166 episodes

The Canadian Love Map is on a mission to tell Canada’s love stories. These are the everyday stories of discovery, loss, curiosity, and love. About overcoming differences, distance, and doubt. Stories that are rich in character, colourful in setting, raw in honesty and inspiring in their complexity.

Love isn’t a straight line. It’s complex. It’s a journey. And everyone needs a good love story.

Join author, former news anchor, and lifelong storyteller Nancy Regan as she shares the extraordinary love stories from across Canada.

Canadian Love Map Podstarter

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.3 • 74 Ratings

The Canadian Love Map is on a mission to tell Canada’s love stories. These are the everyday stories of discovery, loss, curiosity, and love. About overcoming differences, distance, and doubt. Stories that are rich in character, colourful in setting, raw in honesty and inspiring in their complexity.

Love isn’t a straight line. It’s complex. It’s a journey. And everyone needs a good love story.

Join author, former news anchor, and lifelong storyteller Nancy Regan as she shares the extraordinary love stories from across Canada.

    Hearts of Kin: Shellie and Danielle

    Hearts of Kin: Shellie and Danielle

    Today's story belongs to Shellie Ann Tobin and Danielle MacDonald, originally from New Waterford, Cape Breton Island.
    The East Coast of Canada is steeped in a rich musical tradition that binds families, communities, and generations together. This is the world that Shellie and Danielle were born into. The two sisters grew up singing together and with the people closest to them, but when Danielle married into a military family and moved away, it was the music that kept these siblings connected.
    Having always yearned to perform music professionally, Shellie and Danielle's dream was put on pause until one fateful day when Shellie received an unexpected call from her younger sister, who said, "I'm moving back home, let's do this."
    Now, the singing sisters form two halves of their band, Hearts of Kin, and the dream they shared together growing up has become a beautiful reality.
    Learn more about Hearts of Kin by visiting their website, heartsofkin.com
    Presented by Charm Diamond Centres
    Hosted by Nancy Regan
    Produced by Podstarter
    Do you have a great love story? You could be the next guest on the Canadian Love Map! Apply here!

    • 50 min
    Flying the Coop: Awele Oye-Onwuka

    Flying the Coop: Awele Oye-Onwuka

    Today's story belongs to Awele Oye-Onwuka from Lagos, Nigeria (and from Antigonish, Nova Scotia).
    Like many young people in Canada today, Awele is an international student hailing from the lively, busy city of Lagos, Nigeria. Awele loved growing up in Nigeria, having extremely close relationships to family and neighbours alike. That said, even as a young girl Awele planned on travelling abroad for her studies.
    Her original plan was to study in France, and if not France, then somewhere else in Europe. It was at her parents' urging that she began to research alternate destinations for study, which eventually led Awele to discover a small university in the quiet town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
    Taking a huge leap of faith, Awele chose St. Francis Xavier University, and a few short years later, has now found herself loving the school and town that she has come to call her own. Now, she shares her excitement and love for St. FX to prospective students, inspiring them with her story of courage, curiosity, and compassion.
    Presented by Charm Diamond Centres
    Hosted by Nancy Regan
    Produced by Podstarter
    Do you have a great love story? You could be the next guest on the Canadian Love Map! Apply here!

    • 40 min
    A Second Chance: Anita and Kevin

    A Second Chance: Anita and Kevin

    This week's story belongs to Anita and Kevin Kirkbride, of Florenceville, New Brunswick.
    Have you ever wondered what became of your high school sweetheart? For former flames Anita and Kevin, this common curiosity became a window of opportunity two decades after the young couple parted ways. However, a series of coincidental synchronicities kept the two connected.   
    Having broken up at the end of high school, Anita and Kevin would both go on to meet new lovers during their college years, eventually getting married and starting families. Neither could shake the deep connection they shared when they were together as kids, and when both marriages ended in separation, the smouldering embers of their former love began to burn brightly again.
    Listen to hear a story of courage, rediscovery, and embracing life's coincidences.
    Presented by Charm Diamond Centres
    Hosted by Nancy Regan
    Produced by Podstarter
    Do you have a great love story? You could be the next guest on the Canadian Love Map! Apply here!

    • 40 min
    No Corners Cut: Julia Rivard Dexter

    No Corners Cut: Julia Rivard Dexter

    Today's story comes from Julia Rivard Dexter of Loon Lake, Nova Scotia.
    Like many children, Julia struggled with reading. This would become a source of strife and insecurity for the young girl, until she found her fit in competitive canoe kayaking. In the world of sports Julia excelled. Her dedication and commitment would lead her to the top of her game, and eventually, the Olympics in 2000.
    After the games, it was time for a new challenge, so Julia threw herself into entrepreneurship. At the time, her son Max started to have his own struggles with reading. Not wanting Max to feel the same insecurity she had felt in school, Julia would go to found and launch Squiggle Park, a learning platform that gamifies literacy education. The goal at first was simple: find a better way for her own son to learn how to read. The impact, however, became much larger than that.
    This fresh, fun approach to learning was embraced by students and teachers alike, and since launching in October 2016, Squiggle Park has grown to be used in over 12,000 schools.
    Presented by Charm Diamond Centres
    Hosted by Nancy Regan
    Produced by Podstarter
    Do you have a great love story? You could be the next guest on the Canadian Love Map! Apply here!

    • 39 min
    Creating an Empathy Exchange: Deborah Bakti

    Creating an Empathy Exchange: Deborah Bakti

    Today's story belongs to Deb Bakti, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
    Deb's story belongs like many love stories do: girl meets boy at a bar and the two fall for each other. The "boy" in question was Ty, Deb's late husband. Deb and Ty had built the perfect life together with happy, healthy kids, and a gainful career working as a seniors' home executive. This idyllic life would be shaken to it's core when Ty, out of the blue, started to experience the debilitating symptoms of an extremely rare disease.
    The next few years of their lives were dedicated to the search for answers. As Deb ferociously pursued a diagnosis for her ailing husband, an inevitable conclusion lingered on the couple's horizon: that Ty's needs would eventually bring him to a long-term care home.
    Ty would live his final years in a care home, an experience which forever changed the trajectory of Deb's personal and professional lives. Her credentials as an industry executive and her experience as a resident's wife uniquely positioned Deb to become a conduit for the empathy and care she felt the industry needed. Following Ty's passing, Deb would quit her corporate job and start her own consultancy and training business, dedicated to preserving the memory of Ty by helping to foster the kind of human, relational conversations between staff and family that lead to better care for the residents.
    At the centre of each of these conversations is empathy, curiosity, and of course, love.
    Presented by Charm Diamond Centres
    Hosted by Nancy Regan
    Produced by Podstarter
    Do you have a great love story? You could be the next guest on the Canadian Love Map! Apply here!

    • 38 min
    Making Connections as a Storyteller: Jackie Torrens

    Making Connections as a Storyteller: Jackie Torrens

    Today's story belongs to Jackie, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
    How do you communicate with the world? This weeks guest seeks connection through the stories she shares as a filmmaker, actor and journalist.

    Jackie Torrens is one of Canada’s brightest talents. Winning awards for performances on stage and screen, she has directed multiple critically acclaimed feature documentaries and broken glass ceilings as a writer. There is a good chance you’ve been moved to laughter or tears by her work on screens small and big, over the last 25 years.
    She and producer Jessica Brown own & operate Peep Media, a female-owned production company based in Halifax. Their films for CBC, the Documentary Channel, and Bravofactual include Edge of East, My Week on Welfare, Small Town Show Biz and their most recent, Bernie Langille Wants to Know Who Killed Bernie Langille, which premiered at Hot Docs in 2022 & won WIFT-AT’s Best Director, Best Documentary at the FIN Atlantic Film Festival and Best Atlantic Filmmaker from the Lunenburg Documentary Festival.
    She was nominated for a Gemini for her writing on Trailer Park Boys. For 10 years, she was a regular contributor and guest host for CBC Radio. Torrens’ CBC radio documentaries include The Poet Laureate of Youth Now, which received an Atlantic Journalism Award & also Camp Mini Ha Ha, which received a CBC Award of Excellence. As a playwright, her play Georama premiered at the National Arts Center. As an actor, theatre highlights include playing Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Katurian in Martin MacDonaugh’s Pillowman, and Liz in Daniel MacIvor’s A Beautiful View at Neptune Theatre. Read more about her amazing career here.

    Her creative love letters to the world are informed by a childhood filled with tragedy and an adolescence that forced her to firmly stand on her own two feet. But as you’ll hear, Jackie has an inner strength that has propelled her through any obstacle society and fate threw at her. Today, her life is full of love, joy and new opportunities to tell us stories, in ways only she can.

    Presented by Charm Diamond Centres
    Hosted by Nancy Regan
    Produced by Podstarter
    Do you have a great love story? You could be the next guest on the Canadian Love Map! Apply here!

    • 46 min

Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5
74 Ratings

74 Ratings

wenusd ,

A breath of fresh air!

Just listened to Finding Purpose: with Debbie Adams; love her and love the concept of this podcast, where the world has so much going on that can shadow the good, these stories shed light on the resiliency of Canadian lives, and that love can lead the way:). Can’t wait to listen to more!

chanelle jefferson ,

Love!

Nancy is a wonderful host who brings out the best of stories in her interviews. Recently found her through a friend and I love listening.

travellingtina63 ,

The Guthro Family

I just listened to this and with Bruce’s very recent passing it was ever more poignant. Thanks so much for capturing this, I appreciate it❣️

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