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.

"The Feds founded the first three federal residential schools in 1883 in Alberta and Saskatchewan. First Nations people formed the majority of the population and were power brokers in that area and one of the ways to deal with them was treaties, the other way to deal with them was to take their children hostages."

John Milloy's award winning book, "A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System," used ground breaking research into government archives to expose the planned genocide of First Nations people at the heart of the residential school system. It has been described as one of the 100 most important Canadian books ever written.

In the wake of the 215 unmarked graves of First Nations children found at the the Kamloops Indian Residential School, Milloy discusses the reasons for the birth of the Residential Schools as a tool to oppression, why it was so brutal, why it continued for so long, and why Canadians continue to be surprised by the horrors of that system, despite repeated high profile exposures of that system over the last 25 years.

John Milloy is professor emeritus in the departments of Native Studies and History at Trent University.

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.

***The subject matter and content of this episode may not be suitable for all listeners***

"We did hear of children's bones being found in the foundations of buildings when (Residential) schools were dismantled. We heard of children being thrown into furnaces. These were children. The little ones who have woken up in Kamloops this week, these are children calling out to all of us now."

Marie Wilson, former Commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated crimes and abuses against Indigenous children at Residential Schools in Canada, joins the Ahkameyimok Podcast from Yellowknife to discuss the shocking find of a mass grave of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. The grave was found on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School at the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in British Columbia. Dr Wilson discusses her feelings on hearing of the the Kamloops mass grave, her memories of visiting that site as Commissioner, why her work on the TRC from 2009 to 2015 means she is shocked but not surprised by this mass grave and believes there are many more like it across Canada that need to be investigated, and why she believes the Pope and Catholic church, which ran the majority of the Residential Schools, needs to apologize for its role in what the TRC described as cultural genocide.

National Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419

For more on Residential Schools and 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 performed by the Red Dog Singers.

**** Encore Presentation ****

Bill C-15 - the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Act - is now moving to the Canadian Senate, after passing successfully through the House of Commons, a last crucial step before becoming law. In honour of this important step, we are re-running one of our most popular interviews in the past year, with Chief Willie Littlechild, the man who wrote the very first draft of the UN Declaration, over forty years ago. We hope you enjoy it.

*******************

Chief Willie Littlechild knows a thing or two about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He helped write the first draft of the UN Declaration back in 1977. Chief Littlechild then spent 30 years working to get the UN to adopt the Declaration, in face of opposition from the Canadian government at the time, and is now lobbying for its passage into Canadian law as Bill C-15. When asked why he's dedicated his life to this cause, Chief Littlechild quotes the Declaration itself:

"This declaration is about 'the survival, the dignity and well-being of indigenous peoples.'"

As Bill C-15 works its way towards Royal Assent, Chief Littlechild talks about the history of the UN Declaration, his hopes for what it will achieve for First Nations peoples and Canadians, and why concerns are unfounded about Bill C-15 giving First Nations veto powers over development or taking away existing treaty rights.

In 1977 Chief Willie Littlechild was a member of the Indigenous delegation to the United Nations, where he Chaired the Working Group that produced the first Draft of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A leading national and international indigenous rights advocate, Chief Littlechild is a proud member of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, Treaty six territory in Alberta. He is a former Progressive Conservative member of parliament, Grand-Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, a Commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a member of the Order of Canada.

***AFN National Leadership Forum on Bill C-15. Feb 10/11, 2021

https://www.afn.ca/bill-c-15/

Links to Declarations, Conventions and Legislation mentioned in this Episode

United Nations ILO Convention 107 (1957):

https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C107

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html

Bill C-15:

https://www.afn.ca/national-chief-bulletin-update-on-federal-bill-to-advance-implementation-of-the-united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/

Conner Roulette won Gold this month, playing for Team Canada at the Under 18 World Hockey Championships in Texas, helping defeat Russia in the championship game. A forward with the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds and a proud member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation in Treaty 5 territory in Manitoba, Roulette had a strong tournament, with five points in seven games, include goals in the both the quarter and semi-finals. Many are now predicting that he could be a first round pick in this years NHL draft. Roulette talks about the thrill of winning the gold medal, the challenges of playing hockey during the pandemic, and First Nations pro hockey players who have inspired and mentored him, including Ethan Bear and Zach Whitecloud.

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 song, Intertribal, is by the Red Dog Singers.

"The Mi'kmaq are not leaving. We've told the associations, we told the DFO, we told anyone who would listen. The Government has to do something, and that is to help make space in the waters for us, because we are going there, because we have a right to be in those waters."

Chief Terry Paul, of the Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton joins the Akhameyimok Podcast to discuss the systemic racism behind the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and government attempts to control First Nations treaty rights to fish. He also discusses his role and the historic impact of the billion dollar purchase of Clearwater, North America's largest shellfish producer, by several East Coast Mi'kmaq Nations. And they talk about why the Canadian parliamentary report issued this week on implementing First Nations moderate livelihood fisheries in the Maritimes and Quebec deserves a lot of scepticism.

Terry Paul has been Chief of the Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton since 1984. He is one of the founders of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association. And he assisted Donald Marshall Jr. in his successful 1999 Supreme Court defense of the Mi'kmaq treaty rights to fish.

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

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

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

"We've been working really hard with the government of Canada on meeting their 5% target of procurement from Indigenous business. We did some work with them to look at where they spent their money and compared that to Indigenous businesses in Canada and found that Indigenous businesses could actually serve 24% of the government spend. So 5% is a minimum target. It is definitely achievable."

Tabatha Bull is the President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. She joins National Chief Bellegarde to talk about challenges facing First Nations businesses in the pandemic, her thoughts on what the Federal Budget means for First Nations entrepreneurs, the importance of getting more First Nations leaders on corporate boards in Canada, and the impressive work of First Nations in developing green energy projects.

Tabatha Bull is a proud member of the Nipissing First Nation in Northern Ontario. As well as being President and CEO of the CCAB, she is also a board member of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and sits as a member on both the Positive Energy Advisory Council and the C.D. Howe Institute’s Energy Policy program. An electrical engineer, she is a graduate from the University of Waterloo.

To learn more about the CCAB, visit their website: https://www.ccab.com/

And for more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations visit: AFN.ca

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

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

"The rule of thumb, "Nothing about us, without us," also applies to the United Nations and we (First Nations people) should always be in the room, participating in conversations, when there are global decisions being made that will come back and impact us."

Sheryl Lightfoot is the first First Nations woman from Canada to be appointed as the North America Representative to the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She joins National Chief Bellegarde to discuss the important role First Nations peoples have to play at the UN, their decades long battles to win a seat at the table, and how joining forces with on common causes with Indigenous people around the world benefits First Nations right down to the grassroots level. She points to Bill C-15, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, working its way through Parliament in Ottawa, as a prime example of the positive impact International engagement by First Nations has had.

Sheryl Lightfoot is the Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics at the University of British Columbia. She is an Associate Professor in First Nations and Indigenous Studies, Political Science, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. She is proudly Anishinaabe from the Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe.

You can learn more about the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples here:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/ipeoples/emrip/pages/emripindex.aspx

And for more about the important work of the Assembly of First Nations, including advocacy for Bill C-15, please visit AFN.ca

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

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

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.

"It's very complex, our language, and it's filled with spirituality and land and psychology and it's directly related to where we come from. We are a composition of all these minerals because we are the Big Bang, we come from the stars. That's where we are from."

In February, Louise Bernice Halfe - Sky Dancer, was appointed to a two year term as Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate. She is the first Indigenous person selected for this prestigious national literary role. A proud member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Treaty Six Territory in Alberta, the Parliamentary Poet Laureate appointment is the latest achievement in a long and successful career. She was a past Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan and is author of several award winning collections of poetry, works that blend Cree and English and draw on her own experiences as a First Nations woman and a survivor of the Blue Quills Residential School, as well of those of her family and community.

Halfe and National Chief Bellegarde discuss what being the the first Indigenous Poet Laureate means to her, and what she hopes to achieve in the role. They also talk about the importance of ceremony and Indigenous language in reconciliation. And she reads from her newest poetry collection: "Awasis - Kinky and Disheveled," which features a main character who is “a trickster, teacher, healer, wheeler-dealer, shapeshifter, woman, man, nuisance and inspiration.”

To contact the office of the Parliamentary Poet Laureate and learn more about her role, please visit: https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/Poet/index-e.html

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

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

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

Mark Podlasly says the trend towards investors using Environmental, Social and Governance investment standards, or ESG, is overall a positive trend except for one large problem, they almost completely ignore the input of First Nations. This, he says, makes it much more likely that there will continue to be conflicts over large projects developed on traditional First Nations lands. The Director of Economic Policy with the First Nations Major Projects Coalition suggests that adding a Canadian filter with greater Indigenous involvement on these global standards is an important remedy to this issue. He also tells National Chief Perry Bellegarde why he thinks the passage of Bill C-15, the UN Declaration on the RIghts of Indigenous Peoples Act, is a key to adding more investment certainty in Canada.

Mark Podlasly is the Director of Economic Policy and Initiatives with the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, a national collective of over 70 First nations working to ensure they receive a fair share of benefits from major projects in their territories through ownership and revenue sharing. A Harvard graduate, he is a proud member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation of British Columbia.

You can learn more about the work of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition here: https://www.fnmpc.ca/

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

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

And a big thanks to the Red Dog Singers for our theme song, Intertribal.

For the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic among First Nations, National Chief Perry Bellegarde talks with Dr. Evan Adams, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Indigenous Services Canada. The two discuss the reasons for Dr. Adams sense of optimism due to a successful ongoing vaccine roll-out among First Nations, why the rate of vaccination is four times higher among First Nations than the rest of Canada and how this relates to falling COVID numbers. They also talk about the safety and changing public health guidelines of the Astra Zeneca vaccine, and why getting the first available vaccination remains the best way to beat the pandemic.

Dr Evan Adams is the Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Indigenous Services Canada and a proud member of the Tla'amin First Nation of British Columbia.

For more information on COVID-19 and First Nations, visit:

https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1581964230816/1581964277298

Or the Assembly of First Nations website at AFN.ca

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

And a big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers for our theme song.

"When I went to school and started hearing stories about Roman and Greek mythology and the stars of Orion and Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, I assumed that it was only the Romans and Greeks that looked up at the sky. But that didn't sit right in my head, because I looked at the sky."

As a young man Wilfred Buck was curious about the stars, and began to ask elders in his First Nations community in Northern Manitoba about them. "I was told that our people understood about those stars and that every star you could see in the sky with the naked eye had a story, had a constellation, had a teaching behind it and had instructions on how we should live and I was intrigued by that."

Now, Wilfred Buck is known as the "Star Guy." He has dedicated his life to that childhood intrigue with the stars, becoming one of the leading Indigenous star story experts and astronomers in the world. He lectures on this First Nations star knowledge internationally and travels to First Nations communities with portable Planetariums, teaching Indigenous stories about the stories of the stars in our night sky.

Listen in to hear those stories, and about Wilfred's own incredible journey, in this celestial episode of the Ahkameyimok Podcast.

Wilfred Buck is a science facilitator at the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre and a proud member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Treaty 5 territory in Manitoba.

For more on the "Indigenous Star Knowledge Symposia" organized by Wilfred Buck and the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology click on this link:

https://ingeniumcanada.org/indigenous-star-knowledge-symposium

The next online event is April 28th: Spring Equinox Celebration with the Heiltsuk Nation

https://ingeniumcanada.org/indigenous-star-knowledge-symposia-spring-equinox-celebration

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations visit www.afn.ca

Chief Perry is thrilled to be joined Douglas Sanderson and Andrew Stobo Sniderman for a fascinating and thoughtful conversation about their new book, "The Valley of the Birdtail."

It is a heart-rending, true story about racism and reconciliation.

Divided by a beautiful valley and 150 years of racism, the town of Rossburn and the Waywayseecappo Indian reserve have been neighbours nearly as long as Canada has been a country. Their story reflects much of what has gone wrong in relations between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians. It also offers, in the end, an uncommon measure of hope.

DOUGLAS SANDERSON (AMO BINASHII) is the Prichard Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and has served as a senior policy advisor to Ontario’s attorney general and minister of Indigenous affairs. He is Swampy Cree, Beaver clan, of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

ANDREW STOBO SNIDERMAN is a writer, lawyer, and Rhodes Scholar from Montreal. He has written for the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, and Maclean’s. He has also argued before the Supreme Court of Canada, served as the human rights policy advisor to the Canadian minister of foreign affairs, and worked for a judge of South Africa’s Constitutional Court.

And thanks to the Red Dog Singers for our theme song, Interbal.

"The fact that DRIPA was passed unanimously needs to be underscored. This isn't an agenda of the NDP government, it's something that was embraced by all representatives of the people of British Columbia, and I can't overemphasize how important that is."

As BC's Minister of Indigenous Relations, it's Murray Rankins job to implement and meet the commitments of Bill 40, the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or DRIPA. Ranking and National Chief Bellegarde discuss how "the sky didn't fall as many predicted" when DRIPA was passed, quite the opposite, and how the legislation is being used by business, industry, and all levels of government to work with First Nations. They also discuss what Ottawa can learn from DRIPA as it debates a companion bill, C-15, what the challenges and advantages of the legislation are. They also talk over incorporating First Nations law into the Canadian legal system, and how to end systemic Racism.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations and First Nations issues visit www.afn.ca

"The part of becoming the first indigenous President of the Canadian Medical Association that resonates most with me is knowing that youth out there are going to see someone who is like them and know that they will have the same opportunities that I'm going to have in the coming years."

Our guest today is Dr. Alika Lafontaine, who was recently elected the next President of the Canadian Medical Association, becoming the first Indigenous person to hold that office. Lafontaine and National Chief Bellegarde talk about his challenging journey to heading the influential CMA, what that role means to him as an indigenous person, how he thinks systemic racism in health care can be defeated, the importance of taking the COVID-19 vaccine, and the importance of including traditional healing in First Nations health care.

Dr. Lafontaine is an anesthesiologist practicing in Grand Prairie, Alberta. He has Anishinaabe, Cree, Métis and Pacific Islander ancestry and was born and raised in Treaty 4 territory in southern Saskatchewan.

He was won numerous awards over his career. He previously served as President of the Indigenous Physicians Association and, at age 25, won the CBC’s "Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister" competition on a platform of reconciliation.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations and issues important to First Nations visit www.afn.ca

Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal New Democratic Party, joins us on this episode of the Ahkameyimok Podcast. Singh and National Chief Bellegarde discuss the pandemic, what drew him into politics, overcoming systemic racism, the upcoming election, the importance of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and why the related Bill, C-15, needs to get passed by Parliament, the environment, and also how the concept of Chardi Kala shares much in common with the perseverance message of Ahkameyimok.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations and issues important to First Nations visit www.afn.ca

Former NDP Member of Parliament Romeo Saganash visits the Ahkameyimok Podcast to discuss how Bill C-15, which works to ensure Canadian laws live up to the requirements set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, builds on his own efforts with Bill C-262. He and National Chief Bellegarde also discus what improvements the bill could use as it works its way through Parliament, and what needs to happen to get it passed before an election call, expected this year. Saganash also talks about his proudest moment as an MP, giving a speech in Cree to the House of Commons, after his long push to allow the use of Indigenous languages in Parliament.

Romeo Saganash served as the Member of Parliament for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou for eight years. He was the first Cree person to get a law degree in the province of Quebec and is a proud member of the Waswanipi First Nation.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

"If you see the message coming from someone who is from my age or younger, that's when you know you are doing something wrong and something has to be done. Because the youth shouldn't have to be using their voices, we shouldn't have to be speaking up on political issues."

In 2019, fourteen year-old Autumn Peltier addressed the United Nations in New York on the growing water crisis on our planet and facing First Nations peoples. Her journey there began at the age of eight, mentored by her great-aunt and Anishinaabe clean water advocate, the late Josephine Mandamin. Since then, Peltier has addressed international leaders at the World Economic Forum, and Canadian leaders on Parliament Hill, as well as speaking out at grass roots events across the country. With 57 First Nations communities currently living under long-term boil water advisories, clearly more work still needs to be done. And access to safe, clean water is more important than ever as the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the uncertainty facing First Nations.

Peltier's story is told in the new documentary, "The Water Walker," which premiered last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival.

https://seeingred6nations.com/projects/

Peltier joins the Ahkameyimok Podcast as the 4th Annual Assembly of First Nations Water Symposium takes place Feb 17-18th

https://www.afn.ca/2021-water-symposium/

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

"It's not just to say that we're doing the right thing because we have a certain number of First Nations people involved. It's to learn and have the knowledge of the First Nations people, because we'll be better for it. It will enrich our sport."

Former National Hockey League player Andrew Ference is now the NHL Director of Social Impact, Growth and Legislative affairs. He joins the Akhameyimok Podcast to talk about how the NHL is working to open up the game to First Nations people, and all Canadians, to better reflect the makeup of the country. His work includes programs that help offset the cost of hockey, bringing ball hockey to diverse communities and tournaments that focus on fun, something he believes needs to return to the game. The goal, he says, is to unite communities across North America and keep young people active, which is key to their mental and physical health. Ference also talks about his history of supporting environmental causes, what he's learned from First Nations elders about the environment and how he teamed up with David Suzuki to start a program that saw hundreds of NHL players offsetting their carbon footprints.

Andrew Ference played 18 years in the NHL, won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins and was captain of his hometown Edmonton Oilers before he retired and became the NHL Director of Social Impact, Growth and Legislative Affairs in 2018.

NHL Links on Hockey Inclusion:

https://www.nhl.com/info/nhl-declaration-of-principles

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-announces-initiatives-to-combat-racism-accelerate-inclusion-efforts/c-318873398

Inclusive Youth Hockey Programs mentioned in the Podcast:

Bauer First Shift:

https://www.firstshift.ca/the-program/

Canadian Tire Jumpstart Program:

https://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca/

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

Chief Willie Littlechild knows a thing or two about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He helped write the first draft of the UN Declaration back in 1977. Chief Littlechild then spent 30 years working to get the UN to adopt the Declaration, in face of opposition from the Canadian government at the time, and is now lobbying for its passage into Canadian law as Bill C-15. When asked why he's dedicated his life to this cause, Chief Littlechild quotes the Declaration itself:

"This declaration is about 'the survival, the dignity and well-being of indigenous peoples.'"

As Bill C-15 works its way towards Royal Assent, Chief Littlechild talks about the history of the UN Declaration, his hopes for what it will achieve for First Nations peoples and Canadians, and why concerns are unfounded about Bill C-15 giving First Nations veto powers over development or taking away existing treaty rights.

In 1977 Chief Willie Littlechild was a member of the Indigenous delegation to the United Nations, where he Chaired the Working Group that produced the first Draft of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A leading national and international indigenous rights advocate, Chief Littlechild is a proud member of the Ermineskin Cree Nation, Treaty six territory in Alberta. He is a former Progressive Conservative member of parliament, Grand-Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, a Commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a member of the Order of Canada.

***AFN National Leadership Forum on Bill C-15. Feb 10/11, 2021

https://www.afn.ca/bill-c-15/

Links to Declarations, Conventions and Legislation mentioned in this Episode

United Nations ILO Convention 107 (1957):

https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C107

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html

Bill C-15:

https://www.afn.ca/national-chief-bulletin-update-on-federal-bill-to-advance-implementation-of-the-united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/

On #BellLetsTalk Day, as part of the AFN effort to help support mental health all across Canada, National Chief Perry Bellegarde is joined by Dr Carol Hopkins to talk mental health and First Nations. They discuss why traditional First Nations healing and knowledge are a key component to helping people and communities overcome mental health challenges, the impact the pandemic has had on mental health and addiction and what needs to change.

Dr. Carol Hopkins is the Executive Director of the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation and a proud member of the Lenape First Nation in south-western Ontario. She has spent more than twenty years working in the field of First Nations addictions and mental health, with a special focus on the use of traditional knowledge and healing. She is a First Nations Representative to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. And for her efforts, in 2018 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada.

For more information on the work of Thunderbird Partnership Foundation visit:

https://thunderbirdpf.org/

AFN Mental Health Resources:

Hope for Wellness Help Line:

• For crisis support and intervention please contact: 1-855-242-3310 or via chat at hopeforwellness.ca

For Indigenous Women and girls:

• Talk4Healing is accessible across Canada, it is free and culturally safe for Indigenous women.

Please contact: 1-855-554-HEAL (4325)

Assaulted Women’s Helpline:

• Contact 1-866-863-0511

For Children and Youth:

• Kids Help Phone is accessible 24/7 across Canada and offers telephone or texting supports.

 For telephone support, please contact: 1-800-668-6868.

 For texting support, please text CONNECT to 686868.

Native Youth Crisis Hotline:

• Offers 24/7 telephone support. Please contact, 1-877-209-1266

Online Resources for Youth:

• Culture for Life: http://cultureforlife.ca/

• Wise Practices: https://wisepractices.ca/

• Wapikoni Mobile: http://www.wapikoni.ca/home

• We Matter: https://wemattercampaign.org/

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme song, Intertribal.

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

What is the state of First Nations languages in Canada? One of the leading experts on the promotion and restoration of Indigenous culture and language, Dr Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams of the University of Victoria, joins the Ahkameyimok Podcast to discuss that ahead of the Symposium on Indigenous Languages hosted by Canadian Heritage on January 25th. 

Indigenous languages represent who we are, expressing the wisdom, our worldview, the laws and lives of our ancestors. But in Canada today, just 1 in 5 First Nations persons is fluent in their language. This reality was born out of generations of colonial suppression of our language and cultures, most notably through the genocide of the residential school system. We want our languages to survive into the next centuries and beyond, and this involves some hard work. There is reason for hope, the numbers of First Nations people taking back their languages is increasing. And last year, Bill C-91, the indigenous languages act, was passed into law. It provides funding and a framework for many approaches to revive indigenous languages. It builds on the hope from our Elders who have worked hard to preserve our languages for us.

One of those Elders is Dr. Lorna Williams of the Lil’wat First Nation. For over fifty years she has been an Indigenous educator and language specialist, working at all levels, from local to national, most recently as the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Education at the University of Victoria. For her efforts, Dr Williams received the Order of Canada last year.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

"The survivors felt if this had been white children, the community wouldn't be the ones having to investigate their own genocide." - Kimberly Murray

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is back!

And for this return episode Chief Perry Bellegarde is thrilled to have Kimberly Murray as his guest. She is the new Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools. That appointment by the federal department of Justice came about after the heartbreaking discoveries of hundreds of unmarked children's graves in former Residential Schools at Kamloops, BC and at the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, and the hunt is on for more at dozens of former Residential School sites across the country.

In her discussion with Perry, Kimberly Murray talks about the technical challenges of searching for graves, overcoming hurdles put up by all levels of government and the police, what her role involves and enables her to do, and what justice looks like for the thousands of children who died from abuse, disease and neglect in Canada's Residential School system.

Kimberly Murray is a proud member of the Kanesatake Mohawk Nation. Before taking on her current role as Special Interlocutor, she was the Executive Director of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee from 2010 to 2015. And she was the Ontario’s first ever Assistant Deputy Attorney General for Aboriginal Justice. After that she led the search for unmarked graves at the Six Nations of the Grand River, working to recover the missing children and unmarked burial sites at the Mohawk Institute, which was Canada’s longest running residential school.

Ahkameyimok will continue to put out a new interview every couple of weeks, be sure to subscribe where you listen so you don't miss future episodes.

And be sure to follow on social media. Just search for @perrybellegarde

Sheldon Kennedy is one of Canada's leading campaigners in the fight against child abuse. The retired NHL veteran and founder of the Calgary Child Advocacy Centre joins National Chief Bellegarde to discuss ways in which the pandemic has made child abuse worse, what can be done to improve that, his own history of abuse by his hockey coach as a teenager, and how telling that story gave him the strength to get his own life on track and help others, including First Nations survivors of Residential Schools. And, on a lighter note, Kennedy talks about how winning CTV's Battle of the Blades renewed his love of skating.

Sheldon Kennedy played eight years in the National Hockey League, with the Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames and Boston Bruins. As a teenager he led the Swift Current Broncos to a Memorial Cup championship, the best team in Junior Hockey. But it was also at Swift Current that Kennedy was sexually abused for years by his coach, Graham James. When Kennedy revealed this abuse publicly towards the end of his pro career, Graham James was convicted and sent to prison. He has since been convicted for the abuse of several more players.

For Kennedy, this marked the start of a life dedicated to supporting and speaking out for sexual abuse survivors. His leadership, including founding the Child Advocacy Centre in Calgary and the Respect Group, saw him being awarded the Order of Canada in 2016.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

With First Nations COVID cases spiking, Dr Evan Adams, Deputy-Chief Medical Officer at Indigenous Services Canada, joins National Chief Perry Bellegarde to discuss the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to First Nations. They talk about why the vaccine is safe and necessary, the different brands of vaccine, when they will become widely available, and why COVID numbers have shot so high among First Nations, especially on the prairies.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

Tom Jackson took a break from his annual Huron Carole concert series, fundraising for homeless shelters, to join National Chief Perry Bellegarde in a special holiday edition of Ahkameyimok. The award winning actor, musician and social activist talks about how he turned his life around by helping others, why compassion and kindness are so important, and the importance of making love an action word, especially as we're locked into this pandemic. And be sure to stick around until the end to hear Tom sing a special holiday song from his Huron Carole setlist.

Tom Jackson is a veteran actor, singer, and social activist from One Arrow First Nation, Treaty Six Territory in Saskatchewan. He has starred in big budget Hollywood films like 2019’s "Cold Pursuit" with Liam Neeson, and in Netflix series like "Outlander," the CBC’s "North of Sixty," and made guest appearances on popular shows like "Star Trek: The Next Generation." He has also released best-selling country albums, all while taking the lead in the fight against poverty in Canada, through his annual Huron Carole concert series. That popular holiday season variety show has raised tens of millions of dollars for homeless and vulnerable Canadians since Jackson launched it thirty-three years ago. In recognition of his community leadership, Tom Jackson was recently made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

"If you have a child that is loved and has opportunities and is in their family, you're not going to have child abuse. In fact we have very little real child abuse in the indigenous sector to begin with, what we have is the debilitating impacts of poverty."

Indigenous Child Welfare advocate Kenn Richard joins National Chief Perry Bellegarde to discuss the potential impact and challenges from the federal government's recent allocation of more than half a billion dollars in funding to First Nations peoples to set up their own welfare services for children and families under their jurisdiction and laws. This funding is to implement Bill C-92, “An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families.: It is part of an effort to end the historic and ongoing trauma caused by the removal of First Nations children from their culture and communities. The worst example of this was the genocide of the Residential school system, but it continues to this day through the child welfare system.

Kenn Richard is the founder and former Executive Director of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, the first and largest indigenous child welfare authority in Canada. A Metis from Manitoba, his work has included time spent in the Children’s Aid Society in Winnipeg, as Vice President of the Caring Society and as an advisor to the Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation. For his work Kenn Richard has been recognised with many awards, including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal and the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

"That divide is there between cultural and Christian First Nations people. I love that there's still respect between the two and that they can co-exist. It's not that I'm unaware of the two realms, (Gospel First Nation) is my attempt at amalgamation."

William Prince. Peguis First Nation. Treaty 1 Territory, Manitoba.

Country music star William Prince reached near the top of the Billboard charts back in 2018 with the single "Breathless," from his debut album Earthly Days.

And Prince has not slowed down since, even during the pandemic. The Juno award winning country star has just released his second album of 2020. Gospel First Nation comes out just months after the critically acclaimed Reliever album. As the name suggests, Gospel First Nation draws on his Christian upbringing and First Nation roots. He and National Chief Bellegarde discuss the negative and positive roles of the church in First Nations culture, Prince's love of gospel music, and why a song written by his late father is one of Prince's favourites on the new album.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

"The fastest growing prison population is not just indigenous people, but particularly indigenous women and even more so, those who experienced the greatest disadvantages."

Senator Kim Pate points out that almost half of the women in Canada's prisons are indigenous, despite indigenous people making up less than five percent of the total population. The cost of keeping them in the corrections system is anywhere from one-hundred thousand dollars a year to more than half a million.

Senator Pate, a veteran expert in the efforts to reform Canada's prison system, says "If we took even a fraction of money we spend on policing, prosecuting and jailing indigenous people, every indigenous person in this country could be educated to post-secondary level, have housing, access to clean water and we would see a better quality of life for everybody."

Senator Pate and National Chief Bellegarde discuss how to de-colonise the legal system, what transformative justice looks like and the challenges to reforming a system with entrenched systemic racism.

Senator Pate is an internationally recognised expert in the area of legal and prison reform. Before joining the Senate in 2016, Kim Pate spent over twenty years as Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. In that role she was awarded the Order of Canada for her work as a leading advocate for women and marginalized people in Canadian prisons, with a special focus on the over-representation of first nations women. It’s a cause she remains committed to in the Senate.

To learn more on this topic, please listen to our interview with the Globe and Mail's Tom Cardoso about his year long investigative reprting on systemic racism in Canada's prison system:

https://blubrry.com/ahkameyimok/69952721/bias-behind-bars-a-prison-system-stacked-against-first-nations-inmates/

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

“It’s very dehumanizing what we are going through. Water is a basic human right.”

Neskantaga First Nation has the longest standing boil water advisory in Canada, twenty-five years and counting. And now the northern Ontario Ojibwe Nation has been evacuated to Thunder Bay for the second time in two years because of serious problems with the water supply, an unexplained oily sheen on the community reservoir. Chief Chris Moonias tells National Chief Bellegarde about the impact of moving his entire First Nation to Thunder Bay during a pandemic, why the government has failed over and over to provide clean water to his community and what this says about treatment of First Nations in Canada.

Chief Chris Moonias is one of the featured speakers at the AFN Virtual Water Summit on November 24th, 2020. For more information visit AFN.ca

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

To mark Remembrance Day, Major General Joe Paul, the highest ranking First Nations officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, joins National Chief Perry Bellegarde on the podcast. They discuss; the significance of the unveiling of the portrait of First Nations D-Day hero Philip Favel at the Canadian War Museum, the historic role of First Nations in the Canadian military and conflicts, and how that has changed dramatically in General Paul's thirty-two year career and his combat experience in Afghanistan.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

First Nations people are 4 percent of the Canadian population but make up about one quarter of the prison population.

This is just one more example of systemic racism.

Now a new groundbreaking investigation by the Globe and Mail crime and justice reporter Tom Cardoso takes a hard look at years worth of government data to reveal the impact of that systemic racism in the prison system and the real damage that it does to First Nations people.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

"The vast percentage of the world's intact biodiversity is on lands that belong to First Nations. These are not just the metaphorical guardians of nature. These are the literal guardians."

Wade Davis joins National Chief Perry Bellegarde to discuss the important role First Nations have to play in reversing the dramatic loss of biodiversity on our planet. The United Nations estimates that a million species of plants and wildlife will become extinct if humankind continues along the path it is on. In September 2020, Canada was one of seventy nations that pledged to reverse this trend, by committing to put nature at the centre of COVID-19 economic recovery plans. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says working with First Nations people is at the centre of making that happen.

Davis and the National Chief talk about why a rebirth of indigenous knowledge and culture is an important part of rebuilding biodiversity, and how the decline in First Nations language and cultures is directly linked to the mass die off of plant and animal species happening right now.

Wade Davis is a best-selling author, explorer, film-maker, Harvard trained botanist, professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia and a leading expert and supporter of indigenous language, culture and knowledge. He is also the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at UBC.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

****As we move into 2022, we're reposting Perry's episode on Hope, one of the most popular of the past year. We hope it brings you joy and inspiration as we enter the New Year.****

***Encore Episode***

In his seven years as National Chief, Perry Bellegarde focused on the importance hope: "Always leave more hope in a room than was there when you arrived."

Over the run 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?

These are some of his favorite answers to that question.

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

Racially motivated attacks on the Mi'kmaq lobster fishers in Nova Scotia have cost them over $1 million in lost catch and damaged equipment and boats. Despite only taking in about 1% of the lobster catch in Nova Scotia, and working within their treaty rights to fish in their territory outside the commercial season, rights that have been upheld by the Supreme Court, Mi'kmaq fishers have had their traps cut, vehicles torched and warehouses set on fire. Non-indigenous commercial fishing interests have refused to buy their catch, sell them fuel, or fishing equipment. Chief Mike Sack of the Sipekne'katik First Nation discusses the impact of these attacks, the frustration in seeing the Department of Fisheries and RCMP do little to protect fishers from his Nation, why he has decided to pull his fishing fleet for the time being, and what comes next.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

Almost the first words in new Green Party leader Annamie Paul's victory speech, spoke of solidarity with Canada's First Nations:

"As the descendant of the black diaspora who has suffered its own history of oppression and colonialism, I will always stand with indigenous peoples and their calls to action, and their calls to justice and their fight for self-determination and sovereignty.”

In this episode of the Ahkameyimok Podcast, Canada's first black and first Jewish female party leader joins Chief Perry Bellegarde to discuss why she believes First Nations causes are so important, ways to tackle systemic racism, and why social policies are just as important to the Green party as environmental ones.

A big thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan for our theme music.

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

**This episode was originally published on July 10, 2020***

The Indigenous Theatre program at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa was just wrapping up it's very successful first season when COVID-19 hit. It's artistic director Kevin Loring talks with National Chief Perry Bellegarde about the challenges he faces in overcoming the COVID shutdown, what the experience was like starting up the first ever national Indigenous theatre program inside a colonial performing arts institution and why he thinks Indigenous theatre and storytelling are more important than ever.

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. davidrcmcguffin@gmail.com

Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario is National Chief Perry Bellegarde's guest. A veteran leader in the fight for a better system of justice for First Nations people, Grand Chief Fiddler and the National Chief discuss the key parts of the Liberal governments Throne Speech, including the importance of legislating indigenous policing as an essential service, ways to improve health care in First Nations communities, and the tragedy that, on Orange Shirt Day, Residential School survivors are still fighting for government compensation, decades after suffering systemic physical, sexual and mental abuse.

Alvin Fiddler is Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario. He’s also a member of the Muskrat Dam First Nation. In his decades of public service, Grand Chief Fiddler has led justice initiatives including the Ipperwash and Kashechewan inquests, and the joint inquest into the deaths of seven Nishnawbe Aski Nation youth in Thunder Bay. He also co-chaired the Debwewin Committee on implementing reforms to improve First Nations representation on Ontario juries.

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.