In recent years there have been increased discussions about what ethical true crime creators should and shouldn’t be doing. It's an important discussion to have, and Canadian True Crime has been following along.

In our experience, victims are not a monolith and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to ethics in true crime—especially when covering cases that are recent, historic, and everything in between.

At every step of the process, careful decisions are made with the intent of reducing direct or indirect harm to the subjects of the stories and the audience.

Case selection

In deciding what cases to cover, we consider the purpose behind telling a particular story and the risks of harming someone involved.

We try to strike a balance between the public's right to information about the criminal justice system, and issues of privacy and potential exploitation.

With this in mind, we no longer cover cases that are less than ten years old except in special circumstances - for example, victims who have proactively reached out to us, cases where the victim's identity is under publication ban, or high-profile cases involving multiple victims.

Engaging with victims and survivors

Through experience we’ve learned that it's not always appropriate to contact those on the victim’s side for several reasons.

All of the information in our episodes is already in the public domain, and we don’t speculate, make jokes or give personal opinions in our presentation.

When deciding whether it is appropriate to contact victims, our intention is to minimize the potential for additional harm. As such, we take a number of factors into consideration, including:

• How long ago the crime was committed.

• Where the case currently stands in terms of court process.

• Previous interactions with or statements given to the media by those on the victim’s side.

• Evidence of recent or ongoing advocacy - for example a dedicated website or facebook page/group for the case that is able to be found via a basic search.

• Evidence that they have made themselves available to be contacted in this context. We consider snooping through social media profiles to be an invasion of privacy.

Canadian True Crime episodes are written using facts curated from the public record including court documents, news archives, inquiry reports and other sources.

The full list of resources and credits can be found on the dedicated page for each episode.

• Minor factual errors:
  We present cases in good faith with no agenda other than a fair and balanced portrayal, and while we make every effort to verify facts through multiple sources, sometimes small errors are caught by observant listeners. Errors can originate from primary source materials like media reporting and court documents, but they can also result from human error on our end.
  If an error is pointed out that’s important to correct, we will make every effort to make that correction. In cases where a small inconsequential error is observed, we’ll make a note for next time and hope that listeners can appreciate the spirit in which the episode is presented.

• Images:
  To avoid potential copyright infringement, we no longer publish images on episode pages or social media unless they were provided to us by the families or under special circumstances.

Canadian True Crime is not a limited series podcast, and up until 2023 we consistently released episodes on the 1st and 15th of the month for most of the year.

The podcast remains an indie passion project, and as it grew and we started working more with victims and survivors, it became challenging to balance a set release schedule while working as ethically as possible.

No two cases are the same; each requires individual treatment and a trauma-informed approach. In practice this means understanding how trauma impacts the brain, being responsive to their needs and flexible with timeframes.

So in 2023 we decided to trial a more flexible schedule with the same number of episodes but released when they are ready.

We do understand that many listeners like knowing when to expect a new episode, and appreciate your patience and understanding. This approach is more sustainable for us in the long term and ensures the quality, accuracy and consistent level of detail are maintained.