What made 2017 a year of Indigenous significance? What might be in store for 2018? This week's show assembles the fulsome foursome for this year-end exercise, one that will take two episodes to manage. Joining host Rick Harp for all this heavy lifting are Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama, fellow U of A scholar Kim TallBear (associate professor of Native Studies), and Brock Pitawanakwat, assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Sudbury. // Our theme is nesting by birocratic.

Vote vice: we scrutinize the story of a Saskatchewan First Nation politician accused of buying votes with drugs, and muse over how media framing of stories about Indigenous corruption compares to coverage of mainstream political shenanigans; Harm reduction on the rez: we explore the promise of a public health approach to drug addiction; 'Hawks hoax: will an online prank about the name of Washington’s football team score with its intended audience?

Back at the table this week: Brock Pitawanakwat, assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Sudbury, and Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama.

Monumental fight: US President Trump announces he'll significantly shrink the boundaries of two protected areas in the state of Utah, despite their deep significance to multiple tribes. Urban plot: How Indigenous women in one California city hope to use a non-profit land trust to re-take territory, one piece at a time. Getting reproductive rights reductively wrong? A politician hoping to lead Saskatchewan’s governing party flat out claims “First Nations don’t believe in abortion.”

Back at the roundtable are Kim TallBear, associate professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, and Terese Mailhot, author and Tecumseh Postdoctoral Fellow at Purdue University.

Make BC 'Site C' free: A new summary of research into the mega-hydro project produces a flood of arguments against its completion. Will British Columbia's coalition government listen? Home is where the hurt is: Rules preventing non-Indigenous people from residing on the Kahnawake reserve are now being challenged in court by some of its Mohawk members. Absent audience: Canada’s auditor general claims politicians are basically ignoring his reports on indigenous issues.

Returning are Brock Pitawanakwat, assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Sudbury, and Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.