Reflections

Thanksgiving in Canada has a checkered history, so Joeita Gupta set out on a mission to learn more about it. 

She spoke with Peter Stevens, a Professor of Liberal Studies at Humber Polytechnic. Peter talks about the religious histories of the widely celebrated holiday, and describes how settlers wrote Indigenous peoples out of the story of Thanksgiving in the early 1800s.  

Brian Rice offers insight into the Indigenous history of the holiday. Brian is an Indigenous Land Based Educator at the University of Manitoba and is of Mohawk descent. He shares how the origins of Thanksgiving can be traced back to harvest ceremonies that were shared with settlers when they first came to Canada. 

Christine Sismondo is a historian and writer based in Toronto, Ontario. She explains that Canada’s eagerness to set itself apart from the United States was through nation-building holidays like Thanksgiving, especially after the civil war.

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Canadian Cultural Historian Ed Conroy takes Kelly MacDonald back in time to the late 20th century to ponder about what kids at the time were watching on TV. They go over communication style, disability representation, quality of writing, and how the creators aimed to connect to the audience. 

Alyson Court, a very busy teenage actor at the time, runs down the highlights of her career, and lets us in on her days starring on The Big Comfy Couch as Loonette the Clown. 

Jordan Christopher Morris, co-writer and producer of the documentary Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, reminds us how this iconic Canadian children's TV show gathered kids from multiple generations to teach imagination and self-expression. 

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Running can be a fun way to participate in the community, improve your health and fitness, or push yourself beyond your perceived limitations. Grant Hardy speaks to two partially sighted runners, Richard Harlow and Julie Colangelo, and learns how their running journeys evolved. Richard's sighted guide Richie Jackson also gives his perspective on prepping for a marathon and completing it accessibly.

This is a deep dive on running: a fast-paced sport and a look at how it can be made accessible.

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Jennie Bovard has been a lifelong cyclist and now spends part of her time putting butts on tandem bikes as a program coordinator with Blind Sports Nova Scotia. She gets a lot of joy from tandem cycling, and finds out who else feels the same. 

Ange Purcell is brand new to tandem biking. She shares what drew her to the sport, why group rides have quickly become a summer highlight, and how tandem cycling compares with riding a standard bike for someone with low vision. 

Jamie Penton has volunteered as a tandem pilot since Parasport PEI launched its paracycling program in 2009. He shares what keeps him coming back to the front seat. 

And Ron Walsh, a blind outdoorsman and adventurer, returned to cycling after more than 25 years away, taking on an ambitious tandem ride to raise money for his local food bank. 

From first rides to decades of volunteering to an epic comeback, Jennie is curious why people ride and why they keep coming back. 

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AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Workplaces across North America have been implementing period positive policies in their offices and cultures for several years now. One policy that sparks a strong debate is menstrual leave, and Joeita Gupta learned how organizations handle issues of period equity in their workplaces. 

We hear from Sophie Zivku, Impact Manager at DIVA, about how their menstrual leave policy was implemented to destigmatize periods and create a holistic workplace for their employees. 

Meaghan Furlano is a qualitative sociologist, and through her research tells us about how menstrual leave policy announcements are snapshots of society’s stigma surrounding menstruation and menopause. 

AMI offers its employees unlimited sick time, and HR Business Partner Elysia Yardley shares how this policy eliminates employees having to disclose personal information. 

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Outside of broadcasting aspirations, Kelly MacDonald considered auctioneering as a career. The fast talking entertainment intrigued him then, but today he set out to explore the world of auctions a bit further. 

Lenn Metcalfe, Founder and Former President of Metcalfe Auctions, reminisces with Kelly about his over seven decades working in auctions. 

Dennis Kidd of Kidd Family Auctions takes us through the handling of a live auction and breaks down how an auctioneer develops his chant. 

The new-world way of running auctions is online. Leana Vannatter, Founder of Dream Auctions, shares how online auctions work, and explains why the process is more accessible for people with disabilities. 

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Joeita Gupta had always considered herself an avid reader, but lately, Netflix and doom scrolling had taken up a lot of her time. So, she turned to her friends for inspiration to get out of this reading slump. 

Paul Daniel, former AMI Producer and avid reader, shares where he gets his book recommendations and how he tracks what he's reading throughout the year.  

Jacob Shymanski, host of AMI’s Audiobook Café, weighs in on the debate about whether audiobooks “count” as reading. And he shares how he turned casual reading into an everyday habit.  

Plus, Peter Tsatsanis, who runs Peter's book club by the Canadian Council for the Blind, tells Joeita how book club conversations have deepened his understanding and appreciation for books, and explains that his schoolteachers were instrumental in turning him into a real reader. 

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Kelly MacDonald learns about “The Healing Leash: Honouring Guide Dog Loss,” a CNIB program offering space for people like Guy Carriere, a former guide dog handler, to talk openly about that experience with others who understand it first-hand. 

Denise Chamberlin, the group’s Facilitator, navigates participants through the four-week Healing Leash series, intended to meet participants exactly where they are in the journey. 

And Vera Orsini speaks to the planning prosses that brought this first time CNIB group forward. 

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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Joeita Gupta has already explored what it’s like to go through two of life’s biggest stages: heading off to university and changing your career. Now, she wants to find out what the next stage of life might be like and how she can best prepare for it.

Last year, Joeita’s mother retired after a 40-year career, and it left her with lots of questions. When do you know when you’re ready for retirement? How do you financially prepare? Does having a disability change the retirement experience in any fundamental way?

Joeita is joined by three retirees: long-time AMI employee Bill Shackleton, David Dennis from the CNIB store in Toronto, and 20-year BMO employee Terry Bray. She learns more about what retirement was like for them and the lessons she can take from their experiences.

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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What are the realities of living with ALS? When James Smith was diagnosed with ALS in 2021, he was relieved to finally have an answer for his pain and symptoms. However, the progression of the disease was just beginning. James (@adaptwithjames) shares his life with his over 40,000 Instagram followers, and joined Beth Deer to talk about how he and his family are handling his diagnosis and progression of the condition. 

What is it like to care for someone with ALS? Ana Clara Butcher’s husband Johnny was diagnosed with ALS shortly after they got married, and that diagnosis completely changed their lives. Ana (@anaclarabutcher) shares how she has coped with the progression of her husband’s disease and how she balances the responsibilities of being a caregiver, a wife, and managing their household. 

Angela Genge, Director of Clinical Research and the Centre for Innovative Medicine at McGill University and Executive Director of the ALS Center of Excellence, answers Beth’s questions about the condition and makes the distinction between treating a disease and curing one. 

About AMI

AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.

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