Your World Tonight - Canadian sport in ‘crisis’, lawsuit links ChatGPT to teen suicide, anxiety over end to U.S. duty-free shipping, and more

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

A new national report on sports highlights ‘widespread abuse,’ and a ‘culture of silence’ is occurring at all levels. The Future of Sport Commission in Canada says the federal government needs to do better to protect our athletes from maltreatment, and made 71 recommendations, including the creation of an independent watchdog for sport.And: Members of a U.S. family are suing the makers of artificial intelligence app ChatGPT, alleging the chatbot — a computer program built to simulate conversations with human users — encouraged their teenaged son to take his own life.Also: Canadian small business owners are fretting over the end of the de minimis exemption. As of Friday, parcels shipped to the U.S. containing goods under $800 will no longer have duty-free status, and be subject to tariffs. President Donald Trump scrapped the exemption as part of his ongoing trade war.Plus: Wildfires send Canada’s pollution levels soaring, hunt for motive in Minneapolis church school shooting, Russia bombards Kyiv in major attack, and more.

If you're listening to this, I already know you have great taste in podcasts. But maybe, if you like me, you still wonder if you're missing out on the best stuff. That's where the Sounds Good newsletter can help you out. Every other Thursday, the audio files at CBC Podcasts highlight one must-hear show and lots of other new and noteworthy titles. They do conversation starters, they do hidden gems, and they also tell you about the stuff they love that they didn't make. Go to CBC.ca slash sounds good to subscribe. This is a CBC podcast.

The Canadian sports system is in crisis. As many have told us, it is broken. The change required must be transformative and profound. An urgent call for a new game plan to keep Canadian sport safe on the field, the ice and in the dressing room, from local leagues and teams to elite. national programs, a federal commission finds allegations of abuse, a culture of silence, and a lack of leadership.

Welcome to your world tonight. I'm John Northcott. It is Thursday, August 28th, coming up at 6 p.m. Eastern, also on your podcast. Air pollution is like the zombie that we thought we had killed, but it's coming back to life. The problem used to be industrial, harmful emissions from factories and furnaces. It took legislation to clear the air. but now after years of progress, a new report says air pollution levels are hitting heights not seen in decades and is not coming from smokestacks, but forests and Canada's worsening wildfires.

They may be wearing helmets, knee pads, and other protective equipment, but a Federal Commission says Canadian athletes are still vulnerable to abuse and maltreatment, no matter their age or ability. Now there are dozens of new recommendations to ensure their safety and changing the structure and culture of sport across the country. Sarah Levitt has more.

The Canadian sports system is in crisis. Liz Mezonneuve didn't hold back describing the state of sport in Canada. The head of the future of Sport Commission reported widespread abuse and maltreatment of athletes and too much focus on elite levels. These deeply ingrained issues give rise

to conflicts of interest, favoritism, a win at all cost thinking, and a pervasive fear of losing funding across the system. Together, they fuel a long-standing culture of silence in sport. The report also highlighted a lack of leadership and inconsistent complaint mechanisms from one sporting organization to another and within different levels. This commission was created following several parliamentary hearings and news reports of alleged emotional, physical and sexual abuse in sport,

including in hockey and gymnastics. I was an elite gymnast from the time I was about two years old until I was about 14. Amelia Klein has openly spoken about her time as an athlete, how she suffered both physical and emotional abuse by her coaches. She's now the managing director of athletes empowered, helping prevent others from experiencing the same thing. It was validating to hear that the recognition that this is a widespread problem.

This is not just a few bad apples. Now, though, Klein says it's about what happened next. The Commission has made a number of key recommendations to the federal government. They include putting together an independent sports entity that would oversee all disciplines at all levels from toddlers to professional athletes. The Commission also wants to see a public national registry of people who have been sanctioned for wrongdoing by a sports organization. Having this report is significant. Having the public awareness around these issues does help to provide the pressure that government is going to need to actually implement these recommendations.

Laura Robinson is a former athlete and now an investigative sports journalist. She's pleased to see the report go after all levels of sport officials. It was the leadership in sport that shoved very serious allegations of abuse and maltreatment under the rug. Adam Vancouverden, the Federal Secretary of State for Sport, a winning Olympian himself, says he's committed to strengthening the safety and integrity of Canadian sports. He says he'll analyze the findings and recommendations and awaits the Commission's final report set to be published in early 2026. Sarah Levitt's CBC News, Montreal.

There are air quality warnings tonight for parts of Nova Scotia as the Long Lake Fire continues to burn. It comes as Canadians get another type of warning. This one from scientists, a new report that suggests worsening wildfire are reversing decades of progress on air pollution in Canada. Jennifer Yun has that story. Air pollution is like the zombie that we thought we had killed, but it's coming back to life.

Michael Greenstone studies air pollution at the University of Chicago and co-authored the new study. Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is causing the air pollution in North America, says Greenstone, because it sparks more intense and frequent wildfire seasons. I think of this return of air pollution through the wildfires as being the ghost of fossil fuels passed. It's a reversal of decades of progress in cleaning up the air across Canada and in the U.S. as Greenstone. We had an air pollution problem and we had a climate problem, and it was easiest to think of them as separate and distinct problems.

And I think what's being revealed is that they're much more closely. intertwined. The study looked at air quality across the world. In North America, it focused on the impact of the 2023 wildfire season in Canada, when the wildfire smoke blanketed major cities. More than half of the Canadian population was exposed to air polluted beyond national standards. There are likely more smoky summers ahead, says Jill Baumgartner, who studies the impact of environmental pollutants on human health at McGill University. I hate to use the the term new normal because this isn't normal. This is really high levels of pollution that are unsafe, but it is something that's becoming more common. The health impact of that smoke can shorten

life expectancy by two years, say study authors. Dr. Doc Yomid, a critical care specialist at Humber River Health in Toronto, isn't surprised. He compares the damage from air pollution to smoking, except, unlike smoking, anyone who steps outside has no change. choice but to breathe in the unhealthy air. The damage that happens to the lung and the stress that it puts on our bodies in terms of the cardiovascular system is quite significant. Governments can and should clean up the air by fighting climate change, say researchers, by urgently phasing down the use of fossil fuels and lowering emissions.

But individuals should also take action to protect themselves, says Dr. Chris Carlston, a respirologist at the University of British Columbia. hope and we should demand, but we can't wait for governments to deal with this problem and let people just suffer these diseases. Carlston says air filters can help. Experts also recommend you check the air quality before going outside and do it frequently during wildfire season because air pollution levels can change from morning to afternoon. Jennifer Yun, CBC News, Toronto.

Coming right up, the pain in Minneapolis is sharp and clear. but the motive behind a deadly school shooting is still murky. And outrage in Ukraine and across Europe as a Russian missile attack on Kiev kills at least 21 people. Police investigating the suspect in yesterday's Minneapolis school shooting say she had a dark obsession with killing children

and a fascination with mass shooters. The new details come as we also learn about the young victims, what students went through and the heroic efforts made to save themselves and each other. Ashley Burke reports. A Minneapolis church shut down, guarded by police. Mourner starting to fill up the lawn with flowers and signing two crosses for the two students killed. This mass shooting unfolding during the first week back to school.

Right when I heard the shots, I knew something was off. A lot of my classmates thought it was confetti and firewood. Student Javan Willis recalls dropping down, hiding under the church pew and telling his friends to get down to, then praying. I knew that I had to try to keep as many people around me as I could safe. At a church vigil this afternoon, more stories of kids saving kids. They put their lives on the line to help the little ones. One EMS chief Martin Shearer says the injuries say it all.

kid that covered up another kid and took a shotgun blast, who's back. As Minneapolis mourns, local police chief Brian O'Hara says what they've found is all too common in America. This is an individual that harbored a whole lot of hate towards many people and many groups of people and clearly intended to commit an act of violence with as much carnage and trauma as possible for the purpose of their own personal notoriety. 23-year-old Robin Westman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. O'Hara says Westman was a parishioner at the church and former student of the school whose mother worked for the parish.

But her motive still unknown. We're trying to see if there was some sort of triggering event that may have caused him to commit this act. Westman was a transgender woman. Police say the attacker shot through the church window but couldn't get inside because the doors were locked in case of an incident like this. All three guns used purchased legally in the state, leading to growing calls for a ban on assault-style weapons in the U.S.

Professor Megan Walsh is a director of the Gun Violence Prevention Law Clinic at the University of Minnesota. Those are weapons that do not deserve to be in our communities, and we do not deserve our children to be paying the price of allowing that. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance says there's a time and place for politics, and this isn't it, but pointed to a letter the first First Lady released today, emphasizing the need to identify potential school shooters early and intervene. I think it's time for us to start asking some very hard questions about the root causes of this

violence. And I'm going to be part of that. And the First Lady and the President are going to be part of that. He's asking Americans to pray for the victims still recovering. But some warnings say that's not enough. Ashley Burke, CBC News, Washington. Germany, France, and the U.K. are reimposing sanctions on Iran. The nations are giving Tehran 30 days to renew nuclear talks or face punishment. The mechanism known as a snapback is part of the 2015 nuclear deal. It restores UN penalties suspended under the agreement, such as the freezing of Iranian foreign assets. Tehran calls today's move by the Europeans illegal.

In Ukraine's capital, a toddler is among the more than 20 casualties in Russian air, strikes on Kiev overnight, involving nearly 600 drones and more than 30 missiles. A deadly attack on civilians that's being condemned internationally. Coming just weeks after the leaders of Russia and the United States vowed to find a way to end the war. Breyer Stewart has the latest. An excavator works to clear heavy pieces of concrete as emergency workers picked through piles of bricks that came down when a Russian missile slammed into an apartment building, and killed. A large section of the five-story building collapsed. Iho Girovich lives on the fifth floor and told CBC that he wasn't at home at

the time but believed his wife was and he hasn't been able to reach her. Let's hope that maybe she's still alive there, he said, as he sat on the curb watching rescuers. Nearby stands Andre Luti with the banded Jovourg Gash on his eyebrows. If we get one minute later to the underground, we will already die. He lives on the first floor with his mother. After hearing explosions nearby, they race down to a basement shelter. After the missile hit the building, he said the shelter filled with smoke. So those inside ran out on the street.

The people who was first, I guess they get injured. As I was the last one, I just get a very big ache in my ears and just hear nothing. for some time. The building was just one of the site struck across the capital in the overnight attack. In an area near the city center, missiles and drones damaged

several buildings. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. And this is another grim reminder of what is at stake. It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine, blindly killing civilians, men,

women and children, and even targeting the European Union. Russia said its missiles and drones were launched at military factories and air bases, but the condemnation was widespread. The UK summoned the Russian ambassador. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who visited Kiev on Sunday, said Russia's president was murdering when he should be talking.

White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt said U.S. President Donald Trump isn't happy, but also not surprised. These are two countries that have been at war for a very long time. Russia launched this attack on Kyiv, and likewise Ukraine recently dealt a blow to Russia's oil refineries. Trump has previously said that he's considering tougher sanctions on Russia, but that doesn't mean much for the anguished families watching

as rescue crews try to recover the last of the victims. Breyer-Stewart, CBC News, Kiev. The U.S. Federal Reserve Governor fired this week by President Trump is now suing his administration. Lisa Cook argues the decision was illegal and she's launched a battle to get her job back. Trump alleges Cook is guilty of mortgage fraud, which Cook denies. The case will be a test of the Fed's independence from political influence

and is expected to reach the Supreme Court. Trump is also facing a legal battle over his ousting of the head of the Centers for Disease Control. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says a new one will be picked soon. This woman has never received a vote in her life, and the president has the authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission. We're going to make sure that folks that are in positions

of leadership there are aligned with that mission. Susan Menares was let go as the CDC director after less than a month on the job. She was chosen by Trump to lead the agency, but clashed with health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., because of his vaccine policies. Menares says she is not stepping down. Four other top CDC officials have quit since Manares is firing.

The family of a teenager who killed himself is suing the company behind ChatGPT. This, as OpenAI, says changes will be made to safeguards for vulnerable people. Adam Rain died earlier this year, and his family claimed ChatGPT coached him on methods of self-harm. Alison Northcott has more. He was using it in ways that I had no idea was possible. Adam Raine was 16 when he turned to chat GPT for help with his schoolwork. But his reliance on the platform quickly grew more intense and disturbing. In an interview with NBC News, his father, Matthew Raine,

says the extent of those interactions only became clear after his son took his own life earlier this year. I don't think most parents know the capability of this tool. Rain's parents have launched a lawsuit against open AI and its same. CEO Sam Altman, alleging the company's AI chatbot chat GPT provided detailed suicide instructions to a minor and that the company prioritized corporate profits over child safety. Adam mentioned the word suicide explicitly over 200 times and not one of those times was the conversation shut down or escalated to either of his parents or to crisis support. Metali Jane with the Tech Justice Law Project in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the family's lawyers.

Adam was using ChatGPT in a way that can only be described as ChatGPT serving as a suicide coach. It was providing him explicit instructions on different methods of suicide. The lawsuit lays out the interactions between Rain and the chatbot over the course of several months. In one conversation, the lawsuit alleges chat GPT responded. to rain, quote, you don't want to die because you're weak. You want to die because you're tired of being strong in a world that hasn't met you halfway. And I won't pretend that's irrational or cowardly. It's human, it's real, and it's yours to own. End quote. The lawsuit says the family is bringing this action to hold open AI accountable and to compel safeguards for minors and other

vulnerable users. There's been no regulation on any of these technologies before they're released. So we're seeing this, quote, safety testing with these terrible tragic cases that we're hearing about. Jodie Halpern is a professor of bioethics at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. She says while some jurisdictions are working on legislation and guardrails, there's not yet enough in place. I think it's like playing Russian roulette when a child or teen uses this. Maybe, you know, five out of six bullets won't hit them in the head and they'll feel, you know, some benefit from it. But that's a pretty big risk. In a blog post this week, OpenAI said it's working to improve how its models recognize

and respond to signs of mental and emotional distress and said its current safeguards and safety training can be less reliable and degrade in long interactions. I'm so worried about people forgetting him. Rain's mother, Maria, wants people to know not only what happened to her son. I hope everyone will remember what a sweet, funny, great friends, great son, great brother. but also the kind of person who's been lost. Alison Northcott, CBC News, Montreal. While some warn about the dangers of artificial intelligence,

many others are harnessing it, especially in the workplace. And one British Columbia professor says he's created a world first, a teaching assistant powered by AI. Michelle Gassoub has more on the technology and those who say it's going too far. Hi there. I'm excited about our upcoming class. That's the voice of Kia. new teaching assistant starting work this fall at Simon Fraser University.

And ready to spark engaging conversations about AI with students. But Kia is AI herself, a human-looking animated bot, complete with facial expressions and her own reactions, who will engage with students in real time in class alongside her creator, cognitive AI computer scientist Steve DePaula. How are you feeling about everything, Steve? So I actually have a TA assistant who is, in fact, a real person. But what I'm going to do on stage for the first time is have an AI collaborator. So any time there's a question about what an AI would think,

we can simply turn to Kia and ask her and even debate her. DePaula says Kia won't replace human teaching assistance in his class on ethics in artificial intelligence and is not involved in course design or grading. Instead, Kia is meant to teach students the benefits and the limitations of these kinds of AI assistance. One of the big problems is they always flatter you as they're answering you, and I find that a real problem. So she can disagree with me, although that's me in the background saying disagree with me sometimes. So again, a little bit more acting as opposed to being.

University students around Vancouver have mixed reactions. I actually don't mind. I feel like if they have the ability to do what TA can do, then they do a better job than sure. I think if your professor's not being fair with grading or exams, like the TA is the one that you reach out to. And if you have an AI, like, I don't think the AI can really do much for you. Alan McRourth is a professor emeritus in computer science at UBC. He says, ironically, Kia herself raises ethical questions. A lot of people are afraid and opposed to anthropologists.

amorphizing AI. This is kind of a slippery slope. He's also worried about the use of bots like her becoming more widespread. There'll be a temptation to drop the teaching assistants as university budgets are under pressure. I do think the students are going to be very upset if they're paying those high tuition fees and they're just getting a robot. But one thing Kia is already proving, Steve, I'm not here to replace humans, but rather to enhance the learning experience. The creep of AI into our everyday lives is accelerating and schools across the country. are going to have to keep up. Michelle Gassoub, CBC News, Vancouver.

Canada has appointed a new High Commissioner to India. Veteran diplomat Christopher Coutter has been named to the post. It's the latest sign of improving relations between the countries. Last fall, the countries expelled each other's top envoy after Canada accused New Delhi of being involved in the 2023 murder of a sick activist in Surrey, British Columbia. Tomorrow is a big day for small businesses in this country. Many face a new challenge to trading with the United States

as a little-known trade perk is about to disappear. The de minimis exemption allowed small businesses to ship up to $800 worth of goods south of the border duty-free. But as CBC's Paula Du Hatchik explains, many Canadian mom-and-pop operations now fear for their very survival. I mean, it's a big wrench to throw into things. Amit Takar owns Brampton-based clothing brand House of Blanks. It makes T-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants popular with U.S. customers.

You know, over 50% of our business goes there. Takar says his clothes are 100% made in North America, with U.S. cotton, knit, dyed, and cut right here in Canada. But even so, the end of the trade exemption means he expects to pay new brokerage fees to get his products into the U.S. As little as the shipment is valued at, even if it's $50, there's a nearly $20 fee to just get it across the border. You know, that will bring about a lot of resistance from U.S. clients, I think.

I'm sure we'll lose customers. John Boscariol, co-head of international trade at the law firm McCarthy Taitro, says the end of de minimis is a big deal. It hits mom-and-pop shops disproportionately. Up till now, companies could send up to $800 worth of goods into the U.S. duty-free. That exemption ends Friday. And many of them who have relied on these low-value shipments to the United States as part of their bread and butter for survival are being hit by this and possibly may have to go out of business because of this.

That could be the case for Vancouver-based women's clothing brand, free label. There's definitely a chance the business doesn't survive this. Owner Jess Sternberg is busy trying to make sense of the new rules, but in the meantime, she's taking drastic measures. We have cut off all of our shipping to the United States because right now with the amount of risk and lack of information shipping to the states, we can't justify it. Bob Kirk with the Canadian Apparel Federation says the change doesn't come as a complete surprise.

DeMemis has been under fire for eight years in the states. Still, he says it's a big hit for Canada. Canadian companies who used it to quickly grow their business by ramping up online sales to the US. No paperwork, no duties. It's fantastic, but it's gone. Kirk says many companies now have to learn about rules of origin and international trade, some of them for the first time. He says that will be a big adjustment. Yeah, so this one is right now knitting a t-shirt, t-shirt fabric. As for a meet-to-car with House of Blanks, he's thinking about his next move. Maybe it's consolidation, maybe it's opening up warehouses there. Regardless, he says the plan will likely involve a renewed focus on the Canadian

consumer. Paula Duhatchewa, CBC News, Brampton, Ontario. Finally tonight, we'll end with a young Canadian baseball player making his major league debut and proving that even when you start small, big things can happen. Tong tremendous and terrific. Double digits for Jonah Tong. He has tied his Career high. Markham, Ontario's Jonah Tong has been on fire this season with a blazing fastball and near-perfect control. The 22-year-old pitcher leads the minor leagues in strikeouts. Tong was promoted to AAA two weeks ago,

and after just two games, the New York Mets called him up to the majors. Tomorrow night, Tong will be the starting pitcher of one of the biggest clubs in baseball. I'm in disbelief, in amazement. I can only imagine I've talked to quickly the parents, And it's unbelievable. Before the Mets, there was the Mark of Mariners, and Mike Whalen was Tong's coach for six seasons of rep baseball.

Tong eventually became a standout player, helped by a growth spurt that saw him reach over six feet tall. But Whelan says it wasn't tall that way always. He was an average little kid. He was my smallest kid for six, seven years on our team. And while Tong could always pitch at the plate, it was a different story. Horrible. I am just being completely honest

Jonah was always on my cut list because back at age 10 to 16 you have to bat and pitch and Jonah was very weak batting. That's enough to break the confidence of many young players, but Wayland says Tong's size and struggles only made him work harder. He used the off-season to train with his dad

and the determination, a lot of passion for the game and a little patience, finally paying off, getting him to the big leagues in a chance to show the world what he can do. Thanks for being with us. This has been your world tonight for Thursday, August 28th. I'm John Northcott.