Hosts Lilian Fridfinnson and Hafsatou Balde (Photos by Nathan Fung)
The Midweek team hit the ground running after last week’s break, and hosts Lilian Fridfinnson and Hafsatou Balde had quite a show to anchor.
Midweek’s Ali Khaleghi opened by interviewing the president of Carleton University’s Human Rights Society about the implications of the House of Commons unanimously recognizing the past residential school system for Indigenous children as genocide.
Tavneet Dhillon then reported on how Canada’s mining industry is currently being accused of complicity in the destruction of Indigenous cultures in countries such as the Philippines.
Ora Massabuau described for us the services offered by Ottawa’s EnviroCentre program to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and Sophie Price used a radio documentary to take us on a much-needed meditative stroll with an Ottawa minister who is offering these guided outings to help people with self-care.
Midweek’s Ali Khaleghi looks on as reporter Rebecca Moen threatens a man with a dead squirrel … though it actually might be her mic’s furry wind protector…
Lilian’s a reporter as well as a host, and she brought in her own story about how “magic mushroom” stores are a sector that’s — well — mushrooming in Ottawa and elsewhere, popping up like … mushrooms … in a legal grey-area similar to that of cannabis dispensaries before that product was fully legalized.
Hafsatou, our other host, replied with a story of her own, taking us to the Dia de los Muertos festival in Ottawa’s Byward Market to celebrate The Day of the Dead, and reporter Rebecca Moen looked at how TikTok videos have ramped up Halloween costume competitiveness.
(In between those two seasonal stories we also had an interview on another important fall event: the annual CKCU-FM funding drive. Our host station’s program director, Dave Aardvark, explained how crucial this effort is to the community radio station’s survival — and its ability to bring shows like ours to you! You can donate to this year’s drive here, and at any other time too. We may be biased, but we think it’s a pretty worthy cause.)
The pre-show “Splitting of the Scripts” ritual
And what would the first show in November be without a story on Movember, that month when men leave whiskers unmowed to support awareness of men’s mental health issues.
Midweek’s Sophie Price spoke with a local occupational therapist about how there’s a serious — even deadly serious — need for this awareness, and for men to be more honest with others and with themselves about their struggles.
Reporter Ora Massabuau followed that with a fan’s take on rumours the Ottawa Senators NHL team may be up for sale, and Jingyao Yu discussed the Ontario government’s threats to outlaw a strike by education workers. She spoke with a member of a local of the same union at Carleton University, who explained this is a move with much broader implications than this one contract dispute.
Show producer Caitlin Redmond tracks the show on its script as it airs.
As we arrived for work this Wednesday, a sign in the lobby outside our newsroom promoted an intriguing United Way fundraiser in a nearby building: a sale of retro tech in the form of DVDs, CDs and old-style video games — and even the players to go with them. Reporters Ali Khaleghi and Rebecca Moen checked it out, and had a documentary ready before the end of our show so the rest of us could go there too.
We closed with a visit via reporter Jingyao Yu to the Ottawa Canadian Film Festival at the Bytowne Cinema, back in person after being virtual during the pandemic and with more filmmakers present in the flesh than ever before.
So with last week’s break already a distant memory, we’re into the homestretch of our season — with some bonus surprises ahead, so stay tuned! No clues — wait and see!