Show Notes
"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.
More from Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde
This conversation with the late Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, was originally posted in August 2020.
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.
The host of the popular CBC Kuper Island Podcast on the challenges and revelations from reporting about one of Canada's most notorious Residential Schools.
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.
"The survivors felt if this had been white children, the community wouldn't be the ones having to investigate their own genocide." - Kimberly Murray