This week, our Indigenous current affairs roundtable unpacks recent revelations that, despite federal bureaucrats saying the cupboard for First Nations education funding was full, the Liberals deliberately chose to delay a large chunk of it until after the next election. And, we’ll share our thoughts on an alarming report out of BC that shows First Nations kids in custody suffer alarming rates of sexual abuse. Joining us once again are Colleen Simard and Conrad Prince. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
Ottawa's police force is taking some heat after one of its own appears to have posted racist comments on a local newspaper’s website. The commentary followed a story about the tragic and untimely death of acclaimed Inuk artist Annie Pootoogook. The police are investigating, calling her death "suspicious," but won’t get into specifics. Meanwhile, members of Ottawa's Indigenous community are outraged that a police officer would even publicly comment on the case, much less dismiss the idea that Pootoogook's death deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. Sitting at the roundtable to discuss this incident, and what it may say about the attitudes of rank and file police, are Colleen Simard and Conrad Prince.
A First Nation that only seems to get the spotlight when bad things happen is once again in the headlines: Shamattawa. Literally left devastated last week after a major fire destroyed key services and infrastructure—including the reserve's only grocery store—it's all the more worrisome when you consider the northeastern Manitoba community is only accessible by plane or boat most of the year. Then there's the disturbing cause of the blaze: according to the RCMP, it was started by a group of children, most of whom aren't even 12 years old.
Shamattawa's high rates of poverty, unemployment, substance abuse and youth suicide are well-documented by news outlets. Less so are the efforts of its people to reverse these trends. Among the more determined is this week's guest: Michael Redhead Champagne, founder of Aboriginal Youth Opportunities in Winnipeg.
For the third time in 9 months, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the federal government to end its discriminatory practice of inequitably funding child welfare services on-reserve. The Tribunal’s initial ruling happened in January, the result of a 2007 human rights complaint. But despite Indigenous Affairs Canada being told to "immediately remove the most discriminatory aspects of [its] funding schemes" for First Nations agencies, the federal government has failed to show the Tribunal how it’s done so. Will this latest order to comply make a difference? Joining us with her observations is lawyer Maggie Wente, part of the legal team advising the Chiefs of Ontario, which has "interested party" status at these proceedings.
According to The Guardian, it's a discovery that "challenges the accepted history behind one of polar exploration’s deepest mysteries." This week, 168 years after it sank, a ship once captained by the famous British explorer Sir John Franklin seems to have finally been found. Known as the HMS Terror, it was one of two large crafts used by the ill-fated Franklin expedition, now the stuff of legend for both Britain and its colonial offspring, Canada. But amidst these tales of Terror's ruin and reported recovery in Arctic waters, we might ask where Arctic people fit into all of this. Our guest this episode is Kisha Supernant, an anthropological archaeologist and associate professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. // Our theme is 'nesting,' by birocratic.
This week: Standing up for the Standing Rock Sioux. For the US state of North Dakota, massive deposits of unconventional oil have brought much prosperity for some, great pain to others. In a bid to get even more of that oil to market, a new project is underway: the Dakota Access Pipeline. But the 1900 km, $3.8 billion project has long been opposed by local Indigenous people, the Standing Rock Sioux, who argue any spill would both devastate regional water sources and desecrate sites of spiritual significance. Pipeline proponents claim it will boost jobs, revenues, even safety, when compared to oil moved by rail or road. My guest this week has been an ardent follower of this struggle. A member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in neighbouring South Dakota, Taté Walker is the editor of Native Peoples magazine.
According to preliminary new data released this week, Indigenous people in Canada are 10 times more likely to use an emergency shelter than their non-Indigenous counterparts. That's according to the National Shelter Study, a decade-long look at the use of emergency shelter beds across the country. And for the first time ever, the study has tracked stats according to Indigenous identity. Our guest this week is Jesse Thistle, a graduate student of history who once spent much of his young adulthood in and out of homelessness and addiction. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
If families form the bedrock of Indigenous peoples, it seems Canada has devoted decades to their fracture and fragmentation. And, as child advocate Cindy Blackstock notes, were we to label the forced institutionalization of children in faraway residential schools as 'phase one' of that fracturing, the subsequent removal of generations of kids into the homes of non-Aboriginal strangers in the 1960s could be called 'phase two.' The so-called 'Scoop' removed thousands of kids from a number of provinces. But, this week, it was an Ontario court that heard the latest phase of a class action suit seeking compensation for what survivors say Canada denied them: rightful access to "Aboriginal customs, traditions and practices." Our guest is Raven Sinclair, associate professor of social work at the University of Regina, and a Scoop survivor herself.
Senseless, tragic and disturbing: words that rush to mind upon hearing the news of last week’s killing of Colten Boushie. A 22-year-old resident of the Red Pheasant First Nation in western Canada, Boushie was shot to death after he and four other Indigenous young people drove onto the property of 54-year-old, non-Indigenous farmer Gerald Stanley in hopes of getting help with a flat tire.
What happened next is still under investigation, but that hasn’t stopped some from drawing and sharing their own hurtful and hateful conclusions via social media. Our guests this week both hail from Saskatchewan: Tasha Hubbard is a documentarian and assistant professor of English at the University of Saskatchewan; Chris Andersen is interim dean at the University of Alberta’s faculty of Native Studies. They share their thoughts as to what Boushie's death—and its contentious aftermath—might tell us about the state of Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations in that province and beyond. // Our theme: 'nesting' by Birocratic.
Will it happen again? Will someone portrayed on-screen by Aboriginal actor Adam Beach be quickly dispensed with, leaving us next to no time to really know his character? According to our guest this week, it's been something of a pattern for Mr. Beach—indeed, it's a fate faced by all too many Indigenous actors in Hollywood, as they appear all too briefly in mainstream television and film productions. Cutcha Risling Baldy is an Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University. She's also the author of the 2015 blog post, "I Can't Believe You Keep Killing Off Adam Beach, NBC: Gender, Representation, Settler Colonialism and Native Cameos on Television." In the course of exploring what's at stake in how Indigenous people are represented by the major studios, we'll also discuss whether Beach's latest role as SlipKnot in the summer superhero flick, "Suicide Squad," breaks with the pattern she's described. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
When loved ones die, there’s no question who suffers most—their families. And of those who pushed hardest for the newly-launched National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, none fought more fiercely than the relatives of these stolen sisters. Now some of those families have been left disappointed by the details of its terms of reference. Such concerns are echoed by groups like the Native Women’s Association of Canada and Pauktuutit, who say there are fundamental flaws in the Inquiry’s scale and scope. Joining us this week with her reflections is Pam Palmater, Chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University in Toronto. // Our theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
According to the WHO, food security is “when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” In Canada's north, food access and affordability are critical issues—especially for many Indigenous communities—and government subsidies seem to only go so far. Madeleine Redfern, mayor of Iqaluit (Nunavut's capital city), discusses her territory's challenges with food insecurity and how the 'Nutrition North' subsidy program might be improved to better serve Inuit. // Our theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
This week on the program: Inaction on the Indian Act. Derided for decades, it’s hung in there as one of Canada’s oldest laws. Now there are hints from the federal Justice Minister that its days could be numbered... just not right away. Joining us with her thoughts on the delayed dismantling of the Act is Naomi Sayers, a law student active in legal reform and education who writes under the banner of kwetoday.com.// Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
An Indigenous broadcaster shares his personal and political perspective on police treatment of Aboriginal people, an issue he recently wrote about in his Huffington Post piece, "This Is Why People Of Colour Fear The Police." Jesse Wente is the director of Film Programmes at TIFF Bell Lightbox, and a long-time CBC Radio pop culture columnist. He joined us from Toronto. // Our theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
Fresh off our week at the Podcast Movement conference in Chicago, the team behind MEDIA INDIGENA 'checks in' on our progress 18 weeks into the show. We share our experiences, lessons and successes—including our ultimate, larger vision for the show's future, both on and off the mic. Featuring Ian Milne, MI's Head of Audience & Partnership Development. // Our theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
New research out of the University of Toronto into Indigenous child welfare has highlighted what some already suspected: that, when it comes to investigations of abuse or neglect, Indigenous families in Ontario are way more likely to be investigated than their white counterparts—130 per cent more, in fact. The disparity grows even greater for child removal, with young Aboriginal people 168 per cent more likely to be taken. But such over-representation is not unique to Ontario. Canada-wide, the most recent numbers show fully a third of all children and youth in care are Aboriginal. Our guest this week is Kenn Richard, executive director of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. // Our theme is "nesting" by Bee-row-Crat-ic.
This week: the fight for funding of Indigenous languages. Despite the best efforts of the Canadian government to wipe out the roughly 60 Aboriginal languages in that part of the world (what some call deliberate linguicide) those ancestral tongues are not yet stilled. But this is no time for complacency, which is why people like Lorena Fontaine, an associate professor of Indigenous Governance at the University of Winnipeg, is part of the team behind a lawsuit that they hope will force Canada to truly walk its talk on Indigenous language revitalization. // Our theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
According to its proponents, Indigenous public health goes beyond the original concept to encourage health practitioners to be more aware of the larger social, political and historical issues and dynamics that often drive Aboriginal health disparities. This week’s episode comes to you from Toronto, host to “Public Health 2016,” the annual conference of the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA). Our guests are Nancy Laliberte and Alycia Fridkin of the Provincial Health Services Authority of British Columbia. // Our theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
"Contaminated, hard to access or toxic." According to a new Human Rights Watch report, that’s what all too many First Nations endure when it comes to safe, quality drinking water—in some cases, for decades. Our guest this week is Amanda Klasing, a senior HRW researcher and the author of its report, “Make it Safe: Canada’s Obligation to End the First Nations Water Crisis.”
// Our theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic
One of Canada's largest provinces now says it's sorry for its "silence in the face of abuses and deaths at residential schools... [and] for the continued harm that generations of abuse is causing to Indigenous communities, families and individuals." The formal apology by the Ontario government comes almost one year after Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its final report. But will Ontario’s actions speak louder than its words? Joining us with his reflections on the rhetoric versus realities of reconciliation is comedian and podcaster Ryan McMahon.
// Our theme is "nesting" by Birocratic.
This week, we get an update on the inquest into a series of young First Nation fatalities in northwestern Ontario, where seven Indigenous students have died over a 10 year period in the city of Thunder Bay. Our guest is Jody Porter, a local CBC journalist who's covered this story for years, including regular updates from the inquest.
// Our theme is "nesting" by Birocratic.
This week we take a long look at a provocative poll recently published by the Washington Post about their home town pro football club, the "Redskins." The paper claims the results supposedly show "how few ordinary Indians have been persuaded by a national movement to change the football team’s moniker." Not surprisingly, team owner Daniel Snyder immediately celebrated the findings, but critics claim the poll should be punted for its shaky methodology and the way it ignores how a racial slur like the R-word diminishes Indigenous self-esteem as well as poisons mainstream attitudes toward Native peoples. Our guests this week are Jason Notte, a sports business columnist for MarketWatch.com, as well as Ottawa-based journalist and author Waubgeshig Rice. // Our theme is "nesting" by Birocratic.
Recently, Canadian energy giant Enbridge announced it was prepared to boost the Aboriginal stake in their Northern Gateway project up to 33 per cent. Mired in controversy pretty much from the get-go, that includes how it seems to have seeded tension among Indigenous peoples, dividing them into pro- and anti-pipeline camps. But will Enbridge's new offer be enough to win more Indigenous support? Sharing his thoughts: Merle Alexander, a partner and specialist in Aboriginal Law with the law firm Gowlings WLG in Vancouver. // Our opening and closing theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
This week on the program: the ever-growing economic footprint of Indigenous peoples. A recent report out of Atlantic Canada suggests Aboriginal spending benefits the region significantly, to the tune of $1.14 billion annually. But it's actually a trend across the country. Joining us with her insights into these numbers is Maureen Googoo, owner-editor of Kukukwes.com, a site dedicated to covering Indigenous news in eastern Canada.
// Our opening and closing theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.
Adopted by most countries back in 2007, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) faced but a handful of holdouts: the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Flash forward to last week, when a senior Canadian politician said his government was developing a so-called "Canadian definition" of at least some portions of UNDRIP, including the bedrock notion of free, prior and informed Indigenous consent. Helping us to decipher what that could mean going forward is Hayden King, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University.
// Our opening and closing theme is 'nesting' by Birocratic.