Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

Pain for Profit: Canada's Opioid Crisis – Part Two

Who pays the price when healthcare fails the people it's supposed to protect?

In the second half of our investigation into Canada's opioid crisis, we examine the human cost of a system that too often mistakes treatment for a prescription pad. We explore the gender bias that leaves women's pain dismissed, the patients abandoned as prescribing practices suddenly changed, and the lasting trauma created when healthcare turned its back on those it once encouraged to trust it.

We also travel to Pembroke and Renfrew County to examine Ontario's new HART Hub model, asking one of the most difficult questions facing the province today: can recovery-first treatment replace harm reduction, or do both need to exist side by side to save lives?

Through research, lived experience, and an emotional interview with a mother who lost her daughter to fentanyl, this episode looks beyond statistics to the people, families, and communities forever changed by Canada's deadliest public health crisis.

Because behind every number is a name, and behind every policy decision is someone trying to survive.

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing niagarareproductivejustice@gmail.com.

Your next creepy obsession starts here.

🖤 Ghoul Gang, we've got double the creep for you today!

📸 First up: Darkroom Photography, based in the Niagara Region. Mel captures everything from spooky to sweet with creative, lifestyle shoots—and yes, her Halloween sessions are legendary. Transparent pricing, seasonal specials, and all the eerie vibes you could want.
👉 Book at darkroomphotography.ca or email mel@darkroomphotography.ca

🦴 And don’t forget our boo-tiful friends at Back From the Dead Goods—resurrecting your wardrobe with creepy streetwear on Etsy & Poshmark.
👻 Use code CANADIANCREEPIES for 10% off!

Support spooky small biz and creep it cute, creeps.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

For centuries, something has been reported moving through the waters of the St. Lawrence River.

From Jacques Cartier's 1535 account of a strange white creature near Tadoussac to the famous Lake Ontario serpent, lighthouse keepers, bridge workers, and modern-day witnesses have all described seeing long, serpentine animals gliding through the river's currents. Could these encounters be misidentified wildlife, forgotten folklore, or evidence of something that has remained hidden in the depths for generations?

In Part Two of Beneath the St. Lawrence, we trace nearly 500 years of sightings and explore why one of Canada's most important waterways continues to inspire stories of an elusive creature that refuses to disappear.

Down the Crooked Path releases new episodes every Tuesday.

🌱 PayYourRent.ca is an Indigenous-led grassroots initiative calling on settlers to engage in ongoing, voluntary financial redistribution in support of Indigenous land defenders, sovereignty, and community well-being.

This foundation supports urgent needs like housing, food security, legal defense, and cultural revitalization—all grounded in the principle that land back also means resource back.

If you live, work, or benefit from life on stolen land, consider learning more or making a monthly contribution at PayYourRent.ca.

Justice isn’t a moment—it’s a commitment.

Your next creepy obsession starts here.

✨ This episode is brought to you by Fable & Frame Creative ✨
Fable & Frame Creative offers Niagara Region portraits and at-home newborn sessions, capturing not just how life looks — but how it feels. Because your life isn’t ordinary. It’s a fable, and it deserves to be framed like one.

🦴 And don’t forget our boo-tiful friends at Back From the Dead Goods—resurrecting your wardrobe with creepy streetwear on Etsy & Poshmark.
👻 Use code CANADIANCREEPIES for 10% off!

🕯️ You can find new episodes of Down the Crooked Path every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Canadian content airs right here on the Canadian Creepies feed—so stay tuned, and stay on the path.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell

Send us a text, tell us your canadian creepy!

This week on Canadian Creepies, we examine one of the deadliest public health disasters in Canadian history: the opioid crisis.

For years, the public narrative focused on addiction, personal responsibility, and the visible consequences on our streets. But behind that story lies another one—of pharmaceutical marketing campaigns, regulatory failures, corporate profits, and a healthcare system that left thousands of Canadians vulnerable.

From the rise of OxyContin and the marketing tactics used to convince doctors that opioids were safe, to the fentanyl-driven overdose crisis that continues to claim lives across the country, we trace the decisions that helped shape a national tragedy.

With more than 55,000 Canadians lost to opioid toxicity since 2016, this is not simply a story about substances. It is a story about policy, profit, stigma, survival, and the families left behind.

This episode was researched by Christine.

Also this week, our Creep of the Week examines a disturbing Ontario case involving an aunt who pleaded guilty after throwing acid on her niece, causing life-altering injuries.

Content warning: addiction, overdose, death, violence, and discussions of substance use.

✨ This episode also highlights the work of Niagara Reproductive Justice (NRJ)— Learn more or support their work by visiting their social media or emailing niagarareproductivejustice@gmail.com.

Your next creepy obsession starts here.

🖤 Ghoul Gang, we've got double the creep for you today!

📸 First up: Darkroom Photography, based in the Niagara Region. Mel captures everything from spooky to sweet with creative, lifestyle shoots—and yes, her Halloween sessions are legendary. Transparent pricing, seasonal specials, and all the eerie vibes you could want.
👉 Book at darkroomphotography.ca or email mel@darkroomphotography.ca

🦴 And don’t forget our boo-tiful friends at Back From the Dead Goods—resurrecting your wardrobe with creepy streetwear on Etsy & Poshmark.
👻 Use code CANADIANCREEPIES for 10% off!

Support spooky small biz and creep it cute, creeps.

Edited by Kyle McDonnell