“I have an address book of people who didn’t”

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In this, episode we take a drive around Guelph on January 5, 2026, to check back in with our friend Rone from Episode 2.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

“How can we build this universe together?”

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In today’s episode we chat with Hayley. It’s the evening of Monday March 16, 2026 at the Community of Hearts in Guelph’s Old Quebec Street Mall. A Second City alum and powerhouse instructor and performer from Guelph’s own The Making Box improv comedy troupe, Hayley spends her Monday evenings leading an improv club for people with developmental exceptionalities.

Community of Hearts Lifelong Learning Centre fosters independence by providing a safe, secure and stimulating learning environment for adults with developmental exceptionalism while enhancing the participants’ social, emotional, physical and cognitive development by building confidence and promoting self-reliance.

Please consider donating to Community of Hearts in Guelph. Through your support, gifts of time and contributions of in-kind products and services, program participants gain the opportunities to achieve the level of independence they desire. Please join us in building a community of caring, mutual respect and lifelong learning.

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https://communityofhearts.ca/donate/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

“I want to say survival of the fittest but it’s really just a fight for the weakest not to die.”

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Recorded Tuesday, March 17, 2026. In today’s episode we are on location at Moss Park Consumption and Treatment Service in downtown Toronto in the immediate wake of the Ford government’s announcement that they will be eliminating funding for the last remaining supervised consumption sites. We speak with Adam, a member of the Moss Park CTS community and someone whose life is directly impacted by this announcement.

Walking Radio is non-commercial, volunteer-created, non-monetized, always free, and is powered by the stories that are too often ignored.

Please consider adding your voice to keep desperately needed lifesaving services like the Moss Park CTS in operation. The toxic drug supply crisis has already claimed more than 53,000 lives and counting in Canada since 2016: our friends, our neighbours, our loved ones.

Supervised consumption saves lives. Between March 2020 and November 2025, the Moss Park Consumption and Treatment Service on its own saw 83,211 total visits from over 19,079 unique clients. The staff at just this site alone responded to 3,269 overdoses, and provided 48,489 services and referrals during that same time period.

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CONTENT WARNING: Walking Radio explores complex topics in a forthright, strengths-focused, trauma-informed and sometimes unexpectedly lighthearted manner. These topics include but are not limited to: substance use, death, violence, disability, mental health and mental illness, suicide, homelessness, sexual assault, stigma, grief, loss, oppression, discrimination, HIV, trauma, government neglect, institutional failure, incarceration, political abandonment, depraved indifference, necropolitics, and social murder. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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Links:

Opioid and Stimulant-Related Harms in Canada: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/substance-related-harms/opioids-stimulants/

Supervised Consumption Sites Dashboard: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/supervised-consumption-sites/

Opioid Mortality Report: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/Diseases-and-Conditions/Mental-Illness-Substance-Use/Opioids/Opioid-Mortality-Report

Toronto Overdose Information System: https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/health-wellness-care/health-inspections-monitoring/toronto-overdose-information-system/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

“Can’t we all just be one again? Be a community?”

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In today’s episode, we spill the tea with my old friend Rye at his kitchen table in Kingston, Ontario, as we lace up for a multi-day walking adventure through the city. We start by reminiscing about mid-90s and early-2000s gay Kingston, clearing a path for the rockier limestone trails ahead.

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CONTENT WARNING: Walking Radio explores complex topics in a forthright, strengths-focused, trauma-informed and sometimes unexpectedly lighthearted manner. These topics include but are not limited to: substance use, death, violence, disability, mental health and mental illness, suicide, homelessness, sexual assault, stigma, grief, loss, oppression, discrimination, HIV, trauma, government neglect, institutional failure, incarceration, and political abandonment. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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Questions, comments? Reach out at: walkingradio.poach448 [at] passmail.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

“You’re my bridge over troubled waters. I’m the troubled waters.”

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In today’s episode we walk with Eric. It’s the night of August 29, 2025 on the shores of Lake Huron. Eric speaks boldly and bravely about his experiences starting a non-profit, working with the federal government, living on the streets, struggling with crystal meth, psychosis, and alcohol. He shares about the joy of community, the need for belonging, the ups and downs of sobriety, the support we give one another and the people who have provided friendship, mentorship, love, and care along the way.

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CONTENT WARNING: Walking Radio explores complex topics in a forthright, strengths-focused, trauma-informed and sometimes unexpectedly lighthearted manner. These topics include but are not limited to: substance use, death, violence, disability, mental health and mental illness, suicide, homelessness, sexual assault, stigma, grief, loss, oppression, discrimination, HIV, trauma, government neglect, institutional failure, incarceration, and political abandonment. Listener discretion is advised.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

“There’s a lot of material poverty in this neighbourhood, and also it is a community with tremendous wealth.”

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In this episode we walk with Erin, a registered nurse at the Moss Park Overdose Prevention Site, or Consumption and Treatment Service as it’s now known. We met together on the sweltering afternoon of Saturday July 12 2025 and toured the site and the Moss Park neighbourhood in Toronto’s downtown east-side. We discussed the origins of the OPS, the current realities of supervised consumption, and our shared hopes for a more compassionate future.

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CONTENT WARNING: Walking Radio explores complex topics in a forthright, strengths-focused, trauma-informed and sometimes unexpectedly lighthearted manner. These topics include but are not limited to: substance use, death, violence, disability, mental health and mental illness, suicide, homelessness, sexual assault, stigma, grief, loss, oppression, discrimination, HIV, trauma, government neglect, institutional failure, incarceration, and political abandonment. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

Today’s episode begins with a phrase that sounds harmless—even wholesome—until you dig a little deeper.

“Canada First” appears in 1868 as the name and slogan of a movement meant to promote Canadian nationalist sentiment.

Slogans are not static, and they often get repurposed over time.

In the late 20th century, “Canada First” reappears in explicitly far-right organizing under Paul Fromm, who is identified by multiple watchdog and media sources as a Canadian white supremacist and neo-Nazi.

More recently, researchers and anti-hate investigators have documented “Canada First” branding in younger, online white-nationalist ecosystems. One 2021 investigation described Tyler L. Russell as running one of Canada’s biggest, youngest, and newest white-supremacist chatrooms under the “Canada First” banner.

The slogan shows up again when Pierre Poilievre makes the interesting choice to adopt “Canada First” as his campaign slogan during his 2025 election bid.

Which brings us to the current context.

On Sept. 13, 2025, a Canada First rally at Christie Pits in Toronto—organized by Joe Anidjar-—called for “mass deportation” and “remigration”—a term that Canadian Anti-Hate Network executive director Evan Balgord describes as “synonymous with ethnic cleansing.”

The Canada First rally at Christie Pits ended with the group leaving the park, heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters.

In this episode, the Canada First group returns to Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Saturday January 10, 2026. One attendee, Ron Bouwmeister, told CBC News that what brought him down to the Square was his fears of an insufficient number of blonde people in Canadian society.

Fear no longer, Ron. This blondie is here to represent. As a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Canadian myself I am more than delighted in any moment to push Nazi-inspired eugenics rhetoric, no matter how poorly disguised, back into the garbage dump of history where it will always belong.

In today’s episode we chat with the counter-protesters and make new lots of new friends along the way. We explore why standing up against racism, xenophobia and hate is important to them as we strive together for a more caring, insightful, inclusive, and compassionate Canada.

We invite you to join us on our walk and to see what new pathways of better understanding we discover together along the way. I’m Patrick Corvyn, and this is Walking Radio.

Links:

https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/paul-fromm/

https://www.antihate.ca/canada_first_exposed_tyler_russell

https://www.antihate.ca/canada_first_campus_friendly_ties_between_conservative_student_group_white_supremacists

https://www.antihate.ca/former_proud_boys_devolved_neo_nazi_accelerationists

https://ricochet.media/politics/how-pierre-poilievres-canada-first-slogan-parallels-white-nationalist-ideology/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/anti-immigration-rally-counter-protest-downtown-toronto-9.7041206

https://web.archive.org/web/20260111012230/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/anti-immigration-rally-counter-protest-downtown-toronto-9.7041206

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

In this, the fifth and final episode of our special series, we continue and complete our walk with beautiful Camp Wendake.  For nearly 30 years, Camp Wendake has provided individuals living with HIV and their family members a stigma-free, safe, and welcoming space. It’s a place to unwind, relax, and experience the joy of community.

In this episode we join Norm, an extraordinary nurse who has been with Camp Wendake since the beginning. We listen in on snippets from the Thursday night talent show and we wrap up the final week of August 2025 with excerpts from the camp's closing ceremonies.

By way of epilogue and special bonus, we will complete this episode and our series with a leap forward in time to A Cabaret for Wendake … a campy affair: a fundraiser which was held at Aeolian Hall in London, Ontario on the evening of Friday, November 14, 2025.  

We invite you to join us on this walk and to see what new pathways of better understanding we discover together along the way. I’m Patrick Corvyn, and this is Walking Radio.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

In this, the fourth episode of our special series, we continue our walk inside beautiful Camp Wendake.  For nearly 30 years, Camp Wendake has provided individuals living with HIV and their family members a stigma-free, safe, and welcoming space. It’s a place to unwind, relax, and experience the joy of community.

In this episode we walk alongside even more of the campers and volunteers as they reflect on what Camp Wendake means to them and we look ahead to the Thursday night talent show. We listen in on the kaleidoscopic array of activities the camp offers and bump into some familiar faces along the way.

 We invite you to join us on our walk together and see what new pathways of understanding we discover along the way. I’m Patrick Corvyn, and this is Walking Radio.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com

“Kindness comes down from the sky without force.”

In this, the third episode of our special series, we continue our walk within beautiful Camp Wendake. For nearly 30 years, Camp Wendake has provided individuals living with HIV and their family members a stigma-free, safe, and welcoming space. It’s a place to unwind, relax, and experience the joy of community.

In this episode we get a chance to chat with the campers themselves to hear their stories and about what Camp Wendake means to them. We’ll also walk with even more of the volunteers who keep this magical camp running year after year.

Let’s walk together and find pathways to better understanding. I’m Patrick Corvyn, and this is Walking Radio.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit walkingradio.substack.com