Hamilton elementary school teacher Cindy Gangaram has a passion for social issues, and taking on the provincial government over an attempt to roll-back current health education curriculum to the 1990s is her latest cause.

Dave Place retired from the Hamilton Police just before Christmas, following a career that included working in the Major Crimes Unit, where he reported to Hamilton homicide scenes, interrogated suspects, witnessed autopsies, and had to knock on doors and tell loved ones of the victims the worst news of their lives.

Jon Wells in conversation with Dave Place. 

This time of the year is one that is raw for many people. The days are short and dark. It is a time of great excitement but also a time of despair. If things are not going well for you, it seems magnified by the holiday season when everything in the culture seems to be screaming at you: "You should be happy!"

Host Jon Wells reads an essay he wrote two years ago at the dawn of a new year. 

The first woman head of cardiac surgery in Canada, Dr. Irene Cybulsky, has launched a human rights complaint against Hamilton Health Sciences alleging she was removed in 2016 because of gender discrimination. 

This week on "The Message", host Jon Wells discusses giving - not the kind you do between family and friends - but the kind where you receive nothing in return. Why is it that some people give of themselves - their time, money, and effort, so passionately and especially during the Christmas season?

Why did our two guests - who are six and four years old - launch a blanket drive that has raised thousands of dollars to help keep those in need in Hamilton?

Jon Wells in conversation with Emjay, Georgia, and their parents Kelly and Andy Warne.

During the Christmas season, the issue of driving impaired is always on the front burner, with much-publicized police warnings and RIDE checks, in the wake of cannabis legalization this fall.

Operating a vehicle while impaired by drugs has always been illegal but clearly something has changed - either more people are feeling emboldened to smoke up and drive, or Hamilton police are out there looking harder for those who do.

Jon Wells in conversation with Constable Claus Wagner with the Hamilton Police Service. 

"Their story began with a knock at the door and a gift of bottled water," writes The Hamilton Spectator's reporter Natalie Paddon. "It has become about so much more — a 65-year-old Afghan man and a 29-year-old Canadian man sharing meals, religion, culture, respect and now, almost unbelievably, a kidney."

There is loving thy neighbour in the symbolic sense, and then there is unconditional neighbourly love. It is the essence of Natalie's story about Ghulam Akbar Momand and Andy Clutton. 

Host Jon Wells in conversation with Natalie and Andy. 

Marianne Meed Ward was recently elected in the municipal election, defeating incumbent Rick Goldring, and will be sworn in Monday as Burlington's first female mayor in four decades.

Host Jon Wells speaks with the new mayor of Burlington. 

Addiction to opioid medications is a national epidemic, and a crisis in Hamilton where the rate of opioid-related deaths last year was 72 per cent higher than the provincial average.

Host Jon Wells speaks with Hamilton Spectator health reporter Joanna Frketich.

David Lewis reports on the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

More coverage on thespec.com.