Bedard's Unofficial Podcast

As a core mission of any school, education is key, if not everything. Emma Croft-Biggs, an educator with 35 years experience and a Masters joins her husband Matt and myself, an overeducated bilingual St. John's graduate with a BA, a French DEUG, an MBA, and Juris Doctorate, to talk about Education @ St. John's.

Pierre and Crazy James talk about absolutely nothing: their past jobs, hobbies, and the impact of certain events like the demolition of the Tropicana in Las Vegas, movies, TV shows, and the St. John's culture, including the prevalence of a 'prison economy' and strict disciplinary measures (according to #722). They terminate the interminable podcast by talking about baseball cards from the late 1960s.

Pierre and Richard talk canned meat products, primarily. Other deep thoughts include personal anecdotes and confessions, family origins histories, and the impact of the fur trade route on canoe sizes. Listen while eating some Spam, or Klik, or whatever.

Matt had to work so it's just Pierre and Emma, talking about avoidance, selling honey and meat door-to-door, and the media, among other things. The theme is healing. It's a slab of back bacon snuck out of the meat room to get some needed calories in for lack of chicken soup. This podcast has calories. Something like that. Enjoy.

In the first of a series on the Lake Timiskaming tragedy, Pierre, Emma, and Matt talk about where they were when they first got word. ​ Emma lost her brother. Matt, who was slated to be in the brigade, lost classmates. Pierre hosts and graduated from the Selkirk school in 1975. Forty-five years later, we talk about the resilience and strength of the community, as well as the lessons learned, the fragility of life, and the importance of cherishing every moment.

Pierre interviews Richard about Toughest School in North America, how he wrote it, and why? It's an interesting journey into Richard's mind and intent. It's a book, first written in the '80s about events in the 1960s, and then recast in 2022. We each name our most notable alumni. Altogether, a great episode where I let Richard do the talking.

I know it's been cold but it's going to get colder as Crazy James and Pierre get cold and talk about working up in the North, hypothermia, freezing things, snowshoeing, freezing more things, and the weather in general in this short, cold episode.

Crazy James and Pierre get political and solve all the problems in both the US and Canada, state and provincial, and local! How did St. John's impact politics? Pierre's in California and gets to vote federal in Montreal-Est. James is in High Prairie, Alberta. Both got out of St. John's and the parliamentary system. We might touch on a woman's right to choose and recent legal events in Alberta. A long one - listen in the car.

Today, Crazy James and Pierre try to stay on point with some Alberta topics. We talk about the Green Lit Book, the Christmas Choirs, Boxing Day (of course), the Robertson Trading Company in Lac La Ronge, Saskatchewan closing this month, the convicted child molester Sheppard, and the Fires up in High Prairie. Then it goes South. And then North again.

Richard and Pierre talk about what they did on their September vacations. One of the more boring podcasts. Pierre went to Alberta; and Richard to the UK and Ireland. Everyone in search of something.

Pierre and Richard continue the Grand Portage. Today, we paddle the Rainy River, probably the most disgusting river I've ever paddled, and talk about a little-known occurrence back in 1962, on the school's first Grand Portage - the story of David Thompson, who suffered an unfortunate incident just East of Fort Frances.

Emma Croft and Matt Biggs (#109) join Pierre and Richard in our first foray into the world and history of Saint John's of Ontario. I learned things today I never knew about the origins of the Ontario school - its founding, its location, its burning down. A fascinating conversation and history. It's a long one, but a good one.

Crazy James Waikle joins Pierre. Tonight we shill Doug’s Chestnuts, talk about the sins of Paul Sheppard, the Alberta fires, writers who came out of St. John's (like Richard, Michael Rowe, and Robert Young Pelton), and the school's absurdly low graduation rate. Finally, Pierre starts ranting before we run out of tape. Sort of embarrassing. Probably our most profane podcast to date. How would a certain University of Toronto prof react to Banting who created insulin? Better living through reason and common sense.

Richard and Pierre ditch Crazy James to talk about the Grand Portage. We make it all the way to Pigeon Falls. In the 17th century, Grand Portage became a major center of the fur trade. The "Grand Portage" got its name because a major canoe fur trade route of the voyageurs heading West left the Great Lakes from here. The route begins with a fabled nine-mile portage, where the canoes and equipment were carried over land.

The search for caloric intake was a never ending quest for many of us at St. John's. The boys talk about food - the good, the bad, and the inedible.  Join us for Episode 3 of Bedard's Unofficial St. John's podcast.