YXE Underground

Spend some time with Charmaine Panko and you will quickly realize how important meaningful and empathetic discussion is to her.  Charmaine is a Saskatoon lawyer who takes a lot of pride in helping couples and families who are going through the divorce process. She worked in a corporate law firm for 10 years after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan's law program but was always intrigued...

Every superhero has an origin story. For hydrologist Phillip Harder, who I consider a water superhero, his origin story traces back to when he first saw a culvert sticking straight up in the air near his farm at the age of seven. Phillip wanted to know why there was fresh water at the bottom of that odd-looking culvert when there was an alkali body of water nearby. To a seven year-old kid growing...

Anita Smith is one of my favourite people and it was wonderful to have her back on the podcast for this special summer bonus episode.  Anita is the Artistic and Executive Director of Saskatoon's 25th Street Theatre and a fierce advocate for the arts in our community. When she's not directing and acting in plays, Anita empowers local artists from all backgrounds to tell their stories on local stage...

It's easy to spot a Science Trek student in Saskatoon. Just look for their bright yellow backpack cover! To be a member of the Science Trek means you are a part of a family. This is one of the many things I learned about the program after spending a beautiful June day with the class as it prepared for an upcoming canoe trip. It makes a lot of sense.  Students apply to be a part of this unique Sask...

Megen Olfert smiles thinking about the backyard treehouse her father designed for her when she was a kid.  It was wide enough for a motorised wheelchair to manoeuvre inside, and a cement path wound its way through the backyard up to the treehouse instead of stairs or a ladder.  “I felt like I was on equal ground as a kid,” said Megen, “because sometimes when you’re disabled it means you have to do...

Knowing where your next hot meal is coming from is a luxury most of us take for granted, but there are people in our community from all backgrounds who struggle to find their next breakfast or lunch. The Friendship Inn has spent the past 50 years helping vulnerable people in our community struggling with food security get the supports they need.  Every morning and lunch, 365 days a year, the Frien...

"Everybody in the pandemic has seems more friendly and more open. I've seen so many more people during the pandemic actually engaging in eye-contact and actually stopping and saying hello." I love this statement from Frances Sreedhar! If anyone knows how people are acting on the Meewasin trails, it's Frances.  Frances has walked more than one million steps on the Meewasin Valley trails since the p...

Two years ago, Saskatoon was preparing to host the Juno Awards. Covid-19 was definitely in the news, but it had not reached our community yet. All systems were ready to go celebrate the best in Canadian music.  For myself, I was excited to release a pair of YXE Underground episodes highlighting the behind the scenes work it took to bring the Juno Awards to Saskatoon and to host the JunoFest concer...

It's 9:30 on a cold January morning at the Saskatoon Field House and 85 year-old George Parchomchuk is right where he wants to be. He is walking on the track! For the past 20 years, George has been a member of the Coronary Artery Rehabilitation Group . He suffered his first cardiac event in 2001 and is grateful for the education and support he has received in the group. I know this because George...

“It’s the hardest thing for them to walk through the door because nobody wants to be in that position. It’s their reality now. They are a bereaved by suicide person. So when they rip off that first Band-Aid and they come in, they’re just met with such warmth, caring and a level of understanding. It sort of gives them a place where they now belong. That community of belonging is so special.” This i...

When I think of a fire department, I think of red fire trucks with ladders reaching towards the sky and fire fighters who are willing to sacrifice themselves to save the lives of others.  All that is true with the Saskatoon Fire Department , but there is another side to this department that is making a difference in our community through empathy, dignity and respect.  This episode looks at the wor...

For Nahanni Olson, the best way of reaching Indigenous youth in our community is through meaningful relationships, and that’s why I think she is the perfect person to lead this new University of Saskatchewan mentorship program called BIRM . She is all about relationships! BIRM stands for Building Intercultural Resilience Mentorship. The program is in the pilot stage and is partnering with two loca...

"In rural-speak: head out of the city on 22nd Street and stay on Highway 14 for about 10km." This is how Katie Suek started an email this summer when we were coordinating this podcast episode. Despite the fact that it's a short drive from Saskatoon to the Suek acreage, as soon as you step foot on Restoring 71, you do feel like you are light years away from the city. In 2015, the Suek family purcha...

Welcome to Season Four of YXE Underground. I am very grateful for your support of this local, independent podcast and I am excited to be sharing another season of stories with you.  We begin Season Four with an in-depth look at safe and affordable housing in Saskatoon. This is an issue that has come up time and time again throughout the podcast. Whether it is looking at mental health issues in our...

I’m very excited to share with you a conversation I had last month with a really insightful and caring person named Lisa Grieg. Lisa is a social worker by trade and has worked as a therapist in the past. Currently, she works as a Student Affairs Professional at the College of Dentistry at the University of Saskatchewan and is about to have her second child.  Lisa also has a wonderful podcast calle...

Welcome to a special summer bonus episode of YXE Underground. I hope you are having a great summer so far and are managing to stay cool in what has been a sweltering summer here in Saskatoon.  I want to share with you a conversation I had a few weeks ago with a really amazing young man named John Langan .  John is a member of the Canadian Military and the Saskatoon Police Service, and on July 21st...

When you walk into Saskatoon's Prince Philip School, a wave of hospitality and community hits you. It's a small elementary school tucked away in the city's south end and it holds a special place in Mindy's Macdonald's heart.  Mindy attended Prince Philip as a child and now teaches kindergarten in a carefully classroom to ensure her students are kept safe during the pandemic. Seriously, I just stoo...

Jordan Stovra's character cannot be contained behind a mask and a hairnet.  For the past eight years, the 24 year-old former football player has worked pretty much every job you can imagine at the Varsity Common Sobeys on 8th Street and Cumberland in Saskatoon. Whether it's cutting halibut steaks in the seafood department, collecting carts in the parking lot, checking lottery tickets or even tryin...

On a December evening in 2017, Andrea Schick's life was thrown into chaos.  The health of her four and a half year-old son, Sebastian, quickly took a turn for the worse. Doctors in Regina didn't know what was wrong and because Saskatchewan didn't have a children's hospital at the time, Andrea and her family were forced to travel to Edmonton so that Sebastian could receive care.  It was in Edmonton...

Spend some time in the Ronald McDonald House here in Saskatoon and you will feel a lot of things. You will feel the kindness of staff as they work to serve the families that are calling the house home while going through extremely challenging times. You will feel creativity as you discover all the big and little things within the house designed to make a family's stay as pleasant as possible. And...

March 20th was the first day of spring and it felt like a day to be outside.  I woke up early to go for a haircut and run a few errands, including picking up lunch for my wife who was at home participating in an all day zoom conference. I think seeing her sitting in front of her laptop inspired me to make the most of the afternoon and headed out for a walk. I parked off of 14th Street close to Bro...

"If I allow praise to be why I do this job or get wrapped up in that life-saving mentality, I would worry about the job I'm doing. You have to keep some humility." Jen Rondeau is a very humble and wise woman. As a Critical Care Paramedic, her job is to help those who need immediate medical help. She works with Air Ambulance and Road Ambulance based at Medavie Health Services West in Saskatoon's St...

How are you doing? It's a question I have asked my friends, my family, my colleagues and plenty of strangers during the last year. It's been a hard year for many in our community due to the pandemic. I think it's fair to say we've all had to deal with various mental health challenges.  As we approach one year of the Covid-19 pandemic here in Saskatoon, it seemed like the right time to see how we a...

I love speaking with Scotty Dicks. In Season One of YXE Underground, Scotty appeared on the podcast to talk about his work in growing Saskatoon's culinary scene. A wonderful chef who loves collaborating, Scotty worked with different restaurants and pubs in the city developing their menus while teaching classes at The Local Kitchen and running his own catering company. He was influential in educati...

I have had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Jodi Grant for the past four years. Jodi is a resident at Sherbrooke Community Centre, which is where I work, and her life has been full of challenges . However, one of her constant sources of joy has been reading stories out loud to students .  At Sherbrooke, Jodi reads to grade six students as part of the iGen program. iGen, which is short for Intergenerati...