Mi'kmaq Matters

This week, Peggy White—the second candidate to announce their candidacy for the top elected position of Qalipu First Nation—calls for a change in focus so that the band can more effectively serve members in all communities.

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Innu entered into Impact Benefit Agreement with Canada and province of Newfoundland and Labrador regarding Muskrat Falls hydro development, but economic promise to Innu have been undermined by a pending rate mitigation deal—a double cross that has alarmed First Nations across the country, who wonder if the same thing could happen to them.This week, we speak with John Olthuis, a lawyer for the Innu Nation.

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This week, we speak with vice-Chief candidate Jenny Brake, who says Qalipu has to be more Indigenous- and less business-focused; more welcoming to Mi'kmaq who visit the band office; and more willing to heal the wounds caused by the enrolment disaster.

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As a lacklustre and lame duck band council ends its term, we look at what we need from the next chief and council as Qalipu enters its second decade.

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Caribou were the giver of life and warmth for many nations of Indigenous people, and the Innu honoured this precious creature through intricately made caribou skin coats won by hunters. There are only a few of these coats left; most of them were taken away by colonizers. But after an unexpected discovery earlier this month, we know about at least one more. This week, we hear from Jodie Ashini, cultural and heritage guardian for the Innu Nation, about the unlikely finding.

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This week, we speak with Evan Butler of the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance about new funding the organization has received to do outreach in the province, and its plans for a conference in the fall.

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The proposed Bay du Nord offshore oil field would overlap with vulnerable marine ecosystems that are closed to fishing under international law in order to protect the corals and sponges on the ocean floor. This week, we speak with Sigrid Kuehnemund of the World Wildlife Fund-Canada on how the profitability of the project is exaggerated, while the environmental risk is minimized.

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A lack of environmental oversight is part of the business model for the troubled oil and gas sector. This week, we speak with lawyer James Gunvaldsen Klassen of the NGO Ecojustice about the plan to allow 100 exploratory oil wells off the coast of Newfoundland without a proper environmental assessment, and the court challenge against it.

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A warning to our listeners: this week's episode talks about residential schools, trauma, and violence against Indigenous peoples. Please listen with care. This week, we speak with Mary Ann Nui, Deputy Grand Chief of the Innu Nation, about the impact on her and her community after the discovery of a mass grave of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of what was once the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Later in the show, Karen Pictou of the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association tells us about the fight to stop the proposed Goldboro LNG plant on Nova Scotia's eastern shore, which would include a 5,000-person camp largely made up of men, and the dangers it could pose to Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people. RESOURCES If you or someone you know needs someone to talk to, you can contact the Indian Residential School Survivors Society for counselling support available at 1-800-721-0066, or a national 24/7 Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.Read the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls here: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/ Read the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's final report here: http://www.trc.ca/about-us/trc-findings.html

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One of the biggest political issues in Maine these days is a bid by Hydro Quebec to push a corridor through pristine wilderness to carry power across the state to Massachusetts. Land defenders say Hydro Quebec's billing of the corridor as "clean power" is a green lie, evidenced by the impact on Indigenous people in Labrador in Quebec. This week, we speak with John Banks of the Penobscot Nation and Becky Bartovics of Sierra Club Maine about the impact of this corridor on the land, and the ways in which land defenders based in the U.S. are supporting Innu in their bid for Churchill Falls hydro compensation.

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