Across Canada, historic Chinatowns are under threat, facing development and gentrification, soaring housing costs, and concerns about public safety. Why do these places matter, and what gets lost if they disappear completely? Today on Now or Never, we're travelling from Vancouver, BC to St. John's, Newfoundland, to meet people who are fighting for the future of their Chinatown.

Ify takes a walk through Toronto's Chinatown with Sum Wong, the creative force behind Queens of Dim Sum - Toronto Chinatown’s first and only public queer event. He tells us why it was so important to create this space in Chinatown, and how it's opening up new conversations within the city's East Asian community - including ones with his own mom.

In Lethbridge, Alberta, Allan Chiem and his kung fu school are the last ones standing in the city's historic Chinatown. How he's breathing new life into the last remaining building, and what he dreams of for the future.

Meet Carol Lee, who through sheer force of will is revitalizing Vancouver's struggling Chinatown. She takes us on a tour of the affordable housing complex she spent years trying to get built, and tells us what keeps her going - even when her own father told her she should give up.

Francis Tam is on a mission: to find every person of Chinese descent currently living in Newfoundland and Labrador. It's his way of connecting a community that has never had a physical Chinatown to gather in. He takes us along for a ride as he meets up with the oldest Chinese-Canadian person in Newfoundland, 104-year-old Mrs. Kwan Hum.

William Chen and his sister Winnie grew up in Edmonton's Chinatown, and have fond memories of a vibrant street culture and around-the-block lineups for dim sum. But ever since the pandemic, the area has struggled, with many long-time businesses shuttering their doors for good. Determined to save the place they call home, William and Winnie are going all in to bring people back, using the one thing they know best...food.

It's easy to feel trapped - in dead-end jobs, ho-hum relationships, the tedium of everyday life. But what does it take to break free, and live the life you truly want? On this episode, hear from people turning their lives upside down in order to find freedom.

Gilad Cohen was stressed out, uninspired, and up to his eyeballs in spreadsheets. So he stepped down from the top spot at a charity he founded, to pursue his dream of being a full-time artist. But with his newfound freedom comes a lot of uncertainty, loss of stability… and loneliness. Was it worth it?

For more than 100 nights this year, Donna Kane has slept outside in an old cast iron bed, outside her farmhouse in northern B.C. She tells us why sleeping under the stars - with mice scurrying across the duvet and coyotes howling in the distance - helps "to take yourself a little less seriously."

After breaking free from an abusive relationship, Sheenique is rediscovering joy and living life on her own terms. But for this single mother of two young boys, the road ahead is anything but smooth.

The wide open countryside, where there’s no other person in sight. Being alone like that is what Kimberly Woelfle realized she needed, but it wasn’t an option in a busy city like Brampton. But she found a way to make it work … by going tiny.

At the age of 28, Keith Hodder hadn’t had a sip of alcohol, a drag of a cigarette, or even a cup of coffee. As a young, closeted gay man, Keith was fearful that his truth was an irreparable flaw. So he created a set of rules to maintain tight control in his life and avoid judgement. Today he's out to challenge his vices, one by one.

Stories of people facing their worst-case scenario head on.

Meet David Arama, a guy who likes to be prepared for everything - storms, floods, fire.....and World War III? He takes us on a tour of his nuclear bomb shelter, tells us why he's not one of those "extreme preppers," and shares who makes the cut to get into his bunker in case the poop hits the fan.

1 in 5 new businesses in Canada don’t make it to their first year, and Nicole Drakes was determined to beat that statistic. But three months after opening her bakery in Morell, PEI, things started to unravel. Nicole shares her journey of picking herself back up after losing it all.

When Trevor Dineen was growing up, his mom kept a running tally of all the things that could maim or injure him. Kidnappings. Drowning. Car accidents. He sits down with his mom Carol to ask where that fear came from, and the lingering effects on him today - including how he parents his own kids.

Keely McCoy is 27-years-old, and has tested positive for the gene mutation that causes Huntington’s disease -

an incurable neurodegenerative disorder that both her mom and grandmother had. She tells us how she's determined to live her life differently from her own mom, who lived in denial about the disease for years.

Congratulations, you've done the thing you set out to do. Your first half-marathon. A dream job. Mastering the ukulele. But what happens AFTER you accomplish something big? On this episode, stories of people trying to figure that out.

In her twenties, Eman Bare personified 'girl boss' hustle culture. She earned degrees in law and journalism, designed clothes that showed at New York Fashion Week, became a certified yoga instructor, and wrote 11 books - all before the age of 30. Today, her main goal is to be in bed by eight. This recovering overachiever tells us how burnout taught her to finally say the word 'no.'

Jimmy Chau was excited to run his first full-marathon, he just wasn't expecting it would take him nearly seven hours to do it. He tells us about finishing dead-last in the Manitoba Marathon, and who was there for him at the end.

When Ben Scrivens retired from his career as an NHL goalie in 2016, he had to figure out how to get a “real job” for the first time in his life. Ben tells Trevor why he chose to get a master's degree in social work, helping other retired players deal with the jealousies, ego adjustments and hard truths that he struggled with after hanging up the skates for good.

And Syrian-Canadian Amrou Nayal is about to visit Syria for the first time in 16 years. He reflects on lost hope, sacrifices, and staying loyal to the revolution when others gave up, and tells Ify how this moment has allowed him to dream again about the future for Syria.

In praise of putting yourself out there.

Lynn Sainté has never planned an event before. But she wants to relive her church choir days, so she's booked a venue, hired musicians, and sent out invites to everyone she knows for a pop-up choir event. Now the question is….will anyone show up?

One year ago, Shelby Sappier, known as the musician Beaatz, made a bold prediction on Instagram: That 2024 would be his biggest year in music ever. Now that the year is almost over, Ify checks in to find out he’s one of only six people in the first ever Indigenous Music Residency at CBC. Now he just has to figure out how to keep this momentum going.

Ben Shannon and his 9-year-old daughter entered an international whistling competition on a lark. But then they got accepted, and things got serious. Find out how this father-daughter faced tough-talking whistling coaches, a case of stage fright, and Ben’s own shield of teenage irony.

19-year-old Callum Long needs to find a job, but being on the autism spectrum is making his search a little more complicated. Trevor tags along with Callum and his dad in the family mini-van, as Callum puts on his best dress shirt and hands out resumes -- in the hopes someone says to him, "You're hired!"

For Brenda Hernandez-Acosta, making empanadas and churro cheesecake has always been her love language. But now she’s ready to turn her hobby into a full-time business. She tells Trevor why she's finally ready to bet big on herself.

People survive all kinds of things - sickness, accidents, heartache. On this episode, we're exploring how people come out on the other side of that.

Shannon Cornelsen knows she is from a family of survivors. On her mother’s side, many of her loved ones lived through the residential school system. And that’s what's motivating her to take on the task of reconnecting families of those who died in the Camsell, a hospital where many Indigenous people were taken from the North and never came home.

15-year-old Yemaya Azania-Merchant went viral on TikTok for bearing a striking resemblance to Adonis Graham, the son of Canadian rap superstar, Drake. It didn't take long for the negative comments to start pouring in. Yemaya tells us how they survived the wrath of the Internet.

Three hundred and seventy two days. That’s how long Justin Barbour survived living off the land while trekking across the tundra of northeastern Canada. It was a self-imposed expedition that pushed him to his limits - but for Justin, the biggest challenge was leaving the woods and returning to his regular life

Trousdale's General Store in Sydenham, Ontario has been around since 1836 - surviving two world wars, pandemics, even Amazon. Fifth-generation store owner John Trousdale shares the secret to lasting this long.

Back in 2016, Philippe St-Pierre's annual hunting trip with friends turned into a nightmare, when the plane he was piloting experienced engine failure and crashed into the woods. Philippe survived, but his two friends Alain Lafontaine and Eric Cossette did not. Philippe tells us how being the sole survivor left him wrestling with some big questions.

Today we're celebrating all the cool stuff people are good at, in our own version of “Canada’s Got Talent.”

When Rick Ammazzini sees a locked safe without a key, he doesn’t see an impenetrable door, he sees an opportunity to test his skills as an amateur safe cracker. For Rick, it's not about discovering potential riches inside, it's about unlocking a portal to a specific time in history.

The newest member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is also their youngest. 17-year-old Julin Cheung shares his thoughts on being labelled a prodigy, and what it really takes to be talented.

Tanya Ryan is a talented singer-songwriter from Alberta who's won country music ‘Rising Star’ awards and performed at Calgary Stampede. But after 12 years of trying to make it in the music industry, Tanya is hanging up her guitar for good. She tells us about coming to terms with the fact that talent isn’t always enough.

Don Vickers of Sydney Mines, NS says he has a horrible memory, but he still managed to break a world record in the competitive world of memory sports.

And Paul Anthony’s "Talent Time!" is a long-running live show in Vancouver with a very broad definition of what it means to be talented. A seniors' vaudeville troupe, a kids' Kung Fu class, a rabbit agility club – all have a stage here. Paul tells Ify why he doesn’t want to put the notion of ‘talent,’ or his show, in a box.

There are lots of reasons to volunteer - and many excuses not to. So as Canada faces a critical volunteer shortage, what is motivating those who do?

Ify takes to the streets of Toronto to find out where and why people are volunteering (or not).

Seven days a week, Ashley Van Aggelen is coaching kids in hockey, basketball, soccer, and badminton. She gives up all her evenings, barely sees her friends, and bounces between multiple practices and games in a week. So what keeps this super-volunteer going?

After getting fed up with the lack of emergency services in his community, Ian Hicks decided to buy a fire truck from the set of Rambo: First Blood. And just like that, a small town B.C. fire department was born. How a rag-tag collection of volunteers transformed into critical first-responders.

Michele Botel grew up afraid of felines. So why did she volunteer to feed a colony of feral cats?

Lyall Davis has one mission: to keep the community radio station in Killaloe, Ontario from going off the air. But without volunteers, the station will have to sign off for good - something he's worked too hard to let happen.

Vanessa Genier (Missanabie Cree First Nation) shares what she gets out of volunteering her time making quilts for residential school survivors.

Angela McBride volunteers to sit with people at the end of their lives - listening to music, playing games, and talking about whatever people want to talk about. What these end-of-life conversations have taught Angela about living.

Correction: An introduction to Now or Never originally broadcast on December 21, 2021 and rebroadcast on December 5, 2024 reported that the remains of 215 children were found at the site of a former Indian Residential School near Kamloops, B.C. in 2021. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation reported in May, 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had located remains. Community leaders later clarified that ground-penetrating radar had identified about 200 potential burial sites.