When Christa Pare’s father, Jim, died of cancer in November 2017, finding a home for Tundra became a priority. The five-year-old dog, a husky-Lab mix with boundless enthusiasm and a thick coat of white fur speckled with auburn, had been Jim’s constant companion. Pare had arranged for two of Jim’s good friends to adopt the dog, but there was a snag: the couple lived in Thunder Bay, a 13-hour drive from the Pare home in Renfrew, Ont., 95 kilometres outside of Ottawa. It would cost more than $800 to fly Tundra north, and Pare, a radio host, was already logging extra time in the booth to pay for funeral costs.

“Tundra’s future was weighing heavily on my shoulders,” she says now. A relative who had heard of Pare’s dilemma directed her to the Facebook page of Furry Hobos N Hiway Heroes, hoping the group might help. The four-year-old organization is the brainchild of Margaret Foster Hyde, a retired trucker who dreamed up the plan of pairing dogs in need with long-distance truck drivers when she realized how expensive it would be to get her newly adopted English springer spaniel, Barkley, from Sudbury to Thunder Bay. Back then, Foster Hyde called up a friend who worked the route and asked if Barkley could hitch a ride. “The idea just blossomed and caught on,” says the 66-year-old.

When Pare heard back from Foster Hyde, she was so relieved that she cried. “Beyond the cost, to have to crate Tundra and put him on a plane by himself after he lost his best friend would have been awful,” she says. He loves being in a vehicle—this was a perfect solution.” (Here are 50 things your veterinarian won’t tell you.) 

At her home outside Thunder Bay, Foster Hyde has three whiteboards set up in the living room. One tracks the drivers’ routes, one is for the dogs who need rides and one is for the dogs already in transit. Since her group’s inception, Foster Hyde estimates they’ve transported between 300 and 400 dogs across Canada and the United States. “We used to move litters of puppies, but we try to avoid that now because it can get hard in the trucks,” she says. “Too much poo.” 

Requests come in from private owners, veterinarians, rescue organizations and shelters. Once Foster Hyde has identified her charge and where it needs to go, she sketches out a route with as few hand-offs as possible. Then she’ll get on the phone with the drivers and pair them up with dogs in need.

It’s not unusual for a group of truckers to hold a conference call in the middle of the night and spend hours joking around once they’ve made logistical arrangements. “It feels like a family,” says Foster Hyde.

At first, she enlisted drivers she knew, but after a while, new recruits came her way via word of mouth. She currently partners with more than 20 truckers, a number of whom have ended up adopting their shelter bound cargo themselves.

The Hiway Heroes never charge a shipping fee, asking only for baked goods and Tim Hortons coffee in return. (They have received everything from homemade Oreo cookies to cheese platters to loaves of bread.) The supplies drivers need—leashes, blankets, dog food—are paid for by Foster Hyde or donated. Over the years, the group has escorted a stolen pit bull back to its owner and ferried a pair of St. Bernards from the east coast to Calgary. The longest distance a pup has travelled is the 2,315 kilometres between Los Angeles and Lethbridge, Alta.

As for Tundra’s comparatively short-haul trip from Renfrew, it was made possible by a driver named Greg Rumbolt, who dropped the husky off at the Pass Lake truck stop near Thunder Bay this past January. The instant Rumbolt opened the cab’s door, Tundra leaped out onto the snow to meet his new owners. He was home. 

For more volunteer inspiration, check out the story behind Bear Clan Patrol!

Veteran Profile: Jack Mitchinson

Jack was born on May 29, 1925, in Niagara Falls, Ont. He joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1943. He served on board the HMCS Lachute and the HMCS Charlottetown as a telegrapher and stoker while on Atlantic convoy duty.

“A month or so before we sailed, the first ship we saw was the HMCS Magog, and it had 60 feet of its stern blown off by a torpedo. We were 18 or 19 years old at the time and we thought that would never happen to us… Without the navy to take those ships (convoys) over to England, we would have lost the war.”

Jack was discharged in 1945. He and his wife Helen now live in Chatham, Ont.

For more profiles by Veterans Voices of Canada, click here.

Don’t miss How Cree Code Talkers From Alberta Helped Win the Second World War!

In Conversation with Rick Mercer

Reader’s Digest Canada: You’re 15 years in and still produ­cing a great show every week. Are you sure you’ve made the right call in ending the Rick Mercer Report now?

Rick Mercer: There have certainly been times at 4 a.m. when I’ve asked myself that question, but my motivation hasn’t changed: I’ve always admired people in this business who have controlled their destiny. It’s rarely done, quite frankly.

You often send up current affairs. Is it tough to leave during what is presumably a very fertile time? 

You know, the Rick Mercer Report always existed as a Canadian show speaking to Canadian politics and current events. It’s getting harder and harder to do that because Donald Trump is sucking the oxygen out of every room on earth. If it was my job to cover American politics exclusively, I think this would actually be a very difficult time at work, because it’s unhinged but it’s not funny. I find it very grim.

Yes, and it’s hard to satirize the already absurd. 

If the world at this moment had been written five years ago as a screenplay or a novel, it would have failed because it would have been wholly unbelievable.

We’ve had a few of our own governmental regime shifts over the run of your show. How does your job change when that happens? 

I always know that I’m doing well when the ruling party is upset with me. When the Conservatives were in power, they were convinced I was out to get them, and now the Liberals are aghast at the things I’ve said.

So you don’t think about any one particular type of viewer when you create your material? 

My audience is pretty unique in that it includes a wide spectrum. Television today is much more fractured than when I started; the goal used to be to make something that everyone could watch. That barely exists anymore. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that my show is the only one they’ll watch as a family. I’m very pleased with that.

Rick Mercer Report is largely about making people laugh, and yet you have also made a serious impact with some of your segments. Is there anything you’re particularly proud of in that regard? 

The show has been in a unique pos­ition to encourage young people to vote, and there are some rants—the part of each episode where I get to say what’s on my mind—that I’m proud of. Quite often they’re about politics, but other times they’ve been about things like the way people behave on escalators. In 2011, I did a rant about bullying after Jamie Hubley [the 15-year-old gay son of an Ottawa city councillor] took his own life. I don’t know what impact it had, but it certainly was viewed a lot.

What are you going to do with yourself now?

I want to spend more time in Newfoundland, where my parents are. And I will still perform live, as I always have. Other than that, I have big plans—I just don’t know what they are yet.

The final episode of the Rick Mercer Report airs on April 10, 2018

To hear from another Canadian legend, check out 15 Minutes with Donald Sutherland!

There are only so many places to hide your valuables in a hotel room: in a dresser or nightstand drawer, under the bed, in the closet, and, of course, the hotel safe. Out of these options, the safe would appear to be the best place to keep your things, well, safe. But just because it locks doesn’t mean it does all that good of a job.

A YouTube user named LockPickingLawyer posted a video that shows just how easy it is for clever thieves to open your locked hotel safe, even if they don’t know your passcode. (Find out the gross reason why you should think twice before sitting in a hotel chair.)

A quick disclaimer: The safe he uses is a Saflok product, and not all hotels necessarily use that brand. However, there’s a good chance the one you’re staying in is following suit. (Never do these six things on vacation.)

He first demonstrates that the safe does in fact work by setting his four-digit passcode and entering an incorrect code. The safe doesn’t open, and the expensive bottle of scotch whiskey he put inside it is still secure. The problem is, the safe still has the same administrator password that all Saflok safes get when they’re made. Anyone who knows that code can easily override the safe’s settings and unlock it with no trouble. He hits the lock button twice, which puts the safe in “super user” mode, enters the factory code 999999, and voila. The safe is open.

Let this be a warning to all your vacationers and frequent travellers. Before you lock anything away on your getaway, make sure the hotel has changed your safe’s administrator passcode.

Check out 13 Things You Should Know About Staying in Hotels!

Two Sisters Fighting Against Breast Cancer

Rebecca Hollingsworth (pictured) and Mary Ellen Hughson are used to sharing everything. Born four years apart, the sisters grew up as the best of friends in Ottawa before pursuing careers in education and becoming mothers. More recently, they’ve spent early mornings, late evenings and weekends together at the ice rink, watching their five children play competitive hockey.

So when Hollingsworth was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2016 at the age of 44, she immediately thought of her younger sister, who had discovered a small lump on her breast a few months prior.

Hollingsworth took Hughson aside that day. “I said, ‘Mary Ellen, you have to get checked out—I didn’t even have a lump.’” Less than a week later, Hughson was diagnosed with the same disease as her sister: invasive ductal breast cancer. (This woman’s beautiful ode to her sister will change the way you think about people with special needs.)

Healthy eaters and avid volleyball players, the siblings were shocked by their diagnoses, especially since there was no family history of cancer. Extensive DNA testing revealed that their cases weren’t genetic but rather unlikely accidents of fate.

Together, the sisters endured chemotherapy and radiation, lost their hair, and recovered. They’ve since joined forces to raise money to help bring the best in screening technology to the Ottawa Hospital Breast Health Centre, including a specialized imaging machine—the 3 Tesla MRI, which costs $4 million—that’s particularly effective for people with dense breast tissue.

Dr. Jean Seely, head of breast imaging at the Ottawa Hospital, says the state-of-the-art technology can help doctors detect cancer in its earliest stages: “This is the best tool that’s available, and it’s particularly effect­ive in difficult cases.” With its ability to find tumours through dense tissue, the imaging machine can significantly cut down on wait times between diagnosis and treatment.

The sisters aim to raise $250,000 through their Tree of Hope campaign by sharing their story and organizing special events, such as an online auction and a partnership with local hair salons. They’ve already gathered more than $125,000.

“We feel very blessed,” says Hughson. “We had great care and we want to give back. Screening technology can make a difference for someone who finds herself in our position.” (This couple found love on the heart transplant list.)

Hughson and her sister were fortunate to discover their disease before it spread—and it was all thanks to a hockey tournament in Boston.

On a Saturday night in early November 2016, Hollingsworth’s 13-year-old son, Owen, was prepping for an early morning game and insisted that everyone turn out the lights at 8:30 p.m.

Without the usual distractions, Hollingsworth decided to conduct a breast self-exam. While she didn’t find a lump, she did notice that her right breast felt different—“thicker”—than her left. A mammogram later that week revealed a tumour; five smaller tumours then showed up on an MRI.

Hughson’s cancer was trickier to diagnose: her first mammogram didn’t reveal anything definitive, but a follow-up ultrasound and biopsy were conclusive. The cancer was nearing Hughson’s lymph nodes when it was discovered; doctors told her it was about a month away from spreading.

While Hughson credits her sister with saving her life, Hollingsworth thanks Owen: “If my son had let me watch Netflix that night, I wouldn’t have done a breast exam.”

Going through treatment at the same time was both difficult and comforting. For eight months, the sisters talked every day and took turns lifting each other’s spirits.

“I wish Mary Ellen had never experienced cancer, but on some level, it was beautiful that we did this together. She’s my dearest friend,” says Hollingsworth. “It’s unbelievable that such a thing could happen. But it did, we got through it and now we’re on the other side.”

Plus: This Volunteer Cook is Making Montreal a Better Place for Those in Need

Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement, we have gotten the scoop on everything from the wedding date, to the venue, to the gorgeous engagement ring. But one important question has remained unanswered: How did these two lovebirds meet in the first place?

We already know that a “mutual friend” introduced the pair, as Harry revealed in their first post-engagement interview with the BBC. Since neither of them knew much about the other before their first blind date, “it was just a really authentic and organic way to get to know each other,” Meghan said. (Believe it or not, the royal family never say these eight words.)

But now, we can finally put a name to the mystery matchmaker: Violet von Westenholz. The daughter of a baron, von Westenholz is a childhood friend of Harry’s who also works in public relations with Ralph Lauren, which is how she met Meghan.

“Meghan had been a part of the London social scene for a while and had slotted into the high society set really easily,” a “well-placed source” told E! News. “And so when Harry told Violet he was having trouble finding someone, Violet said she might just have the perfect girl for him.”

For months, people have speculated that celebrity stylist Jessica Mulroney, fashion designer Misha Nonoo, or friend Markus Anderson might have introduced the couple. While Violet has not confirmed the rumour yet, it can’t hurt to give her a preemptive round of applause for orchestrating this fairy tale ending.

“We are all just really happy that he finally met a woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with,” a friend told E!.

We feel the same way.

Brush up on the etiquette rules every member of the royal family must follow!

Imagine you have committed a crime and are now locked away in Alcatraz, the nation’s most secure prison. How would you spend your time? Would you write letters to your family and friends? Read books? Or would you plot your eventual escape?

Unfortunately, the odds would be stacked against you for that last option. Only one group has managed to successfully break out of Alcatraz in its 30-year history. Out of 36 men who attempted to escape, 23 were caught, six were shot and killed, and the others drowned. (Here are 13 Canadian laws you probably never heard of.)

But three men—brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris—might have pulled off what CBS News calls “one of the greatest prison escapes in American history.” (Check out more of the strangest unsolved mysteries of all time.)

The three prisoners planned their big break for several months, setting up a secret workshop where they built the tools they needed to escape. Then, on June 11, 1962, they put their plan into action.

That night, John, Clarence, and Frank stuffed their beds with paper maché heads and squeezed through their cell’s vents, crawling up the pipes to the prison roof. From there, they slid down a smokestack to the ground and launched their homemade raft—made of more than 50 stolen raincoats—into the Pacific Ocean. Not once did the prison’s security system detect them.

“You got to give it to them, they broke the system,” John Cantwell, a National Park Service Park Ranger, told CBS News. (Check out these strange international laws.)

Here’s the catch, though: No one knows what happened to the escapees. When pieces of the raft and paddles washed up near the island, many assumed that the men were dead. Alcatraz officials have suggested they drowned or died of hypothermia.

But now, more than 50 years later, the Anglin family has provided evidence that the men might have survived. For starters, Clarence and John Anglin’s mother received Christmas cards signed with their names for three years following the prison break. The family also released a photo of the brothers that might have been taken in the 1970s, 20 years after their escape.

What’s more, John Anglin allegedly wrote a letter to the San Francisco Police in 2013. While all three prisoners survived the escape, he was the only one still living, the writer claimed. However, FBI officials doubt the letter is real; a handwriting analysis of the letter came back “inconclusive,” they report.

It looks like the escapees’ fate will remain the stuff of legend for now. On the other hand, it might be one big conspiracy theory. Your guess is as good as anyone’s.

Plus: 22 History Lessons Your Teacher Lied to You About

If you’re anything like us, a pit stop at the closest Starbucks is an essential pre-flight ritual. (It’s just one of the problems all coffee lovers understand.) And why not? Coffee has a laundry list of amazing health benefits, for one. Plus, let’s be honest: Without a dose of caffeine, you could get lost on your way to the gate.

But you might want to think twice before gulping down that extra-large brew. In fact, most airline professionals recommend holding off on your cup of Joe until you reach your destination. (These passenger habits are the biggest flight attendant pet peeves.)

What gives? First of all, drinking coffee dehydrates your body, which could lead to nausea and headaches while you’re in the air. And since airplane cabins are cold and dry to begin with, you won’t be doing your skin and immune system any favours.

That innocent java can also have a more drastic effect at high altitudes, causing you to feel jittery. Other side effects of a pre-flight cuppa include heartburn flare-ups and digestive issues, as coffee is a mild diuretic.

Because it takes about five to six hours for caffeine to wear off, drinking coffee even a couple hours pre-flight could spell bad news for your body. (You need to stop making these airport mistakes before your next flight, too.)

Between red-eye flights, long security lines, insane delays, flying can be exhausting business. We understand! But you might want to stick with a bottle of water until you land. Better to be safe than sorry.

Plus: 10 Must-Have Travel Accessories For the Frequent Flyer

[Source: Southern Living]

How Mentoring Is Amplifying the Voices of Black Female Lawyers

The first woman in the British Empire to become a lawyer was a Canadian named Clara Brett Martin. She was called to the bar in 1897, after years of hostility from her male teachers and peers. Her achievement had little impact, however, on the access women of colour had to the profession: it took nearly six more decades before a Canadian Black woman—Violet King Henry—became a lawyer. For one of Henry’s successors, Denise Dwyer, the gap between Black women and their white counterparts remains a major concern.

Dwyer—who was called to the bar in 1991 and is now an assistant deputy minister at the Ontario Ministry of Education—thinks that bringing Black female lawyers together is an integral part of their pathway to success. That belief in mentoring stems from the early days of her career. While working for the Ministry of the Attorney General as a young lawyer, Dwyer noticed something: “The presence of Black people was far more predominant in the role of the accused than it was in the Crown,” she says. “It was kind of lonely.”

On November 11, 2006, Dwyer took action by inviting several Black female lawyers to meet at her Toronto-area home. The date was significant: it reflected her peers’ standing in the legal world. “Statis­tically, Black lawyers are often either sole practitioners or employed in government,” she says, meaning most attendees weren’t hired by private practices (and so wouldn’t be working on Remembrance Day).

“What began as a gathering at my home turned into a safe place to have discussions and celebrate our victories,” says Dwyer. Together, the women addressed the unique challenges they face in white-dominated spaces—everything from people touching their hair to walking into court and being mistaken for the stenographer. (Here are 13 strange Canadian laws you’ve never heard of.)

That day’s meeting left Dwyer and her peers craving more. “Soon, women were contacting me and asking when we could do it again,” she says. In response, she founded the Black Female Lawyers Network that same year and turned the informal meet-up into an annual retreat and fundraiser for Black and Indigen­ous law students.

Currently in its 11th year, the gathering, now called Sistahs-in-Law, hosts more than 100 attendees who are committed to the advancement of Black women. “We want to amplify the voices of Black female lawyers,” says Dwyer. “We want to advocate for an inclusive profession.” To that end, at each edition, 10 Ontario high-school students (“Little Sistahs”) from underprivileged backgrounds are paired with “Big Sistahs” to receive mentorship.

According to Shaneka Shaw Taylor, a 34-year-old civil litigator and the vice-president and treasurer of the Black Female Lawyers Network, Dwyer’s mentoring efforts have helped change lives. “When I started out in the profession, before I even got a job, I reached out to her,” says Taylor. “Ever since, Denise has been the first person I call when I have an issue.”

Taylor maintains that Dwyer’s mentoring impact stretches beyond the legal field: “She empowers young girls and women to excel in all their endeavours, providing connections and opportunities for her mentees to become involved in community initiatives,” she says.

Reflecting not only on the future of Sistahs-in-Law but of Canada at large, Dwyer believes further change is imperative. “We have census data that tells us we are a highly diverse society,” she says, pointing to cities such as Markham, Ont., where more than 70 per cent of residents are people of colour. But she notes that professional fields, such as law and medicine, aren’t mirroring those statistics. The Black Female Lawyers Network is about mentoring young women and fostering progress within an industry that has remained static, despite a changing demographic. Each year the organization grows, it moves a few steps closer to that goal. 

These 12 Canadians are making an impact within their own communities and around the world.

Let’s Connect
Refugees Dating websites have changed the way couples meet—and now the technology behind them is helping refugees in Germany.

Carmen Bachmann, a professor at Leipzig University, used the template of a dating site to create Chance for Science, a website that matches academic refugees with German academics working in the same field.

Bachmann’s idea was inspired by a chance encounter in a refugee camp. “I met a man and all he had with him was his diploma,” she says. “He was so happy that someone was paying attention to it because, understandably, the volunteers there were just making sure everyone had shelter and food. It helped me realize what being an academic is.”

The site currently has more than 700 users, including more than 200 refugees. The connections it makes may lead to jobs, but the main aim is to encourage the sharing of ideas.

“We also want to make people feel that they are staying in touch with the academic world,” she adds. “Being an academic is part of their identity and when refugees arrive here, they lose that.”

France Leads War on Waste
Food  France was the first country in the world to bring in legislation to stop food wastage—and now it has been placed in the top spot in a ranking of 34 countries based on their food sustainability.

Around a third of all food produced globally is currently wasted, but in France the figure is just 1.8 percent, and it hopes to halve this by 2025.

“France has taken some important steps forward, including forcing supermarkets to stop throwing away perfectly edible food,” says Meadhbh Bolger, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe.

Japan, Germany, Spain, and Sweden rounded out the top five in the index, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit. In last place was the United Arab Emirates, where almost 1,000 kilograms of food per person are wasted each year.

More Time with the Kids
Families Parents in Europe now spend twice as much time with their children as they did 50 years ago—up on average from 54 minutes per day to 105 minutes.

So says a study in the Journal of Marriage and Family, which found Denmark’s mothers are the most attentive parents, spending around 225 minutes a day with their children.

Fitting Dentures for the Homeless
Heroes The number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin is the highest since records began a decade ago. But one man who’s trying to put a smile back on the faces of the homeless is dental technician Kevin Shanahan.

Every Friday evening after work he sets up his equipment outside the Irish capital’s historic General Post Office building and fits dentures free of charge. He sees around 20 homeless people in each session and follows this up with around 15-20 hours of work in his lab.

“When you look at someone with no teeth, they’ve lost a bit of dignity,” he says. “When you give someone teeth, you give them a bit of confidence and you find they smile more—so you’re building a person from the inside out.”

Sources: Refugees—The Guardian, 9.12.17. Food—Reuters, 5.12.17. Families—Good News Network, 29.11.17. Heroes—The Journal.ie, 9.12.17