Ketchup chips, the injured mover and more. 11 of the most interesting people we met in 2023
CBC
Every year, CBC Hamilton reporters meet some of the most interesting people in the Hamilton, Burlington and Niagara Region and introduce them to you.
2023 was a great year for finding stories about remarkable people doing remarkable things.
Here's a look back at just a few of Hamilton's most interesting people in 2023
Rich Lieberman went on a two-day road trip with his 15-year-old deaf and legally blind son, Jacob, to stock up on Jacob's favourite chips. The Liebermans drove the backroads from Virginia all the way to Niagara Falls, all for 40 bags of ketchup chips.
"They had 41 bags, so we left one," 58-year-old Rich told CBC Hamilton. The store's owner ended up meeting them, taking a picture of them and posting it to Facebook, where it has been shared more than a thousand times across various pages and groups.
It didn't end there. When they got home the chips kept coming. "No Frills thought Jacob didn't get enough chips a couple weeks ago when visiting their store in Niagara Falls. They just shipped him NINE CASES of various [flavours] of chips," Lieberman wrote on Facebook on July 31.
Marvin Mulder, 52, says his whole life changed after being injured while working as a mover in Hamilton in 2010.
A herniated disc in his spine contributes to daily pain, back spasms and mobility issues, and prevents him from working, playing with his grandchildren, and sometimes even getting out of bed. "It wasn't an accident, it was just the job," says Mulder, who is among a groundswell of injured Ontario workers speaking out against proposed changes to Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) policies.
He has advice for young workers. He says "If I see someone going into the skilled trades, I'd say, 'Don't do it, it's not worth it. God forbid you get injured. Your life will be destroyed.'"
Hamilton resident Sofia Palma Florido got to know the stories of Latin American seniors while she was studying at McMaster.
Palma Florido's project, Calling Home: Oral histories of Latin American older immigrants in Hamilton, captured the stories of five seniors living in the city, and was "rooted in a community's desire to share and pass on oral histories to the next generations." The project has connected her even more deeply to her grandmother.
"My maternal grandmother was a wonderful Colombian woman with a heart overwhelmed with generosity. She did not receive a formal education but had an incredible memory, remembering nearly everything about everyone she met. I believe this gift allowed her to make everyone in her life feel all the more special," Palma Florido said.
Elijah Sinclair, a graduating student from Bernie Custis Secondary School, became the first student at the school to get recruited by a university-level football team — despite the school not having a football field. He's that good.
"I can't remember a time when I wasn't throwing around a football out front with my friends or something," he said.
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.