Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde – Details, episodes & analysis

This conversation with the late Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, was originally posted in August 2020.

"Some people said, 'well there is racism in Canada but there is no systemic racism.' And to those people I said, 'You've clearly never read the Indian Act, because it reeks of systemic racism.'"

The Right Honorable Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, is National Chief Perry Bellegarde's guest on this latest episode of the Akhameyimok Podcast. They discuss climate change, overcoming systemic racism against First Nations people, the sweeping recommendations for change in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and the leadership lessons he learned in leading the international fight against the white minority Apartheid regime in South Africa and for the freedom of Nelson Mandela.

Brian Mulroney was Canada’s Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993. In that time he oversaw the negotiation and implementation of the US-Canada Free Trade agreement, and then NAFTA. He initiated important environmental reforms, including the Acid Rain treaty with the United States. He was also at the forefront of attempts to make the Canadian constitution more inclusive, trying to bring Quebec into the fold with the Meech Lake accord and then the Charlottetown Accord. He was Prime Minister during the Oka Crisis, thirty years ago this summer, which led his government to establish the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People. It made sweeping recommendations on how to restructure the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

A special thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan for providing the theme music for this podcast.

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced in Ottawa by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.

Bryan Trottier needs little introduction. The Hockey Hall of Fame player was a key member and leading scorer for the New York Islanders Stanley Cup dynasty of the 1980's, and then with Pittsburgh Penguins of the early 90's. He is also incredibly proud of his Cree-Metis-Chippewa heritage, and his hometown of Val Marie in southern Saskatchewan. In this fun and fascinating conversation, he talks with Perry Bellegarde about learning to play hockey on the beaver pond on his family ranch, playing bass in his father's country band, his parents advice on overcoming racism as a young hockey player, how the infamous Dave "Tiger" Williams saved his hockey career as a junior player at Swift Current, and of course, his key role in the NY Islanders Cup wins from 1980 to 1983. This is an interview to savour.

Bryan's new best selling memoir is called "All Roads Home: A Life On and Off the Ice."

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions in Ottawa.Our theme music is performed by the Red Dog Singers of Treaty Four Territory in Saskatchewan.

ENCORE PRESENTATION

***With the Akhameyimok Podcast on summer hiatus and a federal election now underway, we are re-running National Chief Bellegarde's  best interviews from the past year with leaders and senior members of the main federal political parties to help provide a sense of where they stand on issues important to First Nations and Indigenous people. ****

***This interview with the Liberal Government's Industry Minister, Catherine McKenna, was first posted on April 22, 2021***

On this special Earth Day episode of the Ahkameyimok Podcast, Catherine McKenna, the Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and a former Environment Minister, joins National Chief Bellegarde to discuss the $6 billion in funding for First Nations specific infrastructure projects in the latest Federal budget, why she instructed the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to set aside $1billion in loans for Indigenous specific investments and why infrastructure is a big part of the fight against Climate Change and what role First Nations play in that.

To learn more about the $1 billion Canadian Infrastructure Bank Indigenous loan program, visit:

https://cib-bic.ca/en/partner-with-us/growth-plan/indigenous-infrastructure/

For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations, visit:

AFN.ca

The Ahkemeyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions in Ottawa

And a big thanks to the Red Dog Singers, Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan, for our theme song, Intertribal.

ENCORE PRESENTATION

***With the Akhameyimok Podcast on summer hiatus and a federal election now underway, we are re-running National Chief Bellegarde's  best interviews from the past year with leaders and senior members of the main federal political parties to help provide a sense of where they stand on issues important to First Nations and Indigenous people. ****

***This interview with Erin O'Toole was first posted on August 19/2020, just before he won the leadership of federal Conservative Party***

Erin O'Toole is one of the front-runners to become the next federal Conservative Party leader in a vote that takes place Friday, August 21st 2020. In this, his first interview with the Ahkameyimok Podcast, O'Toole lays out his vision for working with First Nations if he were to become leader and Prime Minister. In this interesting and wide ranging interview, National Chief Perry Bellegarde gets O'Toole's views on reconciliation, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, cooperation in resource development and management, systemic racism, policing and more.

Please note: Peter MacKay and Leslyn Lewis, the other main Conservative leadership candidates, were also invited onto the podcast but declined due to their campaign schedules.

Erin O’Toole is the Member of Parliament for the southern Ontario riding of Durham, just to the east of Toronto. He was first elected to Parliament in 2012 and served as Minister of Veterans Affairs in the Harper Government. He is a veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force and a graduate of the Royal Military College. He also has a law degree from Dalhousie University. Before moving into politics he practiced corporate law in Toronto.

A special thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan for providing the theme music for this podcast.

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced in Ottawa by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.

"I just wanted to buy a painting, really."

Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies is our guest on this episode of #Ahkameyimok. He and Perry talk about his new documentary, "There Are No Fakes," which exposes a massive art forgery ring surrounding the work of legendary Ojibwe painter, Norval Morrisseau.

When the Barenaked Ladies started producing chart topping, international hit songs in the late '90's, Kevin Hearn decided he could now afford to buy a painting by his favourite artist, Norval Morrisseau, whose abstract works of Indigenous inspired woodland scenes are celebrated in galleries around the world. Little did Hearn know that that purchase, which turned out to be a fake, would draw him into a bizarre, dangerous and heartbreaking world of art fraud that is destroying the legacy of one of Canada's greatest artists.

The documentary "There Are No Fakes," tells Hearns story. It was featured at HotDocs in Toronto and is now available to watch for free on TV Ontario at TVO.org

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.

Our theme music is by the Red Dog Singers from Treaty 4 Territory in southern Saskatchewan.

As National Chief, Perry Bellegarde has always focused on the importance hope: "Always leave more hope in a room than was there when you arrived."

Over the 57 episodes of the Ahkameyimok Podcast, no matter how difficult the conversation or the issue, he always ends by asking his guests this question:

What brings you hope?

As his time as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations comes to an end, after choosing not to seek re-election, we are looking back at some of his favorite answers to that question about hope.

They are inspiring, thought provoking and speak to a better future for First Nations.

01: 18 -- Chief Willie Littlechild - former TRC Commissioner, Member of Parliament, lawyer, social activist and author of the first draft of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

02:24 Dr Lorna Williams - Canada's leading expert on the promotion and revival of Indigenous languages.

4:14 William Prince - Award winning and chart topping country music star

6:30 Rt Hon Brian Mulroney - Canada's 18th Prime Minister

7:40 Dr Dan Longboat - Founding Director of Trent University's Indigenous Environmental Science Program

10:42 Marion Crowe - CEO of the First Nations Health Managers Association

11:41 Wade Davis, best-selling author, film-maker, explorer, UBC Anthropology Professor

12:32 Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond - fmr judge, law professor, children's advocate

14:27 Jagmeet Singh - Leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada

15:13 Bobbie Jo Greenland-Morgan - Grand Chief of the Gwich'in Tribal Council

17:40 Kevin Loring - Artistic Director of the Indigenous Theatre, National Arts Centre, Ottawa

19:40 Elder Wilfred Buck - leading First Nations astronomy and star lore expert

21:52 Senator Kim Pate - international expert in legal and prison reform

24:01 Brigadier-General Joe Paul, the highest ranking First Nations officer in the Canadian Armed Forces

25:12 Brad Regehr - The first First Nations President of the Canadian Bar Association

26:21 Louise Bernice Halfe - Canada's first Indigenous Parliamentary Poet Laureate

28:05 Dr Alika Lafontaine - the first Indigenous person elected as the President of the Canadian Medical Association

30:03 Romeo Saganash, former Member of Parliament, and leading advocate for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

31:41 Conner Roulette, First Nations gold medal winning junior hockey star

33:09 Chief Cadmus Delorme, Cowessess First Nation, home to 751 unmarked graves found at the Marieval Residential School

34:30 Tom Jackson, actor, musician, social activist

36:36 Marie Wilson, former Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Akhameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions

Theme music is by the Red Dog Singers, Treaty 4 territory, Saskatchewan

For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations, visit AFN.ca

On this Canada Day, a special episode on the devastating and ongoing impact of the Residential School system. The shocking find of 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan is another heartbreaking validation of survivor accounts of the horrifying abuse and neglect Indigenous children endured at these government funded, church run institutions, whose main aim was wiping out Indigenous culture and identity. Nowhere has the heartbreak been felt stronger than in the Cowessess First Nation, where Marieval operated from 1898 to 1996. Cadmus Delorme is the Chief of the Cowessess First Nation and joins Ahkameyimok to describe what it was like finding so many graves, how they were found, the impact on the community, what needs to be done to begin healing, what justice looks like for the children buried there and what advice he has for other First Nations searching for children who died or were killed at Residential Schools.

***The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of his or her Residential school experience. 1-866-925-4419***

For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations, please visit AFN.ca

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.

Our theme music is provided by the Red Dog Singers from Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan.

"For those of us who are survivors of the oppression of our languages and the part of the cultural and physical genocide brought on us by the Church and State that ran Residential Schools... the day the that Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act, received Royal Assent was a memorable occasion that was long overdue."

This week, Ron Ignace was appointed as Canada's first ever Indigenous Languages Commissioner. He joins the Ahkameyimok Podcast to talk about his new job, what he hopes to achieve, success stories in the revitalization of Indigenous languages, his experiences at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, and how he was able to keep his Secwepemctsin language despite efforts to beat it out of him at that school.

Stsmél̓qen, Ron Ignace, is a member of the Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia and a fluent speaker of Secwepemctsin. He was the elected chief of the Skeetchestn Indian Band for more than 30 years. He has a PhD in Anthropology from Simon Fraser University with a dissertation on Secwepemc oral history. From 2016-2021, he co-chaired the Assembly of First Nations' Chiefs Committee on Languages, where he played an instrumental role in the development and passage of Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act.

For more on the Assembly of First Nations work on Indigenous Languages and other issues, visit AFN.ca

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.

Our theme music, Intertribal, is by the Red Dog Singers, Treaty 4 Territory in southern Saskatchewan.