2020 wasn't a complete dumpster fire.
With all the bad, you might have missed some of the good. Here are some cute stories to relive as you head into the new year.
Hey there, and welcome to the 12th issue of The Supplement, a newsletter that fills in the gaps of your other news intake. This is Sierra, one-third of the Supplement team!
Each week, we pick a question submitted by you, our readers. If you’d like to submit a question for a future week — it can seriously be about anything — then email us at thesupplementnewsletter@gmail.com. Check us out on Instagram, let’s be friends there too!
This week, we’re doing something a little different. With the end of the shit-show that was 2020, we’re rounding up some of the happier and more hopeful Canadian stories this year had to offer.
TL;DR: 2020 wasn’t a complete dumpster fire.
A big save
Do you remember David Ayres? The 42-year-old former Zamboni driver with a transplanted kidney acting as an emergency backup goalie? Before Ayres got on the ice, a backup goalie had only ever been used once in NHL history. He also became the first emergency backup goalie to be credited with a victory after he made seven saves for the Hurricanes, who won 6-3.
Something found
Mara Soriano had been looking all over Vancouver's West End for a stolen teddy bear. It wasn’t just another bear — it played a recording of her late mother's voice, the last memory she had before her mom died of cancer. Even Ryan Reynolds and George Stroumboulopoulos got on board to help with the search. Thankfully the bear was found, and will take a seat where Soriano’s mother would have been at her wedding.
Connecting with seniors
The pandemic has hit elderly communities the hardest. It’s part of why these stories are so wholesome. Sarain Fox, an Anishinaabe artist and activist, is preserving her auntie’s stories in a new documentary. One Ontario nursing home had monarch butterflies released in their courtyard. University students all over the country helped keep seniors company. Even when visits later became banned, young people in BC found ways to step up for the older generation by creating a smile exchange. These Calgary students even created a hotline so that seniors can hear jokes, stories and self-guided meditations.
A new song
Over the summer, Canada made headlines for another sweet reason. Our white-throated sparrow wants to sing a new song. It’s a familiar tune, but it’s changing. Why does this matter? For starters, this challenges previous beliefs of how birds learn songs. It also took 20 years for researchers to finish the study, which outlines some interesting parallels to humans.
Garbage truck cheers
Ok, hear me out: This three-year-old kid, Wolfgang Reader, loves garbage trucks and the crews that work on them. He waves to them every week when they come by. Cute, right? There’s MORE. The crews surprised him on his birthday with four (4!) garbage trucks and some gifts, including one of their uniform shirts.
Climate upsides
Canada is finally getting its shit together, and that makes us happy. The biggies from 2020 are the policy updates in our new climate plan (good) and the federal announcement to start implementing a single-use plastic ban by the end of 2021 (also good). Not only that, but Canada’s largest Indigenous-owned solar farm opened in the Albertan community of Fort Chipewyan in November. More recently, Ottawa announced funding to protect our largest national park, Wood Buffalo, after suffering industrial impacts from hydro development and oilsands.
Here’s someone to follow:
If you aren’t already — and it’s ridiculous I even need to say this — you need to follow Shireen Ahmed. She’s a sports journalist, public speaker and a host of Burn It All Down, a weekly feminist sports podcast. Now go watch her TED Talk!
Here’s a story to check out:
The Walrus has a story many people may relate to: The Rise of the Roommate by Kelly Maria Korducki. Despite the implications for younger generations (debt, housing crisis, etc etc) there might be a bright side to this new housing arrangement: community.
