The 519 Podcast

It's not unusual for things to be stolen from people's front porches in cities across our region.  It happens all the time. We've even coined a term for the people who do it. We call them porch pirates.  But that's usually for the thefts of things like Amazon packages.  There are other times when thefts from front porches hit like a punch to the gut. Like the recent theft of a special wheelchair f...

If you wanted one way to gauge the excitement people have for our lockdowns and stay-at-home orders coming to an end, there’s really only one stop you need to make: your local restaurant’s patio. It's where you can find people doing what they have waited so long to do. That is, gather with others with a semblance of normalcy.  This is what we’ve been waiting for., and it’s a good time to take a lo...

You can ask just about anyone and they'll tell you that we've come a long way in this country when it comes to the rights of the LGBTQ2S+ community.  But many of those same people that you ask will also say we have a long way to go.  June is Pride Month in Canada.  And where things stand is the focus of this edition of the Blackburn News Podcast.  This episode is hosted by Hayley Cheng.   

In this 5th and final episode of our series, Ghost Town, hosts Hayley Cheng and Craig Needles look at the reports of hauntings at the Huron County jail in Goderich. 

It was a crime that has left many people in our region reeling, and one that is making us take a closer look at the kind of society in which we live.  On a quiet Sunday night in northwest London, Salman Afzaal, his wife Madiha, their daughter Yunma, son Fayez, and Talat, the grandmother and pillar of the family, went for an evening walk.  But instead of coming home from that walk, Salman, Madiha,...

In this episode of the Blackburn News Podcast, host Craig Needles speaks with Professor Lori Campbell about the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Professor Campbell talks about the reaction to the discovery, the shameful history of residential schools, and how many Canadians turned a blind eye to their existence over...

On this episode of the Blackburn News Podcast, host Craig Needles speaks with Indigenous scholar Sara Mai Chitty about the discovery of the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. They talk about the legacy of residential schools and what Canadians need to learn about this country's treatment of Indigenous people.  More resources c...

In part four of our series Ghost Town, the Blackburn News Podcast looks at a scary story from the Wallaceburg area near the end of the 19th century, where the accounts of the haunting are in dispute to this day. It's hosted by Craig Needles and Hayley Cheng. 

This week on the Blackburn News Podcast, we continue the Ghost Town series with Part Three. We’re looking at the Lawrence House in Sarnia - once the home of a lumber baron and his family at the end of the 19th century. Today, it’s a centre for the arts, but lots of people who work there or have visited will tell you, it’s a lot more than that. This episode is hosted by Hayley Cheng and Craig Needl...

It's been nearly 70 years since construction finished on what we now know as the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline. For decades, the pipeline has been sending oil from western Canada to Sarnia for refining.  And it did so largely outside the attention of most Canadians.  But that changed when Michigan Governer Gretchen Whitmer gave Enbridge a deadline to shut the pipeline down.  That deadline came and went...

If you live in the London area, you have almost certainly heard that  there are more than a few places in the city that are haunted.  Some people believe the stories, while others are a little more skeptical.  Whether you believe or not, there are few things that can get the hair on your arms standing up better than a good ghost story.  In part two of Ghost Town, our five part series series on som...

There is no shortage of ghost stories and tales of haunted houses across Southwestern Ontario. In part one of our series, 'Ghost Town,' we look at the infamous Texas Road in Amherstburg, scene of countless paranormal incidents. 

There have been few debates in recent memory that have split people along partisan lines more than the debate over why Canada and Ontario haven't vaccinated more of their citizens.  So where does the fault lie? Is it at the feet of Prime Minister Trudeau for not getting enough vaccines quick enough, or is it at the feet of Premier Ford for the way vaccines have been distributed.  Like most things,...

We're now into the third year of marijuana legalization in Canada. And while the easy access to pot has been great for consumers, has the legal marijuana market been a boon for all who have opened pot shops? In this episode of the Blackburn News Podcast, host Craig Needles speaks with marijuana retail store owners about what has worked and what barriers to success are still in place for pot shop p...

Since that start of the pandemic, many Canadians of Asian descent have reported being the victims of racism. They've had to hear some people refer to COVID-19 as the "China Virus" or the "Kung Flu," while some have even been accosted on our streets.  But as host Hayley Cheng examines in Episode 10 of the Blackburn News Podcast, anti-Asian racism has always been a part of Canadian life. 

The old saying is that it is the world's oldest profession.    But most women's advocates will tell you, it's not a profession at all.   It's something that many women are forced into either by pimps and traffickers, or by circumstances that are often beyond their control. Things like extreme poverty, addiction, or mental health issues.    Whatever the reason a woman ends up in the sex trade, ther...

It's often said that no young girl dreams of growing up to work in the sex trade. It's certainly not something any parent would want their child to do when they get older.  But sadly, scores of young women in this country are lured into it. And once they get in, it is very hard to get out.  One of those women is "Natalie." In part two of our series, Trafficking 401, host Craig Needles speaks with...

It is an undeniable part of our region's reality. Sex trafficking is happening here, and it's far worse than most people probably think. Young women, controlled by pimps, are being trafficking along the 401/402 corridor and forced to sell their bodies to men in hotel rooms in Windsor, London, Sarnia, and elsewhere.   On this episode of the Blackburn News Podcast, we present the first part of a thr...

Five years after police broke up a dog fighting ring in Tilbury, Ontario, we check in on where some of the seized dogs are now and how they were rehabilitated to the point where they could be adopted. This episode of the Blackburn News Podcast is hosted by Hayley Cheng. 

In November of 2015, when asked why his cabinet was 50% female, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "Because it's 2015." A little over five years later, why are those in the halls of power still overwhelmingly male and white? Host Craig Needles examines that question with former London city councillor Cheryl Miller, Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, and political insider Shobhita Sharma. 

Have you noticed your butter isn't as soft as it used to be, even at room temperature? In Episode 4, host Craig Needles takes a look at #buttergate with Sylvain Charlesbois of Dalhousie University and Daniel Lefebvre, Chief Operating Officer of Lactanet. 

In this second of a two part episode, host Craig Needles examines homelessness in London with Craig Cooper, manager of homelessness prevention with the City of London, and Dr. Jodi Hall, co-founder of Safe Space London. 

In the first of a two episode series on homelessness, host Craig Needles speaks with London Mayor Ed Holder about how the city achieved the "functional eradication" of homelessness among veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, and how London and other cities can do the same for other groups such as Indigenous people, people with addictions, and people with mental health challenges. 

In this first episode of The Blackburn News Podcast, host Craig Needles examines the reasons why some people are not willing to follow COVID-19 guidelines, such as mask wearing and avoiding social gatherings.