By Beth Deer

OK, this is one for all you dog lovers out there.

If you are a guide dog owner, trainer, puppy walker or someone who’s just interested in guide dogs, Follow My Lead is for you! I don’t know about you, but I love hearing about successful guide dog teams and dog partnerships.

I interviewed three amazing subjects who all bought different perspectives and information on the lives of working dogs. Our team spent awhile going through names and we finally decided on Follow My Lead, which I love! Tune in on August 26: Patronus’ birthday, how fitting is that? I can't wait for you all to meet one of Patronus’ trainers, a friend I met a guide dog school and a very special young man with a buddy dog.

If you don’t know what a buddy dog is I guess you’ll just have to watch Follow My Lead.

Follow My Lead debuts Wednesday, August 26, at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv. Stream it post-broadcast on AMI.ca and the AMI-tv App.

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By Laura Bain

Speaking Up! Is the latest special produced by our Halifax team. In it, I interview three ambassadors from four organizations across Canada that serve people with disabilities. Speaking Up! also features an interview with one of the greatest ambassadors for people with disabilities of all time, Rick Hansen. 

Our team began pre-production on this special shortly after transitioning to working from home due to COVID-19, so it was a bit daunting as all of our previous specials have been shot in the field. Now, instead of talking logistics around a table, we were doing it all via video conference. Shooting the special remotely allowed us to interview guests from anywhere across the country, with no consideration of travel costs or logistics – making the possibilities endless! 

I’m proud of Speaking Up! Each of our guests: Bernard, Jenna and Kiera, bring a unique perspective as to why they began “Speaking Up!” about their experiences as people with disabilities, and why they are doing so on behalf of their chosen organizations. What came across to me from all of them was a real desire to make the world a better place through acting as a role model for youth with disabilities, and to educate the general public about the barriers and stigma they had all encountered. 

I felt like I was able to relate to each of our ambassadors, and hopefully you will too. Bernard and I have the same eye condition and were both diagnosed at an unusually early age. Kiera and I were both shaped by attending summer camps for youth with disabilities. Jenna and I were each bullied in school, and I really connected with what she said in her interview about trying to create a “new generation of friends” when she speaks to school groups. 

Interviewing Rick Hansen was definitely a highlight of my time thus far as an AMI Bureau Reporter. I’m not normally nervous during interviews, but I felt like I was stumbling over my questions and pretty much embarrassing myself during the 15 minutes or so that we spoke (when I re-watched the interview footage I realized that was mostly in my head). Rick was such a gracious interview subject. He shares a bit about his own journey of becoming an advocate and about why it is important for us as people with disabilities to share our stories…. But you’ll have to watch the special to find out more. 

Speaking Up! debuts Monday, August 24, at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv. Stream AMI original documentaries on AMI.ca and the AMI-tv App.

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By Beth Deer

This week on AMI This Week, we are bringing you one of my favourite segments that I’ve ever been a part of. 

This segment is called "Metal Urges," so its obviously no surprise that I was working with metal.

Tune in to AMI This Week tonight to watch, and listen to my running commentary, filling you in on all the behind-the-scenes action as I revisit my first-ever piece for AMI. 

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By Alex Smyth

Interested in taking your ribs to the next level? You have to try out my recipe for delicious smoked ribs!

This smoking method is commonly known as the 3-2-1 method of smoking. Simply put, it is three hours of smoking with the dry rub, two hours of braising in liquid, and one hour of smoking, covered in barbecue sauce. 

I use a digital smoker to make my ribs as it makes the whole process a breeze. You can set the temperature, timing, and adjust the smoke amount easily, which helps to take the guesswork out of it. 

To start, I like to use St. Louis cut pork ribs, I find they are the best to smoke with because they are uniform and have consistent meat from end to end. 

The first step with ribs is ensuring that the silver skin, or translucent membrane, is removed from the bone side of the ribs. If not, the smoke won’t penetrate the meat as well and the ribs will not be tender. To do this, I use a table knife and slide the tip of the blade between the second and third rib and wiggle the tip to separate a bit of the silver skin from the meat. Continue to do so until you loosen it enough to grab hold. I use a paper towel to grab the silver skin so that it won’t slip in your hands when pulling! Holding the ribs down, pull the silver skin until it is removed from the rack. 

Now it’s ready for the rub! To make the rub, combine:

-    ¼ cup brown sugar
-    2 tablespoons onion powder
-    2 tablespoons garlic powder
-    2 tablespoons black pepper
-    1 tablespoon dry mustard
-    1 tablespoon salt
-    1 tablespoon paprika
-    ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Once combined, generously cover the ribs with the spice mix and rub it in so the rack is completely covered. I typically like to let the ribs rest after being rubbed for a few hours in the fridge, but that step is up to you.

To prep the smoker, set the temperature at 225 degrees Fahrenheit and set the timer for three and a half hours. (The first half hour allows the smoker to reach temperature). Another thing to consider is the type of wood you will use for the smoke. I prefer whiskey oak or pecan, as they provide a subtle flavour to the ribs. 

Place the ribs in the smoker and let them smoke for three hours, uncovered. After three hours, remove the ribs from the smoker.

Now it is time to braise the ribs. This stage is really important and what helps make the ribs super moist and tender. 

In a bowl, combine the following ingredients to make the braising liquid:

-    ¼ cup brown sugar
-    4 tablespoons honey
-    ¼ cup butter
-    ½ cup apple juice

Place a sheet of foil on the counter and fold the edges into a bowl shape so no liquid can escape. Add half of the braising liquid to the bottom of the foil, then place your ribs meat side down in the foil. Add the remaining liquid on the other side of the ribs, and cover with more aluminum foil, sealing it so no liquid can escape. 

Now the ribs go back on to the smoker for two hours at the same temperature of 225 degrees Fahrenheit. During these two hours, you do not need to have the smoke on. After the ribs braise for two hours, remove them from the smoker and from the foil. Reserving some of the braising liquid, combine a small amount with your favourite barbecue sauce, and generously cover the ribs in the sauce. 

Return the ribs to the smoker for one final hour with the smoke on. This final hour of smoking creates a beautiful glaze with the barbecue sauce and really takes the ribs over the top!

Finally, after the last hour of smoking, the ribs are done! Take them out of the smoker and enjoy the results of your hard work!

For more blogs from Alex, search his name!

By Grant Hardy

Some of you may remember Alina from a past season of AMI This Week. She’s an outgoing girl we profiled due to her involvement in an inclusive swim class called AquaVentures which accommodated her blindness. This season, Alina, now seven, returns to the screen—this time for a little fun, and inclusive science at Science World.

Science World is a bustling science centre in Vancouver with everything from a play station for pre-school aged kids to mindfulness activities for adults. In fact, it’s one of many science centres around the world—but Alina’s family, which has travelled extensively and visited many other science centres, hails Science World as one of the most inclusive places. So it was fun to visit with her and see it from the perspective of a kid.

We began with one of Alina’s favourite exhibits: the pixel board. Kids stand on opposite sides of a tall board and push plastic pins towards the other side. You can create a mirror image of a handprint or another shape that can be seen and felt on the other side of the board—or just have fun whacking the pins.

Next was a LEGO exhibit, which Alina loved and which was much more interesting than I could have imagined. The Science Facilitator working with us used the LEGO exhibit to have fun, but to also get kids thinking about how buildings are made. For example, it’s easy to see with LEGO why a tall, skinny structure would be more likely to collapse than one with a sturdy base. I attempted to break out my inner structural engineer, but on the whole I think society dodged a bullet when I went into broadcasting rather than engineering!

Lastly, an animal encounter. Alina felt an encounter with a cockroach would be too ostentatious—so we went with a gecko instead and learned about some of its adaptations, like a spongy, water-repellent skin and the ability to lose and re-grow its tail to escape.

It was a cool opportunity for Alina to visit her second home—Science World—before its opening hours. And it was fun to interact one-on-one with one of their science facilitators: Science World’s enthusiastic employees who are there to guide you through the exhibits and make sure you get as much out of them as possible. It’s a fun piece that you won’t want to miss whether you’re into science, inclusivity or just having fun.

Watch the segment.

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