Joseph Boyden: Who Are You, Really?
Episode description
Without a doubt, it was our worst-ever show. We never had a guest walk out on us before; the shitstorm that followed saw us branded all over the Internet as racially-insensitive bigots. The author’s publicist swore never to work within us again, and insinuated that he’d try to pull us off the air.
All this happened because the Canadian novelist Joseph Boyden walked out of the studio when invited by host Ian Winn to discuss his First Nation origins. We thought at the time – and still do – that it was a direct but fair question, given Boyden’s close association with First Nation matters.
All this happened three years ago, and but the topic has suddenly been given new prominence by an Aboriginal Peoples Television Network investigation by award-winning reporter Jorge Barrera.