A second sit-down with Suzuki. In the first half of our discussion with Dr. David Suzuki, we learned how COVID inspired a return to his spoken word roots and why it was important to include Indigenous knowledge and voices in his new podcast . This time around, we explore whether the coronavirus is a kind of dry run for how we might—or might not—respond better to climate change going forward. Joining host/producer Rick Harp once more are Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for C...
Dec 26, 2020•48 min•Ep. 239
Scientist, broadcaster , activist, author , grandfather: David Suzuki has worn many hats over his eight-plus decades on the planet. A planet he continues to be both amazed by and concerned for as it faces catastrophic climate change. A trajectory made all the more challenging amidst a global pandemic. But it's precisely that pandemic that indirectly inspired Suzuki to do something he's never done before: start a podcast . It's a series featuring plenty of Indigenous voices—from Autumn Peltier to...
Dec 24, 2020•35 min•Ep. 238
Imagine what it would be like to live in a country where roughly half the population is Indigenous, said to be the highest such proportion in all of South America. Imagine too that, for over a decade, your president was himself Indigenous. Well, in Bolivia, that’s been the reality—and a fascinating one at that. A reality we delve into further with a special guest who’s written extensively about the ways in which Indigenous-led social movements have dramatically and fundamentally altered the main...
Dec 23, 2020•51 min•Ep. 237
A western Canadian premier denounced by critics for bungling the province’s COVID response has now come under fire for questionable comments about immunizing Indians. We’re talking Manitoba, where Brian Pallister’s gone on-record as saying that federal moves to ensure First Nations get vaccines would somehow leave less for everybody else...? Trust us: that's only mildly paraphrased. Joining host/producer Rick Harp to review the real rhetoric used by the premier are Ken Williams, assistant profes...
Dec 09, 2020•41 min•Ep. 236
A Heiltsuk grandfather in British Columbia has recently launched a pair of human rights complaints almost a year after he and his young granddaughter were forced to stand outside a downtown Vancouver bank handcuffed for upwards of an hour. They’d been detained there by police after a bank manager suspected their Indian Status Cards were fake and called 911 to report a potential fraud-in-progress. Now a transcript of that call has come to light, and wouldn’t you know it, someone from Indian Affai...
Nov 30, 2020•39 min•Ep. 235
Decades of disruption and destruction later, massive portions of northern Manitoba have been effectively sacrificed for hydro mega-projects, to the seemingly exclusive and enduring benefit of urban interests to the south. Which makes it all the more urgent for a northern Indigenous coalition working to prevent such a fate for what’s said to be one of the last great wild places on Earth, the Seal River watershed. A pristine 50,000 square kilometre expanse of tundra, wetlands and forests, the area...
Nov 24, 2020•35 min•Ep. 234
Voting day is just hours away in the USA, a day featuring a good number of Indigenous candidates at various levels: 111 in all, according to Indian Country Today. But even as some do their best to influence the outcome, others have serious questions about their effect, the kind of questions we got deep into over part one of our discussion. Here in part two, we talk about organizing vs. mobilizing, what some call ‘Voteps’ (and their possible Indigenous equivalents), how US and Canada Indigenous p...
Nov 03, 2020•57 min•Ep. 233
Election and Empire: with U.S. voting day just around the corner, what will November 3rd bring? Will it be a worsening of the Republican shit-show that is the Trump presidency or will it be a slide over to that other party? You know the one, the party that can’t even commit to a fracking ban during a climate crisis, much less health care for all its citizens in the midst of a pandemic? And yet, though the outcome may not be immediately clear come election night, what arguably won’t change is whe...
Nov 02, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 232
Back to the border: part two of our extended look at a court case that should be getting more attention, but continues to fly under the radar of major Canadian media. At issue: the cross-border hunting rights of the Sinixt people, a people whose territory long pre-dates Canada, the U.S. and the man-made, imposed divide between them. A case in which Canada’s core argument rests on its claim that the Sinixt people are 'extinct.' But the Sinixt say reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated. B...
Oct 29, 2020•44 min•Ep. 231
Beyond borders: It’s the shot that continues to be heard across time and states. And it was roughly 10 years ago that an un-licensed Sinixt hunter named Rick Desautel took down an elk in what’s now called British Columbia, thus landing himself in provincial court. Thing is, he lives in what’s now called Washington state, south of a dividing line that does precisely that to ancestral Sinixt territory. In this episode—the first of a two-part discussion on this notable case (one seemingly under-cov...
Oct 24, 2020•38 min•Ep. 230
It’s a gut-wrenching, even agonizing video. As a distraught, bed-ridden Joyce Echaquan pleads for help, a nearby nurse and an orderly at a Quebec hospital do not seem particularly concerned with her condition. "You're stupid as hell," one can be heard saying in French: the other tells the mother of seven she’s made bad choices in life, asking what her children would think of her behaviour. Those comments—streamed live to Facebook by Echaquan herself—have sparked a firestorm of reaction. But the ...
Oct 16, 2020•54 min•Ep. 229
New sounds of the city. One of Canada’s largest centres— amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (aka Edmonton)—could be on the verge of Indigenizing the nomenclature of its political sub-divisions. Drawing on languages such as Blackfoot and Cree, the suite of newly-proposed names for Edmonton's 12 wards were recently voted on by city council, with a two-thirds majority favouring the switch . But there’s still a ways to go before it’s official, not to mention those critics who’d like these new names nullified. At...
Oct 09, 2020•45 min•Ep. 228
THIS WEEK: 'Chapter 2' of The Anti-Indigenous Handbook. A look into the "constellation of corporations, special interest organizations, politicians, lobbyists, and hate groups work[ing] to limit or eliminate… [Indigenous] self-determination,” the ‘ Handbook ’ gathers together reports from the US, Canada and Australia. In part one of our sit-down with two of its contributors, we discussed Guåhan (aka Guam), as documented by Leilani Rania Ganser , a CHamoru and Kānaka Maoli writer, storyteller, an...
Sep 30, 2020•41 min•Ep. 227
The Anti-Indigenous Handbook : A collective effort spanning three countries, this ' Handbook ' is the joint product of four media outlets: the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network , The Guardian Australia , High Country News , and The Texas Observer . And though each case embodies anti-Indigeneity in its own particular way, what they have in common are concerted, systematic efforts to "undermine [Indigenous] rights to land, resources, language, and culture … by relying on a variety of doctrines...
Sep 30, 2020•40 min•Ep. 226
Settler panic in the Atlantic. Why do opponents of a new Mi’kmaq fishery in southwestern Nova Scotia speak as if it’s illegal when it has the support of a 21-year-old Supreme Court ruling? Why do they persist with arguments that the fishery could endanger the stock when not even 10 licenses are involved—an iota compared to the millions of pounds caught by the industry every year? And what might the UN Declaration on Indigenous rights have to say about all this? Joining host/producer Rick Harp th...
Sep 24, 2020•43 min•Ep. 225
This week: Indigenous Gender and Sexuality Studies. A subject at the center of a talk delivered this past March by Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale, Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, and the author of Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita . Historic figures with a direct connection to Denetdale, as their great-great-great-granddaughter. But, as she argues in her presentation, it’s a history non-Diné often get wrong, especially on matte...
Sep 18, 2020•49 min•Ep. 224
On this week’s collected, connected conversations (the last of our summer-long series), we bring you part two of our resource resistance retrospective. Yet, as part one revealed, these issues are hardly historical. Indeed, it was only six months ago that the Royal Canadian Militarized Police—in full riot gear and armed to the teeth—raided Wet’suwet’en activist camps for the second time in as many years to enforce an injunction secured by the Coastal GasLink corporation. And though the raid signa...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 223
This week’s collected, connected conversations (the seventh in our summer-long series) make up the first part of a double-episode look at resource resistance , inspired by a struggle too big to ignore , one punctuated by striking video of back-to-back raids by militarized police against small Indigenous encampments in what's now known as interior British Columbia. Yet these dramatic events of 2019 and 2020 in ancestral Wet’suwet’en territory are but part and parcel of a much bigger picture. Thei...
Aug 23, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 222
On this episode’s collected, connected conversations (the sixth in our summer-long series): we get down with data and tight with tech, tackling topics that range from social media to social services. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): • Kim TallBear, associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta • Ken Williams, assistant professor, University of Alberta department of drama • Karyn Pugliese, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism,...
Aug 15, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 221
On this episode’s collected, connected conversations (the fifth in our summer-long series): navigating the harms and hopes associated with drugs. From alcohol to opioids, taxes to testing, you could say we’ve explored our fair share of substances on this show. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): • Kim TallBear, associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta • Tim Fontaine, head honcho at satirical news site Walking Eagle News • Solomo...
Aug 07, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 220
On this week’s collage of collected, connected conversations (the fourth in our summer series): appropriation and authenticity. The second half of our extended foray into the arts, our topics range from tacky souvenirs to the endless parade of Settlers pining to play Indian, as we question the images of Indigenous people: who gets to make and profit by them, as well as what is and isn’t considered ‘authentic.’ Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): • Ken Williams, assista...
Jul 31, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 219
On this week’s collected, connected conversations (the third in our summer series), the arts take centre stage. A stage so wide, it’ll take two acts to cover it all. For our first act, we look at representation and misrepresentation, be it on-screen, on stage, or on the page. From gatekeepers to white fragility, it ain’t easy trying to be Indigenous in this industry. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): • Cutcha Risling Baldy, Assistant Professor and Department Chair of...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 218
In our second summer series collection of connected conversations: a checkup on the state of Indigenous health. A thorough examination of how the Canadian health system can all too often operate against Indigenous well-being via ill-considered policies and practices. Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance): • Mary Jane McCallum, professor of history at University of Winnipeg • Dr. James Makokis, a Cree physician based in Alberta • Dr. Lisa Richardson, clinician-educator, Un...
Jul 15, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 217
Once again this year, we at MEDIA INDIGENA have dug deep into our archives to bring you a summer-long series of collected, connected conversations, on a variety of topics: from drugs to data, the arts to activism. We begin with a subject some argue has always been at the heart of the Canadian project: genocide . Once dismissed outright as an object of any serious consideration in this country, there is today a compelling case to be made that Canada's past and present actions merit the label of g...
Jul 07, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 216
THIS WEEK: A systemic look at media. It’s the second half of our extended conversation with our very own Candis Callison and Mary Lynn Young, co-authors of Reckoning: Journalism’s Limits and Possibilities. Published by Oxford University Press, it’s the work of former practitioners in the field who now study and teach the craft at the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism, Writing and Media. In part one of our discussion, we covered what kind of tool journalism is, and how the fie...
Jun 30, 2020•59 min•Ep. 215
On this episode: part one of our extended conversation on the limits and possibilities of journalism. And these days, we hear little about the latter, a lot about the former—even before COVID-19 took its toll on the industry. Some blame media companies’ downfall on the digital: the interwebs and smartphones shredding the business model of now-obsolete oligopolies. And yet, it’s not all cause for techno-driven doom and gloom. In fact, there are those who believe digital might actually be a doorwa...
Jun 21, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 214
THIS WEEK: NAISA INDIGENA. And just who or what is a “NAISA”? It’s the Native American Indigenous Studies Association. Or as they put it, a “professional organization for scholars, graduate students, independent researchers, and community members interested in all aspects of Indigenous Studies.” Many of whom gather every year to share and discuss their scholarship. And this year, that included us! And then, just like that, COVID-19 took out NAISA 2020. What’s a roundtable to do? Well, lemons do ...
Jun 12, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 213
THIS WEEK: Food and environmental justice. Topics at the heart of a talk given back in February by Dr. Priscilla Settee, Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, and Adjunct Professor for the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba. A global educator and activist from Cumberland House Swampy Cree First Nations with a keen interest in Indigenous food sovereignty, she can now add David Suzuki Fellow to her list of accomplishments, a way to take her resea...
Jun 06, 2020•48 min•Ep. 212
THIS WEEK: The ‘Looting’ of America. As if a pandemic wasn’t enough to contend with, disturbing video came out on social media this week of blatant police brutality against a black resident of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, video that has sparked outrage in streets across the US. Outrage met with tear gas, smoke bombs and rubber bullets. Meanwhile, as can happen in such highly-charged, volatile situations, property has been damaged, even destroyed. People vs. property: guess how the media weighe...
May 30, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 211
On this week’s episode: “Indigenous Knowledge and Heavens,” the title of a talk delivered earlier this year by Inuk scholar, Dr. Karla Jessen Williamson . An Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan, the Greenland-born academic is the first Inuk to be tenured at a Canadian university. Following Williamson’s lecture—the fourth in the 2019/20 Weweni Indigenous Scholars Speaker Series, organized by the University of Winnipeg’s Office of Indigenous Engagement—...
May 26, 2020•43 min•Ep. 210
