Who Judges The Judge? Hosted By Jordana H. Goldlist

Toronto has spent billions on shelters and harm reduction, so why is the drug crisis getting worse? Ward 13 candidate Daniel Tate and criminal lawyer Jordana Goldlist debate it.

DANIEL TATE is the executive director of IntegrityTO, a Toronto non-profit whose social accounts document addiction, homelessness and disorder on the city's streets. He is running for city councillor in Ward 13 Toronto Centre in the October 26, 2026 municipa...

QUINTON JACOBS grew up in subsidized housing in Scarborough, raised by a single mom, and was suspended and nearly expelled as a teenager. Today, he works full time in the nuclear industry while running two community initiatives that cook thousands of meals a year and have taken him running across South Africa with a community of strangers who became family.

Quinton Jacobs is the founder of Ubuntu, a Toronto not-for-profit th...

JAPJI ANNA BAS says the systems meant to protect her failed her as a child. She says Children's Aid Society granted her father unsupervised access despite documented warnings, and the abuse continued for years. Decades later, she earned a PhD and sued the organization she says failed her.

Japji Anna Bas is a researcher and founder of Flourish Energy, where she works with senior social-purpose leaders on nervous system regula...

Alejandro Vivar spent much of his youth and early adulthood involved in Toronto's drug trade, eventually serving the equivalent of 16 years in prison. Today, he works as a tourism and travel coach, helps others build online businesses, and hopes to begin mentoring at-risk youth in the community he grew up in.

Alejandro grew up in Toronto's Christie Pitts neighbourhood in a stable, hardworking family, but was drawn into the drug trad...

AT 19, HARVEY BROWNSTONE told his parents he was gay. They cut him off completely, financially and emotionally. He went from a comfortable home to stealing food from wedding receptions to survive. Nineteen years later, he became one of the youngest judges in Canadian history, and Canada's first openly gay judge.

Harvey Brownstone practiced law for 12 years before being appointed to the bench at 38. He served as a judge for 26 years ...

Cassandra Harvey is a survivor of human trafficking turned advocate and aspiring criminal defence lawyer. Raised by a mother who struggled with addiction from a young age, she entered the foster care system as a child and aged out of it as a teenager. She was trafficked by three different men over the following years before finally getting out with the help of a lawyer, a detective, and a support group. She now shares her story pub...

Orlando Da Silva is a lawyer of over 30 years, former president of the Ontario Bar Association, and one of the first people in the Canadian legal profession to publicly disclose his struggle with treatment-resistant depression and generalized anxiety. When he became OBA president in 2014, he spent two years working up the courage to go public, eventually sharing his story in a Law Times interview that was picked up by the Toronto S...

SARAH TURNEY grew up in London, Ontario oscillating between working poor and just poor, using a food bank, navigating real instability at home, and never once imagining she would become a lawyer.

Sarah Turney is a partner at Fasken, one of Canada's largest law firms, where she heads up the real estate and property litigation practice, a niche she built from the ground up. In 2024, she argued and won a 5-4 decision at the Supreme Cou...

DR. ROBYNE HANLEY-DAFOE is an educational behaviorist, bestselling author of I Hope So, and international speaker who teaches resilience and well-being.

She shares her journey from struggling with undiagnosed ADHD as a child to dropping out of high school, being institutionalized at 16, and surviving a near-death car accident—and how her mother's question "how do you want to feel?" instead of "what are your goals?" cha...

Christophe Lewis was 20 years old when he made a decision that cost him the next decade of his life. Convicted of second-degree murder in 2011, he was handed a life sentence with a 12-year parole ineligibility period and sent to Millhaven Institution.

In November 2012, he refused a strip search being conducted by a female guard — illegal under CSC protocol. Thirty guards responded. What followed was caught on CCTV. The...

Audrey Hyams Romoff's mother was one of the youngest children to survive the Auschwitz concentration camp, liberated at just 8 years old — and that childhood trauma shaped four generations of women in ways Audrey never fully understood until decades later.

Audrey Hyams Romoff is the founder of Overcat PR and author of The Ripple Eclipse, a memoir tracing four generations of women in her family and the inherited trauma ...

Shana McCalla, founder of Find Ontario's Missing Boys, discusses the crisis of Black boys aged 12 to 16 disappearing across Ontario and being found in trap houses as far as Thunder Bay and Saskatchewan. She explains how boys from two-parent, high-income households are being lured with job opportunities, gifts, and mentorship, then forced to work 24/7 in drug houses under threat of violence.

Shana shares how she traveled to Thunder B...

Melissa Lantsman, Conservative MP for Thornhill and Co-Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, discusses Canada's crime crisis, bail reform, addiction policy, and why young Canadians are losing hope. She explains the Conservative position on repeat violent offenders, why safe injection sites aren't working, and the $360 million spent annually on programs that keep addicts sick instead of funding recovery.

Melissa shares her journey...

Staxxx Facts is a mental health advocate, certified life coach, and founder of Black Status Social Network who discusses breaking mental health stigmas, redefining success beyond money, and building authentic community. He shares how he navigated growing up in Toronto's Weston Road surrounded by gang violence, why he stayed out of that life, and what it means to truly put yourself first when your freedom depends on it.

Staxx...

Marlee Liss, founder of Survivors for Justice Reform (S4JR), shares her experience choosing restorative justice over criminal prosecution after being sexually assaulted by a stranger. She discusses why 94% of sexual assault victims don't report to police, how the criminal court system re-traumatized her at every step, and what happened when she sat in a healing circle with her assailant after he completed seven months of therapy.

Markez Graham is 11 years old, in grade six, and he's got a plan to fix Toronto. He talks about lowering taxes to address the cost of living crisis, creating a three-month housing program that transitions people from homelessness to self-sufficiency, and why Canada should prioritize fixing its own problems before sending billions abroad. 

Markez opens up about the importance of good teachers versus bad ones, why he's gr...

Drew James grew up in Mount Olive, Rexdale, where standing up for yourself was the only way to survive a neighbourhood filled with sharks. Today, he is a serial entrepreneur rolling through Palm Beach in a Rolls Royce and accessing rooms at Mar-a-Lago with the 1% of the 1%. This is not just a success story; it is a breakdown of how to navigate a cold business world by building genuine relationships and mastering the power of vocabu...

Shantelle Bisson is an entrepreneur, author, and founder of multiple businesses including a marina acquisition that shocked her community. Having experienced childhood sexual abuse and domestic upheaval, Shantelle has built a reputation for transforming trauma into triumph and mentoring women through her charity work. She discusses the systemic failures plaguing domestic violence response, the pressure on families in crisis, and th...

Criminal defence lawyer Marco Sciarra explains why the justice system is holding on by a thread, the corruption behind the Maplehurst scandal where murder charges were stayed, and the reality of defending your home in Canada.

Marco Sciarra is a criminal defence counsel and the founder of Sciarra Law. A survivor of a cancer diagnosis during his articles, Marco has built a reputation for advocacy in the courtroom and mentorshi...