theborderline.ca

Brandon Agnew is a Niagara based musician who released his first EP in 2010, NOLA. Since then, two full-length albums have been issued, Mave’s Variety and Aquarius Moon. And in 2026, Night Shadows – Volume 1, a collection of ten songs cut in Agnew’s signature blues’n’jazz fusion.

Brandon leads two original projects: The Night Shadows and The Euchre Party, both touring outfits with distinct personalities and sounds. When called upon, he’s happy to play drums/percussion for friends such as A Sea Of Gold & Burgundy, Maja Bannerman, Mike Lynch, Zach Bury and Rusty McCarthy.

He’s played shows with Sam Roberts, 54-40, Elliott Brood, Hollerado, Mariel Buckley, Bobby Dove, Nicolette & The Nobodies, Wax Mannequin, Minuscule, Iain James Bain, Marty Allen, Mike Lynch, Grievous Angels and more …

Brandon is a member of Folk Canada and was the Ottawa representative at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2024, he established the Niagara Songwriter’s Club and received two Culture Days grants in 2025 to host community songwriting workshops.

Date:2 July 2026 .

Mister Disc Music Group on Facebook. WE ARE NOT YOUR TYPICAL MUSIC GROUP. Each Monday a theme for music posts is chosen and members find music that fit it. Please promote us and add in all your music loving friends.

O CANADA EH!

“Make it a double double.”

Date:1 July 2026 .

Sheena L. Smith worked with children for over 40 years in variety of settings from a day care to group homes and a detention center. She has been a special education assistant for over 20 years and has raised four children, including two children with special needs-one has Spina bifida and the other has Down syndrome. She knows the challenges children face daily both at home and within the educational system.A strong advocate for meeting her children’s needs in the school environment and within the community, she has traveled and studied extensively seeking inclusive ways to help children with restricted physical mobility and intellectual disabilities to learn and thrive.

Are you ready to grow your business without the hustle, pressure, or burnout?

Ready to build with faith, confidence, joy — and finally feel GOOD again?

Faith, Fun & Freedom is the faith-filled guide every woman in network marketing has been waiting for — especially women over 40 who are tired of forcing, striving, and second-guessing themselves. This uplifting, practical, and deeply encouraging book blends simple business strategies with biblical confidence, mindset shifts, and heart-centered leadership.

Whether you’re building a brand, launching a wellness business, growing a team, or speaking life into your next chapter, this book will help you.

Inside you’ll find: 21 short, powerful devotionals. Practical success principles for faith-based entrepreneurs. Journaling prompts for clarity & confidence. Mindset tools, emotional regulation tips, and spiritual encouragement. Simple, proven strategies you can implement immediately.

This isn’t a book about grinding harder — it’s about partnering with God, aligning with peace, and letting your purpose shine. A refreshing alternative to hustle culture, Faith, Fun & Freedom will help you build a business (and a life) you actually love. If you’re ready to grow with grace, lead with confidence, and build with God — this is your next step.

What does it mean to walk the Métis path?
Rooted in culture and guided by spirit, this 53-week heritage journal invites you into reflection, remembrance, and renewal.
Each weekly spread pairs a meaningful Métis symbol — from the infinity sash and canoe to the river, fiddle, fire, animals, and ancestral teachings — with a grounded message and thoughtful prompts designed to reconnect you with story, strength, and identity.
Whether you move through the journal week by week or open to the page that calls to you, this is a sacred space to:
• Reflect on your roots
• Reclaim your story
• Strengthen cultural identity
• Honour ancestral wisdom
• Walk in balance — rooted, present, and open to possibility
Perfect for:
– Métis adults and youth
– Indigenous women reconnecting to heritage
– Cultural learning circles
– Spiritual reflection practices
– Meaningful gift-giving
Write. Reflect. Remember.
Let each message guide you inward.
Are you ready to listen deeply and walk with intention?

Date:30 June 2026 .

The Great Lakes Odyssey Radio Hour is broadcast on NPR (National Public Radio)

s5.e2. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour – Living With Weather Disasters

The worst ice storm in over a Michigan century left a trail of devastation in its wake during March 2025 as an increase in extreme atmospheric events forebode other disasters on the brink.

Eleanor Dhuyvetter, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Gaylord reports on the weather pattern leading up to and during the days of the storm.

Lesley Pritchard, environmental activist and concerned resident in Boyne country of Northern Michigan recounts her up-close and personal experience of the generational storm.

Lucas Merrick, Michigan native and Unit Manager for Gaylord State Forest, details the damage the storm inflicted on the regional forest and the early road map to environmental recovery.

Waubgeshig Rice, author and journalist living in Sudbury, Ontario, with his post-apocalyptic tale Moon Of The Turning Leaves where the Anishinaabe people face futuristic challenges to rebuild their society.

Featured Music: The Billy Bastards. Libby & Cal.
Music beds: Matt Warnock. Damjam.
Theme music: Ray Bonneville. Rusty McCarthy.

Photo by Ellen Van Laar – Flipped Sky Reflection

s5.e2. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour Music Credits

Title – Big Five Water
Artist / Composer – Ray Bonneville

Title – Storm Warning
Album – The Hagerstrom-Schmidt Affair
Artist / Composer – Libby & Cal

Title – St. Mary’s River Fantasy
Album – Nocturnes
Artist / Composer – Rusty McCarthy

Title – The Storm (pt.2)
Album – Back In The Bottle
Artist – The Billy Bastards

Title – The Storm (pt.1)
Album – Back In The Bottle
Artist – The Billy Bastards

Title – Sonora
Album – Homecoming
Artist / Composer – Matt Warnock

Title – Choice
Album – Orchestra
Artist / Composer – Damjam

Title – Mino Gizhep part 1
Album – Orchestra
Artist / Composer – Damjam

Title – Saga
Album – Orchestra
Artist / Composer – Damjam

Title – Orchestra
Album – Orchestra
Artist / Composer – Damjam

Title – Composition 11
Album – Orchestra
Artist / Composer – Damjam

Title – Pirate Music 3
Album – Orchestra
Artist / Composer – Damjam

Visit: raybonneville.com

Visit: rustyandmaja.com

Visit: libbyhortop.com

Visit: waub.ca

Visit: shingwauku.org

Visit: superiorconservancy.org

This program produced by GLOW Radio Partners in venture with The Borderline Events Co.

Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Great Lakes Odyssey World is a multi-national effort to strengthen and explore our relationship with the natural wonders known as the Great Lakes.

In this part of the project, we have created a multi-part audio series looking at the way the Great Lakes shape our lives, our livelihoods, our health and our culture.

50 years ago, folks in the media and elsewhere were ready to declare the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie “dead.”

The thought so appalled citizens in Canada and the United States, they forced their national governments to act.

Because, of course, the Great Lakes shape the life of both Canada and the United States. And, of course, the Great Lakes are a single system stretching from Duluth to Ottawa and down the St. Lawrence seaway. What happens to any of the Lakes will soon happen to the others.

So, the politicians of 50 years ago negotiated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, “for the purpose of restoring, protecting and enhancing the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes basin.”

50 years later, we can see the agreement worked. We see more fish, cleaner water, and less pollution. Unlike the early settlers and colonials, who mostly saw the Lakes as a resource to tap, we now recognize, like the First Nations, the Lakes are part of our identity. They shape our relationships, our songs and celebrations of place, the way we eat, how we play, and what we make, or sell, or harvest.

50 years since the wake-up call of a burning river, Great Lakes Odyssey wants to learn how we live and love, hurt and restore the incredible gift which is the Great Lakes.

We will explore Great Lakes art and artistic expression, and meet the artists, writers, musicians who make it. We will also dip into Great Lakes history and lore – and learn from the people who have been here the longest and know it the best: The People of the Three Fires, the Anishinaabek.

On our Odyssey around the Great Lakes, we will also hear from people working to prevent poisonous algal blooms or stop the spread of invasive species. We will meet visionaries undoing decades of development that hardened shorelines, emptied marshes and wetlands, and destroyed critical spawning grounds. We will talk to people working to ensure all beings have access to pure drinking water.

Because none of us can live without pure drinking water.

In this wondrous place we call the Great Lakes, we know we are blessed by these Sweet Water Seas. We claim them as our H.O.M.E.S. as the emotionally accurate mnemonic says. They are Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, and they are our HOMES.

As long as humans have lived in, and of and through the Lakes, people have told stories about them, sung about them, and gloried in this great gift of the long departed Ice Age. Left by glaciers thousands of years ago, they are the World’s storehouse of fresh water. If they are drained… or ruined… or damaged, they can never be replaced.

So, as we travel around the Great Lakes basin, we want to see how we are doing – what we are doing – how we’re feeling and what we’re learning as we try to live as lovers and restorers – and children and family – of the being whom the Anishinaabek call Nayaano-nibiimaang Gichigamiin, the five freshwater seas.

We hope to galvanize, inspire, and motivate you to strengthen, support and steward the Great Lakes to a beautiful and healthy future.

So please join us on this magical, dare we say “magical mystery tour” of the Great Lakes basin and Great Lakes culture.

Date:28 June 2026 .

DONATE: veteranartistnetwork.org/donation

Running time: 3 minutes.

Date:26 June 2026 .

Flags from over 40 countries around the world fly in front of the Ronald A. Irwin Civic Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Each of them represents and contributes an important part to the community’s local fabric. And every individual has a story.

On this episode we meet LIP Coordinator, Syed Islam from the capital Doha, Qatar; Marlene Henry-Smith originally from Kingston, Jamaica and living in the Sault since 2014; Cynthia Ima Osagie of Nigeria, Africa and now a resident in the city; Aaron Smith who found his way to Sault College from Trinidad-Tobago and then made the city his home.

SSMLIP created the Immigrant Advisory Committee (formerly known as the Newcomer Advisory Roundtable) in response to the growing need to have the representation and input of Sault Ste. Marie’s immigrants and refugees included in its research and planning processes.

The IAC provides an opportunity for the direct participation of newcomers in SSMLIP’s operations, thereby increasing a collaboration base of organizations and individuals on overlapping issues related to diversity, inclusion and immigration. The IAC also serves to provide newcomers, refugees and members of racialized or religious minority communities in Sault Ste. Marie with a leadership role within SSMLIP’s governance structure.

Within SSMLIP, The Immigrant Advisory Committee plays three key roles:

To represent authentic voices of newcomer residents in SSMLIP’s strategic planning processes;
To help increase awareness of and engagement in intercultural issues and activities;
To reach out to other newcomers from ethnic, cultural or faith communities in Sault Ste. Marie to share information with them and encourage their participation in SSMLIP’s ongoing work in the community.

Date:26 June 2026 .

What Fools Endure is the sixth album from Canadian singer-songwriter Trevor Tchir, a tasty blend of folk, rock, blues, and country, delivered with both humour and gravitas.

Several of the songs explore what fools endure in matters of the heart, including “Hope,” “Too Much To Lose,” “Drumheller,” and “Favourite Dreams,” from which the album title comes. In other moments, Tchir turns to the political: “Heartless Man” is about the resilience of people living under arbitrary and unfeeling rule, while “Crying Rock” is informed by Tchir’s experience as a teacher in a former residential school.

The album begins with a return to Tchir’s musical roots. “The Place On The Corner,” part dream, part happy hour, is a tribute to the pub in Sandy Hill where Tchir played his first shows. Track two, “Summer Country Lady,” originally a live pre-production track targeted for the album November (2001), has been reimagined, re-recorded, and finally released 25 years later.

Two of the album’s songs are performed solo acoustic: “Dear Ste-Anne,” a love song to reconcile the French and English Canadian solitudes, and “There I Go,” inspired by Alberta folk legend, Bill Bourne.

The other eight tracks feature a talented supporting cast of Canadian musicians, centered around Edmonton, Ottawa, and Sault Ste. Marie, the three places Tchir has called home. Perennial collaborators include Trevor’s brother, Stephen Tchir (Provincial Archive) on electric and slide guitars, Pierre Chrétien (Atlantis Jazz Ensemble, Souljazz Orchestra, Cinephonic) on Hammond organ and Rhodes piano, Sheldon Jaaskelainen (Wild Turkey) on violin, and Michael John Disanto on bass. Also featured are the late great multi-instrumentalist, John Steele, on pedal steel guitar, and Ken Coulter on drums. The songs are further coloured by a rich cast of supporting vocalists: Nancy Sylvestre and Josée Lachance Yule, Sault favourites Frank Deresti and Jay Case, Rebekah Moran, and Edmonton’s first couple of folk rock, Jeff Stuart and Lindsay Pratt (The Hearts, Holidays in Canada).

Many of the songs from What Fools Endure were developed in a dynamic online songwriting workshop, hosted by Todd Merkel, which gathered musicians from across Canada and beyond.

What Fools Endure is the follow-up to Sun & Moon (2021), and, like it, was recorded and mixed by Michael John DiSanto in Sault Ste. Marie. Additional tracking was done by Stephen Tchir and Craig Schram in Edmonton, and Jay Jaknunas in Ottawa. The album art design is by Brent Charbonneau (Planet Pulse Media) and Trevor Tchir. Mastering by Philip Shaw Bova.
credits
released May 1, 2026

Trevor Tchir – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica, percussion
Stephen Tchir – electric guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, synthesizer, backup vocals (10)
Pierre Chrétien – Hammond M-3 organ, Rhodes electric piano
Michael John DiSanto – bass
Ken Coulter – drums
Sheldon Jaaskelainen – violin
John Steele – pedal steel guitar
Nancy Sylvestre – backup vocals (1,6,7)
Josée Lachance Yule – backup vocals (1,6,7)
Frank Deresti – backup vocals (3)
Jay Case – backup vocals (3)
Rebekah Moran – backup vocals (9)
Lindsay Pratt – backup vocals (4)
Jeff Stuart – vocals (10)

Produced by Trevor Tchir

Recorded, engineered, and mixed by Michael John DiSanto in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Assistant production by Stephen Tchir
Additional recording in Edmonton by Stephen Tchir (electric guitar, slide guitar, mandolin, ST’s vocals, LP’s vocals, JS’s vocals)
Synthesizer programmed and recorded in Edmonton by Craig Schram
Additional recording in Ottawa by Jason Jaknunas (organ, electric piano, pedal steel)

Original master by Philip Shaw Bova

Date:25 June 2026 .

Andy W. Taylor grew up as a teen in the 1980s reading Alpha Flight comics and was excited to see Canadian superheroes represented for the first time. Andy was a reader and writer of speculative fiction from an early age thanks in no small part to his mother’s frequent trips to the public library with her kids. He’s a member of the Sudbury Writers’ Guild, a graduate of the Viable Paradise writing workshop and Playwright’s Junction workshop, and a member of CODEX writer’s forum. Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Andy currently lives in Sudbury with his family. His fiction has appeared in On Spec Magazine, FictionVale, Polar Borealis, Sudbury Ink Anthology, and on the streets of Sudbury. He has a new poem and non-fiction piece coming out in 2024 in the anthology Sudbury Superstack: A Changing Skyline.

His fiction has appeared in Nature: Futures, Polar Borealis, On Spec Magazine, FictionVale and on the streets of Sudbury. He is the co-editor of SuperCanucks: An Anthology of Canadian Small-Town Superheroes from Latitude 46 Publishing (March 2026).

Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Andy currently resides in Sudbury, Ontario with his family.

SuperCanucks: An Anthology of Canadian Small-town Superheroes, features eleven stories that explore the usual superhero tropes while shining a spotlight on the unique corners of Canada. Not your typical big city superhero, but those who live in and around Canada’s more often overlooked locales—isolated small towns and rural outposts. These heroes battle unique Canadian dangers, including government bureaucracy and the overreaching neighbours in the south.

Buy: latitude46publishing.com/supercanucks-an-anthology-of-small-town-canadian-superheroes

Date:23 June 2026 .

The Great Lakes Odyssey Radio Hour is broadcast on NPR (National Public Radio)

s5.e1. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour – The Métis At Baawating

Centuries ago, when former employees of the Hudson Bay and Northwest Fur companies began marrying the Indigenous women living around the Lakes, the French dubbed the mixed cultural idea, the Métis.

Harry Huskins, retired, Masters in Law, Masters of Arts Degree in History with a dissertation on Algoma in the 19th century, gives an account of the Métis At Baawating and what set them apart.

Mitchell Case, 2020 Region 4 Councillor of the Métis Nation of Ontario is a community based historian focusing on the history of Ontario Métis communities around the Great Lakes.

Amanda Rheaume, songwriter/musician, Citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario, a bearer of history and Métis stories in song, transmits a message of interconnectedness with her album, The Truth We Hold.

Music beds: Amanda Rheaume.
Theme music: Ray Bonneville. Rusty McCarthy.
Featured Music: Amanda Rheaume.

Painting by Christi Belcourt : Watersong

s5.e2. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour Music Credits

Title – Big Five Water
Artist / Composer – Ray Bonneville

Title – Annie’s Whip
Album – The Truth We Hold
Artist/ Composer – Amanda Rheaume

Title – St. Mary’s River Fantasy
Album – Nocturnes
Artist / Composer – Rusty McCarthy

Title – Steps Of The Old Ones (feat. Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk)
Album – The Truth We Hold
Artist/ Composer – Amanda Rheaume

Title – Big John McNeil (feat. Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk)
Album – The Truth We Hold
Artist/ Composer – Amanda Rheaume

Title – Distant Drum (feat. Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk)
Album – The Truth We Hold
Artist/ Composer – Amanda Rheaume

Title – One Of These Days
Album – The Truth We Hold
Artist/ Composer – Amanda Rheaume

Title – I Won’t Hide
Album – The Truth We Hold
Artist/ Composer – Amanda Rheaume

Title – Can’t Make Us Gone
Album – The Truth We Hold
Artist/ Composer – Amanda Rheaume

Visit: raybonneville.com

Visit: rustyandmaja.com

Visit: metisnation.org

Visit: mitchcase.ca

Visit: amandarheaume.com

Visit: christibelcourt.com

Visit: superiorconservancy.org

This program produced by GLOW Radio Partners in venture with The Borderline Events Co.

Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Great Lakes Odyssey World is a multi-national effort to strengthen and explore our relationship with the natural wonders known as the Great Lakes.

In this part of the project, we have created a multi-part audio series looking at the way the Great Lakes shape our lives, our livelihoods, our health and our culture.

50 years ago, folks in the media and elsewhere were ready to declare the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie “dead.”

The thought so appalled citizens in Canada and the United States, they forced their national governments to act.

Because, of course, the Great Lakes shape the life of both Canada and the United States. And, of course, the Great Lakes are a single system stretching from Duluth to Ottawa and down the St. Lawrence seaway. What happens to any of the Lakes will soon happen to the others.

So, the politicians of 50 years ago negotiated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, “for the purpose of restoring, protecting and enhancing the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes basin.”

50 years later, we can see the agreement worked. We see more fish, cleaner water, and less pollution. Unlike the early settlers and colonials, who mostly saw the Lakes as a resource to tap, we now recognize, like the First Nations, the Lakes are part of our identity. They shape our relationships, our songs and celebrations of place, the way we eat, how we play, and what we make, or sell, or harvest.

50 years since the wake-up call of a burning river, Great Lakes Odyssey wants to learn how we live and love, hurt and restore the incredible gift which is the Great Lakes.

We will explore Great Lakes art and artistic expression, and meet the artists, writers, musicians who make it. We will also dip into Great Lakes history and lore – and learn from the people who have been here the longest and know it the best: The People of the Three Fires, the Anishinaabek.

On our Odyssey around the Great Lakes, we will also hear from people working to prevent poisonous algal blooms or stop the spread of invasive species. We will meet visionaries undoing decades of development that hardened shorelines, emptied marshes and wetlands, and destroyed critical spawning grounds. We will talk to people working to ensure all beings have access to pure drinking water.

Because none of us can live without pure drinking water.

In this wondrous place we call the Great Lakes, we know we are blessed by these Sweet Water Seas. We claim them as our H.O.M.E.S. as the emotionally accurate mnemonic says. They are Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, and they are our HOMES.

As long as humans have lived in, and of and through the Lakes, people have told stories about them, sung about them, and gloried in this great gift of the long departed Ice Age. Left by glaciers thousands of years ago, they are the World’s storehouse of fresh water. If they are drained… or ruined… or damaged, they can never be replaced.

So, as we travel around the Great Lakes basin, we want to see how we are doing – what we are doing – how we’re feeling and what we’re learning as we try to live as lovers and restorers – and children and family – of the being whom the Anishinaabek call Nayaano-nibiimaang Gichigamiin, the five freshwater seas.

We hope to galvanize, inspire, and motivate you to strengthen, support and steward the Great Lakes to a beautiful and healthy future.

So please join us on this magical, dare we say “magical mystery tour” of the Great Lakes basin and Great Lakes culture.

Date:21 June 2026 .

Tom Wilson Tehohåhake (Two Roads) is a Canadian musician, songwriter, famed storyteller and visual artist.

In his memoir, Beautiful Scars, published by Penguin/Random House, Wilson reveals the impact of discovering his indigenous heritage. Musically, Wilson is best known for his work with Blackie & The Rodeo Kings and Lee Harvey Osmond, the latter receiving a 2020 Juno Award for the album Mohawk.

In 1989, Wilson became the founder of the popular rock band Junkhouse. The band quickly grew in popularity and in 1993 signed a recording contract with Sony Music Canada. Lead by Wilson, Junkhouse skyrocketed in the 90’s, producing three albums, Strays, Birthday Boy and Fuzz, before disbanding. The style and success of Junkhouse has been an inspiration to many young Hamilton artists. Wilson recorded his first solo album Planet Love (2001) for Sony Music.

It was also during this time that Wilson starting dedicating more of his time and energy to his second passion, painting.

“I needed an outlet besides writing music and there is a great meditative bond I found between me and the canvas.” – Tom Wilson
His art show “Beautiful Scars: Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs” premiered at the Art Gallery of Burlington and his work “The Mystic Highway” was commissioned by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for a 30’ x 30’ reproduction legacy piece adorning John Street in Hamilton. The painting pays homage to the rich history of Hamilton musicians and performers from past.

In 1999, as a result of their shared love and admiration for one of Canada’s great musical treasures, the late Willie P. Bennett, Wilson along with Stephen Fearing and Colin Linden formed what would become the acclaimed roots supergroup Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.

Date:17 June 2026 .