Canadian True Crime - Quick update: new episodes return in April

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

A quick update and some thanks! Over the past 12 months... Canadian True Crime has had the opportunity to take on several meaningful projects alongside the usual podcast production. These included the CBC documentary Breaking Idol, the co-founding of Beyond The Verdict survivor-led advocacy group, and in-depth coverage of the 2025 Hockey Canada trial. While incredibly rewarding, the extra activities made for a very intense year behind the scenes. After the recent Robert Pickton series ended, it became clear we needed to pause, step back and reset things. Your support by listening to the podcast is what makes all of this work possible, so this year we're focusing on getting the podcast back into balance for sustainability.New episodes will return in April. Until then, we'll be replaying a few carefully selected episodes from our archive with new personal introductions from Kristi. Thank you again for listening and supporting the show! Your patience and understanding is appreciated.Mentioned in this episode:Breaking Idol - new CBC TV documentary Beyond The Verdict - new survivor-led advocacy groupMysterious letter - Beverley Rowbotham's family believes it could shed light on the case (25th anniversary)Guest appearances:CTV – The Social - with co-hosts Melissa Grelo and Jess Allan about survivor-centered storytelling, deep research, and the Jacob Hoggard caseThe Soundoff Podcast - with host Matt Cundill about the business side of podcasting and moreBroadcast Dialogue - Kristi shares the ups and downs of her podcasting journey with host Connie Thiessen, including managing burnout and perfectionism...Special thanks to Castbox and Apple Podcasts.More information about Canadian True Crime: Visit canadiantruecrime.ca or follow us on Instagram or Facebook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi there, I hope you'll well. I just wanted to check in with a quick update because you've probably noticed Canadian true crime has gone a little bit quiet since the last series. We're on a break from releasing new episodes until April. I'll explain why in a second. But first, I wanted to say thank you for the response to the latest Robert Pickton series. It ended up being very different to the original and we've received so many thoughtful messages and comments from listeners who really engaged with it. Thank you so much for listening. I also wanted to shout out the support we received from the industry in relation to episode 200, cast box podcast player and Apple Podcasts for their special promotion of the Picton series,

to the Sound Off podcast and Broadcast Dialogue podcast for having me on, and to see TVs the social, which I fortunately did not stuff up. There's links to all of this in the show notes. As I've said before, responsible storytelling and true crime can open minds, challenge harmful narratives and deepen our understanding of the world around us. There's no getting around the fact that true crime sits within the world of entertainment, but it's always been important to me to use this platform to do as much good as I can, to advocate for victims and survivors, to raise awareness about systemic issues and try to give back. As an indie passion, project with a very small team. Striking the right balance has always been tricky, and over the

past year we've had some incredible opportunities to make a difference that made that balancing act harder than ever. Our podcast series about the first sexual assault trial of Headley lead singer Jacob Hoggard was turned into a CBC documentary called Breaking Idol, Link in the show notes to watch it. I spent last summer and part of the fall digging into the truth of what happened and the high-profile Hockey Canada trial, the most mentally exhausting case I've covered yet. But I heard from a lot of sexual assault survivors that it was meaningful, so thank you. I joined forces with survivors Jessica Baker and Kelly Favreau to co-found Beyondtheverick.com, an advocacy group to challenge rate myths and abusive defense tactics at sexual assault

trials. I also worked with the family of Beverly Robotham on an outreach project with the media. and the installation of a legacy memorial bench in Her Honor in Regina. More behind the scenes details will be coming up in a very long overdue case updates episode. These opportunities have been incredibly meaningful, but in a nutshell, I overcommitted myself last year. Long-time listeners know that I also struggle with perfectionism, which means I tend to push myself harder than I should because I don't want the quality of episodes to drop because I'm stretched to. thin. It was a very, very intense year behind the scenes without any real downtime, which continued

right through to the recent Robert Pickton series. In days after that last episode dropped, I came down with a virus, which I suppose was the body's way of saying a break is no longer optional. All this to say that in the last 12 months, the balance between listener expectations, the responsibility that comes with telling these stories, the advocacy work that's grown around the show and my own capacity went completely out of whack. I want to thank you for your patience and understanding and I want to reassure you that at the end of the day, I know it's the podcast itself and the fact that you listen to these episodes that makes all of that other stuff possible. So this year I'll be working hard to bring that balance back and make the podcast more

sustainable. But please know that we're doing the absolute best we can for the moment. For the Next month, to meet our sponsor obligations, we're going to be replaying some carefully selected episodes from the archives with a special introduction from me about why. I hope you'll listen. Thanks again for your support and understanding, and I'll see you in April when we're back with a new episode.