- [Stephfond] Tonight on "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories".

The 35th Annual Guide Dog Ride takes place this week in Ottawa.

Riders raise money to help train seeing eye dog.

And what's new on Parliament Hill?

We'll take you inside the newsroom for the latest.

Also September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a time to share resources and promote understanding.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories".

(bright music) - [Narrator] "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories" is brought to you by, the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, Carthage Savings, CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S Shineman Foundation and The Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone.

And welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories".

I'm Stephfond Brunson.

In a matter of days, the streets of Manotick, Ottawa, will be rumbling for a good cause.

Hundreds of motorcycle riders will gather for the 35th Annual Guide Dog Ride.

The purpose, to raise funds for the training of guide dogs for the blind.

Our Joleene DeRosiers has more.

(people chattering) (motorcycles' engines roaring) - [Joleene] What are all these bikers doing in Manotick, Ottawa?

They're participating in the Guide Dog Ride, a charity ride hosted by Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, an organization dedicated to helping the visually challenged find a four-legged assistant.

- The next stage in mobility enhancement is using a guide dog.

So the guide dog actually, instead of finding obstacles, avoids those obstacles for the person.

So it gets the person safely from point A to point B.

- [Joleene] Guide dogs help their owners avoid potential hazards such as stairs, curbs and even traffic, allowing their owner to get around with greater ease.

- It really changes people's lives when they receive a guide dog.

So it's that ability to be independent.

Many of our clients that come through our organization give stories of how their lives have changed.

And it's very basic things, like going to the store for loaf of bread or milk.

I've had people say, "You know what?

I had to wait hours for somebody sighted to come and get me and pick me up and take me to the store.

Now I just grab the harness and my dog and I head out and go where I need to go."

We've had people who have said their guide dogs have saved their life.

- [Joleene] Getting these dogs ready to change lives is a two year process.

Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind breeds their own dogs, usually Labs or Golden Retrievers.

And when these dogs are eight weeks old, they start the first step of the training process.

- They're placed with volunteers at approximately eight weeks of age.

And those volunteer puppy raisers actually home the dogs for 12 to 18 months.

Their role as a volunteer is to raise a good puppy, much like a pet dog, but with our rules included.

- A lot of the stuff that they teach the dogs and whatnot is amazing and what they can do.

- [Joleene] The dogs are taught basic obedience and socialization with a guide dog supervisor.

And Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind helps cover the costs of raising the dog.

Then when the dog is ready, they go to guide dog training, which lasts six months.

- A lot of the guide dog training is away from their natural instinct.

So it's only natural for a dog to wanna say hello to other dogs, to wanna greet people, to maybe wanna chase a squirrel, to wanna track as scent and sniff everything.

When a guide dog is working in harness, it has to avoid all of those things - [Joleene] Besides being well trained, guide dogs need to exhibit certain qualities, such as good obedience, being friendly and loving their job.

- A dog that doesn't enjoy being a guide dog will not be successful.

So they have to really enjoy the job.

And then the intelligence as well.

They're very intelligent dogs.

So we wanna make sure that they're able to do the job but also happy in doing the job.

- [Joleene] Once the dog is trained, they are paired with a visually challenged person and the duo go through an 18 day training program before they venture out into the world together.

- We've seen the fruits of the labor with the training and the results with the clients and how their life has changed immensely for this new freedom that they've acquired.

Now, you have to remember that a lot of blind people have learned through the years to make their way around their environment through all sorts of tricks and whatnot.

But the guide dog gives them that sense of security.

- [Joleene] The ride is Sunday, September 11th.

And tickets to participate are $20.

All proceeds go to training the dogs.

The 200 kilometer ride wraps up with a barbecue and chance to earn prizes.

For those looking to register, visit www.guidedogs.ca and click in the Events tab.

For WPBS Weekly, I'm Jolene DeRosiers.

- Tonight, we bring you a political update from Parliament Hill, including how things are shaping up with the Conservative Party leadership race.

From the newsroom at The Hill Times, here are Peter Mazereeuw and Samantha Wright Allen.

(bright music) - Hello everyone, I'm Peter Mazereeuw.

- And I'm Samantha Wright Allen.

Welcome back to The Hill Times Newsroom in Ottawa.

September is always a very busy month for politicians and their staff.

And this year is no different.

Parliament will return in a few short weeks, but before that, the Conservative Party of Canada will name their new leader.

Peter, what can we expect in the last few days of the leadership election?

- Well, we know that party members have been sending in their ballots by mail over about the last month.

And the party's going to name the winner of the contest on September 10th.

Now, this isn't just a case of most votes wins.

Members are using a ranked ballot system which means their second and third choices could end up mattering.

And we know that geography is gonna matter a lot as well because every riding in the country with at least 100 Conservative Party members has been given an equal say in determining the winner through a point system.

Right now it's expected that the front runner is Conservative MP, Pierre Poilievre.

He is a gifted communicator, a talented politician who is amassed quite a following.

He also has a lot of critics, people who will point to his flirtation with elements of the Canadian far right, the fact that he has launched personal attacks sometimes on his opponents and on the non-political Bank of Canada.

His main rival is Jean Charest, a former premier of Quebec.

Now, Charest has been criticized because he used to lead a provincial Liberal Party and he raised taxes while he was doing it.

Now, he's promising to cut income taxes, expedite natural resource development and fund the construction of more hospital beds in Canada.

Roman Baber, Scott Aitchison and Leslyn Lewis are also running for leadership.

Now we don't know who's gonna get the most votes or the most points, but we do have an idea of who is supporting whom within the Conservative caucus.

Don't we, Samantha?

- We do.

Poilievre has amassed over half of the Conservative's caucus of 119 MPs.

He's pulling support from across the country but especially in the Western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and further east Canada's most populous province, Ontario.

We have Charest with 16 MPs and Lewis has the support of 10 MPs, which of course is considerably less than Pierre Poilievre.

- That's right, yeah.

And Poilievre, he got a a big endorsement late in the race, didn't he?

- That's right.

Former prime minister, Stephen Harper, who led the country between 2006 and 2015, recently threw his support behind the front runner.

Now that was a big get for Poilievre, and unusual because Harper had not endorsed a candidate in the 2017 and 2020 Conservative leadership races.

Poilievre is also getting a big financial support from party members.

According to the latest numbers for the second quarter, he raised about $4 million.

Now that is more than all four opponents combined for the months of April, May, and June.

But we won't have a full picture of the final fundraising numbers until the end of the third quarter after the race is over.

- Yeah, that's right.

And of course, the Conservative leadership race isn't the only thing happening in Ottawa in September.

The House of Commons is returning to action as well.

And the MPs will have a lot waiting for them when they get here.

Samantha, can you give us a rundown of some of the bills the government will be trying to pass through the House when it returns?

- Yes, so House of Commons committees have already begun studying government legislation that would bring in strict gun controls, that would enhance French language protections and force social media platforms to negotiate payout deals with news companies.

We also have more than a dozen government legislation at various stages of the House of Commons.

One would bring in a government benefit for people living with disabilities.

Another would overhaul consumer privacy laws.

And a third would bring in new boundaries for when border control officers could search your personal electronic devices.

Now, the government will also have to decide whether to accept a major amendment that was put forward by senators on Bill S-7.

So the senators have said that they aren't accepting the government strict criteria.

And so the government will have to decide whether to accept or reject that amendment.

And that bill is overseen by public safety minister, Marco Mendicino.

Speaking of senators, what can we expect in the red chamber when it returns?

- Well, the senators are coming back a day after the MPs, so September 20th.

Unlike the House, which will be quite busy, senators have only two government bills waiting for them right now.

One proposes to require that online streaming services like Netflix and YouTube follow the same rules that conventional Canadian broadcasters follow under the Broadcasting Act.

Now that bill has proven to be a little bit controversial but maybe not as controversial as the other bill in the Senate, which is a comprehensive criminal sentencing reform bill brought forward by justice minister, David Lametti.

Now this would, among other things, get rid of a list of mandatory minimum sentences for some gun and drug crimes.

Now, that's going to keep parliamentarians quite busy in the month of September.

And that's all we have for you today.

Until next time, I'm Peter Mazereeuw.

- And I'm Samantha Wright Allen.

Have a great evening, everyone.

- September is Suicide Prevention Awareness month, a time to raise awareness on this often stigmatized topic.

In addition to shifting public perception, the month is used to spread hope while sharing information to those affected by suicide.

The goal is to ensure that individuals, friends, and family members have access to resources needed to discuss prevention and seek help.

A good first step is recognizing that mental illness often starts with other family members.

- When it comes to mental health, mental illness, there is what's called the intergenerational legacy of trauma, which tends to roll down hill.

So whatever generation is sort of passing down onto the next generation, that is a huge contributor to mental illness.

But that has been a blind spot for a lot of families.

And so waking up to one's history, right, to one's lineage, can be a huge contributing factor to bringing in more mental health.

- If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call the national suicide prevention lifeline at 800-273-8255 or call 911 immediately.

The north country is dotted with historic places and stories, many that we are familiar with, but some we are not.

Our next segment is taken directly from our four part docu-series called "Discovering Jefferson County", and shares the history of Henderson Harbor.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] The establishing force behind Henderson Harbor was a chunk of land known as the Black River Tract, which included 11 separate towns.

One of those towns was identified as Number 6.

And it was noted that it was a pretty good town.

It was this pretty good town that attracted the attention of a wealthy European American landowner by the name of William Henderson.

Henderson saw the potential of development in Northern New York.

So imagine his pride when he won the parcel in a land lottery.

Now the owner of the Western portion of Jefferson County, near lake Ontario, Henderson tucked the new deed away with others and watched it flourish from his New York City home.

- He bought and sold land throughout New York state in the late 1700s after the revolution.

And he made his money back by reselling that land, in many cases, in smaller parcels, to settlers who were coming here from New England.

The town of Henderson was one of those pieces that he acquired.

And in 1806, by act of the state legislature, this piece was carved off from the town of Ellisburg and was named the town of Henderson after William Henderson.

He never really lived here, but he did come several times to check on his investments.

- [Narrator] On those visits, Henderson was most impressed by the deep Harbor that is now Henderson Bay, and the prospect that many ships could be built there.

Other developers agreed.

And after the war of 1812, Henderson became home to three major shipyards.

- And between 1812 and 1880, they built over 48 great ships to carry freight.

And they were built by such men as White, James White, captain Warner, captain Seaton, captain Reed and Morgan.

And these were just massive ships.

And all of them were built from these great forest of white Cedar that had grown on Stoney Point.

And what we're told through the historians is that these white cedar were like the great sequoias of California.

They were so tall and so wide, they were wider than a wagon.

And you couldn't even drive a wagon between them because they were so close.

They grew so close together.

And so that was what created the great ships out of Henderson.

(bright music) - [Narrator] When the forest were depleted, the industry faded away, but all was not lost.

With a booming population of over 2,000, Henderson was still home to three mills, two in the village, and one at the outlet of Big Stony Creek.

And while the mills were crucial to the economy, things began to change still.

And soon Henderson became a fishing and farming community.

- [Elaine] After the Civil War in Henderson, great hotels began to rise up.

One's built by Warner in the main harbor.

Then there were little fishing communities like down in Paradise park and Highland park and then the Great Brooklyn House down at Whites Bay that actually brought people from New York City.

The Gill House became very important in Henderson Harbor.

- [Narrator] There are other homes to note in Henderson too but for a different historical reason - There are at least two known stops on the underground railroad in Henderson for escape slaves who were fleeing to Canada.

One was the Aspinwall House, which still exists at the intersection of State Route 3 and County 178.

And the other is the Johnson property out on the end of Snowshoe road.

- [Narrator] Sometimes we think we've found out all there is to find when it comes to area homes, their connection to history and local artifacts, but Henderson was gifted with quite a surprise in 2000 after a fire at a local residence revealed something extraordinary, a log cabin hidden in the walls of the home, dating back to the 1820s.

The house walls were built over the historic cabin, yet the owner never knew.

In a wonderful act of giving, the owner donated the cabin to the Henderson Historical Society.

The society carefully disassembled it and reassembled the historic find on the grounds of the museum, located in the former 1830s Universalist Church.

The addition gives visitors one more thing to look forward to besides the natural scenery.

Today, Henderson's population hovers around 1,300.

But that population expands an additional 5,000 when summer residents and tourists arrive to swim, fish and enjoy the scenery.

- The sunsets are just breathtaking.

It's just such a beautiful place.

People like the fact that it's not overly commercial, that it's more set back, more slowed down, and it's just a wonderful way to while away the summer.

- The historic piece you just watched comes from an original four part documentary series called "Discovering Jefferson County".

The series was produced right here at WPBS.

If you'd like the entire series at your fingertips, you can order your own copy and enjoy all four parts in the comfort of your own home.

Before we head out for the evening, we leave you with the sounds of two regional musicians who know how to play it smooth.

Ronnie France on piccolo bass and David Donley on percussion play an instrumental tune called "Dancing On the Shore".

(drum music) - Hi, I'm Ronnie France, this is David Donley.

We're gonna do a song for you called "Dancing on the Shore".

("Dancing on the Shore" instrumental music) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) - That does it for us this Tuesday evening.

Join us next week for a fresh look "Inside the Stories".

High school teachers learn a new plastic pollution of curriculum for their students.

The goal is to make young people local environmental stewards.

And a natural products company in Hawkesbury Ontario shares how their business journey began.

Also a musician from Fort Drum will stop you in your tracks with a voice that delivers a Southern blues rock flavor.

JP visits the studios.

Meantime, we wanna tell your story.

If you or someone in your community has something meaningful, historic, inspirational, or educational to share, please email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now, everyone.

We'll see you again next week, good night.

(bright music) - [Narrator] "WPBS Weekly: Inside The Stories" is brought to you by, the Daisy Marquis Jones foundation, dedicated to improving the wellbeing of communities by helping disadvantaged children and families.

Online@dmjf.org.

The Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, a free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business, serving Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego counties since 1986.

Online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

Carthage Savings has been here for generations, donating time and resources to this community.

They're proud to support WPBS TV, online at carthagesavings.com.

Carthage Savings, mortgage solutions since 1888.

Additional funding provided by CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation.

The Richard S Shineman Foundation and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

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