In this episode, we’re digging into the stories we’ve been told about the about the history of the lands now known as Canada. We’re reflecting on the role education has played in disseminating colonial myths, and the hard work underway to get to the truth of our collective history.  
 
This time on Taapwaywin, Ry Moran talks to Pia Russell and Chaa’winisaks about how school textbooks were central in promoting and spreading colonial ideas, and with Paulette Steeves about her work reclaiming two hundred thousand years of Indigenous history.  
 
Paulette Steeves: https://paulettesteeves22.wixsite.com/drpaulettesteeves 
 
The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere book:  
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496202178/ 
 
Learn more about the BC Historical Textbooks Project here: 
https://www.uvic.ca/library/research-teaching/collections/about/curriculum-textbooks.php 
 
UVic’s Indigenous Cultural Acumen Training: 
https://www.uvic.ca/services/indigenous/facultystaff/icat/index.php 
 
Information on the return of ȽEL¸TOS James Island: https://www.dgwlaw.ca/tsawout-first-nation-making-headlines-files-claim-for-return-of-james-island/ 

A fundamental gap remains between how many Canadians see this country and the realities of living under a colonial settler state. Public commitments made by our governments to truth and reconciliation often do not match their actions behind closed doors.

From courtrooms to truth commissions, this episode is about the ways the Canadian settler state continues to suppress the legal systems, governance structures, and lived experiences of Indigenous peoples - and the difficulties seeking justice and truth within colonial legal systems. But we’re also looking at the profoundly important work of those fighting to make the truths of Indigenous people known.

In this episode Ry Moran speaks with David Paterson about the barriers in getting truths recognized in the Canadian courts, and with Marion Buller about the difficult work of truth-telling in this country through the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry.

David Paterson: https://www.whiteravenlaw.ca/david-paterson

Marion Buller: https://www.uvic.ca/socialsciences/careers/departments/anthropology/profiles/buller-marion.php

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Reports: https://nctr.ca/records/reports/

National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Reports: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/

Delgamuukw Supreme Court Judgement: https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1569/index.do

Around the world, we are witnessing massive amounts of irreversible ecological destruction brought about by the intersecting impacts of colonization, capitalism, and human induced climate change.

From the recent loss of billions of sea stars to the way environmental destruction infringes on protected Indigenous rights, in this episode we’re looking at the immense damage that has been inflicted on culture, language, and the environment – and the work being done to find pathways forward.

Ry Moran speaks with Alyssa Gehman, Mavis Underwood, Sean Holman, and Carey Newman about way that the climate crisis challenges us to fulfill our responsibilities to establish and maintain mutually respectful relations with each other, the land, and all living things.

Alyssa Gehman: https://gehmana.weebly.com/

Mavis Underwood: https://www.uvic.ca/socialsciences/anthropology/people/graduate-students/profiles/underwoodmavis.php

Sean Holman: https://www.uvic.ca/finearts/writing/people/faculty/profiles/holman-sean.php

Carey Newman: https://twitter.com/blueravenart

Sean Holman’s Climate Disaster Project: https://climatedisasterproject.com/

Sunflower Sea Star’s IUCN Red List Assement: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/178290276/197818455

You can report sightings of sunflower sea stars to https://www.inaturalist.org/ or https://marine.ucsc.edu/data-products/sea-star-wasting/index.html