Show Notes
As National Chief, Perry Bellegarde has always focused on the importance hope: "Always leave more hope in a room than was there when you arrived." Over the 57 episodes of the Ahkameyimok Podcast, no matter how difficult the conversation or the issue, he always ends by asking his guests this question: What brings you hope? As his time as National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations comes to an end, after choosing not to seek re-election, we are looking back at some of his favorite answers to that question about hope. They are inspiring, thought provoking and speak to a better future for First Nations. 01: 18 -- Chief Willie Littlechild - former TRC Commissioner, Member of Parliament, lawyer, social activist and author of the first draft of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. 02:24 Dr Lorna Williams - Canada's leading expert on the promotion and revival of Indigenous languages. 4:14 William Prince - Award winning and chart topping country music star 6:30 Rt Hon Brian Mulroney - Canada's 18th Prime Minister 7:40 Dr Dan Longboat - Founding Director of Trent University's Indigenous Environmental Science Program 10:42 Marion Crowe - CEO of the First Nations Health Managers Association 11:41 Wade Davis, best-selling author, film-maker, explorer, UBC Anthropology Professor 12:32 Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond - fmr judge, law professor, children's advocate 14:27 Jagmeet Singh - Leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada 15:13 Bobbie Jo Greenland-Morgan - Grand Chief of the Gwich'in Tribal Council 17:40 Kevin Loring - Artistic Director of the Indigenous Theatre, National Arts Centre, Ottawa 19:40 Elder Wilfred Buck - leading First Nations astronomy and star lore expert 21:52 Senator Kim Pate - international expert in legal and prison reform 24:01 Brigadier-General Joe Paul, the highest ranking First Nations officer in the Canadian Armed Forces 25:12 Brad Regehr - The first First Nations President of the Canadian Bar Association 26:21 Louise Bernice Halfe - Canada's first Indigenous Parliamentary Poet Laureate 28:05 Dr Alika Lafontaine - the first Indigenous person elected as the President of the Canadian Medical Association 30:03 Romeo Saganash, former Member of Parliament, and leading advocate for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. 31:41 Conner Roulette, First Nations gold medal winning junior hockey star 33:09 Chief Cadmus Delorme, Cowessess First Nation, home to 751 unmarked graves found at the Marieval Residential School 34:30 Tom Jackson, actor, musician, social activist 36:36 Marie Wilson, former Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission The Akhameyimok Podcast is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions Theme music is by the Red Dog Singers, Treaty 4 territory, Saskatchewan For more on the work of the Assembly of First Nations, visit AFN.ca
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