MEDIA INDIGENA : Indigenous current affairs – Details, episodes & analysis

ON THIS EPISODE: Interrogating 'the white possessive.' And according to Indigenous scholar Aileen Moreton-Robinson, countries like Canada, Australia and the U.S. are best understood as 'white possessions'—possessions which take a great deal of work and resources to maintain, a relentless reproduction of "the nation-state's ownership, control and domination" over stolen Indigenous lands and waters.

But, of course, the machinations of white possessiveness can also be less overt. Secure in their belief in a colonial status quo, states now promote Indigenous 'inclusion' within socioeconomic systems predicated on their dispossession and disappearance. Gestures at 'collaboration' that are more confabulation, a 'reconciliation' that's really about recuperation. The kind of contradictions discussed extensively at "Sovereignty First: Tackling the White Possessive in an Era of 'Collaboration'"—an October 2024 panel inspired by Moreton-Robinson's insights into whiteness, race and the state—a series of presentations we'll reflect on over the next few episodes.

Sitting with host/producer Rick Harp, MI regulars Kim TallBear, Professor of American Indian Studies at University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, and Candis Callison, Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia.

CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'Magnetic' by 1000 Handz (CC BY).

On this episode: the back half of the all-Indigenous panel MI host/producer Rick Harp moderated at "Reimagining Political Journalism: Perils, Possibilities & What Comes Next"—convened last November by Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication in Ottawa—in which the audience joins in with their thoughts and questions for our all-star panelists:

• Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia
  
  
• Veldon Coburn, faculty chair of McGill University's Indigenous Relations Initiative and assistant professor at the Institute of Canadian and Aboriginal Studies at the University of Ottawa
  
  
• Brett Forester, a reporter and broadcaster with CBC Indigenous in Ottawa
  
  
• Pam Palmater, podcaster, professor and chair of Indigenous Governance at Toronto Metropolitan University
  
  
• Niigaan Sinclair, media commentator, Faculty of Arts Professorship in Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics at University of Manitoba's Department of Indigenous Studies

CREDITS: Our intro/extro theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; 'relaxed days,' by snoozy beat (CC BY).

The MEDIA INDIGENA 2024 Summer Series—our classic compendia of collected, connected conversations drawn from our voluminous eight-year archive—begins with the first in a five-part compilation, 'Why Canada Needs Natives Needy,' a wide-ranging rundown of all the ways this country has produced and perpetuates Indigenous dependency. And here in round one, we review its roots, entanglements which stretch back to the country's very creation.

Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance):

• Naiomi Metallic, associate professor of law at Dalhousie University, and Yellowhead Institute advisory board member

• Tim Thompson, First Nations education advocate, and Yellowhead Research Fellow and advisory board member

• Adele Perry, distinguished professor with the University of Manitoba department of history and women's and gender studies, and director of the Centre for Human Rights Research at U of M

• Ken Williams, playwright and associate professor with the University of Alberta department of drama

• Robert Jago, writer, educator, co-founder and director of the Coast Salish History Project

• Danika Billie Littlechild, assistant professor of law and legal studies at Carleton University, and Ethical Space research stream leader at the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership

• Patrice Mousseau, former broadcast journalist and  Satya Organics owner/creator

// CREDITS: Creative Commons music this episode includes 'Expanding Cycle' and 'Up + Up (reprise/arise)' by Correspondence (CC BY); 'A Little Serious Scrape' by Liborio Conti; 'Atmo' by Michett (CC BY); 'Coat of Arms (Farther Away)' by Isle of Pine (CC BY ND).

With the arrival of warmer weather, it's once again time for another MEDIA INDIGENA Summer Series, our compendia of conversations collected and connected from over the past five years of the podcast.

With over 250 episodes to date, there's certainly lots to choose from. And yet, there's one subject that's never far from the surface whenever we get together—justice. And from cops to courts to incarceration, these next two installments will take us on a whirlwind tour of Canada's so-called justice system.

Featured voices this podcast include (in order of appearance):

• Anishinabe broadcaster and arts administrator Jesse Wente

• Professor and Chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University, Pam Palmater

• Colleen Simard, writer/designer/filmmaker

• Conrad Prince, child health and welfare advocate

• Karyn Pugliese, Assistant Professor, Ryerson University School of Journalism

• Ken Williams, Assistant Professor of Drama, University of Alberta

// CREDITS: Creative Commons music in this episode includes "Fater Lee" by Black Ant as well as "Friction and "Lakehouse" by Nctrnm. Our opening theme is "Soda Machine" by Kabbalistic Village; our closing theme is "Nocturne for Anastasiya by Vlad Cuiujuclu.

Pollution is Colonialism Part Two: fresh off part one, host/producer Rick Harp and MI regular Candis Callison once again sit down with author, artist and marine scientist Max Liboiron. And in the back half of this extended conversation, we find out why Land is not so much a noun as it is a verb, and why anti-colonial is not the same as de-colonial, especially when it comes to methods for pollution science, methods which foreground values of humility, equity, and good land relations.

// CREDITS: 'Smoke Factory,' by Jahzzar (CC BY 3.0); our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

Pollution is Colonialism: the straight-to-the-point title of a brand new book by Max Liboiron, Assistant Professor of Geography and Associate Vice-President of Indigenous Research at Memorial University, as well as the Director of CLEAR, or Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research. Among the book's core arguments: that any effort looking to resist environmental harms must trace them back to their ultimate source—the violence of colonial land relations. A violence, the author argues, even well-intentioned environmental science and activism can reproduce. In this first of two episodes featuring the author, we discuss how the world became awash in plastics, with part two dedicated to how we might better grasp and grapple with the larger forces producing this toxic legacy.

Appearing alongside Dr. Liboiron, host/producer Rick Harp and MI regular Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC.

// CREDITS: 'Quiet Outro' by ROZKOL (CC BY 3.0); Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

This week: redress, compensation and restitution. In short, Cash Back! It's the second half of our effort to put meat on the bones of this call for First Nations economic justice issued in the latest Red Paper of the Yellowhead Institute—viewable at cashback.yellowheadinstitute.org—as we run through the 'Top 10' ways to actually get that cash back from Canada.

Joining host/producer Rick Harp once again are Tim Thompson and Naiomi Metallic of the Yellowhead Institute.

// Our musical theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

From Wealth to Welfare. Just how did Canada's economy end up among the world's largest, anyway? Was it the sheer pioneering pluck of can-do Canucks? A steely determination tempered by visionary imagination and innovation? Exactly what has Canada done to amass, command and enjoy such wealth? Well, according to a hot-off-the-presses report from the Yellowhead Institute, they stole it. Entitled Cash Back: A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper, the report impressively details what can only be described as a colossal, colonial theft, the proceeds of which Canada continues to exploit and extract. Adding insult to imperial injury, not only has this country built itself up via the "transformation of Indigenous lands and waterways into corporate profit and national power," the report's authors argue it's forced "a cradle-to-grave bureaucracy" upon First Nations in the process, placing a "stranglehold on [their] each and every need." The result: a zero-sum economic game, a game Canada's rigged in its favour to the ongoing detriment of First Nations.

Joining host/producer Rick Harp for part one of this extended conversation about the report are two of its contributors: co-author and board member Naiomi Metallic, as well as Yellowhead Research Fellow Karihwakè:ron aka Tim Thompson.

// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

DILEMMA INDIGENA: For Indigenous peoples living under settler colonialism today, there are few choices that aren't constrained, a predicament at the heart of a discussion in the brand new book, Regime of Obstruction: How Corporate Power Blocks Energy Democracy.

Just published by Athabasca University Press, its 30-plus contributors include this week's special guest, Clifford Atleo, an Assistant Professor of Resource & Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University, who joins us to discuss his chapter, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Canada's Carbon Economy and Indigenous Ambivalence."

// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

Northern education rooted in the north: for many, it's a vision at the very heart of Laurentian University, a northern Ontario school that today is in turmoil. Administrators now pursuing a dramatic—some say draconian—process of retrenchment and austerity, cutting dozens of programs and positions.

Seen as a tricultural hub serving the region's English, French and Indigenous populations, the institution has not only shared a campus with the University of Sudbury (among others), it's shared funding. Now that too will end. Putting the fate of the U of S Indigenous Studies program—among Canada's oldest—up in the air. But as some try to make sense of all the slashing, critics allege the process remains shrouded in secrecy. Prompting some to wonder whether larger agendas and larger forces may be at play.

Joining host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable this week are MI regular Brock Pitawanakwat, Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University, as well as special guest Celeste Pedri-Spade, an Associate Professor and Queen's National Scholar in Indigenous Studies at Queen's University.

// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic. SFX: "ding" by tim.kahn (CC BY 3.0)