Podcasts

All My Relations

Hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), All My Relations invites guests to delve into a different topic facing Indigenous peoples today.

Indigenous Cultural Competency Early Years Podcast series

The Indigenous Cultural Competency Early Years Podcast series is intended to support individuals, child care centres and agencies that support Indigenous children and families and/or want to ensure they are respectfully weaving Indigenous ways of learning, knowing, being and doing into their programming.

MediaINDIGENA

Hosted by Rick Harp, MediaINDIGENA is a roundtable podcast with a group of panellists who tackle weekly affairs in so-called Canada. The podcast draws in people of all backgrounds but appeals to those who enjoy a more academic look at things.

Nation to Nation

Hosted by Brett Forester, Nation to Nation takes a weekly look at the politics affecting Indigenous people in Canada.

Residential Schools

Residential Schools is a three-part podcast series created by Historica Canada and hosted by Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais. It aims to commemorate the history and legacy of residential schools, and honour the stories of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Survivors, their families, and communities.

Telling Our Twisted Histories

Telling our Twisted Histories is an 11-episode podcast series that reclaims Indigenous history by exploring 11 words whose meanings have been twisted by centuries of colonization.

The Kid Advocate

The Kid Advocate is a podcast series hosted by SEMA’TSE Jordan where she talks about her experience in government care as well as topics such as the residential school system, intergenerational trauma, sexual abuse, and distance learning. SEMA’TSE Jordan is First Nations from Ahousaht (Nuu-chah-nulth), Nanaimo (Snuneymuxw) and Terrace (Nisga’a).

This Place

This Place, the bestselling graphic novel anthology that tells 150 years of Canadian history through Indigenous stories, is now available as a podcast by CBC Books. This Place features Indigenous creators — including David. A Robertson, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette and Brandon Mitchell — and incorporates elements of fantasy and magical realism to examine the 150-plus years of Canadian history since Confederation from an Indigenous perspective.

Toasted Sister

Toasted Sister is a culinary and cuisine podcast focused on highlighting and promoting Indigenous cuisine and culture.

Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild

Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous community, culture, and conversation. Host Rosanna Deerchild takes you straight into Indigenous Canada, from Halifax to Haida Gwaii, from Shamattawa to Ottawa, introducing listeners to the storytellers, culture makers and community shakers from across the country.

Warrior Life

Warrior Life is a podcast that focuses on decolonizing our minds, bodies and spirits while educating and connecting a larger community.

ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᐅᓂᒃᑳᖏᑦ (Inuit Unikkaangit)

Host and Archivist Mary Powder reunites Inuit with stories from CBC North’s vast Inuktitut language archives by replaying them for the descendants of the original storytellers, some of whom are hearing them for the very first time.

Organizations

Aboriginal Head Start Association of British Columbia 

BC Aboriginal Child Care Society

BC Assembly of First Nations

BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres

Delegated Aboriginal Agencies

First Nations Health Authority

Indian Residential School Survivors Society

Indigenous community-based services and organizations

Indigenous Perspectives Society

Métis Nation British Columbia

Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation

Orange Shirt Society

The residential school system was a powerful mechanism of colonization in Canada implemented from 1874 to 1996 as part of a national assimilation strategy by the federal government in partnership with various religious denominations which included the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and United churches. It is estimated that over 150,000 Indigenous children, between the ages of 4 and 16 years old, were forcibly removed from their families and placed in residential schools where every aspect of the children’s lives was regulated. While some children lived at the residential school year-round, some attended residential schools for the duration of a 10-month academic year. The students’ time was divided between academic learning, religious prayer, and chores. They were forced to abandon their culture, language, and way of life, and were ordered to adopt the European languages of English or French.

Without the influence of their parents and Elders, children in residential schools were stripped of their Indigenous identity and torn from the traditions of their families. The widespread cases of physical, sexual and psychological abuse and deaths in residential schools only compounded the trauma of the survivors. Many died while trying to escape to return home, or from severe illness.  Some residential schools had a death rate as high as 50%.

Residential Schools Timeline

1847

Dr. Adolphus Egerton Ryerson, Methodist minister and educational reformer, commissioned by Assistant Superintendent General of Indian Affairs to study Native education, proposes a model on which the Indian Residential School system was built.

1883

Sir John A. Macdonald authorizes the creation of residential schools in the Canadian West. Sir Hector Langevin, Secretary of State for the Provinces tells Parliament: “In order to educate the children properly we must separate them from their families. Some people may say this is hard, but if we want to civilize them we must do that.”

1885

Through an amendment to the Indian Act, Indigenous peoples are prohibited from conducting their traditional Indian ceremonies such as the potlatch. A pass system is also created and Indigenous peoples are restricted from leaving their reserve without permission.

1920

Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, makes residential school attendance compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 15. Duncan Campbell Scott has been quoted on the record saying, “I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone… Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department.”

1958

Indian Affairs regional inspectors recommend the abolition of residential schools.

1980s

Residential school survivors began launching legal campaigns.

1996

The Final Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples is released. It calls for a public investigation into the widespread abuses at residential schools. The last residential school, located in Saskatchewan, closed in 1996.

2005

The alternative dispute process is launched, providing an out-of-court process for determining compensation and support for survivors.

2008

Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologizes to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples for the residential school system on behalf of the Government of Canada. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is launched.

2010

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission officially opens its headquarters in Winnipeg.

2016

Canada endorses the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as the key to advancing reconciliation in Canada.

June 2021

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) receives Royal Assent and immediately comes into force. It is a historic milestone that ensures “the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world.” A new federal statutory holiday – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – was created through legislative amendments made by the Parliament.

2022

Williams Lake First Nation releases its preliminary findings that revealed 93 potential unmarked graves at the former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, British Columbia. Williams Lake First Nation is still conducting a full investigation of the site. Searches with ground-penetrating radar are also underway at other former residential school sites. To date, more than 1,800 confirmed or suspected unmarked graves have been identified.

Historica Canada, using data supplied by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba, has created a map (see below) of all residential schools in Canada. The map only includes schools listed in the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.

References

Gray Smith, M. (2017). Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation. Orca Book Publishers. 

The Indian Act. (n.d.). Welcome to Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/

Indian status. (n.d.). Welcome to Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/indian_status/

Residential school history. (n.d.). NCTR. https://nctr.ca/education/teaching-resources/residential-school-history/

The residential school system. (n.d.). Welcome to Indigenous Foundations. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/