MEDIA INDIGENA : Indigenous current affair‪s‬ Rick Harp

With issues of identity reaching a fever pitch of late, we thought we’d take its temperature. From Michelle Latimer’s contested claims to Indigeneity, to an ever-growing, quasi-underground list of Alleged Pretendians, not to mention a Twitter tempest over light-skin privilege, we’ll break down what’s at play, what’s at stake and—in part two—what might be ways out of this messy business.

Joining host/producer Rick Harp at the roundtable are Kim TallBear, associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience & Environment, as well as Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC.
// CREDITS: This episode edited by Stephanie Wood. Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

Medically-assisted death. It’s a controversial subject to say the least, precisely why any effort to legislate it has proven just as contentious. So it is in Canada, where laws have been challenged and critiqued, both in and out of court, as either too broad, too narrow or even both, depending on who’s doing the talking—and whom they’re talking about. And with the federal government poised to re-codify medical assistance in dying (MAID), there are those concerned the law’s expansion of access to it will do more harm than good, and that the gap between intent and outcome will see those already put at risk placed into even greater peril. One such critic is Andray Domise (aka Q), who in a recent Globe and Mail editorial argued that proposed changes to the law risk the reinscription of the Canadian colonial logic of eugenics. And Q is our special guest this episode, joining host/producer Rick Harp and roundtable regular Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama.
// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

A new brief from the Yellowhead Institute has shone a light on yet another Canadian government attack on the spirit if not the letter of a human rights order demanding equity for First Nations kids. Issued by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the order supports the right of First Nations children to access the same essential public services as any other kid in Canada, free of delays due to disputes over who should pay for it. It's known as Jordan's Principle, named for the late Jordan River Anderson, whose all-too-short 5 years of life was marred by such jurisdictional disputes.
Although everyone says they agree with the principle, their actions tell a different story, a new chapter of which is well documented in the recent Yellowhead brief, "Happy New Year To Everyone But Non-Status Kids: Jordan’s Principle & Canada’s Persistent Discrimination." In this episode, we sit down with Yellowhead Associate Fellow Damien Lee to learn more about what's driving federal moves to restrict the principle to Status Indian kids only—in other words, to only those kids Canada deems 'legitimately' Indian, regardless of who First Nations themselves claim as citizens.
// CREDITS: This episode was edited by Stephanie Wood. Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

Repping the Queen. With Canada’s last Governor-General stepping down due to scandal, there are those who say her replacement ought to be a First Nations person. And while the idea seems innocuous on its face—what with the bulk of their day-to-day duties confined to ribbon-cutting and rubber-stamping—there is one potential complication: the fact the role literally represents a foreign monarch whose assertion of dominion over Indigenous territories is still kind of controversial.

Joining host/producer Rick Harp are roundtable regulars Brock Pitawanakwat, Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies at York University, and Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama.
// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

This week, the back half of our two-part foray into fish farms. Part one discussed the myriad problems with such aquaculture; this time around, we look at proposed solutions. Might they swap one set of issues for another, or represent a genuine step toward a truly sustainable future for species so central to coastal First Nations?
Back with host/producer Rick Harp are Kim TallBear, associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience & Environment, as well as Candis Callison, Associate Professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC.
// CREDITS: Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic; additional music by Andy. G. Cohen ('In Awareness') appears under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Fish farm phase-out. And with the end of aquaculture as we know it in sight on British Columbia’s central coast, there is hope it could help spark a revival in the region’s once rich wild salmon population. Or, at the very least, halt the decline of species said to be at the foundation of numerous Indigenous cultures.
But not everyone’s glad to see the farms fade away. In fact, there are those First Nations with a stake in the industry. Wading into these troubled waters with host/producer Rick Harp this episode are Kim TallBear, associate professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, and Candis Callison, associate professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Graduate School of Journalism at UBC.
// CREDITS: This episode was edited by Stephanie Wood. Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.