Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde

Racially motivated attacks on the Mi'kmaq lobster fishers in Nova Scotia have cost them over $1 million in lost catch and damaged equipment and boats. Despite only taking in about 1% of the lobster catch in Nova Scotia, and working within their treaty rights to fish in their territory outside the commercial season, rights that have been upheld by the Supreme Court, Mi'kmaq fishers have had their t...

Almost the first words in new Green Party leader Annamie Paul's victory speech, spoke of solidarity with Canada's First Nations: "As the descendant of the black diaspora who has suffered its own history of oppression and colonialism, I will always stand with indigenous peoples and their calls to action, and their calls to justice and their fight for self-determination and sovereignty.” In this epi...

**This episode was originally published on July 10, 2020*** The Indigenous Theatre program at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa was just wrapping up it's very successful first season when COVID-19 hit. It's artistic director Kevin Loring talks with National Chief Perry Bellegarde about the challenges he faces in overcoming the COVID shutdown, what the experience was like starting up the first eve...

Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario is National Chief Perry Bellegarde's guest. A veteran leader in the fight for a better system of justice for First Nations people, Grand Chief Fiddler and the National Chief discuss the key parts of the Liberal governments Throne Speech, including the importance of legislating indigenous policing as an essen...

**This interview with Dr. Dan Longboat was originally published on the Akhameyimok Podcast on July 23, 2020. ** "Being faced with COVID and the complexity of it, science is just beginning to understand how those things are interconnected with one another, but our elders still have that knowledge and so it is critically important that science begin a process of engaging with indigenous communities...

This September Brad Regehr made history, becoming the first First Nations President of the Canadian Bar Association. A partner at Maurice Law in Winnipeg, the first and only indigenous owned national law firm in Canada, he has focused on civil litigation, aboriginal, corporate and administrative law. He has represented and advised First Nations clients on natural resource projects, land claims, fl...

The Canadian government is designating two former Residential Schools to the Canadian Register of Historic Places, including the Portage La Prairie Residential School in Treaty 1 territory in Manitoba. National Chief Perry Bellegarde talks to Chief Dennis Meeches of the Long Plain First Nation, home of the Portage La Prairie Schoo,l about the impact of this decision. For over a century the federal...

As First Nations children return to the classroom, what are the best ways to protect them from the COVID-19 pandemic. Marion Crowe, CEO of the First Nations Health Managers Association, joins National Chief Bellegarde to discuss best practices for Chiefs, Councils, Health managers, School boards, parents and children for "back to school." She also provides the latest update on the numbers of COVID...

On this episode National Chief Perry Bellegarde reaches Gwich'in Grand Chief Bobbie Joe Greenland-Morgan in Inuvik, NWT to talk about the potentially devastating decision by the Trump Administration to open up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. Known as ANWR, this Arctic refuge is 19 million acres of pristine wilderness, roughly the size of New Brunswick. It is also th...

Erin O'Toole is one of the front-runners to become the next federal Conservative Party leader in a vote that takes place Friday, August 21st 2020. In this, his first interview with the Ahkameyimok Podcast, O'Toole lays out his vision for working with First Nations if he were to become leader and Prime Minister. In this interesting and wide ranging interview, National Chief Perry Bellegarde gets O'...

"Some people said, 'well there is racism in Canada but there is no systemic racism.' And to those people I said, 'You've clearly never read the Indian Act, because it reeks of systemic racism.'" The Right Honorable Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, is National Chief Perry Bellegarde's guest on this latest episode of the Akhameyimok Podcast. They discuss climate change, overcoming syste...

"Being faced with COVID and the complexity of it, science is just beginning to understand how those things are interconnected with one another, but our elders still have that knowledge and so it is critically important that science begin a process of engaging with indigenous communities to really understand the complexity of the world we live, both the seen and unseen." Dr. Dan Longboat, Roronhiak...

The Indigenous Theatre program at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa was just wrapping up it's very successful first season when COVID-19 hit. It's artistic director Kevin Loring talks with National Chief Perry Bellegarde about the challenges he faces in overcoming the COVID shutdown, what the experience was like starting up the first ever national Indigenous theatre program inside a colonial perf...

Reggie Leach is arguably the greatest First Nations player to play in the National Hockey League. From the Berens River First Nation in Manitoba, Leach was nicknamed the Riverton Rifle for his blasting slap shot. In his thirteen year NHL career he scored 381 goals and 666 points. In 1975, Leach helped the Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup. The following year he scored a league leading 61 goa...

With over seven thousand positive COVID-19 cases and over 300 deaths, the Navajo Nation and it's 350,000 members in the American Southwest, has the worst per capita outbreak in America, beating out former hotspot New York. To learn more about what is happening there, National Chief Perry Bellegarde speaks with Shawnell Damon, who is leading the epidemiology response to COVID-19 for the Navajo Area...

"I received a phone call from the Commanding Officer for the New Brunswick RCMP. He just said there's been an incident. He said, 'the timing is really bad.' That's what he said a of couple of times, 'this is just bad timing.' And I'm just thinking 'When is it a good time to shoot and kill someone?'" That's Chief Bill Ward of the Metepenagiag First Nation in New Brunswick. He's this week's guest on...

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki joins National Chief Perry Bellegarde to address the ongoing issue of racism and police brutality towards First Nations people, especially in light of the recent killing by police of a First Nations woman, Chantel Moore, in New Brunswick, the use of an RCMP vehicle to run-over and apprehend a man in Nunavut, and the dashcam video showing RCMP officers tackling and be...

The global pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has many leaders around the world saying this is an opportunity to change how our economies work in terms of managing climate change, global health and development. Leaders from the UN Secretary General to global corporate CEO's say we have a chance to "build back better," and create a more equitable society. Nicknamed the "Great Reset," what would...

As economies begin to re-open amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, what dangers lie ahead for First Nations? National Chief Perry Bellegarde talks with Dr Evan Adams, Deputy Chief Medical Officer with Indigenous Services Canada, about why First Nations have largely succeeded in avoiding wide scale COVID infections, the success story of the First Nations community in Alert Bay, British Columbia in reversi...

"The preparedness of the province (of Saskatchewen) was wherever the outbreak happens, they would trigger help there. So they didn't help us for the first month. When the outbreak happened in La Loche, then we started seeing their presence. But for one month, we were just getting frustrated." Rick Laliberte, heads up the Incident Command Centre for the twenty-four First Nations, Metis and municipa...

National Chief Perry Bellegarde interviews Rosalie Labilliois, co-chair of the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council. The two discuss the best ways to connect with young people about the importance of social distancing during the pandemic, what Rosalie has learned as an access control officer in her community during the lockdown, why it's important to have young people at the table when...

Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Canada is National Chief Perry Bellegarde's guest on this latest COVID-19 edition of the Ahkameyimok Podcast. In this in-depth interview on the many aspects of the Federal government's COVID-19 response with regards to First Nations, National Chief Bellegarde questions the Federal Minister responsible about speed and access to COVID testing for First Na...

What is the impact of COVID-19 on First Nations people living in towns and cities? Jocelyn Formsma, Executive Director the National Association of Friendship Centres says we just don't know and that's a big problem. First Nations People living in urban areas make up about half of the total First Nations population. Many rely on the 107 Friendship Centres her organization works with across the coun...

National Chief Perry Bellegarde talks to Chief Todd Peigan of the Pasqua First Nation, Treaty 4 in Southern Saskatchewan. In January, long before most of the rest of the world had even heard of Coronavirus, Chief Todd Peigan was preparing for the worst, knowing that a highly contagious respiratory illness could be especially devastating for indegenous peoples. He began ordering food and medical su...

This is the very first episode of the Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Akhameyimok is Cree for "you all persevere" and on this podcast, we will discuss the leading issues facing First Nations peoples, by talking with top experrts, elders and community leaders. The first topic on the Ahkameyimok Podcast is an important one, the COVID-19 pan...