Canadaland
Canadaland is a Canadian podcast founded by Jesse Brown, who was a co-owner of Bitstrips, a company that makes avatars and had also worked as a media hoaxster and a humour columnist, before launching a career as a media critic.
The podcast began with a focus on media criticism and later transitioned to commentary on political issues and current affairs more broadly. Canadaland currently airs four days a week. It is hosted three days a week by Brown and once a week by Noor Azrieh.
At one time, the company produced other weekly or monthly podcasts covering a range of topics. As of 2024, only the flagship show, Canadaland, remained.History
The podcast began in the fall of 2013 as a one-person project by businessperson Jesse Brown, focused on media criticism. By 2015, it had expanded into a small podcast network covering entertainment and some news.
In February 2014, Canadaland reported that CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge had been paid by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers to speak at a 2012 event, raising concerns about a conflict of interest given The National’s coverage of the oil sands. The story was picked up by The Huffington Post, Vice, sparked public debate, and prompted an investigation by CBC's Ombudsperson, who found that Mansbridge had not broken any rules but cautioned reporters about the optics of accepting money from groups likely to appear in the news. In April 2014, CBC tightened its rules on paid speaking engagements.
In May 2023, Brown decided to step back from the editor-in-chief role and Karyn Pugliese, a veteran journalist, was named the new editor-in-chief of Canadaland. An Algonquin journalist from Pikwàkanagàn, she is known for her leadership at APTN, CBC's investigative unit, and the Assembly of First Nations. A past president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, she is also a press freedom advocate. Pugliese had previously appeared on Short Cuts, and as the host of canadaLANDBACK.
In October 2023, after the October 7 attacks, Brown intensified his social media activity, focusing on pro-Palestine protests and antisemitism in Canada. He also published statements on his X account and website criticizing female journalists who questioned the scale of Israel's retaliation against Palestinian civilians. This triggered the Canadaland Union to publish a letter on behalf of unionized and non-unionized employees, stating that Brown had “published a series of misleading and targeted statements through both personal and official channels” that undermined journalistic standards. The Union letter recognized that Brown's stated intentions were to bring attention to antisemitism but "The manner in which he's done this has been irresponsible." Brown faced additional backlash for his perceived stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, estimating a 9% loss in Canadaland's supporters during this period.
In October 2024, Brown edited an interview on a show hosted by award-winning journalist Justin Ling, despite Ling's objections. The edits included the removal of a statement linking Canada's arms sales to Israel to Palestinian deaths, and cutting the word "genocide." While Ling and his guest called the edits political, Brown defended them as improvements. The dispute led to the resignation of the host, Pugliese as editor-in-chief, and several other staff. Brown later confirmed he insisted on final approval of all company content and reclaimed the editor-in-chief position for himself.
That same month, Brown interviewed the Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed about antisemitism in Canada. The podcast contained factual errors, which Brown left uncorrected. His remaining staff later published a 3,000-word analysis highlighting inaccuracies and lack of context.
In October 2025 Brown launched a six-hour podcast series tracing the rise of antisemitism in Canada through protests against Israel, following the October 7 attacks and Israel's responding attacks on Gaza. Brown worked on the podcast with his wife Kate Minsky, and journalist Michael Fraiman. In a interview about his series, on the podcast Quillette, Brown finally gave some insight into his political beliefs on the war, itself, when he stated he believed it was open to debate if the Israeli state had committed apartheid or genocide.Funding
The company's main revenue streams are on-air advertisements and, since 2014, direct crowdfunding. Canadaland publishes an annual transparency report that details their finances.
The company's 2017–2018 annual fundraising campaign included an appeal by Ryan McMahon to launch a new investigative podcast called Thunder Bay. The campaign proved successful, surpassing their "funding threshold".Current podcasts
''CANADALAND'' (podcast)
The original eponymous podcast is described as the "flagship" show of the podcast network. Currently, the show publishes four times a week, typically hosted by Jesse Brown and a guest who discuss news and current events. Noor Azrieh hosts one a week.Former shows
The feed use to include Détours, a twice-monthly series discussing media a current affairs in French hosted by Emilie Nicolas. The feed also included canadaLANDBACK, which was described as a "provocative, Indigenous-driven, current-affairs podcast" hosted by Karyn Pugliese and produced by Kim Wheeler.''Commons''
Launched in 2015, Commons was originally described as a "politics show for people who have been neglected by legacy media" with "activist and journalist" Desmond Cole and Andray Domise as hosts. Since 2018, the show has been hosted by Arshy Mann. It now takes the format of a documentary podcast with each new season guiding the listener through a different topic. Past seasons of Commons have covered cults, hockey, monopolies in Canada, Canada's participation in the War in Afghanistan, the Canadian mining industry, real estate market in Canada and policing. Commons ended in 2024.''The Backbench''
The Backbench releases bi-weekly and features rotating guests discussing the top Canadian political stories of the day. Past guests have included former Liberal M.P. Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Jason Markusoff, Emilie Nicolas, Murad Hemmadi, Drew Brown, Stuart Thomson, Jaskaran Sandhu and Leena Minifie. The Backbench was originally hosted by Fatima Syed. In September 2022, Canadian Jeopardy! champion Mattea Roach was named the new host. Backbench ended in 2024.''Wag the Doug''
Wag the Doug is hosted by journalists Allison Smith and Jonathan Goldsbie. The show began in 2018 as an ad-hoc, irregularly scheduled podcast about Ontario Premier Doug Ford. It has since moved to a regular monthly broadcast schedule. Wage the Doug ended in 2024.''Thunder Bay'' (2018, 2020, 2023)
Thunder Bay was a ten-part series launched in 2018 with subsequent follow up episodes in 2020 and 2023. Hosted by Ryan McMahon, the series built upon the investigation by Toronto Star reporter Tanya Talaga—published her 2017 book Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City. In Seven Fallen Feathers, Talaga described the deaths of seven youths in Thunder Bay, Ontario, revealing ineffective police investigations, and systemic racism, facing Indigenous youth, their families, and communities. The podcast critiques the city's authorities and their support of the Indigenous population.''Cool Mules'' (2020)
Cool Mules was a six-part true crime podcast hosted by Kasia Mychajlowycz that documents the cocaine smuggling of Slava Pastuk, while he was employed at Vice Media. The series included a series of exclusive interviews with Pastuk, who ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison. It won a National Magazine Awards Gold Award for best podcast in 2021.''The White Saviors'' (2021)
The White Saviors was a six-part podcast series narrated by Olusola Adeogun. The series focused on activities by WE Charity and the WE Charity Scandal including interviews with whistleblowers and former staff. Prior to the airing of the podcast, Canadaland was served a statement of claim by Theresa Kielburger, mother of the founders of WE Charity. May, 2024, the Superior Court of Justice criticized Brown and Canadaland's reporting on WE Charity and its founders in Canadaland's White Saviors podcast. In rejecting Brown's motion under Ontario's anti-SLAPP law to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Brown and Canadaland, Justice Edward Morgan ruled Brown and Canadaland did not give Theresa Kielburger, the mother of WE founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, a chance to respond to allegations about her in the podcast. The judge said Brown's explanation for not contacting Mrs. Kielburger showed, in Brown's eyes, "the Plaintiff's feelings are worth nothing." The judge went on to say, "The cynicism of Brown's explanation not only accentuates the defamatory sting of his words, but could be considered high handed and oppressive." Justice Morgan said Brown had written proof that the allegations he made about Mrs. Kielburger were false, and the judge ordered the case to move forward to trial.''Ratfucker'' (2022)
Ratfucker was a three-part limited run series exploring David Wallace, a conservative political operative, the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, and the so-called #KlondikePapers conspiracy theory.''The Newfoundlander'' (2023)
The Newfoundlander is a limited run podcast series hosted by reporter Justin Brake. The first part discusses the Broadway musical Come From Away's mischaracterization of his grandfather in the musical. In the second part, Brake searches for answers about his family's history. He describes how what he found drove a wedge between him and his family and put him in opposition to a new story of shared Indigenous ancestry that is being embraced by tens of thousands of people across Newfoundland and beyond.