September 7 Newsletter

The only news you’ll need this week! 🎯

September 07, 2022

Clearing a New Path™ and Clearing a New Path Podcast™ are products of Radar Media, located in Dorchester, Ontario on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Neutral peoples who once used this land as their traditional beaver hunting grounds.  As a settler here I’m committed to deepening understanding of Indigenous communities and reframing responsibilities to land and community. I am grateful to Mother Earth for the opportunity for love and connection and to the spirits of the Elders and the Medicine People who still walk the Earth.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

I come to this work as a white woman of privilege; a vulnerable allyship student.I get things wrong often and I am open to, and welcome opportunities to be called in about the content in this newsletter, in order to create safe, brave spaces for all. The purpose is to unite people in rural Canada.I am grateful to walk along this journey in grace, love and empathy together.Simply hit 'reply' to contribute, suggest and 

WHO AM I?

  • You can look at my work experience here. I worked as a radio journalist for a decade, the last gig I held was hosting a radio call-in talk show. I wrote an opinion column for a Postmedia newspaper for a number of years and I still write a column about women at work for a local business magazine.

  • The last few places I worked full time were for the Community Futures organization, supporting rural entrepreneurs. Part of my job was to tell the stories of rural clients and I felt like the stories about minority entrepreneurs were just a box check. I wanted to do more.

  • I grew up in a small tourist town in Ontario. I've lived in medium-sized cities (Sarnia, London) but I now live in rural Ontario. I've been here for several years.

  • I've made lots of mistakes, tons of them, both in my career and in my personal life. Some of them brought me shame and most brought me growth. I'm still learning. I'm a flawed human.

  • I don't belong to a political party. The way women are treated in political positions is appalling. The system is broken, however I don't know what the path forward is just yet.

  • I came to feminism and the recognition of my privilege later in life and I'm still learning to be an ally.

ABOUT THE PODCAST

Clearing a New Path™ podcast launched just shy of a year ago. I felt the voices of woman-identifying, non-binary and queer entrepreneurs in rural Canada were not getting much media coverage and they deserved more, so the first season was dedicated to their stories.

I am busy working on the second season of the podcast which launches in just a few weeks. I decided to take a broader approach, to tackle more issues and create space to have conversations.Here is the growing list of topics (in no particular order):

  • How inclusive are Canada's Chambers of Commerce? A Report Card - This is a student project and the student group will talk about their findings and their recommendations.

  • Respecting diverse narratives: Words matter. Context of communities matter. Why and how big media companies get it wrong.

  • Spotting misinformation online - and what to do about it.

  • Freedom: What does that word mean to diverse groups in rural Canada?

  • Women in the trades in rural Canada: Women are filling the void left by retiring tradespeople and folks say they work differently

  • Ag emissions in rural Canada: What is the truth and what is fiction?

  • Access to abortions, women's health care, gender-affirming care and seniors care in rural Canada

  • Reconcilliation: Whose responsiblity is it to build relationships with Indigenous communitites in rural Canada? 

  • Woman-identifying, non-binary and queer entrepreneurs in rural Canada: Is it time to change the archaic 'pitch process'? 

  • Why do newcomers to rural communities move there and eventually move to larger cities?

  • Connectivity: Whose responsibility is it to connect rural and remote communities to the internet and why has it taken so long?

  • Patriarchy: We can talk about gender equality in women's business meetings in rural communities but aren't most rural homes still ruled by patriarchy?

  • Rural women at midlife: Navigating feminism and our complicity in systems we benefited from

Thank you for your patience as I build the episodes for the second season. And thank you to many of you that reached out to me with episode topic ideas and folks to interview. Please keep them coming by clicking below.