Description
A weekly roundtable about Indigenous issues and events in Canada and beyond. Hosted by Rick Harp.
The Host: Rick Harp
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a city located both at the heart of the continent and smack dab in the middle of nowhere, Rick Harp is a citizen of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in what’s now known as northern Saskatchewan. While pursuing his BA as a student of political science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Rick got bit hard by the radio bug at the campus and community station, CKCU-FM. Thus begat a twenty-plus-year career in broadcast media, including national and regional stints at CBC Radio, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), and NCI-FM. A former Artistic/Managing Director of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, he is a co-founder and president of the INDIGENA Creative Group (MI’s parent company).
In 2010, Rick was eager to chart his own course, launching the online magazine MEDIA INDIGENA, whose roster of original Indigenous voices offered an intelligent alternative to mainstream perspectives. Although the site’s output has ebbed and flowed over the years, its recent re-invigoration as a weekly podcast heralds a return to form as a lively, active source of ‘Interactive Indigenous Insight.’
Taté Walker
Taté Walker is a Lakota storyteller, feminist activist, blogger, photographer, and social services professional who promotes cultural competency and inclusion for professionals in the workplace. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English-Communications from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., in 2004, and her Masters of Science in Administration from the University of South Dakota in 2013.
Her experience includes more than 12 years as a professional multimedia journalist. She is the editor of Native Peoples magazine, which provides an international audience with fair and accurate representations of Indigenous perspectives and experiences in ways that educate, entertain and empower through journalistic storytelling.She also spent eight years within the social services sector in the fields of juvenile justice, civil rights, and youth and family advocacy. This, combined with her personal, professional and academic research in the areas of Native American identity and stereotypes, poverty, health, and sexuality, make Taté a dynamic and powerful speaker.Taté’s writings can be found at her blog Righting Red. To read her Everyday Feminism articles, click here. Location: Phoenix, Arizona
September 2018
Ep. 131: Settler consternation over consultation with Indigenous peoples
Is a controversial pipeline now a pipe-dream? Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has just ruled that plans to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline are to be put on hold until the government gets its act together on the potential impacts of greater oil tanker traffic on marine ecosystems and on its failure to meaningfully consult Indigenous peoples. But is this ruling a slam dunk? What’s to be made of the heated, even hysterical, reaction from some quarters? And where could or should things go from here?
August 2018
Ep. 129: A Primer on Pipelines and Indigenous Peoples
Our ninth and final episode of our Summer Series collects and connects conversations about pipelines, in particular, the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project. Featured voices in this episode include (in order of appearance): Indigenous Resource lawyer Merle Alexander; Kim TallBear, associate professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, and Candis Callison, associate professor at UBC's Graduate School of Journalism; Brock Pitawanakwat, assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Sudbury, and Ken Williams, assistant professor with the University of Alberta’s department of drama.
Ep. 127: Why It’s Still Not Okay in Thunder Bay for Indigenous People
Our seventh Summer Series episode collects and connects conversations about Thunder Bay, a small northwestern Ontario city where a huge amount of hostility has been directed at Indigenous people. It’s a negativity so persistent and pervasive, it is seemingly ingrained across a variety of the region’s institutions. Featured voices in this podcast include: CBC journalist Jody Porter; Karyn Pugliese, Executive Director of News and Current Affairs with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, plus Lisa Girbav, a radio broadcaster from Tsimshian territory and a student at UBC; University of Alberta associate professor of Native Studies Kim TallBear, along with associate professor at UBC's Graduate School of Journalism Candis Callison; Ken Williams, an assistant professor with the University of Alberta's department of drama; Brock Pitawanakwat, assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Sudbury.
Ep. 126: Moving beyond lip service for Indigenous languages
Our sixth Summer Series episode collects and connects conversations about language: more specifically, the politics of Indigenous language rights and funding in Canada. Featured voices this episode include: Lorena Fontaine, an associate professor of Indigenous Governance at the University of Winnipeg; Karyn Pugliese, APTN's Executive Director of News and Current Affairs, along with Lisa Girbav, radio broadcaster and student from the Tsimshian territory; Kim TallBear, associate professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, plus Candis Callison, associate professor at UBC's Graduate School of Journalism.
July 2018
Ep. 123: A taste of Indigenous food politics
Our third Summer Series episode collects and connects conversations about food: it’s a veritable buffet of some of our most filling discussions, from access to traditional foods to culture clashes over Settler vs. Indigenous diets. Featured voices this podcast include Iqaluit, Nunavut mayor Madeleine Redfern; Kim Tallbear, associate professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta; Lakota activist and communications professional Taté Walker; and Candis Callison, associate professor at UBC's Graduate School of Journalism.