Carbon coup. When it comes to fighting climate change, have Indigenous activists made much of a difference? Do we really know what their myriad anti-pipeline actions add up to? Turns out, a lot—now with the numbers to back it up. They come from a recent report that’s literally quantified the amount of greenhouse gas emissions either stopped or delayed thanks to Indigenous-led activism. But will this more concrete sense of the impact of Indigenous leadership translate into greater respect and recognition?

Joining host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable this episode are Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University Brock Pitawanakwat, and Rogers Chair in Journalism at the University of King’s College Trina Roache.

// CREDITS: Our opening and closing theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

For Canadians, it was a revelation that seemingly came out of nowhere: the confirmation back in May of over 200 unmarked graves at Kamloops, BC, thought to be the remains of young people who decades ago attended one of Canada’s nearly 140 Indian Residential schools. Children who never got to go home to the families from whom they’d been forcibly removed. But if this first came to light late spring, why discuss it now? Because what began as some 200-odd graves has since multiplied to well over 1,000—with more, perhaps many more, expected. Many Canadians professed shock back in May. Has their concern grown in step with the number of confirmed dead? Has it translated into a substantively different approach to the urgent needs of Indigenous kids alive today? Why did it take literal radar to put these crimes on Canadians’ political radar?

Joining host/producer Rick Harp to discuss these questions and more are Kim TallBear, professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta as well as Rogers Chair in Journalism at the University of King’s College Trina Roache.

// CREDITS: Our opening and closing theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.