MEDIA INDIGENA : Indigenous current affairs

This week: Transportation Troubles. In Saskatchewan, a recent government budget announced the shutdown of the STC, a provincial bus service that critics say is a lifeline for rural communities and reserves. Meanwhile in Manitoba, a First Nations owned airline was stunned to learn that it too could have its wings clipped after news that the province will end its support for a local airport. Returning to the roundtable to discuss the implications of these cuts are academic Pam Palmater and writer Paul Seesequasis.

This week, a double dive into recent moves by Health Canada: first, its decision to fund the cost of a travel companion for pregnant Indigenous women who give birth outside their community; second, is social media an effective way for the department to connect to Indigenous kids in need of medical care? Sharing their diagnoses are scholar Pam Palmater and writer Paul Seesequasis. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

THIS WEEK / Colonial Editorial: Why people like ex-TRC head Murray Sinclair are outraged by a Globe and Mail op-ed rejecting the idea that South Africa's experience with oppression parallels that of Canada’s. Is the Globe guilty of whitesplaining? / Third-party Mis-management: a federal Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs continues to hear whether the practice of forcing First Nations to rely on outside managers to run their communities can somehow be improved. The kind of question that kind of answers itself. Joining the roundtable are: Pam Palmater, the Chair in Indigenous Governance with the department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University, along with writer and journalist Paul Seesequasis. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

On this week's Indigenous roundtable, we examine mainstream Canadian media and reconciliation. When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its nearly 100 Calls to Action back in late 2015, the fourth estate was among the institutions encouraged to take up those calls. It's been well over a year: what action has been taken? What has that meant for how stories about Indigenous people get told? To what extent have national media managed to overcome their legacy as channels of Canadian colonialism? And how do individual Indigenous journalists navigate the needs and vantage points of news outlets serving a predominantly non-Indigenous audience? Joining us this week to discuss these questions are Waubgeshig Rice, author and video-journalist with CBC News Ottawa, and Hayden King, an assistant professor with Carleton University’s School of Public Policy & Administration.

On this week's roundtable: Federal foot-dragging. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered feds to stop underfunding child welfare on-reserve back in 2016. So why has it still yet to happen? And, Departmental dysfunction: a recent news report describes a section of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada as a "deeply troubled, if not toxic, work environment." But is it a localized infection or a rot that's more wide-spread? Danika Billie Littlechild and Robert Jago return.

On this week's Indigenous roundtable: Do growing calls for tougher laws deliberately target some more than others? A look at the apparent push to increasingly criminalize Aboriginal behaviour by non-Aboriginal interests. Plus, how a disproportionate number of Indigenous people throughout Canada struggle with severe food insecurity. Returning to the roundtable are Danika Billie Littlechild and Robert Jago. // Our theme is nesting by birocratic.

This week—Attention Status Indian men: do you have sperm to spare? Some women on Craigslist are hoping you'll consider making what might be called a liquid transaction. And proudly unpatriotic: a Native student at an Oklahoma high school is reprimanded for refusing to pledge allegiance to the United States. Joining us once again are entrepreneur and commentator Robert Jago and lawyer and international advocate Danika Billie Littlechild. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

On this week's Indigenous roundtable: fire and water. A new investigation into the overall state of First Nations fire prevention and protection in Canada paints an abysmal picture. But with no shortage of suggested solutions, the real question is why they have yet to be implemented. And, a drop in the bucket: it's one of Trudeau's biggest promises to First Nations—an end to boil water advisories by 2020. And in fact some have been lifted, only to see other communities join the list. In the face of this glacial pace, has hope for real change from the Liberals pretty much evaporated? Joining us this month for the first time are Montreal-based entrepreneur and commentator Robert Jago and Danika Billie Littlechild, a lawyer and international advocate based in Maskwacis, Alberta.

This week, two troubling stories of Indigenous institutionalization. The first comes to us from an Ontario jail where 9 out of 10 inmates are Aboriginal—and 10 out of 10 reportedly face challenges of a mental, cognitive or addictive nature. The second features numbers no less startling: one young First Nations man, 18 years in the foster care system, put in and pulled out of 73 different homes! A hard life made only worse now that he's been charged with the recent killing of a Winnipeg transit driver. Joining us once again: scholar Brock Pitawanakwat and journalist Wawmeesh Hamilton. // Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.

On this week's Indigenous roundtable… Success for Survivors: Despite attempts by both the Harper Conservatives and the Trudeau Liberals to keep former adoptees out of Ontario courts, not only was their Sixties Scoop class-action suit heard, they won. What could it mean for similar suits in other jurisdictions? And, Putting our peoples first: a one-time deputy premier under Manitoba’s previous NDP government thinks the party has abandoned Aboriginal people like him—will his pitch for a new party see Indigenous issues get more attention, or just more marginalized? Returning to the roundtable once again are Brock Pitawanakwat, an assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Sudbury, and Wawmeesh Hamilton, a journalist and photographer based in Vancouver. //Our theme is 'nesting' by birocratic.