On this week’s round table: colonial carbon culpability. Calling it a “first-of-its-kind analysis,” a recent study by Carbon Brief has crunched the numbers on some 170 years of emissions, seen through the lens of climate justice. Entitled, “How colonial rule radically shifts historical responsibility for climate change,” the report adds a critical dimension to addressing the question of what—and who—has brought us to the brink of depleting our cumulative carbon budget, the maximum CO2 our planet can handle before global temperatures rise to dangerous levels.
Among those carbon culprits with a gigatonne to answer for: the former British Empire, so vast it’s said every week a country somewhere celebrates their independence. So brutal that to factor in its era of extractive violence nearly doubles the UK’s contribution to (and thus responsibility for) climate change.
On this episode, host/producer Rick Harp and MI regular Candis Callison sit with study co-author Simon Evans to discuss this tally of twin legacies many still struggle to navigate and repair.
// CREDITS: Our intro/xtro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic. Episode edited by Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas and Rick Harp.
This week: where there’s smokes, there’s fire. Does a recent ruling by Quebec’s Superior Court have the potential to dramatically alter Canada's constitutional landscape? Known as R. v. Montour and White, the case takes its name from a pair of Mohawk tobacco traders who refused to pay millions in excise taxes on goods brought across the Canadian border. Import duties the defendants said violated the Covenant Chain, a series of treaties with the Haudenosaunee dating back to the mid-1600s. A defense the court not only accepted, but built upon to breathe new life into these centuries-old treaties, adopting the more recent lens of UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A Declaration the Court held to be both binding and the floor of section 35 protections for Indigenous rights in Canada. And the Court didn’t limit the scope of its findings to just tobacco, or even the Mohawks. As some observers note, it affirmed the right of any and all First Nations to freely pursue economic development by their own chosen means, a view that goes well beyond the familiar, racist shackles of mere subsistence or moderate livelihood.
Joining host/producer Rick Harp to smoke out the potential ramifications of this mammoth, 440-page judgement—a ruling (spoiler) Canada appealed days after our recording—Brock Pitawanakwat (Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University) and Candis Callison (Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC.)
* 100% Indigenous-owned, we're 100% listener-funded: learn how you can help keep our content free for all at mediaindigena.com/support *
CREDITS: 'Forest Heartbeat' by malictusmusic (CC BY); our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic. Edited by Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas and Rick Harp.
This week: controversy at the Congress. The National Congress of American Indians, that is. And according to its website, NCAI is “the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization serving the broad interests of tribal governments and communities.” A little too representative, claim critics, who allege entities are permitted if not encouraged to join the Congress as tribes with insufficient claims to being tribes.
The core concern: recognition. Not just how, but by whom. A concern which came to a head last month at NCAI’s 80th annual convention, when a pair of resolutions pushed to restrict full membership rights to federally-recognized tribes, thereby limiting state-recognized tribes to non-voting associate membership. But is federal recognition the be-all and end-all of what makes a tribe truly tribal? Isn’t outsourcing who you are to outsiders itself oppressive? And why would the approval of a colonial country hellbent on your destruction be of help to anyone?
Leading host/producer Rick Harp and Ken Williams (University of Alberta department of drama associate professor) through the nitty-gritty of this divisive debate is fellow MI regular Kim TallBear (U of A Faculty of Native Studies professor).
100% Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100% audience funded. Learn how you can support our work to keep our content free for all to access.
// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic. Edited by Rick Harp and Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas.
This week, yet another ‘mini’ INDIGENA (the fast + furious version of MEDIA INDIGENA), with some world-wide words for our 333rd episode (!!!), recorded the evening of Sunday, November 12th.
No doubt sub-consciously inspired by the recent 5-year(ish) anniversary of our deep discussion of the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report—which gave us 12 years to act decisively and radically on carbon emissions to keep life viable for humanity by capping the increase in average world temperatures at a max of 1.5 degrees Celsius—host/producer Rick Harp invited MI regulars Kim TallBear (professor in the University of Alberta Faculty of Native Studies) and Candis Callison (Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and Graduate School of Journalism at UBC) to climb atop a cluster of climate stories to discuss how petro-states like Canada are delivering on that 1.5°C mission.
✪ 100% Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep our podcast free for all to enjoy. ✪
CREDITS: ♫ 'All Your Faustian Bargains,' 'Nowhere to Hide,' and 'Love Is Chemical' by Steve Combs (CC BY 4.0); 'New Shoes' by HoliznaCC0; 'Lunar Dunes' by Spinning Clocks (CC BY 3.0). ✂ Edited by Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas and Rick Harp.
We wrap up October a titch late with another ‘mini’ INDIGENA (the quick + dirty version of MEDIA INDIGENA), featuring a quartet of tidbits, ranging from a federal security agency’s overt admonishment of Nunavut over ‘covert’ foreign investment in otherwise neglected infrastructure to new highway signs in Saskatchewan overtly delineating its many treaty boundaries to passing motorists.
Joining host/producer Rick Harp the early afternoon of Friday, October 27 were Ken Williams (associate professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama) and Trina Roache (assistant professor of journalism at the University of King’s College).
CREDITS: 'All Your Faustian Bargains' and 'Love Is Chemical' by Steve Combs (CC BY 4.0); 'Lazy Sumday' by Sahy Uhns (CC BY); 'Au coin de la rue' by Marco Raaphorst (CC BY-SA 3.0); 'Weissenborn, Six Trios for Three Bassoons' by Grossman, Ewell, Grainger (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Production assistance by Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas.
This week: another MINI INDIGENA featuring Kim TallBear (professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta) and Candis Callison (Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC), who joined host/producer Rick Harp Wednesday, October 18 to discuss:
CREDITS: 'All Your Faustian Bargains' and 'Love Is Chemical' by Steve Combs (CC BY 4.0); 'Strange enough' by HoliznaCC0; 'Racecar Drums' by Daedelus (CC BY); 'Dobro Mashup' by Jason Shaw (CC BY); 'Fater Lee' by Black Ant (CC BY).
Production assistance by Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas.
MEDIA INDIGENA is back from its summer break with all-new shows, and we kick off with a far-ranging foursome of items, from a historic provincial election in Manitoba to the RCMP opting not to lay charges against a Yellowknife doctor for the unilateral sterilization of an Inuk woman.
Joining host/producer Rick Harp for this first 'mini INDIGENA' of the season (recorded Friday, October 6) are two familiar voices, Brock Pitawanakwat (Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University) and Ken Williams (assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama).
CREDITS: 'All Your Faustian Bargains' and 'Love Is Chemical' by Steve Combs (CC BY 4.0); '2.12.05 elevator' by BOPD (CC BY 4.0); 'Montmartre' by Jahzzar (CC BY-SA 4.0); 'Music Box Rag' by Heftone Banjo Orchestra (CC BY-SA 4.0)
For the eighth and final installment of our 2023 Summer Series, "Indigenous Journalisms"—our audio book club based on Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities—co-author and MEDIA INDIGENA regular Candis Callison and host/producer Rick Harp finish out the series with Anishinaabe journalist, author and speaker Tanya Talaga as they discuss the chapter's conclusion.
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep this podcast free for all to enjoy. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
For the seventh installment of our 2023 Summer Series, "Indigenous Journalisms"—an 8-part audio book club based on Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities—co-author and MEDIA INDIGENA regular Candis Callison and host/producer Rick Harp welcome back Anishinaabe journalist, author and speaker Tanya Talaga to discuss the excerpt 'Sioux Lookout: Training New Journalists.'
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep this podcast free for all to enjoy. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
For the sixth installment of our 2023 Summer Series, "Indigenous Journalisms"—an 8-part audio book club based on Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities—co-author and MEDIA INDIGENA regular Candis Callison and host/producer Rick Harp sit with veteran Shoshone-Bannock journalist Mark Trahant one last time to discuss the excerpt "Geographies and Destabilizing 'the Local.'"
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep this podcast free for all to enjoy. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
For the fifth installment of our 2023 Summer Series, "Indigenous Journalisms"—an 8-part audio book club based on Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities—co-author and MEDIA INDIGENA regular Candis Callison and host/producer Rick Harp welcome back veteran Shoshone-Bannock journalist Mark Trahant to discuss the excerpt 'Perspectives, Expertise, and Knowledges.'
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep this podcast free for all to enjoy. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
For the fourth installment of our 2023 Summer Series, "Indigenous Journalisms"—an 8-part audio book club based on Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities—co-author and MEDIA INDIGENA regular Candis Callison and host/producer Rick Harp welcome back Anishinaabe journalist, author and speaker Tanya Talaga to discuss the excerpt 'Countering Erasure.'
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep this podcast free for all to enjoy. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
For the third installment of our 2023 Summer Series, "Indigenous Journalisms"—an 8-part audio book club based on Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities—co-author and MEDIA INDIGENA regular Candis Callison joins host/producer Rick Harp and special guest Anishinaabe journalist, author and speaker Tanya Talaga to discuss the excerpt 'Settler-Colonialism and Journalism.'
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100%-listener-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep this podcast free for all to enjoy. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
For the second installment of our 2023 Summer Series, "Indigenous Journalisms"—an 8-part audio book club based on Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities—co-author and MI regular Candis Callison joins host/producer Rick Harp and return guest Indian Country Today editor-at-large Mark Trahant to discuss the excerpt 'Indigenous Journalists in Newsrooms.'
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, our podcast is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep our content free for all to hear. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
The opening installment of MEDIA INDIGENA's 2023 Summer Series debuts a new format for this time of year: a kind of 'audio book club' built around eight excerpts from "Indigenous Journalisms," the penultimate chapter of the book, Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities, co-authored by Mary-Lynn Young (professor, UBC School of Journalism, Writing, and Media) and MI regular Candis Callison (Associate Professor, UBC Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and Graduate School of Journalism, and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Journalism, Media and Public Discourse).
And in part one of our series—centered on the first excerpt, simply entitled, "Introduction"—it's Candis herself who joins host/producer Rick Harp plus special guest Mark Trahant (Pulitzer Prize nominated Shoshone-Bannock journalist and Indian Country Today editor-at-large) to discuss how Indigenous journalists engage "new technologies for self-representation and the long history of mis- or non-representation by mainstream media."
✪ Indigenous owned + operated, our podcast is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to help keep our content free for all to hear. ✪
// CREDITS: 'Saturn' and 'Find Your Peace' by HoliznaCC0; 'Heart of Acceptance' by John Bartmann. All tracks are CC0 1.0.
For our final show of the 2022/23 season, we debut a somewhat new format—working title: 'the RADAR' 📡—as MI regular Trina Roache, King's College assistant professor of journalism, joins host/producer Rick Harp to co-pilot a rapid review of items big and small.
From the pope airing the idea of giving Indigenous peoples' stolen stuff back, to a group of Treaty 9 First Nations jointly suing Canada and Ontario for violating their collective jurisdiction, to Inuit-friendly eyecharts and quiche fit for a King, there's lots popping up on our (you guessed it) respective radars.
Indigenous owned + operated, our podcast is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work to keep it free for all to enjoy.
// CREDITS: ♫ 'The Renaissance Man' and 'Poolside' by Little Glass Men; SFX: 'Sonar Ping' by digifishmusic, 'Ship Radar' by Eschwabe3, 'Sci-fi Sonar' by thedutchmancreative.
This week: The function of injunctions. When First Nations challenge the authority of a province or corporation to enact decisions that ignore Indigenous consent, there’s a handy legal tool those non-Indigenous parties can turn to: the injunction.
Basically a court order which forces someone (or someones) to immediately put an end to a particular action, an injunction is, in principle, available to anyone who can make their case. But according to research by the Yellowhead Institute, decades of injunctions reveal how, in practice, they all too often expedite the use of force against First Nations who push back against reckless resource extraction.
Now a new paper extends that research to more closely exam and explain how Canada’s legal system tends to favour corporate over Indigenous interests when it comes to injunctions—a tendency they argue is baked into its very core. On this episode, host/producer Rick Harp and MI regular Trina Roache (Rogers Chair in Journalism at the University of King’s College) are joined by Shiri Pasternak, Associate Professor of Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University, and Irina Cerić, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Windsor, co-authors of “‘The Legal Billy Club’: First Nations, Injunctions, and the Public Interest”
Indigenous owned + operated, our podcast is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work so we can keep our content free for all to access.
// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
This week: when culture and commerce collide. Three underground art rings producing hundreds if not thousands of fake artworks worth as much as $100 million: some mind-boggling numbers shared by police during recently-announced arrests of eight people on 40 charges for allegedly forging the work of the late Norval Morrisseau. Known for his bright, bold colours and dramatic composition, Morrisseau’s work vividly conveyed the cosmology of his people. But where some saw something profound, others saw only profit, on both sides of the sale.
Drawing on the in-depth documentary which helped propel the police invesitigation—There Are No Fakes—our roundtable explores the cultural disconnect that got us here, who’s hurt most by it all, and whether all of those charged—a relative of Morrisseau’s among them—deserve an equal share of the blame. Joining host/producer Rick Harp this episode are Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama, and Brock Pitawanakwat, Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University.
Indigenous owned + operated, our podcast is 100%-audience-funded. Learn how you can support our work so we can keep our content free for all to access.
// CREDITS: "Fern Music (Extended)" by Danny Bale (CC BY 4.0); Our theme is "nesting" by birocratic.
Can a reserve’s chronically unsafe drinking water be associated with a greater risk of suicide for its residents? That’s the lethal link hypothesized in newly-released research entitled “Is Suicide a Water Justice Issue? Investigating Long-Term Drinking Water Advisories and Suicide in First Nations in Canada.” Co-authored by scholars Jeffrey Ansloos and Annelies Cooper, their investigative framework connects the colonial dots between relentless indignities inflicted upon Indigenous communities with the criminally disproportionate rates of premature Indigenous death.
An Associate Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Critical Studies in Indigenous Health and Social Action on Suicide at the University of Toronto, Dr. Ansloos joins host/producer Rick Harp and MI regular Candis Callison (Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC) to discuss the wider implications of this study.
NOTE: The Hope for Wellness Helpline is available 24/7 at 1-855-242-3310, its online chat option at hopeforwellness.ca
A wholly Indigenous owned and operated podcast, MEDIA INDIGENA is 100% audience funded. Learn how you can support our work so we may keep our content free for all to access.
// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.
This week: our second, long-overdue MINI INDIGENA of the season features regulars Trina Roache (Rogers Chair in Journalism at the University of King’s College) and Kim TallBear (professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta) as they join host/producer Rick Harp to discuss:
• Why we don’t necessarily love the idea of a First Nations person as Canada’s next top cop
• How a few Winnipeggers ain't lovin' some newly-proposed Indigenous names for city streets
• Why Kim hates the idea of “Native heritage” as used by settlers
• Monthly Patreon podcast supporter Raven asks: “What's your thoughts on the term ‘descendian’ (someone with distant Indigenous ancestry or connection) vs. ‘pretendian’?
>> CREDITS: “Apoplēssein” by Wax Lyricist; “Love is Chemical,” by Steve Combs (CC BY); “arborescence_ex-vitro” by Koi-discovery
This week: Press Proximity to Power. For our latest TalkBack edition of MEDIA INDIGENA, where monthly supporters of the podcast debrief with us on our latest deep-dive discussion, MI regular Candis Callison and host/producer Rick Harp are joined by listeners as they follow up on their earlier sit-down with Regan Boychuk, an independent political economist and researcher whose paper, "Proximity to Power: The oilpatch & Alberta’s major dailies," was the subject of episode 313.
// CREDITS: 'Guitarista' by Mr Smith (CC BY 4.0).
On our latest TalkBack edition, where monthly supporters of the podcast share their questions and comments, a follow-up with journalist Dawn Marie Paley about her piece, “Canadian developers are gentrifying Mexico’s beaches,” published at The Breach.
Also back are host/producer Rick Harp and Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University Brock Pitawanakwat, as we pick up where we left off last episode, “How Canadian tourists help endanger Indigenous lands in Mexico.”
// CREDITS: 'Guitarista' by Mr Smith (CC BY 4.0).
This week: Storming the beaches. Some Canadian property developers hoping to lure so-called ‘snowbirds’ to sunny beachfront in Oaxaca, Mexico have hit a bit of a hitch: like, the fact that Indigenous people already own the beach. And according to a recent article in The Breach, such land theft by outsiders is all too common in the region, sparking concerns about environmental degradation and unchecked water use, which Indigenous locals fear risk the future of their territory. Put another way: same shit, different shores.
On this episode, host/producer Rick Harp and roundtable regular Brock Pitawanakwat (Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University) are joined by Dawn Marie Paley, a Vancouver investigative journalist now based in Mexico, and the author of Drug War Capitalism.
// CREDITS: Our intro/extro is 'nesting' by birocratic.
Media bias: something many suspect is at play in mainstream outlets. But proving it—that's a different story. Amidst the daily, dizzy churn that is the news cycle, finding a way to parse out and pin down reasonably comparable data isn't always obvious. But new research out of western Canada seems to have found a clever way around that: by looking at how different dailies treated the same original newswire stories within their respective papers. Spoiler alert: what you got to read depends on where you live. And the closer you lived to the oil sands, the less you're likely to see.
On this episode, host/producer Rick Harp and roundtable regular Candis Callison (Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC) sit down with Regan Boychuk, the political economist, roofer and researcher behind "Proximity to Power: The oilpatch & Alberta’s major dailies."
// CREDITS: Our theme is nesting by birocratic. Sound effects include teletype fast speed by stratcat322 (CC BY-3.0).
This episode, a live debrief with our patrons on 'Oil and Gaslighting,' our December 21, 2022 discussion about the jarring juxtaposition between federal underfunding of First Nations’ preparedness for floods, fires and other disasters worsened by climate change on the one hand, and how Canada overfunds the extraction and emissions changing that climate on that other.
Back to dialogue directly with patrons are Kim TallBear, professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, and Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC. A conversation recorded live on Thursday, January 12, 2023.
// CREDITS: 'Guitarista' by Mr Smith (CC BY 4.0); 'Free Guitar Walking Blues (F 015)' by Lobo Loco (CC BY-SA 4.0).