfortable with these powerful medications? For many, they're safe and effective medicine, for others there are nightmarish side effects. Now, a heated debate has been inflamed by troubling reports of addiction and even violence. Our little helpers have changed modern life, but at what price?

Landslide The largest international police investigation in history shut down a web site called Landslide Productions in Texas. Landslide provided subscribers with the names of web sites that dealt in child pornography; its owners were convicted and sent to prison. The global list of Landslide's subscribers exceeded 300,000 people and among them were more than 2,000 Canadians. But, as Linden MacIntyre reports, even with that information Canadian police are finding prosecutions here difficult to get." more

Conspiracy Theories the fifth estate's Bob McKeown finds that even the most outlandish conspiracy theory may have its basis in a legitimate question. In the course of separating fact from fiction, Bob delves into the labyrinthine and surprising ties between the Bushes and the Bin Ladens. What he finds out may startle you as much as any conspiracy theory. more

Act of Faith The collapse of the Hussein regime is now certain. But that's perhaps the only certainty. Neighbours of Iraq like Syria and Iran wonder if they are likely to be targeted next by those in Washington who favour regime in countries perceived to be hostile to the U.S. And the Kurds of Iraq also wonder whether their dreams of autonomy will be realized or whether they will again be forgotten by the outside world. Linden MacIntyre looks at what George Bush and Tony Blair have in mind once Saddam is gone. more

The Forgotten People George Bush has properly criticized Saddam Hussein for his chemical weapons attacks on his own citizens- particularly the Kurds in Halabja. But did the west turn a blind eye to the suffering of the Kurds and might it do so again? more

Deadly Holiday A Caribbean holiday ends in a mysterious and violent death for a young Canadian. The fifth estate reconstructs what happened in the last few hours of the life of O'Neil Persaud. more

Hell to Pay The Martensville Saskatchewan "scandal" erupted in the first week of June 1992. Nine people, including police officers and private citizens had been accused of bizarre satanic crimes, arrested and charged with sexual abuse of children. Ten years after the satanic sex abuse panic swept Martensville, Saskatchewan, some of the falsely accused are seeking compensation. The fifth estate returns to find out how things could have gone so wrong. more

A Toxic Company They're one of the largest private corporations in America. They bullied their way into Canada and convinced competitors to hit the road. Thousands have been injured working in their North American plants...some Americans have died...and the company kept on growing here in Canada. more

A STATE OF DENIAL In mid December 2000, word quickly spread around the foreign community in Riyadh that Canadian William Sampson had been picked up by Saudi police. The next time they saw him was on Saudi TV confessing to a bizarre crime. Looking haggard and sounding clipped, Bill Sampson uttered the following words; "I admit and acknowledge that I participated with Mr Alexander Mitchell in setting up an explosive device on the vehicle belonging to Christopher Rodway, a British national." Rodway had been killed in the blast which Saudi prosecutors claimed was the work of "foreign bootleggers." To those who knew William Sampson, the allegations sounded highly implausible. But if his friends were stunned, his father, James Sampson of White Rock B.C., was horrified. more

HOT AIR It's little wonder that such confusion - and anger - surrounds the Kyoto Accord. Both sides have resorted to alarmist rhetoric, and both sides have used statistics creatively and selectively. Our story will examine the facts that both sides have been busy buryingincluding the probability that when all is said and done it will be consumers who pay the price for Kyoto. more

The Pilot In the days following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the world struggled to find answers. Who were the 19 men who hijacked the planes and committed mass murder and what could compel them to become martyrs to their cause? One of the most enigmatic of the hijackers was Ziad Samir Jarrah. The fifth estate investigated Jarrah's story and less than a month after 9/11, broadcast the groundbreaking documentary of the young, educated man from a respected family in Lebanon who ended his life at the controls of UA Flight 93. Now, with new and important information about Jarrah, the fifth estate adds to the dramatic story of The Pilot. more