Broken Lands: A Podcast About Reparations and Honoring Our Treaties

For the first time on this podcast we will be inviting our listeners and Patreon members to what we are lifting up as an "elder share."

Whenever we offer our listeners and members an "elder share," we kindly request that you pause, open and shift (ie., POS)

Pause - come to a still point

Open - turn all attention to heart center

Shift - breathe in and out of your heart center (4x)

This call to action will be approximately 60 seconds, which will lend our "elder share" the honor and respect we all really want to witness in our own families, communities, nations.

From Broken Lands Trust's strategic lens, we intend to allow an "elder share" to be of use to the emergence of communal wisdom and vital practices. In the sectors professional organizational growth and leadership development, BLT will always hold in confidence each "elder share" as a means to talk about premature and performative apologies that may form on a phenomenon we call trauma bonding. 

When there are no restorative justice actions before an apology is issued it can signify an existing paradoxical attachment. This strong emotional bond might keep our vulnerable elders, as survivors, in a state of learned helplessness and within a one-way emotional bond with the entity that is "the church," whomever that individual is within that leadership authority. 

It can change multiple times, and that elder survivor still, subconsciously, will want to be a "good Indian" for that person. Too often, white church leadership want to rush to apologies, forgiveness and reconciliation. 

BLT intends to hold this as counterfeit Christianity, and invite our listeners into confronting this difficult truth along with us, so that we may not forfeit a beautiful and harmonious future together here.

BLT intends for every community and learner who encounters this "elder share" to consider a commitment to restorative calls to action that are intertribally or tribally created, approved and continuously monitored.

In a world that values profit over the truth that sets truth free (i.e., prophet), there is always a need for truth-tellers. So, when a film comes along whose sole purpose and original intent is to set truth free, what will truth-seekers do once they elect to view the documentary?

Sugarcane is both a masterpiece of art through nonfiction storytelling and a clarion call to sacred action.

Anyone who chooses to view this film must set aside at least 30 minutes to allow yourself to fully soak in the spirit of right-

relationship. We recommend that this film be viewed in small groups with time for communal wisdom to arise.

Julian Brave NoiseCat is such an interesting figure in today's cultural landscape! He's both American and Canadian, enrolled in the Canim Lake Band Tsq'secen of the Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia. What really makes him stand out is how he weaves together different worlds - he's a writer, filmmaker, and sacred activist who's become a powerful voice on climate justice and Indigenous rights across North America.

His career recently hit an amazing milestone with "Sugarcane," his first documentary film that he directed with Emily Kassie. They won the Directing Award at Sundance in 2024, and the film went on to get an Oscar nomination in 2025, making him the first filmmaker Indigenous to North America to receive that honor. His work bridges traditional Indigenous perspectives with contemporary storytelling in a way that's getting recognized at the highest levels.

In a world that values profit over the truth that sets truth free (i.e., prophet), there is always a need for truth-tellers. So, when a film comes along whose sole purpose and original intent is to set truth free, what will truth-seekers do once they elect to view the documentary?

Sugarcane is both a masterpiece of art through nonfiction storytelling and a clarion call to sacred action.

Anyone who chooses to view this film must set aside at least 30 minutes to allow yourself to fully soak in the spirit of right-

relationship. We recommend that this film be viewed in small groups with time for communal wisdom to arise.

Julian Brave NoiseCat is such an interesting figure in today's cultural landscape! He's both American and Canadian, enrolled in the Canim Lake Band Tsq'secen of the Secwepemc Nation in British Columbia. What really makes him stand out is how he weaves together different worlds - he's a writer, filmmaker, and sacred activist who's become a powerful voice on climate justice and Indigenous rights across North America.

His career recently hit an amazing milestone with "Sugarcane," his first documentary film that he directed with Emily Kassie. They won the Directing Award at Sundance in 2024, and the film went on to get an Oscar nomination in 2025, making him the first filmmaker Indigenous to North America to receive that honor. His work bridges traditional Indigenous perspectives with contemporary storytelling in a way that's getting recognized at the highest levels.

There's a saying in many ancient traditions, that without love in the heart, life is like a sapless tree in a barren desert. 

At 6 foot five, Bryan Newland stands tall, and yet his heart flows within a spiritual current, that knows that he is known by his Creator Spirit who sits atop the crown of this beloved son, sibling, husband, parent, friend, and Ojibwemowin student. Perhaps, of all his accolades and accomplishments, committed to lifelong learning appears most admirable, since he continues to sit on seats of power and authority as a tribal lawyer, executive leader and author of the federal Report on Indian Boarding Schools.

Bryan Newland is a citizen of the Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe), where he has served as Tribal President and as Chief Judge of the Bay Mills Tribal Court. From 2009 to 2012, he served as a Counselor and Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs and then again as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs from 2021 to 2025. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and the Michigan State University College of Law.

https://www.bia.gov/service/federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative

An ancient Tamil proverb from the 1st Century shares a bit of indigenousness from south India; "Without love in the heart, life is like a sapless tree in a barren desert." It is our privilege to cross half of the northern hemisphere to reach New Delhi where we find Seema Shalini Lugun (Adivasi - Munda) from Orisa, India. Seema Shalini shares her world view that has grown from rural tribal girl to urban adivasi woman. She reveals her ancestry and warrior spirit to keep up the good fight for her peoples survival. Shalini demonstrates how certain groups are now attempting to extract the last remaining piece of indigenous wealth, community wisdom.

Seema has an MBA and  currently is employed as a corporate HR professional.  She studies human potential and the cultures they weave working to dive deep and strengthen communal intelligence,wellness, and identity of indigenous communities.

Continuing to center the voices and values of our Indigenous relatives among us, we hear from Colleen Bernu (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa). Deacon Colleen in the Lutheran world represents authentic diversity and in her experience of the church there remains a process of colonization that presents an extractive arena to navigate as a native woman. Bernu simultaneously walks in the Indigenous world where authenticity means belonging first and identifying second. Join us for another transformative conversation on Broken Lands.

During this episode, we explore beyond primary education into secondary education that leads to higher education for Native American youth. Chip Beal points out ways that Native American students can access and afford to go for higher education. According to professor Beal, there is a double standard within the current system of higher education that he and others are trying to correct. One important solution offered is to allow for Indigenous ways of knowing and being to co-exist, along with western European ways of knowing and being.

Center School builds up trustworthy protocols and processes across generations, which might be its greatest gift to educating citizens of Turtle Island and Mother Earth. As George Spears shares insights on the edge of unitive vision, we can listen to the real possibility of American Indian Education for Everyone coming along, very soon, in order to involve all our relations in being human on this planet and citizen on these Broken Lands experiencing the tittering and tottering of quid quo pros trading off the sovereignty of tribes, languages, peoples, and nation-states. Listen for the still small voice speaking within the subtle energies of restoring long term intergenerational narratives by speaking with each one, in order to teach one, at a time. 

Join us for part one of our conversation with Richard and Lorraine White, founders of Nawayee Center School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Richard shares a fascinating history of how the school, combining both Indigenous and Western education, emerged. The voices of indigenous youth landed on his heart, leading him to build and develop this place through advocacy. www.centerschool.org

Cover art by: @clairemakes7

Join us for part 2 of our conversation with Rev. Dr. Paul Reynolds. He is a Kaupapa Māori Health researcher, an ordained priest in Te Hāhi Mihinare (Anglican Church), and a fledgling Indigenous theologian. He shares what led him to his work and discusses some of the ongoing processes involved in reclaiming cultures, traditions, knowledge, and faith. We also explore some acknowledgments and conversations the Church could engage in to foster pathways of healing and recovery from historical and intergenerational trauma. Cover art by: @clairemakes7