Face To Face

In this episode of APTN Face To Face: Natasha (Reimer) Okemow was first placed into the child welfare system in Manitoba when she was one-year-old.

During her time in the system, Okemow had 12 different homes, went to four different schools and lived in five different towns.

Even though she aged out of care at the age of 21, Okemow knows she can never escape the system because of a controversial practice in Manitoba known as birth alerts.

On the season premiere of APTN Face To Face: Riley Yesno, an Anishinaabe woman from Eabametoong First Nation in northern Ontario who grew up in Thunder Bay.

Yesno was a member of the Prime Minister's Youth Council.

And earlier this year, she spoke in the House of Commons during the daughters of the vote where she raised the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

It was only a few years ago that Opaskwayak Cree Nation was near bankruptcy and third-party management. Now, the northern Manitoba First Nation is the largest shareholder in Canada’s largest private cannabis retail operator.

OCN Chief Christian Sinclair has been called the “kingpin of the pot industry” but he jokes he prefers the title of “titan of cannabis.” The First Nation was looking for economic opportunities and discovered the retail side of the cannabis industry was going to be the most lucrative.

The highest homicide and hate crime rates in the country, a police service and police board under investigation and a Mayor facing serious charges. All compelling issues to dive into with a podcast.

Those are some of the reasons, Ryan McMahon wanted to put together the five-part series called ‘Thunder Bay’ that aired on the podcast for CANADALAND – but the Anishinaabe comedian, writer and documentarian had other reasons as well.

Unless there is significant change in the lives of First Nations people, Russ Diabo says there will be more push back from the people.

“Our people are increasingly demanding fundamental change, not incremental change,” says Diabo.

In this episode of Face To Face, Russ Diabo sits down with Host Dennis Ward.

The road to international recognition and fame was a bumpy one for actor, musician and activist, Tom Jackson.

In his younger years, Jackson spent time living on the streets of Winnipeg and Toronto.

It was in Toronto where Jackson says he had basically dug a hole for himself.

In this episode of Face To Face Jackson sits down with Host Dennis Ward to share his story.

In this episode of Face To Face, the president of the Métis National Council (MNC) says it is facing challenges from “the rise and proliferation of groups in eastern Canada who are falsely claiming Métis rights.”

Clément Chartier says people are purchasing “bogus cards” for memberships in organizations they then use to “bilk salespeople” for purchase on items like vehicles.

Chartier sits down with Host Dennis Ward to discuss the impact on the Métis Nation.

Stewart Garnett grew up believing he was white.

Garnett was adopted out during the 60’s Scoop to a non-Indigenous family.

He moved back in June 2015, just days before the Manitoba government officially apologized for its role in the 60’s Scoop.

Stewart Garnett joins Host Dennis Ward on this episode of Face to Face.

Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett says the Liberal government has made “significant investments” in the recommendations brought forward by the commissioners for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Minister Bennett, joins host Dennis Ward on this episode of Face To Face to respond to the “new levels of frustration” the commissioners spoke about weeks earlier on the show.

Kim Pate has spent the past 35 years working in and around the legal and penal systems of Canada.

According to the independent Senator, things have only gotten worse.

In the last two decades, there’s been an explosion in the number of Indigenous women in the prison system.

In this episode of Face To Face, Pate joins host Dennis Ward to discuss Canada’s prison systems.