Answering Your "Tod's Nanaimo Infusion" Questions

Hello, welcome to the live video. I'm going to— I'm checking right now to see if it's actually the thumbnail that I asked it to do, which it may not have.

Backwards.

And what's wrong?

Weird being backwards.

Oh, it worked, it worked, it worked! All right, that was weird. Um, okay, do that. And there. Perfect.

The eye roll, it's painful. Even the dog thinks it's a dumb joke.

So it is April 10th, uh, Friday night as we record this right now. So if you're watching and it is not Friday night, April 10th, and you are watching a replay, um, and that means 14 days— no, 15, 14, 14, 14 days. Yeah, 2 weeks.

Than the Nymo infusion.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So that's— let me close all these. So, uh, we just thought we would jump on to see if anyone had any questions about the infusion, when it's coming, or not when it's coming, but about—

I don't know, questions, how to get here.

Yeah, any of those sorts of things, we are happy to. All right, you entertain, you entertain, and I will post. Yeah, it just started. We just started this like A minute ago.

John Punt Nanny.

All right, so, uh, you guys, how are you from Texas? Talk amongst yourselves. I'm gonna tweet that it's out.

So we, um, a lot of stuff has happened in the last little couple weeks. How do I watch you live and the astronauts return? Where are your priorities?

Astronauts are already back.

They're back. Yeah, clearly on a time delay is the answer to that question. We finished a really useful information resource that you might find. It's at guide, G-U-I-D-E, .nanaimoinfusion. If you're here, you must know how to speak, spell Nanaimo, but N-A-N-A-I-M-O infusion.ca. And it's the complete guide to visiting Nanaimo, and it's You know, just the kind of stuff that you—

don't bite the cord, he's not gonna bite.

Um, it's the kind of stuff that you, um—

oh, you— I said you weren't gonna bite it and you proved me wrong.

Our cat just bit the power cord. He's like, I hate this stupid infusion.

He's like— I said he's not gonna bite it and he watched me, he was like—

cat behavior.

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, it's a It's a guide. It's kind of harvested from stuff people, locals share in our server with people who are visiting with a little bit of extra context in here and there. I've been writing about buses all week because I believe about, I believe buses and people should have good bus systems. Anyway, I don't want to be boring. Tod is on his phone like a Tod date simulator. I could tell you when Tod and I first dated, there was no phone.

I'm posting about this. I'm not just being rude.

Well, you're not wrong, Cheap One-Liners. You're not wrong, but not, not when dating me, at least. Um, thankfully the addiction had not started yet. The addiction to the— what? To the phone. Why is this not working? Um, Cat Law, during livestream the cat must receive all. Yes, in fact our dog is also like that, but managed to get her on the bed or on the couch beside me.

Our whole women's group and our mates will be there at 9-1 Fusion. Nice, excellent.

Where are you from, Nanette? Um, that's pretty cool. Where is Saranac Lake? That sounds like New York State, if you want, or Michigan.

And if you want to see where everyone is coming from, uh, there are more than 500 registered attendees. Uh, like, you don't have to register, but, but confirmed tourists is a better way to put it. More than 500 now confirmed.

Yeah, it's terrifying. And we, we had probably around 500 come at all last year. We, you know, where nobody was up there counting, and that included— that's what was our estimate.

That included locals.

Yeah, that was everybody.

And this does not include locals or anyone on Vancouver Island. And if you want to see where people are from on a map, we have a new interactive live interactive map. You can drill down to your area and see, and that's map.nanaimofusion.ca.

I love Nanette from Nanaimo. That is the best alliteration I have ever heard. Nanette, you must go forth and become Nanaimo's mascot and, um, start a web page called Nanette from Nanaimo.

Does each community have to set up a chapter to bring medical personnel to our communities? Not at all. So there are two different things and they unfortunately have a similar name. There is the Healthcare Infusion, which is the program to help get healthcare workers to your community. We started it in Nanaimo. We've since launched a national program. There are 40 communities now across the country that, that have their own chapters. This is more like a Tourism Infusion event though that we're doing. And so, but you don't need it. You can, You know, hopefully you live in a province where it's prioritized, unlike Ontario and Alberta right now.

Um, the— also, the— just the context behind all of the, the Nanaimo infusion was last, uh, winter when you know who got elected or took office, um, a whole lot of we're gonna invade and take you over language got popular and Um, when you leave Tod unattended while waiting for a game to load, he comes up with crazy ideas like, how about you guys all come up and visit my city and show us some love and we'll show you around? And that is what the 2025 infusion was all about. And then when we realized how many nurses had come to check out, job opportunities in BC. And right after the infusion happened last year, our province and health minister announced, um, they had smoothed the way for doctors and nurses to be qualified in BC— doctors and nurses from America, uh, to be qualified in BC to help fill chronic shortages in our healthcare system. And so we kind of separately, but around the same time, jumped on that bandwagon and started putting the word out. And we have a server called the Healthcare Infusion, um, healthcareinfusion.org. Yes, yes. Um, if you want to find a healthcare infusion in Canada, if you want to find one of those chronically unfilled healthcare jobs There are infusions all over the country now, which is very exciting. Reactivating my Canadian RN license, that's what I like to hear. Um, does disease community— oh no, we read that one.

Are you in contact with independent media in the US? I hope you share. We're not really in contact.

And over again.

Well, no, we're not, we're not directly in contact. Like, we're not reaching out to them, they reach out to us. Yeah, but it's— we've, we've had only a few What do these do? We've had only a few, um, media in the US bite, but some big ones. Like, there was one that did—

that got on NPR.

They got an NPR and stuff.

So the Oregonian, um, was one of them. The one— the one that was on NPR was from the Kaiser Permanente news service, which is weird that it has one, but I'd heard of it at least. They do a lot of health journalism, and there was like a more local one in Minnesota, but it came out right during all of the, uh, frosty nonsense that was happening there that apparently is still happening.

You said this is a tourism infusion. Will it be worth it for healthcare workers to come to this one, or should we wait for a specific healthcare specific infusion? Come to this one.

And there is already a healthcare infusion, but it is not—

it's not an event—

a date and time. Yeah, it is, um, a Discord server, kind of just like we have for Nanaimo infusion, but it is specifically about getting you the answers you need to make this— to make the jump over to Canada, find a job, to, um, get qualified, to find a place to live, etc., etc.

And you can find both at nanaimoinfusion.ca. Both of them are there. However, this one, even though it's more tourism-focused, more than 50% of the groups that are coming have healthcare workers in them. So you will not be alone. And because of that We are— we have, um, I was gonna say the Minister of Health will be speaking. We can't talk about some things that are happening behind the scenes that we're not— that we can't talk about right now. Um, there may be some, some, uh, people, some people. Um, and, and are we allowed to talk about the tour?

Tours?

The tours? Okay, let me finish this. So, so first of all, Island Health, which is the predominant public health care They, they are the employer for the hospitals and a whole bunch of other stuff, home health and so on. They will be there at the infusion photo, like family photo, which is Saturday at noon at the park. All of this is at nanaimoinfusion.ca. We are going to have booths there. There will be booths so you can ask immigration questions. There will be registered immigration consultants there, legal. You can ask housing questions. There will be realtors there to answer your questions that we have hand chosen. There will be a table about healthcare jobs. Island Health is there, the Division of Family Practice for doctors, EMS for 911 operators and paramedics.

Local queer folks.

There'll be a table for local queer folks if you're interested in what the queer community is like. They will answer questions. There'll be a table for parents. You can learn about what the schools are like. So it's basically if you want to try out Canada and you want to like try out a community and see what it's like, maybe move here and work here in healthcare. Um, you don't— do not have to be in healthcare to come.

And then here, there's some tours of the hospital.

Yes, I'm getting to that.

Then you—

then you are welcome. Then you are welcome to, to come. There are— there are— there is not tours as much as an open house at the hospital. Um, and so that is happening on the Friday afternoon. Basically Friday afternoon, which is the 24th, from like 1 to 4, just go into the hospital, the main front door, and there will be a sign. And they have an open house Executives will be there, hiring people will be there. They will give you a tour of the area while you're there as well. Um, but we are doing— you are welcome to come even if you're not in healthcare. You are welcome to come and just be a tourist and enjoy it. But if you are in healthcare, this community will move mountains to show you what you need to make a decision of whether or not you want to move here.

And we have basically all of the healthcare employers for the hospitals are all kind of work together. And the Island Health employers— Island Health is our health authority. They have like all kinds of jobs, anything that you can think of that might work in a hospital. Um, I think the only ones that they really don't have a lot of is coders.

Yeti!

Um, yeah, hi Yeti! And, um, the, uh, so yeah, we have lots of interesting stuff happening. This infusion is a little more healthcare flavored But the point still is, um, a friendly welcome to check out Nanaimo and, um, get some answers for your questions, meet other people, and get a family photo and, and see the world. I saw some posts about hoping to kayak while I'm there, hike about, and bike about. This is an amazing city for that. You can hike, mountain bike, and paddle all in one day. And it's beautiful, and I highly recommend. End of April is a great time to do it if it's not raining really hard, which is 50%, a little rain maybe. We didn't— we don't know yet, but last year was amazing weather.

And we have a new guide that has information about boating and kayaking in it, so just go to guide.nanaimoinfusion.ca. And by the way, GBW, who asked that, Thank you for being a supporting member. It really does help.

GBW, thank you.

John is also— John 4596 is also a supporting member. Thank you. I see you, Merrilee. Um, thank you for doing that.

Before you get too far, um, I just wanted to say to Gary, who's my high school best friend's dad, welcome to the island. We'll hope to see you next two weeks from now.

Um, will I be allowed to go to the open house if I'm checking out the healthcare field for my sister and brother-in-law who are in healthcare? I can't imagine they would say no to that. I I can't— I have no idea why they would. So I— it's, it's not our open house, but no one would say no to that. Where could I buy a red lanyard? You can get them anywhere. Uh, if you're in the US, uh, you know, you can get them at like dollar stores. Here in Canada, you get dollar stores.

If you're in Canadian Tire—

Canadian Tire. If you're in Nanaimo, dollar stores have them. Here in Nanaimo, the Hospital Auxiliary thrift store has got like about 20 of them. Um, Yeti, all the excitement. Marilee, thank you so much for being a member as well. And What we're talking about there is the people who've got my little cartoon head after their name are supporting members, which means that they're paying— they pay, I think it's like $6 or $7 every month, um, to help, to help us out, help us fund this.

Um, do you say pasta or pasta? Um, most Canadians I've met say pasta with an even A, like not pasta, pasta. Um, a lot of Americans say pasta, which is a very la-di-da way to say it, I think.

Hotel is booked, great. Uh, what is Canada like for the ADA? We don't have the ADA here, but we— I'm now going to turn over to my wife, who's an expert in this and who will answer your question in less than 30 seconds. Go!

Okay, we have something not quite as good as the ADA. We have the Accessible Canada Act. Which is enabling legislation, which means they haven't finished it yet. Um, but we also have an extremely strong Charter of Rights and Freedoms under which a lot of people have made huge, uh, progress in accessibility. And we have an Accessible BC Act as well, which is this province. Um, and we have pretty good standards on accessibility most places, not quite as thorough as the ADA But we got a lot of them from the ADA. It was sort of landmark legislation, and our building— public and private building standards are informed by basic accessibility criteria. It's— you can search it all up. I don't know exactly, you know, ADA covers so many areas. I'm a wheelchair user. I— this is kind of part of my line of work. I do a lot of presentations and assessments and stuff like that, or at least my colleagues do. And Nanaimo is pretty good, I gotta say. I think it is pretty good. It's not great for wheelchair, like van accessible parking though.

Merrilee, thank you very much. Thank you first of all for also being a supporting member, and I will take you up on the offer. I have made you a mod. If you are, I don't know if you're going to be around, but if you're going to be around— or can be around Saturday at a— that's April 25th at 11:45 in the morning. That's when we're going to go live, and obviously I could— I would use that.

Ratone Laveur, I don't know if I'm saying that right. Um, there is Bill— is it Bill C-3? Bill C-3 got passed— got fixed last fall, and a whole big bunch of people are now eligible for Canadian citizenship through, inheritance basically through their family, their 2 or 3 generations back, um, and they're called Canadians born abroad. And so if you know one of the people you descend from in the last like 3 generations are Canadian and you want to see if you too could be a Canadian and move to Canada without a work visa, you should contact an immigration lawyer or a registered Canadian immigration consultant.

That would probably be cheaper. Do you think floor crossing is election fraud? This is not a political channel, so I don't really have an opinion on that.

Um, wow, that's a big question.

What is your profession? So I run a digital media engagement and moderation agency, and Jocelyn is a manager for a nonprofit. Gimp suit yeti says, just this man is the best person in a game called Siege I've ever seen. That is true, I am one of the best players of Siege. Uh, in particular, I'm good at, at, uh, picking Rook, at hard-locking Rook immediately, and then dying from a headshot 12 seconds into the match. If you need that on your Siege game, get your sweaters here.

Get your sweaters.

Do I really say that so often? I haven't played that game in 2 years and you remember that.

Sweaters here. Um, yes, Bill, Bill C3 is how you're— I'm glad, that's great.

Um, are you live on Facebook during the photo? We will never be live on Facebook. Um, never be live on Facebook. I, I post to Facebook, my videos go there. Um, but only because there's a big audience and I don't want to really support it that much. Um, I don't want to support YouTube either because it is equally American, but it is also— it's not quite as evil. Um, as Meta. So no. And also I should say that YouTube is the only platform that we can monetize live videos, which does help. Today I spent about $400 on the infusion, from insurance to labels— $100 in labels. Anyway, so all of that is, uh, helps.

How do I say your name? Is it Raton? I'll say— Thank you, Kathy.

Thank you for becoming a member.

Thanks for, um, I just wanted to say, um, if you join the—

Yes, live on YouTube.

Infusion— the nanaimoinfusion.ca, um, guide.nanaimoinfusion.ca, you will see it has an accessibility section. It focuses more on like things you would visit, um, it's not by any means like a full thing, but if you join the, um, Nanaimo Infusion, uh, Discord server, there's a lot of information in there about accessibility. And you can always ask a question. I'm happy to try and answer it for you.

Um, yes, GBW, yes, uh, we will be live on YouTube. So it's going to be Saturday, which is April 25th. The family photo in the park is at noon. We are going to go live at 11:45. Please understand, we are not a production company. We're not professionals at this. We're just like two randoms from South Nanaimo that kind of are doing this. So It is in my calendar. I've set a million alarms to remind myself, and my plan is to hand my phone to our friend Kelly, who will then—

who did it last year too, who did it last year—

who will then walk around and, and hold it up and do that. So yeah, live 11:45, April 25th, only on YouTube, and noon Pacific time. No, 11:45 Pacific time.

Sorry, I was just saying Pacific time. Sorry, my bad.

Yeah.

Um, Marilyn, thank you so much. Um, raton laveur is raccoon in French. I love it.

Um, what's the best way to contact you? Um, it's hard. I will be honest, it's hard to contact me just because I get a lot of emails, but you can fill out the contact form. It will first go to my team who will probably try to help you if they can. So hopefully your question can be answered by something that they can help you with. Most of them they can. And the address for that is contact contact.todmaffin.com. It's not an email address, it's a website you go to. contact.todmaffin.com. Um, and it'll ask you what, what your inquiry is, and that usually gets— it'll be much faster that way than, than relying on, on my email skills. How do we donate to the infusion? Yo, Gard! How do we donate to the infusion event?

You don't.

You don't.

I—

we're okay, you know. We, um, we have, we have merch, and buy merch. Buy merch. Be— whoops.

Hello.

No, that's my, that's my deep, my, um, thing.

And you could become a— what's it called? You could join the Todd Squad here.

The best, the best thing that you can do if you want to help financially— why is this happening? The best thing you can do, um, financially is to just share, share my content around. Um, that really does help. So whenever you share, especially YouTube, whenever you share YouTube video of mine— guard, I don't have to tell you this, you know this— and people watch it, um, then we get a little bit of revenue. It's not a lot, but it— every little bit helps.

And if you're feeling like you got too much money, you could donate to the hospital foundation.

I am so sick of this thing. You know what, it's my— it's— ARC is starting to fall apart now because they abandoned it a year ago, right? Or a year and a half ago.

Um, so that we had the fortune of, uh chatting with our friends at the Naimo Hospital Foundation. And did you know that they are part of, um, they part of the people who raise money to recruit healthcare workers through like recruitment bonuses for doctors? And the Naimo Hospital provides specialist healthcare and emergency ICU ER healthcare for people from like Duncan to Comox. Like, it, it's pretty big area. And if it's something special like eyes, um, that's pretty much everyone north of, uh, Victoria. So, um, if that's something you feel strongly about, you could donate to the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation.

Um, I've just—

everything Todd just said.

I just heard that apparently it's not at the thrift store The lanyards are not at the thrift store of the hospital auxiliary, they are at the gift shop.

Yeah, in the hospital proper. So if you were going to do the hospital open house, you could get some while you're there. Um, someone was asking me about wool.

Oh God.

Um, yes, I have been cleaning an unholy amount of alpaca. Um, and it's all over our house, and it's fun to play with when you're just like talking.

So yeah, did anyone actually ask you about that?

Yeah, they did. They sent me some. Look, see the hearts? Okay, you undermine me.

Be careful when you're swiping.

This is for Jay. I think that's wool. It's a very cute place in Vermont called Junction Fiber. Okay, don't— hey, I couldn't—

sorry, I thought you were just proving the point.

I was reading it. I had no affiliation, but they're cool. So excited. Nice, thank you.

Coming down from Courtney, would you suggest coming down a couple of hours or earlier for the park? Do not drive to the park. Um, there will probably be about 800 people there, which is much more than double last year, so the parking lot will be a disaster. Also, there is an event in the park. It's Qigong. It's World Qigong Day, and they have the park in the morning, so their people are 100 people and they are filling it up. So, and they were so kind last year, however, and again this year So there is a— there we do have a parking map for you. It is at parking.nanaimoinfusion.ca. It's the city map, plus we've customized it, especially if you have disabilities. It shows you an area where it might be a little harder to climb in terms of elevation, but, but plan to be dropped off, or hopefully if you're staying downtown, or park downtown and walk the seawall in.

Absolutely. It's not super far. There's parking available. So we have like a harborfront walkway. I just discovered today that it's called the Queen Elizabeth II Promenade. And it goes from well past where the floatplanes are all the way around to where Maffeo Sutton Park is where we're meeting for the photo right in front of the Nanaimo sign. And so if you park in the park, parking lot, apparently parkade is a Canadian word. If you park in the parkade by the Harbour Air Terminal, by the Gabriella Ferry, like over to that side of downtown, and this parking.nanaimoinfusion.ca page will give you that map, you will be able to walk on a nice flat harbourfront walk to the place. Very easy, 10 minutes at most, and enjoy our harbour and not have to worry about the parking headaches. That anyone who didn't get this advice will have to deal with.

Okay, we are behind on questions, so we're going to lightning round them. Have you ever considered a Victoria infusion? Yes. So the, we, the, the thing that we have, the naming got all messed up. Don't worry about the naming. We, we started as the Nanaimo infusion. Our Discord covers all of Vancouver Island. It has been recruiting into Victoria. There's probably at least half a dozen healthcare workers now in Victoria.

They're talking about healthcare.

Yes. Well, I assume— have you ever considered a Victor? We need docs and nurses too, right? Yeah.

So we are actively recruiting for your area as well in the same one.

Yeah. In the same one. There's a channel specifically for Victoria. There are locals in Victoria in there advocating for the community. So that's in the Discord. Also, there is nothing preventing you from starting your own healthcare infusion in, in your community if you want to. We set up a whole kit for you. It's at healthcareinfusion.org. Download it, set it up. There are 40 of these chapters now across the country. What we would recommend is set it up, do one for Victoria, and use our Discord because just— there's way more people there already than starting from scratch.

Can I tell you, we got— we've had a pharmacist, I think at least 4 nurses at, um, uh, Victoria General, um, and a 2 doctors. So we've like, this has been going since last June. Victoria is very, uh, attractive place. We, in fact, a doc, a psychologist just moved to, uh, nearby Victoria. So they're also, um, uh, they're, you know, they're living close by and working in Victoria. So you've got, you're well underway and you'll be most welcome to join and help us with it. Um, for the— with the Victoria area recruitment.

Where is the best place to have poutine? Poutine, you can't screw up poutine as long as there are just 3 ingredients. As long as it's fries, cheese curds, and gravy, the poutine will be fine. Anytime you see poutine that has anything else other than it— pulled pork, extra cottage cheese, fucking mushrooms— it is by definition bad poutine at that point. "As a neurodivergent person, do either of you know anyone involved with the student accessibility at VIU?" Yes, at the Nanaimo Infusion we have a table called Schools. There is a student rep, there's a recruiter there, not a recruiter, a student rep there that can answer all your questions about VIU there.

And can I just say for the disability side of things, it is in our charter that it that education has to be provided to people with disabilities in an equitable manner to the point of undue hardship. So all of our public schools, which are most of them, universities, have an office for students with disabilities of all kinds, and they offer all the sort of supports that you might need if it's like software or support or like time and a half. It's very similar to all the other universities. You have to get a professor signature and stuff like that. But they're all set up for that. If you're in a wheelchair, VIU is not an easy campus. It's on the side of a very steep hill. But they have mobility accessibility. And I know people in a wheelchair who've gone to that school. But just saying.

Thank you, DT. I appreciate it. Qi Gong people are nice until they're not. They've been so nice.

We haven't seen any not.

We haven't. We, we like accidentally stomped on their day twice now, and they've been so lovely, so kind. Is there parking near Skinner and Chapel Street? Yes, it's on a hill, and the, uh, website—

there is parking.

Oh, there is? Oh, I'm sorry. Where will 800 people go get lunch after the photo event? Great question.

There's a million places.

Lots of places. They will go into downtown, they'll go to White Sails for the party. Whatever. There'll be—

there's a place called Gabriel's on Commercial Street. Commercial Street's the main road right through downtown, um, and Gilbert— or Gabriel's is a great sort of deli-style place to go. Um, there's cafes. There's one that's the crepe place, Mon Petit Chou. It's like a crepes and bakery. It's like a French style. There's, there's a bunch of— there's like The Pantry and all kinds of places. So Just Google, do the Googles.

Make a little thing with businesses, like a travel passport for patronizing their establishment. If we had the time, we would, but we, like, we barely have enough time to get the basics off. Maybe next year. I'm, I'm giving some thought next year. I'm getting more— I'm giving some thought to, like, not quitting my day job, but reducing my day job so I can do more of this stuff. And if that's the case, then maybe we can I won't arrive until late Friday night. Are there options for meeting with anyone at the hospital on Saturday or Sunday? Here's what you'll do. You'll come down to the event, which is Saturday at noon. There will be a table there called Healthcare Jobs, and at that table will be a lovely woman named Vanessa, and she will— and she works for Island Health, and she will help you out. So when you come to the family photo, look for Vanessa at the healthcare jobs table, or just go to the healthcare jobs table.

You'll see them.

You'll see them. And, um, and you'll be able to— zero snow? Not quite zero snow. It was— we had two 10-minute windows, and that was it.

100 flakes total.

Yeah. So you're not that late. We only started half an hour ago. Sue's got a purple background. Sue's been a member forever.

Yeah. Gosh.

Um, Poutine cannot be taken home and reheated. The fries absorb all the gravy, and the next day it's a brick. This is absolutely true. Uh, you must eat it. You— the proper way to eat poutine, by the way, is at 1 in the morning, in tears, in a parking lot. That's the—

that's hungover.

Not even, just, just crying. That's, that's the best way to do some trauma.

You're reworking. Jeez.

Um, thank you, Darlene. I'll still eat that brick.

I wonder if you could take that brick of your, your greasy poutine and then put it in a casserole dish and put breadcrumbs on it and bake it and then eat it like a meatloaf. It was poutine loaf.

Okay, sorry. Uh, how about UVic? UVic is in Victoria, also a great school. Good evening to Jesse. Firehouse Grill does have some good sushi.

Hey to Jesse. Um, my daughter and her husband, Firehouse Grill. What's some other— there's a really good spot right across the street from the park. Um, there's, right after the, um, photo at Whitesail, they're having a queer meetup. But if that doesn't describe you, you could go there the day before. There will be food trucks probably in the park as well. And, or you could go the day after. You could go to Whitesail for dinner if you wanted. There are lots of places to eat. In Nanaimo, if you haven't been here, the park is on the harbor front, and then there's this weird part of Nanaimo that like goes up like 2 stories and it's just rock. And that's where our downtown is. And it's like, have you ever seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind? You know, this, this, the mountain, it's like the mountain from Close Encounters, but it has a great downtown on it. Anywhere in there is great.

Dcat Wire, thank you, Dcat, but you don't need to become a member, you are already a mod in our— in our— Dcat, by the way, who you see in here, um, is one of the moderators, one of the 3 moderate— 4 moderators, uh, in our Discord. And chances are, if you've been in our Discord, Dcat or Marion welcomed you, and they do an enormous amount of work to make this happen.

All kinds of stuff.

Food trucks will be there, correct? Yes and no. Um, so we know, we know that there will be a smattering of food trucks on Saturday. I'm— they are aware that hundreds of people will be at the park, and I believe that As we speak, they are furiously trying to align themselves to get there. But there is a food truck festival on the Friday. So if you're really into food trucks, come to the same place, the park, Maffeo Sutton Park, on Friday. But I'm sure that there will also be—

it'll be delicious. I was there today last year, it was so good.

I, I was at Maffeo Sutton Park today at, at 1:30 in the afternoon and there were 4 food trucks there.

Yeah, there— I take the dog there to, um, walk the dog in the winter. And, um, every Sunday, every Saturday, there's at least 2 food trucks, often 3 or 4. It's— I've got a big open plaza where they've got lots of space, so the city seems really into that.

You can quit whenever you want, but we need Mirror Falls episodes. I will give you some Mirror Fall, uh, Mirror Fall update. Um, Mirror Fall Season 2, uh, which is— the title of that season is A Geography of the Mind. For a reason. You will find out. Um, will be 13-episode season starting in October. Um, so October, 13 episodes compared to— plus bonus episodes. That compares to 8 episodes, so it'll be longer than, than the first season. Um, and, uh, and there's some, there's some drama coming.

Can I, can I put a little plug in? If you have not seen, um, uh, the Mirror Falls It's a podcast. You can also watch it on YouTube. Um, you can't— you, you can't watch it.

It's all audio.

But it's on YouTube.

Oh yeah, okay. You can't— you can listen to it on YouTube.

I think the audio guy would understand these things. Anyway, so, um, it's on YouTube, it's on podcast places. If you have consumed it in some format, go to Apple Podcasts and leave it a reminder. You don't have to have an Apple account. You Yeah, review, um, um, and you just leave a review. It's really important. It's crazy. It's the way the podcast industry works. It really matters just to get it more visible or audible, uh, for more people. And, um, in advance of the second season, if you haven't consumed it, why the hell not? And it's fun. It's enjoyable. If you just really enjoy the content but podcasts aren't your thing, go to YouTube and turn it on and leave it on the background.

I will say this, that, um, during the entire season 1, when you were listening to the happenings of a town, at the exact same time, an entirely different plot line was occurring in a different location And if you listen back, if you listen back to season 1, now that you've probably heard it all, you listen back, you will hear clues for it. You will be introduced to the second location and what the secret of this town is in, in season 2. What does the gluten-free scene like? There's lots of gluten-free. This is British Columbia, lots of gluten-free.

Um, the Gabriel's, sorry, downtown has gluten-free as well.

I think everywhere.

I feel like there's also a gluten-free cinnamon bun at, um, Red's Bakery. If I remember correctly.

Um, oh, I—

oh, there are several places to eat on the Harbourfront as well that you can get to walking along the Harbourfront walkway toward the city. It's— eat there. There's a place called Newfoundland and Imo that's like a souvenir place. Right next to them are some great food spots.

Rat on live, if you are only on episode 6, episodes 7 and 8 are where it gets good. So Buckle in. Review, review, because you're gonna, you're gonna, uh, enjoy the— oh, Melissa's here and then retracted her message.

Oh, um, Con Nurse, way to go! Yeah, yeah, I'm guessing you should come.

They are coming.

And I know, like, you should come be a nurse here.

Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, um, between jobs, need to volunteer. What days? We don't need volunteers. We, we, um, we've recruited the people we need for the info tables, and the only thing we want of locals is to just come down and meet people and be friendly to them.

Um, that's it. Here, here's one suggestion: if you're gonna come, um, get video of the speech and of the, like, photos happening, because we could always use some more video and photos. And don't park in the parking lot. I'm just— we're encouraging people to park elsewhere. Yeah, because it's going to be busy.

We may have a special guest. That's as far as we're going to say. Um, yes, people, just people. Is the float plane walking distance to town? The float plane is right in town. Yeah, so yes, you can, you can walk from, from where the float plane gets you off. You can walk to downtown in 3 minutes, and you can also walk to Maffeo Sutton Park in about 4 minutes from there.

So yeah, it's right there, um, from the float plane. There's two actually. You can also come in on Sea Air, but that's closer to Departure Bay. So what you want is Harbor Air if you want to come right into Maffeo Sutton Park, basically. And it's less than 10 minutes walk to where the photo will be.

And Melissa, Melissa is pointing out that there will be quite a few Island Health recruiters and leaders at the Saturday event. Look for those wearing Island Health lanyards. So awesome, those are— Island Health is the public health care, uh, the public health system main employer. If you work in the hospital as a nurse, as a hospitalist, as a doctor who works in hospitals, as a radiologist— is that what they're called? If you work medical technologist, if you want to work in the public health care system, Island Health are phenomenal people to talk to. And they will be there.

And if you're a family doctor, the Division of Family Practice will also be there. Yes, and they'll be at the same table as the Island Health people. And, um, it's a bit different, but they're still public, they're just paid differently. So that's why you need to talk to the right people.

Thank you for all the love for Mirror Falls. I'm very, uh— oh, Sue, Apple Podcasts, it's on every podcast platform that's out there.

It's just the reviews on Apple Podcasts have more weight.

Yeah, and that's true. There are Mirror Falls t-shirts available. If you go to shop.mirrorfalls.com, it will, it will take you there. And I'm gonna start writing it in mid-May. It's gonna take me all summer to write. I know where the story is going, but I just have to, have to write it all.

This is what indoor cats do during their summer.

Can I tell you what my best, what I think my best line was that whole season? What was I said? The, the premier smiled the way premiers do when they're told where to stand.

Hey, that was a good one.

Um, I was very proud of that.

Darlene, uh, suggested Bin 4 Burgers. The only one I know where it is is by Costco up in the north part of Nanaimo, but it is really good. Oh, and then we've got a really good place called Sip in our neighborhood, um, which is a cool funky little local pub and they make great food.

You wanna— one, I will not spoil the episode for you. All I will say is that a lot of people get to the end, they especially hear the last, the last few seconds, the last minute of the last episode where things take a dramatic turn, and then they go back and they re-listen to the entire season one that they just heard. And if you do that, you will probably pick up on some things. It is a mystery there. Okay, sorry. The parking lot filled up in a nanosecond last year. It will be even faster before. Don't, don't even bother to bring a car. Just walk from downtown or take, take U-Ride, or there are bikes you can rent, or there's Modo, which is a car— oh no, don't get a car.

Evo and Modo, you can get car shares which are very cheap and and good— great for short rides. And they are located at the ferry terminals and at, um, I think Evo has them sprinkled around the city as well.

You guys pay for all of this? It's already run into some bucks. It's not— it's not as much— we do, but it's not as much money as you think it is. So yeah, you know, the insurance— the insurance is going to cost $200 and something bucks. I don't have the exact quote yet.

Cheaper than I thought it would be.

I don't know the quote for sure, but it's probably around there. The park rental cost us $250. The signs are costing— they cost— they're over there— $100. I just bought labels so everyone can have "Hi, my name is." That was $50.

It's like the cost of a Christmas dinner.

Yeah.

So it's not the worst.

It's not the worst. And, and the big expense, which is a special dinner that we're hosting for the healthcare workers that have moved, are being underwritten by a community, by a community group. Which I don't think we have permission to say.

I don't think we have, but that with the people eating at that meal.

Yeah, but it's okay, Sue, because like we, we're happy to pay for it. The merch, people are buying the t-shirts and they're becoming members of this YouTube channel, or they're becoming a member of my email newsletter and paying for, for the bonus. You know, there are many ways to do it that aren't straight up donations, so that is, that is helping.

And I think somewhere in your profile on every social platform you're on, there's Buy Me a Coffee. Yeah, if you really want something kind of simple, that's the easiest way.

It is. Yeah. Any barbecue restaurants? Oh my God, yeah. So there's George's.

George's.

Smokin' George's is just—

they have a food truck, so it's possible they might be there on Friday, um, at the park. But, uh, if not, Google Smokin' George's. It's hard to explain where it is. It's kind of suburban Nanaimo, um, but it's not, it's not super hard to get to, especially if you have a vehicle. And it is delicious, and I've heard so many people say it's like the best barbecue.

Marilee, I saw your comment about Refute Code. Interesting. Thank you, Blaring. Thank you so much. Um, Apple Podcasts, I can't get on Android. Sue, yeah, you can use any podcast app you want. Um, I personally like Overcast. You can also listen right here on YouTube. So if you go to my channel and go to podcast, you can listen right here. Or to make it easier, just go to mirrorfalls.com and you can listen right on the website if you want to.

And if you're trying to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, you don't have to.

The reason I suggest using a podcast app is that you follow it, right? You subscribe to it. It's free, but you follow or subscribe to the podcast. And then when a new episode drops, it just arrives on your phone automatically and alerts you that there's a new episode, so you don't have to go finding it every, every week.

And you can— I think you can do reviews on Apple Podcasts in a browser if you really, really want to do it.

Can Todd's Ketchup Chips t-shirt be bought in Nanaimo? I haven't seen it in Nanaimo, but you can buy it from the company directly. They are a wholly owned Canadian company, and you can get it at t-shirts.todmaffin.com. There are links. Even this shirt, if you want this shirt, which, which is French for, uh, which is French for Canada's not for sale. Um, we don't—

the Canadian line too, like, yeah, it's called— oh, it says Redwood Classics.

We don't—

I thought it was—

we don't make a cut on it. We, we have that address t-shirts.todmuffin.com just as a short link so that you can find it easily. People ask about the t-shirts, but we don't get a cut on it, or we don't get any revenue from Um, you can get Apple Music on Android, yes, but not Apple Podcasts. They are two different— they're two different apps. Oh, Sue, thank you so much! You didn't—

didn't have to.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Um, I've been meaning to send you a link to an article. Okay, yeah, why— I don't— sure, you could send me an article on someone who died because of inadequate nursing capacity, but that's what we're trying to fix. Yeah, that's what we're trying to fix, and you're helping, Car, because you're a— because you're a member as well. So yeah, no, we're—

I don't know that that— like, we can't do a ton about that. And, you know, we're trying to improve. We're doing what we can do. And if it's in the news, then it's— then the system's aware of it.

Yeah, it is. Yes, Sue, it is on Spotify. It is on Spotify as well. Um, okay, I think we cleared it. Thank you again, Sue, that was very generous.

Tod is one of those inbox zero guys. He stresses him out if he isn't at inbox zero at all times.

True.

And what you just saw now is Tod being chat box zero, which is ridiculous because it's a live stream.

By the way, it's supposed to be fun. By the way, I don't know if you guys follow BC Bob. Um, hey Medic, welcome back. Uh, I don't know if you guys follow BC Bob. He's on— he's on everything. Uh, he's kind of like me, but he focuses just on BC stories. He came out with this booklet called Now You Know BC. It's real.

It's like, it's like a tangible paper object.

Yeah, it's like a, it's like an old school Reader's Digest, and it's really good. And he sells them for $25.

And look, I— those of you who were in Vancouver in the '80s, '90s, I was like, in the '80s, I was like a primary school age person, and I remember this. I don't really remember where I found— I think they were billboards. It's just, it's kooky. It tells you all the background humor and, and idiosyncrasies of BC, and it's really beautifully designed. Oh, Nardwuar! Nardwuar the Human Serviette. He's legendary. This guy does amazing, um, musician interviews where he like researches all the dirt in the background.

He's such a good guy. If you remember Uh, just Google BC Bob and you'll find it. If you, um, if, if you remember bathroom readers, those, those books that just had tiny little stories that lasted long enough for you to use the bathroom, that's basically what that is, but all about BC.

Um, uh, what we were saying— oh yeah, Mr. Mattress is still there. How? Nardwaur is legendary. Yeah. Yeah, he, uh, my boss, um, was in the like punk scene in the like '70s and '80s and apparently has some people in common with Nardwuar. So it's kind of a fun— he's a fun dude.

I forgot about the newsletter. Do it email. How do I email again, Sue? So if you want to subscribe to the newsletter, you just go to newsletter.todmaffin.com. Um, most people— there's 42,000 people that are on it. Uh, it's free. It's free to subscribe. Newsletter.todmaffin.com. There is a paid tier if you want an extra issue most Wednesdays. So the free newsletter has ads in it and it comes out Saturdays. And if you pay for, um, if you pay for the $7 a month club basically of the newsletter, then it takes all the ads out. You get an issue every Wednesday as well, and you get Oh, thank you, Marilyn. Uh, and you get— see, look, mods, man, I'm telling you.

Love it.

And then, um, thanks. And it will— it also gives you extra content in each newsletter that you don't automatically get. Um, and as of this week, I'm pleased to announce that we have a cartoonist, um, in every— and it is Greg Kearney, like a political cartoonist, political cartoonist. And that is in it as well.

Um, you know, it's free, Sue. You don't have to pay for the— well, so you might— Todd can look you up.

You might, you might— I— oh, Sue, I think I understand what you're saying. So if you are a member here on YouTube, if you're paying YouTube, then you get the YouTube benefits, um, which include access to about 5 or 6 videos that aren't public. Um, if you subscribe to the newsletter, then you get the newsletter benefits, which is, you know, the extra issue. So it's unfortunately, you know, like you could subscribe on Facebook too, right? It just means that whatever platform you subscribe on, that's where the benefits are. Um, yeah. And as for download, you don't have to download anything manually. It comes to your email box every week. And if you're not seeing it in your email box, it is in your spam folder. And a lot of those newsletters go to spam because we can't have nice things in this world. Yeah, we ruin newsletters and people do not check their spam folders, and so I would check there.

Um, and you know, you never know, maybe a subscription will fall off the back of the truck.

Yeah, Peacock, um, for sure.

It—

we're— I'm so super thrilled. So Greg Kearney is a, like, legend, legitimate legendary, uh, uh, political cartoonist, has been doing it for 20 or 30 years, and now most episodes— episodes— most issues, um, have a cartoon.

Kathy, you're not wrong, Hornby is a very hippie island. It's like what Salt Spring was like in the '80s.

So can you— so can you message my, my team then? Can you go to— I'm going to give you an address, a website address to go to. This is not an email address, this is a website to go to, and it's contact.todmaffin.com, and they will help you. I don't know what you mean by two different billings, so I, I would have to check. So go to open up a new tab in your browser, or remember to do this once you're off, off when you stop watching this. You go to the website called contact.todmaffin.com and there'll be some options. You can pick one or, or send a message to them.

So then South and Small Salt Spring Island is hippie. I mean, there's a lot of— that's why Salt Spring Island is like the main safe seat for Greens.

Yeah.

Um, Peacock and Figgin, so in Tula, teenagers in my era would wait till the last ferry to see if a cop came off and then spend the night on the island. That sounds very much— wait, that's genius.

Wait until the last ferry to see if a cop came off to spend the night on the island. If not, I'll That's kind of genius, actually.

That sounds about right. There, you know, the things are a little bit looser here.

Uh, Becca Lee, it's our pleasure. We, we, we moved here to Nanaimo 8 years ago, and it has been nothing but a joy living here and love the island, being with the people. So this is just— everyone has a way of giving back. Some people volunteer, some people donate, some people— this is, this is what we do.

Todd thinks up crazy ideas.

I think of crazy ideas, and, um, And it's— and it is at our expense. We're funding it, but we are also like, you know, when people watch my YouTube videos, if you watch them on YouTube and not on other platforms like Facebook or Instagram, but if you're watching them on YouTube, we get a little bit of that money, and that is what's helping fund this.

Um, I was going back to see Pud Bass's— put— put bass— that's a weird one. Um, hugging strangers is okay. I'm not sure why you said that, but I love it. There's a funny story from last infusion where we pretty much just put it out there and say, if you want to do something or offer something to our guests, and this guy was like, I'm going to do walking tours downtown. And he, I don't even think he advertised it. He just like put some posters up and then he took a bunch of people who came to the first infusion on a walking tour. They're all wearing red lanyards and a big group of them. And people started to spot them, locals. And there was apparently a hug fest broke out because they could see from the red lanyard that they were visiting. And no guarantees, but if you're open for hugs, you might find a Canadian offering one.

I have a story about Pudbass, kind of.

Pudbass.

I used to work my very first job in radio. Was at KBS in the Kootenays, and, um, I was like a reporter anchor. And one of our main anchors, our main daytime anchor, uh, her on-air name was Paige McFarlane.

That's a great name.

That's a great name. It's a great on-air name. It's a fake name.

Paige McFarlane.

It's a fake name because her real name was Puddy Goodlet.

Oh, I remember that story. Puddy, Puddy, Puddy, Puddy Goodlet. Um, uh, someone said thanks, Becca. Um, Ottawa love, thank you. If you really got into crap, the cop boat would come over and get you from Port McNeill. It's a bit different growing up on the islands, like small— the islands as small as those.

Merilee, you're, you're welcome to, to come anytime. You don't have to be there for the big day. In fact, now that you're a mod, we kind of need you to be where you are and mod on that day for us.

Um, if you can be there, you should, you should come, but if you can't, that's okay. Yeah. Um, so any question—

what, any, any questions about, uh, whereabouts in the Kootenay? I was based in Creston, uh, Monday to Friday. I was the reporter in Creston, and then Saturday, uh, and Sunday during the day, like late afternoon, I was the KBS Coca-Cola Kootenay Cruiser chick. And then early, early mornings Saturday and Sundays I was network anchor. So it was 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, but that's what you did when you were in radio back then.

Thanks, Naila.

Um, any questions about the Nanaimo Infusion, which is 2 weeks away? Any questions about how to get here or where to, where to get something or where to stay? Any logistics questions? Is there, is there anyone that wants to go but you have a problem or a question that is holding you back that we could answer?

You may have seen our cat. I, I didn't see him, but if that's what you're meaning. Someone said, 'I taught a toddler.' Oh yeah, he's around here somewhere. Um, so we have— a lot of you lovely people have said nice things about what we do, and honestly, it's been our pleasure because we Um, we've learned so much about our island, the island. We've learned so much about our system. We've learned so much about what our American friends are going through, um, even more than we heard. And, um, so it's our pleasure. We're doing what we can. I'm glad it's been helpful for, for folks. Oh, here he comes. There's Otis. Hi, buddy. Hey, buddy. There we go. Yeah. Oh, I hope you can all feel this. We're giving you a little Otis cuddle. Did it make you feel good? Yeah, there's your oxytocin dose for the day. He's the cutest pussycat, and he doesn't really like being upside down, so he's, he's being very tolerant.

He is.

We had a cat before, Otis, who loved to be stretched upside down, like, like held. It's very weird. Oh, look at the face! Oh my God, I gotta scroll down. Oops. Um, a little more to the left. Epitome of— epitome of grassroots initiatives. It is true. Honestly, it's almost like basically coming from Tod Maffin, but like, it's, it's, it really is quite grassroots. It's been very fun to see. I work for a nonprofit grassroots organization as well, and this is grassier even than that.

Thank you, Kathy. Thank you so much.

Um, where are we looking? Cynoble. Interesting. Thanks for having sympathy to us Americans.

You know, we have lots of scrolling because if you accidentally scroll left, the live turns off.

Oh God, I'm just trying to scroll up and I don't— anyway, um, we have tons. I don't think you can do this kind of project without— hi buddy— without having sympathy for Americans. Like All the nurses and doctors that we're recruiting are folks that feel unsafe, and it's awful to think of people feeling unsafe in their country.

Sutliff says, um, Hannah, have we got something for you. Hannah says, just locked in our travel and they're looking forward to it. Welcome. We're coming with two young kids and are interested in a park hang or playdate with other parents. Is that something that exists? Oh my God, yes. We have a Discord just for you, and you're going to go to our Discord. So go to Nanaimo Infusion. Actually, the direct address is 2026.nanaimoinfusion.ca. Look for the Discord. That's the chat room. Go into the Discord, introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself channel, and then go immediately to the Adopt a Visitor channel, and you're going to post in there exactly what you posted here. We are coming, we have two young kids, we're interested in a park hang or a playdate with other parents. You're going to post that in the Adopt a Visitor channel, and there are locals from this community who will hopefully, uh, will adopt you and will say, oh, you got— we also have two kids and we like hanging out in the park. And so, and then you guys can connect on your own Messenger DMs or email or whatever. So already set up, it's in our Discord in the Adopt a Visitor channel. Um, and that channel's been hopping. Have you seen the last couple of days?

Yeah, it is totally hopping. I'm, I'm getting exfoliated.

Yeah, you are. Oh, apparently Winnipeg's looking for nurses. Everywhere is looking in this country. Everywhere. Everywhere, by the way. Everywhere in the world. You know, I sometimes get that on my, on my, um, on my comments. People will say, well, what, what's What's happening with— why is Canada so screwed up that it needs these healthcare workers so badly?

Global shortage of nurses.

Exactly. This is not a Canada problem, this is a demographics problem. This is that the baby boomers are all retired, they're retired, but they're now entering the age where they are consuming more resources.

Ow!

Did he bite you? Yeah, when he's done with being held, he's like Yeah, is Otis a smart baby or does he share the communal orange cat brain cell? Yeah, he shares the cat. He's not the brightest. Yeah, he shares the what orange?

He's not too bad, but he's like our— yeah, our little dog is smarter than he is.

Yeah, he, he's just happy hanging out in front of the fire.

He just wants to be cuddled and to be chased. He loves being chased.

He wants to be cuddled, be chased, and take a shit in private. That's what he wants.

And, and he's— his best friend in the world other than the dog is the gas fireplace. Yeah, he literally mourned when it got too warm to turn it on regularly.

Hope Todd doesn't bite the same way. Oh wait, oh, that's on our other channel, that's on our other platform. Yeah, you got, you got to pay them for that other— for that content. Um, he is living the dream. Yeah, so any, any questions? Uh, if you haven't seen the guide, so there, there we've— all of this is at nanaimoinfusion.ca. Um, and we have a new guide there for everything to do with Nanaimo. We have a new accommodations map that's interactive, um, that'll tell you, should show you, and you can, you can say just show me the campgrounds and it'll do that. I've tried several times to buy Mirror Falls season 1 book and can't enter my payment info. Then just get it for free, Mambo. Just put $0 in the, in the field and just take it. It's fine. Honestly, I, I'm, I am more happy that people are downloading and consuming the stories that I wrote than people giving me money for it. I never understood that about artists until I did this.

And then you just want it to be enjoyed.

I want it to be enjoyed. I, I, it's more important to me that people enjoy it.

I didn't realize you'd put it out already.

I had to— I wanted to have it out at the end of the season so that in the episode it could say—

oh, right, right. Um, can we get a W for Colonel Hansen and the rest of the crew? Sure, way to go, astronauts. Apparently he got closer to the moon than, um, Hadfield did, which is whatever. We're not It's not in context. Um, what are we doing?

Hang on, here, this is the end. No spoilers, don't worry.

Download the complete season 1 scripts for Mirror Falls and get a bonus map of the town at book.mirrorfalls.com. Kind of sounds like she says Fuck, fuck. Um, okay, I had a particular thing I wanted to say. Yeah, this is why I wanted to do this stream. Oh, we, um, I just wanted to make sure everybody knew, and I think this audience already knows where this all came from, but we're getting more folks in the Nanaimo Infusion, uh, Discord saying Can you organize so that we can do our immigration physicals at the event? Like, really, it's not a bad idea. I mean, I'm gonna say it's just, I think people, a lot of the people who are newer to this movement are starting to talk about, um, like they don't realize it's just us two nobodies. Like, it's not— and like our mods, like, yeah. We're not— we're nobody special. Tod's got a great sense of humor and can write like nobody's business. And that's, that's us together. That's, that's what's special. And, and I'm not saying that you need to compliment us. I'm saying that we are not— we don't work for the government. We aren't doctors or nurses. We are consumers of healthcare. And that's pretty much the closest relationship we have to it. And we love our town, we love our city. So we love all the great suggestions and energy, and we just want people to understand that this is as grassy as the grassroots can be. We are, we are doing what, what two people can do outside of our day jobs. So just so you know, spread it around. Oh, oh, oh, and this is Churro. Churro, our Mexican dog who's terrified when her feet leave the ground. I don't think she's gonna let you. No, she's like, no!

Oh, oh, don't touch the keyboard, dude. All right, fine.

She's too hard. Yeah, yeah, she's a baby. Come here.

And we are dogs like that. Why are dogs like that? Dogs are like When you go, you go, you go to cuddle a cat and the cat is like, oh yeah. And the cat just— you, you go to cuddle a dog and dogs are like, elbows, elbows, elbows.

Look, she's like, what is he doing?

Churro is very cute.

Churro knows how to play games though.

Thank you, Mambo. I, I appreciate it. Honestly, for real, put $0, download it for free, and then if you want to help, tell everyone you know about the podcast. I want people to listen to it, especially the last 75 seconds of episode 8, the last episode, which I spent— by the way, it's about a minute and a half actually. I spent on that minute and a half, which is the cliffhanger episode, the final episode of the season, I probably spent 20 hours in sound design. On that minute and a half. I'm so proud of it.

Someone said, can you not get your public health to— we have been blessed to work with our health authority, which is like the agency that runs all of the public health services in our area. We've had a lot of support from our health minister, but it's a different level to get the federal immigration doctors to come up and offer, like, We love that you think we're that smart, but that is a level of organization well beyond our actual involvement. So just saying, um, very grassy grassroots movement and, um, doing our best and super, super happy to have you guys as part of it.

No spoilers, don't worry.

I—

that would be a great t-shirt. I don't think many people would get the joke though.

No spoilers.

No. Fucking do it, bud. The reason is if you just say— if you just say fucking do it, bud, it's not as funny as saying it with the Canadian accent. There is a very specific way you say that, those four words, and it's not fucking do it, bud.

It's that you say it during a smoke break outside the Legion. It's fucking like two beers.

Fucking do it, bud. Fucking do it, bud. That's how that is pronounced. And it's the only way that is pronounced. Fucking do it, bud.

And fucking do it, bud.

And you— that doesn't— that, that intonation would not come across on a screen. Fucking do it, bud.

Do it.

Let's go. Let's go with bud. Come on, bud.

Totally do, Mama. Um, there's been a lot of interest from SLPs, OTs, psychologists. So yeah, there's, there's definitely—

that's true. Those in the know would know.

It would be It would be great to have more. Um, I, I think those disciplines are a little bit harder. They haven't paved the way as easily for them. But are we, are we done? Is that why you were closing it?

No, no, no, I was just tilting it down so that you were framed in it nicer.

Oh, thank you. Um, yeah, Canadian Wolf, that's, that really is, it's like two, two beers in on a smoke break outside the Legion. Fuckin' go, eh?

Let's go, bud.

Let's go, bud.

Yeah, you talk so much.

Let's go, bud.

Go.

What is Skoden?

I think it's a joke.

Okay. Um, Churro, I know Churro's the cutest. Oh, that's Dee.

Um, hello, Windsor. Yo, Windsor needs a healthcare infusion chapter.

So many Ontario people tonight. I guess there's just a lot of them by numbers. They're way more. This is a funny country to live in. In Canada because the three biggest provinces are Ontario, Quebec, and BC. And Alberta's catching up. Um, and Ontario and Quebec are like double the population of BC. Like, the elections are over once they go— once Ontario closes the elect—

the voting doors, right? Skoden. That's what it is. Skoden.

Oh, Skoden.

Skoden.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a way of saying let's Göden.

I thought you were talking about a Swedish car.

Fucking do it, eh, bud? Fucking do it. It's golden.

It's golden. It's golden. Yeah, bring it. Um, from the 6— is that like 6:04?

No, they mean Toronto. It's a 416, I think. Oh, or maybe it's their highway. Anyway, it's Toronto.

Yukon! Yukon needs it. Does Yukon—

Yukon has a Healthcare Infusion chapter. It's Northwest Territories and Nunavut that are remaining. Get her, get her done. That get her done's an American term, isn't it? Are you thinking of just giver? That's Canadian.

Get her done. Uh, yeah, giver is kind of Canadian. Bushman here, Northern Ontario. Too much snow back there.

Not warm enough to drink beer outside yet. It's too bad, man. It was like 16 degrees here. It was beautiful today.

And last week it was ice, rain and ice. What's it called? Ice Rain. Ice Rain.

Salut, Quebec! Any questions about the Nanaimo Infusion that we can answer for you?

Does everyone know you got to take a ferry if you're not flying? Everyone know?

Good point. And if you— and we also have a little thing there, uh, which is getting here .nanaimoinfusion.ca.

Did you seriously get in here?

Yeah.

Wow.

Getting here. That's my cool map. .nanaimoinfusion.ca. There you go.

This is so funny because this is what I do at work and you are like killing it with the info resources.

Islanders, that's true. If you're already on, yes, if you're already, I kind of thought this would go without saying, But if you are already on the island, you do not need a ferry to remain on the island.

I mean, John, do we— is it— was it John? No, Explore with Keith's friend. I, I didn't think we had to make that plane.

Dawson City is the coolest place. I went, I saw can-can dancers there, and it was so much fun.

Um, did you go through a turning Driftwood to art phase? Living near the ocean. There, you know what's popular in our healthcare worker subreddit or subreddit Discord? Um, a lot of them like, uh, collecting beach rocks and beach glass. And there, let me tell you, if you are into beach glass, the island is the place for you. There are beaches everywhere with glass on them. Apparently there's a website that like tells you where the good beaches are for that. And, and I'm sure I'm sure the island is encircled by them.

And just so we're clear, in case you think that this is sounding horrifying and dangerous, beach glass is glass that has been for decades rubbed down smooth because of, um, just the ocean back and forth. Yeah, there's a friction. This is probably a scientific term for it. In the same way that rocks start out jagged and then they become smooth, that happens to glass too. And so you will— these things, they kind of look like gems but they're round. They look like rocks actually, but they're actually made of glass and they're really cool and they're not sharp at all.

Hey, Burnaby! Um, what were we saying? The—

take a rowboat. Yeah, you could.

Yep, it would get away. And, and like, the weather in the Salish Sea, which is the body of water between the island and the mainland, is not— it's not peaceful. It is. I, I spent a lot of, uh, summers and weekends on my parents' boat growing up And it was not like a ferry boat, it's not like a sailboat. It was like, we go slow, as slow as walking speed. And you peek out of Coward's Cove, right, to see what the weather's like in the strait. And if you're confident, you, you go across. And there was a lot of, uh, waves, a lot of up and down, a lot of left and right. So yeah, rowboat and the Strait or the Salish Sea. No bueno. Um, there are in fact bathtub races in the Nanaimo Harbour, which is crazy.

Sue, I just put the address for you there. It's a website, it's not an email address. It's contact.todmaffin.com. Uh, and what will happen is it's going to go to my team who will try to help you.

Um, everyone's just talking to each other now. It's a great— very— yes, ferry reservations recommended. This is one of the most common things I see, uh, mainlanders do, and they don't believe us that reservations are strongly recommended.

Mandatory if you're going through Horseshoe Bay.

Yeah, Horseshoe Bay is under construction right now, so everyone has to do it.

Yeah.

Um, so I think they don't— it doesn't cost money because of that, but the, the general like vehicle and passenger ticket, it does cost money. But, um, the reason why you want to reserve is because, um, if you don't, you are likely starting from about the end of April, uh, to be fighting everybody whose grandma lives on the island, um, getting back to— for the weekend. To the island. And there are a lot of people waiting in their cars. And the only way to make sure you make a certain sailing is to make a reservation, which costs about $20, up to $20. If you do it well in advance, it's cheaper. And then you have to show up basically 45 minutes at least before the sailing.

The link The link to the Discord you will find on the main website, which is here, 2026.nanaimoinfusion.ca. Go there and you will find a link to the Discord there.

And the, um, Mama of Steel just said the line can be a 5 or 6 sailing wait, which means that you're waiting 2 hours because it's 2 hours between each sailing depending on which one you go on, unless you get a reservation. And unless you get a reservation, so $20 or a whole day of waiting in a parking lot Can we be clear?

The 4 or 5 sailing wait is 10 to 12 hours.

Oh yeah, well I said 2, 2 hours each.

Oh, okay.

All right.

Wow, you said it would be a 2-hour wait, that's why.

Each.

Okay.

Wow. All right, it's like hardcore today, guys.

I'm sorry, I'm just trying to be like accurate.

Fond memories of going to Cowichan River Bible Camp. Oh, I think I've been there. Um, did you ever go to the one in Nanuse Bay? Uh, they still call me Ricky. I've been to the one at Nanuse Bay, not for Bible camp but for something like that. Um, uh, I'm just reading what people are writing. Mama Steel went to Bible camp. I think a lot of—

and local, local, uh, newspaper headline today More than double, huge visitor influx expected for second Nanaimo Infusion.

That's just so they can blame you when they're all angry about parking.

And the really cool thing is—

oh gee, no, that's—

is if you go to map.nanaimoinfusion.ca, you will see this map, which is all of the people who are coming so far.

And if—

and obviously there's a lot here, and you can zoom in so you can find your own, your own location. And if it's a blue dot on the map, that group has a healthcare worker in them, in it. That is, that is what that— and you can, you can look at this yourself at map.nanaimoinfusion.ca. I'll type it into the chat, you can pop it open in another tab. It's really cool. It's interactive, so you can zoom in, you can click. It'll tell you how many people are coming, where they're coming from.

And the Naimo Stampede, that's a great way to— someone was calling it a Todstock.

Yes, someone in the comments called it Todstock.

I love it. That's like perfect. Um, yeah, and then Naimo Stampede is another good one.

Yep, totally.

It would be cool to have shirts that just had all of the names. Um, becoming Justin. Interesting. Um, I think we're getting close to the end. Are we? Um, yeah, you could totally— I don't know about chill.

No, no, please come, please come.

You can come and enjoy and be in the photo. Yeah, that's, that's the whole point. This is not just about like importing friends, it's about like being It's about sharing a moment together, being— making friends, um, and showing off our beautiful city.

Yeah, so come greet people. The other thing you can do is, if you can— are Nanaimo airport car rentals listed in the Discord? No, but if you ask in the transportation channel, you'll probably get an answer. Um, we, we're gonna have name tags— well, stickers that you can put on if you're local. So if you're like, if you really want to to answer questions about something you're passionate about. Like maybe you're involved in musical theater. You can type, you can put in, you can write in theater and maybe people who are coming, who are visiting, who are also into theater will find you and ask you questions about it.

Cambrian, no, I mean, they are, we are, Canada needs all kinds of professionals. The more education and training you have, the more desirable you are., on our Express Entry, which is the highly skilled worker program, which is actually going to be renovated apparently. I saw an article saying later this year they're going to change it up, but it's still a highly skilled worker, uh, visa program. And, um, we need all kinds of people, including skilled trades. But the programs we are helping people with are specifically directed at healthcare workers, or they are part of recruiting healthcare workers. Like, there's one called the Provincial Nominee Program that is not just exclusive to healthcare workers, but it's, it's part of the way they're smoothing the way to come to Canada for American healthcare workers. So, so yeah, the short answer is if you think that you have a professional job that would be of use in Canada, Odds are it probably is, and you should go to II— IRCC— sorry, IRCC Canada, and that's our Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada page on the federal government's site, and look for Express Entry.

Explore with Keats, that's a great example. Explore with Keats is into geocaching, so come down and put geocaching on your name tag. Is there a beer garden yet? There's not going to be a beer garden Um, uh, I had to do— Phil, I had to get insurance for the event today and it asked me if there would be a beer garden. It also asked if there would be bouncy castles or a mosh pit. Not gonna lie, I low-key gave some thought to the mosh pit, but sadly we're not going to.

There's an awesome craft beer place across the street from the park called Whitesail.

Yeah, which is very easy to get to. Uh, John asks, you want us to bring any books from Powell's Uh, bring powwows. Just bring powwows. Yeah. And thank you for being a member for 3 months too, by the way. Or a voodoo donut.

But no, you can't bring food like that across, I think. So bring yourself.

Um, yeah, I know it was kind of funny. Um, we need t-shirts. So there are— if you buy, um, if you get a t-shirt from the merch store, they are made in— on Vancouver Island, all the t-shirts. Um, and if you say pick up at the store, they will bring it to the infusion for you. You just have to send them an email.

Um, Miss Smith, Hello Fairy does have a shuttle. Um, I believe they only go to two stops. They stop at Port Place, and I think they stop at somewhere downtown, like up the hill downtown. Um, you— if you go to hellofairies.com Um, you just Google for the— search for the, uh, shuttle and it will tell you. It's not really a map, it's just a— it has like 3 stops.

So a couple people— Darcy says, I've heard pharmacists and vets are needed, and electricians. And KB asks, does Canada need laborers, carpenters, painters? Here is the answer to the question, does Canada need blank? The answer to your question is, if it required some sort of post-secondary study at all, Canada needs your job. If your job required you to go to school for 2 years or more, Canada needs your job. Trades especially, veterinarians especially. So yes.

Yeah, the, the laborer one is the harder one, and, um, Peacock and Fig mentioned this, but if you believe you, um, have any recent ancestors who are— who had Canadian citizenship, then you may qualify under the new C-3 repeal or whatever. It's a new law, newly changed law that expands the eligibility for citizenship to way more people. You need some kind of proof, and Ancestry.com is— they are taking documents from there. And you should connect with an immigration lawyer or a registered Canadian immigration consultant, RCIC. And you should look it up and make sure they are, because there are some immigration scams which aren't good. Um, because we have no idea who's eligible. We're already Canadian.

But if you have autism, can you work there? Yeah, if you can work wherever you are with autism, you can work here. There's no difference.

It's not about no disabled people. It's about all of the visas are about work. So if you can work, or if you're a spouse of someone who has a work visa—

what are the gas prices in Nanaimo? It's about $2.05 today. Yeah, $2.05.

Pretty much all over BC.

Yeah, yeah, it went over— it went over $2 last week for the first time. Thanks, Obama.

Yeah, Michelle's, I think, responding to Hello to Mama's, um, comment that Hello is changing their prices. They— you can't get a high-speed craft like that from one place to another without fuel.

Uh, Mama Hello is only going— you're right, it is going down to $20, but those fares are just in the two commuter fares. So 7:30 in the morning going to Vancouver and 5:30 at night returning from Vancouver. It's like the BC Ferries saver fare, and there's only like 20 of those seats, so it's the first 20 to get them.

Oh wow.

Yeah, so they are going down, but it's more limited than that you may have heard.

Start using a wheelchair and it's always $20.

And the, and the regular fare has gone up by $3. And they've combined the premium and business category into one category, and there's no more free food.

There's some kind of subscription too, isn't there?

Something.

Maybe I invented that. Um, the free food wasn't really worth it in my opinion, but the ferry is amazing. I love them. Don't drink the coffee though, it's so bad.

They're getting new coffee.

Are they?

They're getting new coffee, new chocolate, new tea, or new partners anyway. Oh yeah, their coffee was kind of gross.

Um, interesting to see it. Yeah, we could be— maybe that's— it'll make up for the pause on student, uh, like foreign students because I— we're gonna have an influx of new Canadians, I think.

Yeah.

Um, Oh, I'm sorry to hear the ferry makes you seasick. You should try those Sea-Bands. Um, I could not get by in my job without the Hello Ferry.

Um, wait, wait a minute, Mama of Steel, the BC Ferry makes you seasick, or do you just— are you just saying boating generally speaking?

She's saying hello.

Oh, hello.

Okay, hello is— they're a little bumpier, it's true. I'm not terrible, but, um, so Victoria is more than twice as far away from Vancouver as Nanaimo is. And in addition, the harbour's on the other side. And so to get a harbour-to-harbour ferry in Victoria would take— now, hello in Nanaimo is just over an hour. It would take more than 3 hours and cost around $70. So something to consider. It's the geography that's working against you with that one, but they might do it. But we're so cute, we need a cute ferry. Apparently there was one for like half a summer and it was like absurdly expensive. Um, I— that's something the r/Victoria subreddit always bellyaches about.

Um, yeah, that we got the ferry.

It's geography. What do they want? Like, we're closer. If there wasn't already a West Vancouver, I would nominate Nanaimo's nickname to be West Vancouver. Most Islanders would hate that, but as a former Vancouverite, it makes me laugh. Um, yeah, they— that Vic to Van one, that was not Hello, but it was like a higher speed one. But it wasn't it like $200? It was very expensive. And when the Harbour Air Service is like $75 to $125 a ticket. That is way, way easier and beautiful. Like, oh my God, if you have not come to the island and you really want to feel it in your bones and see it with your eyeballs, take the Harbor Air, or, or there's Sea Air, Salt Spring Air, there's a couple of them. Take a floatplane ride to the island. It is the most beautiful thing ever. Um, yeah, I— Kathy, I was super happy to see Hello workout. They, they were also— I gotta say, I use a wheelchair, I have a disability, and I was hard on them about accessibility, and they weren't great at first, but they stuck with it. They kept listening, they listened to feedback And eventually they— and it wasn't all their fault either. It was a gray area because it's an intra-provincial ferry, so it should be regulated by BC, but because it's a fast, high-speed craft, it's governed by laws that are federally regulated. And so the federal government couldn't get off its tush to decide that yes, in fact, you could have power wheelchairs aboard. And now they have— it's— they have 4 accessible seats per sailing. And so far so good. They said they'd add more if they see bookings are piling up. And they are very service-oriented. So I've been very pleased with them.

Michelle, it's true. Many, many passenger ferries announced that they were going to do it and then they would cancel. Um, years ago, Jocelyn and I wrote, uh, secretly wrote, uh, a satire site for Nanaimo called the Nanaimo Beacon. Uh, this is the first time that we've actually said publicly that it's us, by the way. Um, the mayor and council only found out a couple months ago. But anyway, so we used to write this thing called the Beacon, and my favorite story that, that we did was when they did the, the digging, the dirt digging of the— what do they call it— like the site this breaking ground, breaking ground of the site, that I wrote a story saying that they were breaking down— they were breaking ground on the site of the future, of the future cancellation announcement location.

That was a good story.

That was a good story. Michelle, you remember the beacon? That was us. That was secretly us. Um, in fact, you know, I've still got a whole bunch of stickers. I should bring them to the infusion.

Uh, yeah, the— so yeah, it's a floatplane. It's a little plane with— and instead of landing gear, it has big pontoons and it lands on the water. And we have lots of water, so they, they land. It's, it's like our highway. Um, seaplane. Yeah, yeah, same idea.

Um, Facebook ruined— Facebook ruined The Beacon for us because, A, first of all that they did was they put my company name. They started saying the names of the account owners So suddenly one day, trying to be anonymous, it just put 'this page is owned by' and then the name of my company. Shockingly, no one put two and two together.

Danger Bay.

And then they also, uh, thought that we were a real news site, and so we got banned when Mark Zuckerberg turned off all Canadian news for Canadians because he's evil. Yeah. And then it just became not fun.

What's the most affordable part of Quebec? It is generally more affordable. Um, how are blue collar and queer— oh my God. So, um, Montreal is a great city and it is very cosmopolitan and open and there's all kinds of interesting people, queer people. It's, it's a world-class— it's kind of like New York and Paris had a baby. Um, and so I am certain my, my brother and his family live on the eastern— western outskirts of Montreal, um, further west than Vaudreuil. Vaudreuil, I never know how to say that. Um, but there's a lot of kind of country area, just like all of Canada. There's lots of rural people. Um, but the— I think the cities are pretty cosmopolitan. Um, I think the bigger thing is if you leave Montreal, you're going to have to learn some French. What if you don't know? If you don't already know, and they quack. I don't know why they're called frogs. Don't call any of them frogs. That's not good. But they make these like sounds like, and that sound like quacks, right? Or, or like bleats. Anyway, um, we love them. Um, yeah, Quebec City. Yeah, there you go. You got people answering. And you sound like a duck. Totally sound like a duck. Wet, wet, wet. Um, so where are we going? How many can fly? Uh, how is it sponsor someone? Do you know?

Um, I don't know.

You, you can't really— your businesses can sponsor staff, and there is something called a community-supported refugee, um, that when— but they have to be government like vetted. The— you can set up a community-sponsored refugee. Um, I think you need at least 6 people, and you basically agree to support that person for the first 2 years. Um, and there's a whole— a lot of settlement organizations in the community, um, know how to support, uh, community-sponsored refugee projects. Um, but they— that's not for just anyone. That's for people who are waiting in fear of death and, and lack of safety due to war or whatever. Um, now you're sounding— I know the, the whole thing, the cigarette thing, Tod always does it about Quebecois, Quebecers, but it's, it's a, it's, that's a Parisian French thing. They're like the cleanest, fanciest people except that they have them dirtiest habit? Um, if I can just generalize about a whole country, that's enough. I'm done with that.

All right, okay.

Um, Healthcare Cranbrook Healthcare Workers Creston. Do you know about this?

Uh, Cranbrook is also near Creston. Has a— Creston has a healthcare infusion.

Um, so you should go join them.

Yeah, so go to— I'll put the link in here.

HTTP Yeah, for sure. Agreed.

Healthcare— healthcareinfusion.org, click that and go click on Creston. They have their own Healthcare Infusion chapter. There are 40, 39 or 40 communities around the country now, um, that have Healthcare Infusion chapters based on, based on, uh, the NIMOs. All right, yeah, I think unless you have any other questions, I think we're gonna call it. Um, any, any questions about the infusion event per se? If not, that's, uh, I think, I think we've answered. I think we've, I think we've got them and we got everyone. And thank you so much for, for coming and for, uh, supporting and being here. What you— here, let me— I know it's just if you do it the wrong way, it's going to—

how, uh Oh, what did happen?

I have like a big headache right behind my eyeball.

Okay, we're gonna say good night then. Love you guys.

Like a brain freeze.

Bye.

All right, bye. Thanks for— thanks for coming. And remember how I'm gonna put in the chat one last time: 2026, the naimoinfusion.ca. Bye. Thank you to the mods. Thank you for our new mod, our new mod that joined today. Thank you so much. And thank you for our, um, for the members as well, for, uh, for supporting us. We have a new— Merrily, right there.

Merrily, thank you.

And member. All right, bye folks.

Bye.