CBC Docs POV
# CBC Docs POV

CBC Docs POV is a Canadian television point-of-view documentary series, which airs on CBC Television. The series premiered in fall 2015 under the title Firsthand, replacing Doc Zone, after the CBC discontinued its internal documentary production unit, and was renamed CBC Docs POV in 2017. The series airs one documentary film each week, commissioned from external producers rather than being produced directly by the CBC; some, but not all, films screened as part of the series have also had longer versions separately released as theatrical feature documentaries.

Repeat airings of the series have also sometimes included films which were originally broadcast as part of Doc Zone.

The CBC announced in 2021 that it would not commission further documentaries under the CBC Docs POV brand, instead merging all documentary broadcasts into The Passionate Eye.

## Episodes

### Firsthand, Season 1

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original air date |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "The Woman Who Joined the Taliban" | Kai Lawrence | October 15, 2015 (2015-10-15) |
| A profile of Beverly Giesbrecht, a Canadian woman who joined the Taliban to fight in the War in Afghanistan. ||||
| 2 | "Hold Your Fire" | Helen Slinger | October 22, 2015 (2015-10-22) |
| An exploration of police response to incidents of people in mental health crisis, delving into the reasons why such incidents frequently end in shootings. ||||
| 3 | "Reefer Riches" | Cynthia Banks | October 29, 2015 (2015-10-29) |
| A portrait of the transition toward legalization of marijuana, highlighting the experiences of the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington. ||||
| 4 | "Forever Young" | Geoff D'Eon | November 4, 2015 (2015-11-04) |
| An exploration of the human quest to extend our lives toward the horizon of immortality. ||||
| 5 | "IF, the Poet" | Kim Saltarski | November 12, 2015 (2015-11-12) |
| Portrait of Canadian slam poet Ian French. ||||
| 6 | "The Oka Legacy" | Sonia Boileau | November 19, 2015 (2015-11-19) |
| An examination of the legacy of the Oka Crisis of 1990, and its effects both on Boileau as an individual and on the wider community. ||||
| 7 | "Omar Khadr: Out of the Shadows" | Patrick Reed, Michelle Shephard | December 2, 2015 (2015-12-02) |
| Shorter television edition of their feature documentary Guantanamo's Child. ||||
| 8 | "Cowboy Up" | Judith Pyke | January 4, 2016 (2016-01-04) |
| A portrait of Alberta farm families involved in the rodeo circuit. ||||
| 9 | "Girls' Night Out" | Phyllis Ellis | February 25, 2016 (2016-02-25) |
| An examination of the alcohol consumption habits of women, and the reasons why binge drinking has increased much more rapidly among women than men in recent years. ||||
| 10 | "Looking for Mike" | Dylan Reibling | March 3, 2016 (2016-03-03) |
| After the sudden death of his former colleague Michael de Bourcier at age 33 leads to the revelation that the man was living under an assumed identity, the filmmaker tries to investigate the mystery of who his friend really was. ||||
| 11 | "I, Pedophile" | Matthew Campea, Robin Benger | March 10, 2016 (2016-03-10) |
| A portrait of two men who struggle with sexual attractions to children, exploring whether social stigmas around talking about the issue make it more difficult for a person struggling with it to get compassionate treatment, and thus increase their risk of actually committing a sexual offense. ||||
| 12 | "The War at Home" | Shelley Saywell | March 17, 2016 (2016-03-17) |
| An examination of domestic violence against women, delving into problems within the law enforcement and legal systems that make it difficult to combat. ||||
| 13 | "A Jihadi in the Family" | Eileen Thalenberg | March 24, 2016 (2016-03-24) |
| Profile of a woman in Calgary whose son was radicalized by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant over the internet, and died in 2014 while fighting in Syria. ||||
| 14 | "Perfect" | Jérémie Battaglia | August 4, 2016 (2016-08-04) |
| A profile of the Canadian synchronized swimming team in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. ||||

### Firsthand, Season 2

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original air date |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "Road to Mercy" | Nadine Pequeneza | October 6, 2016 (2016-10-06) |
| An exploration of the ethical implications of medically assisted death. ||||
| 2 | "Being Greene" | Jeff Newman | October 13, 2016 (2016-10-13) |
| Portrait of the Greenes, a Manitoba family with a history of mental health issues. ||||
| 3 | "Inside These Walls" | Juliet Lammers, Lorraine Price | October 20, 2016 (2016-10-20) |
| The family of Chinese dissident Wang Bingzhang struggles to secure his release from Chinese prison. ||||
| 4 | "Sugar Sisters: Confessions of a Sugar Baby" | Hannah Donegan | October 27, 2016 (2016-10-27) |
| Two sisters, struggling financially, decide to experiment with dating sugar daddies. ||||
| 5 | "Not Criminally Responsible: Wedding Secrets" | John Kastner | November 24, 2016 (2016-11-24) |
| A sequel to Kastner's 2013 television documentary NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, the film updates the story of Sean Clifton as he attempts to make amends to Julie Bouvier, the woman he was convicted of stabbing in 1999, prior to the wedding of his son Jon McMahon to an associate producer of the earlier film, to which both Clifton and Bouvier have been invited. ||||
| 6 | "Unstoppable: The Fentanyl Epidemic" | Robert Osborne | December 1, 2016 (2016-12-01) |
| An examination of the epidemic of fentanyl use in Canada. ||||
| 7 | "Once an Immigrant" | Michael McNamara | January 12, 2017 (2017-01-12) |
| Actors Peter Keleghan, Ted Dykstra, Elvira Kurt, Maria Vacratsis, Grace Lynn Kung and Raoul Bhaneja, all first-generation Canadians of a variety of ethnic backgrounds, explore their parents' histories as immigrants to Canada. ||||
| 8 | "Colonization Road" | Michelle St. John | January 26, 2017 (2017-01-26) |
| Comedian Ryan McMahon explores the impact of Ontario's historical colonization road system on First Nations. ||||
| 9 | "Lost on Arrival: Me, the Mounties and PTSD" | Helen Slinger | February 9, 2017 (2017-02-09) |
| CBC journalist Curt Petrovich recounts his experience recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder while simultaneously investigating the killing of Robert Dziekański. ||||
| 10 | "Kosher Love" | Evan Beloff | February 16, 2017 (2017-02-16) |
| Profile of Yisroel Bernath, a rabbi in Montreal who is also a popular matchmaker for Jewish people seeking romantic relationships. ||||
| 11 | "Free Reins" | Jackie Torrens | February 23, 2017 (2017-02-23) |
| A profile of Hinchinbrook, a horse farm in Nova Scotia which specializes in horse therapy for people with physical and mental disabilities. ||||
| 12 | "The Missing Tourist" | Geoff Morrison | March 2, 2017 (2017-03-02) |
| An investigation of the case of Atsumi Yoshikubo, a Japanese tourist who went missing in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in 2014. ||||
| 13 | "The Skin We're In" | Charles Officer | March 9, 2017 (2017-03-09) |
| Writer Desmond Cole examines the history of anti-Black Canadian racism in Canada. ||||

### CBC Docs POV, Season 1

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original air date |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "Bee Nation" | Lana Slezic | 2017 (2017) |
| 2 | "Mohamed Fahmy: Half Free" | David Paperny | 2017 (2017) |
| 3 | "Return to Park Ex" | Tony Asimakopoulos | 2017 (2017) |
| 4 | "Sickboy" | Andrew MacCormack | 2017 (2017) |
| 5 | "Indictment: The Crimes of Shelly Chartier" | Lisa Jackson, Shane Belcourt | 2017 (2017) |
| An investigation of the "catfishing" crimes of Shelly Chartier. ||||
| 6 | "Inseparable: 10 Years Joined at the Head" | Judith Pyke | 2017 (2017) |
| 7 | "Birth of a Family" | Tasha Hubbard | 2017 (2017) |
| Four indigenous siblings who were separated from their parents as part of the Sixties Scoop, and placed for adoption, are reunited for the first time as adults. ||||
| 8 | "Skinhead" | Andrew Gregg | 2017 (2017) |
| 9 | "Angry Inuk" | Alethea Arnaquq-Baril | 2017 (2017) |
| 10 | "The Caregivers' Club" | Cynthia Banks | 2017 (2017) |
| 11 | "The Way Out" | Michelle Shephard, David York | 2017 (2017) |
| 12 | "Searching for Winnetou" | Drew Hayden Taylor | 2017 (2017) |
| 13 | "Sweet Dreams for Chiyo" | Kaz Ehara, Rhiana Ehara | 2018 (2018) |
| The filmmakers document their own experience as parents of a daughter with Type 1 diabetes. ||||
| 14 | "Love, Hope & Autism" | Helen Slinger | 2018 (2018) |
| 15 | "Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit" | Aaron Hancox, Michael McNamara | April 1, 2018 (2018-04-01) |
| A look at the culture of cat shows. ||||
| 16 | "After the Sirens" | Kevin Eastwood | April 8, 2018 (2018-04-08) |

### CBC Docs POV, Season 2

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original air date |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "14 & Muslim" | Wendy Rowland | 2018 (2018) |
| 2 | "Prison Pump" | Gary Lang | 2018 (2018) |
| 3 | "The Reckoning: Hollywood's Worst Kept Secret" | Barry Avrich | 2018 (2018) |
| An exploration of the issue of sexual harassment in Hollywood. ||||
| 4 | "Band Geeks" | Morgan Elliott | 2018 (2018) |
| 5 | "The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart" | Robert Osborne | October 26, 2018 (2018-10-26) |
| An exploration of the scuba diving death of Canadian documentary filmmaker Rob Stewart during production of Sharkwater Extinction. ||||
| 6 | "Shut Him Down: The Rise of Jordan Peterson" | Patricia Marcoccia | 2018 (2018) |
| 7 | "Next of Kin" | Nadine Pequeneza | 2018 (2018) |
| 8 | "Know I'm Here" | Elbert Bakker | 2018 (2018) |
| 9 | "I Think You've Been Looking for Me" | Kacim Steets | 2018 (2018) |
| 10 | "Pugly: A Pug's Life" | Michael McNamara | 2018 (2018) |
| 11 | "To the Worlds" | Wendy Ord | January 18, 2019 (2019-01-18) |
| Profile of a group of older women from Kelowna, British Columbia, who came together as a figure skating team with the goal of participating in the International Skating Union's 2018 adult figure skating competition in Oberstdorf, Germany. ||||
| 12 | "Spaceman" | John Choi, Nicolina Lanni | 2019 (2019) |
| 13 | "Mr. Jane and Finch" | Ngardy Conteh George | February 22, 2019 (2019-02-22) |
| Portrait of Winston LaRose, a longtime community activist in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood who is campaigning for a Toronto City Council seat in the 2018 Toronto municipal election. ||||
| 14 | "Year of the Gun" | Marc de Guerre | 2019 (2019) |
| 15 | "My Farmland" | Xiaoping Diana Dai | 2019 (2019) |
| 16 | "Village of the Missing" | Michael Del Monte | March 22, 2019 (2019-03-22) |
| An examination of the 2010–2017 Toronto serial homicides by Bruce McArthur in Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village. ||||
| 17 | "Modified" | Aube Giroux | 2019 (2019) |

### CBC Docs POV, Season 3

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original air date |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "Drag Kids" | Megan Wennberg | July 25, 2019 (2019-07-25) |
| Profile of four young drag performers. ||||
| 2 | "Town of Widows" | Natasha Luckhardt, Rob Viscardis | August 8, 2019 (2019-08-08) |
| Centres on the families of former workers General Electric's operations in Peterborough, Ontario, who are seeking reparations for their loved ones' often premature deaths of cancer believed to have been caused by chemical contamination in the workplace. ||||
| 3 | "Humboldt: The New Season" | Kevin Eastwood | August 15, 2019 (2019-08-15) |
| Profile of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team as they prepare to return to the ice for the first time since the Humboldt Broncos bus crash of 2018. ||||
| 4 | "Never Too Old" | Marcia Connolly | August 22, 2019 (2019-08-22) |
| Profile of Olive Bryanton, an 82-year-old woman who is pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Prince Edward Island, with her doctoral thesis focusing on the physical and mental health needs of other women in her age bracket. ||||
| 5 | "The Mill" | David Craig | August 29, 2019 (2019-08-29) |
| History of environmental controversies associated with the Northern Pulp Mill in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. ||||
| 6 | "Disruptor Conductor" | Sharon Lewis | September 5, 2019 (2019-09-05) |
| Profile of Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, a gay Black Canadian orchestral conductor who works to make classical music accessible to non-traditional audiences. ||||
| 7 | "Saving Rabbit" | Manfred Becker, Karen Wookey | September 12, 2019 (2019-09-12) |
| Profile of Peter "Rabbit" Saunders, a fentanyl addict struggling to recover from his dependence. ||||
| 8 | "Hockey Mom" | Andrew Moir, Teyama Alkamli | 2019 (2019) |
| A single mother who came to Canada as a refugee from the Syrian Civil War enrols her son in ice hockey in an attempt to adapt to their new lives in Canada. ||||
| 9 | "We Will Stand Up" | Tasha Hubbard | 2019 (2019) |
| Television edit of Hubbard's theatrical documentary film Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, about the death of Colten Boushie. ||||
| 10 | "Margaret Atwood: Encounters" | Nancy Lang, Peter Raymont | November 14, 2019 (2019-11-14) |
| A profile of writer Margaret Atwood. Shorter version of their feature documentary Margaret Atwood: A Word After A Word After A Word Is Power. ||||
| 11 | "The Internet of Everything" | Brett Gaylor | 2019 (2019) |
| 12 | "The Art of Downsizing" | Geeta Sondhi | 2019 (2019) |

### CBC Docs POV, Season 4

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original air date |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "Cottagers and Indians" | Drew Hayden Taylor | July 4, 2020 (2020-07-04) |
| Profile of James Whetung, an indigenous activist who plants wild rice at Pigeon Lake, and his conflicts with local homeowners opposed to the project. ||||
| 2 | "Above the Law" | Marc Serpa Francoeur, Robinder Uppal | July 11, 2020 (2020-07-11) |
| An examination of allegations of abuse of power against the Calgary Police. Shorter edition of the filmmakers' feature film No Visible Trauma, which premiered in full at the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival later in the year. ||||
| 3 | "#Blessed" | Ali Weinstein | July 18, 2020 (2020-07-18) |
| Profile of Sam Picken, the pastor of a C3 Church Global congregation in Toronto. ||||
| 4 | "The World's Biggest Family" | Barry Stevens | October 1, 2020 (2020-10-01) |
| After discovering that he is the biological son of Norman Barwin, an Ottawa fertility doctor who secretly used his own semen to impregnate women, the filmmaker tries to track down some of his 600+ biological half-siblings while examining the ethics of the larger practice of anonymous sperm donation. ||||
| 5 | "Rare Bird Alert" | Michael Melski | October 3, 2020 (2020-10-03) |
| Profile of people engaged in the hobby of birdwatching. ||||
| 6 | "There's No Place Like This Place, Anyplace" | Lulu Wei | October 8, 2020 (2020-10-08) |
| Examination of urban gentrification, through the closure, demolition and redevelopment of the historic Honest Ed's department store in Toronto. ||||
| 7 | "Company Town" | Peter Findlay | October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10) |
| An examination of the effects on the city of Oshawa, Ontario of General Motors' announcement that it would close the Oshawa Car Assembly plant. ||||
| 8 | "Her Last Project" | Rosvita Dransfeld | October 15, 2020 (2020-10-15) |
| Profile of Shelly Sarwal, a physician in Nova Scotia who is working to prepare the donation of her organs following her medically assisted death. ||||
| 9 | "The Killing of Phillip Boudreau" | Megan Wennberg | October 17, 2020 (2020-10-17) |
| An examination of the 2013 death of Phillip Boudreau, a smalltime criminal in Isle Madame, Nova Scotia who was murdered by vigilantes. ||||
| 10 | "Year of the Goat" | Michael McNamara, Aaron Hancox | October 24, 2020 (2020-10-24) |
| Profile of goat farmers in Southwestern Ontario who compete in goat-raising competitions at agricultural fairs. ||||
| 11 | "UFO Town" | Unknown | March 26, 2021 (2021-03-26) |

### CBC Docs POV, Season 5

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original air date |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "Prison Farm" | Tess Girard | September 18, 2021 (2021-09-18) |
| Explores the revival of the prison farm as a concept in the rehabilitation of prison inmates, through the story of several prisoners at the Collins Bay Institution. ||||
| 2 | "Born Bad" | Marc de Guerre | September 25, 2021 (2021-09-25) |
