Quiet Canines Podcast

In the 1800s, an Indigenous man named Atatíc̓eʔ looked across the Great Plains and had a terrible prophecy. He warned his people that the bison would soon disappear and he understood what had to be done.

For the Ql̓ispé people, the bison were the centre of their traditional way of life. Atatíc̓eʔ wanted to create a protected herd on tribal land, but his proposal was rejected.

From 1871 to 1883, Atatíc̓eʔ’s prophecy came true. White hunters flooded the Great Plains.

Years later, Latatítsa, the son of Atatíc̓eʔ, travelled east of the Rocky Mountains and came across four orphaned calves. The calves started following his horse.

Latatítsa remembered the vision of his father and rescued the calves. He gathered the young animals and guided them hundreds of kilometres across the Rocky Mountains.

Those four calves became the Pablo Allard herd. In 1907, Canada bought that herd and brought hundreds of bison north to Alberta. Their descendants helped rebuild the plains bison population in Canada.

Some researchers estimate that more than eighty percent of plains bison alive today descend from that herd.

Latatítsa didn’t just save the bison. He fulfilled his father’s prophecy and saved the heartbeat of his nation.

If you want to learn more about indigenous history and culture, join our growing Substack community. We are still welcoming new members to our tribe.

For decades, the dominant scientific narrative .”regarding the domestication of dogs has painted a biased picture. According to the traditional view from Europe, the story begins with hungry and opportunistic wolves lingering on the fringes of human camps. In this version of history, early humans were the absolute masters of their environment. Wolves were reduced to pathetic scavengers waiting in the shadows for discarded bones and scraps of meat. Over millennia, the theory goes, humans tamed these wild scavengers by asserting dominance and breeding them for compliance. Eventually, humans reshaped them into the obedient dogs we know today. It is a story of conquest where mankind subjugates the wild.

But this prevailing theory possesses a glaring blind spot. It completely ignores the spoken histories and experiences of the Indigenous peoples of North America. When we actually listen to the ancestral memories of the Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Lakota, Shoshone, and Pawnee, an entirely different relationship emerges. In the Indigenous narrative, wolves were never cowering scavengers begging for scraps. They were master hunters, respected teachers, and equal partners in survival.

The bodies kept appearing out of nowhere. In March a whale corpse was found floating in San Francisco Bay. Then, in April, a whale was found dead and beached in Oregon. That same month, another whale, this one a juvenile, was found lifeless and lodged among woody debris in a Washington State river, miles from the ocean.

As of the middle of August, 187 gray whales have been found dead this year along the West Coast.

Gray whales can reach 49 feet long and weigh up to 90,000 pounds. Each year they make one of the longest known mammal migrations on Earth, a 10,000-mile round trip between Mexico and the Arctic.

As scientists gather more evidence, it is becoming increasingly apparent that gray whales are starving to death. The reason why lies in the changing environment of the Arctic Ocean.

When algae die, it falls through the ice to the seafloor, where they feed the crustaceans that gray whales eat. But with Arctic temperatures skyrocketing, the sea ice is melting earlier and faster, disrupting the food web the whales rely on.

The whales are just basically running out of energy as they try to migrate and dying. For years, scientists have seen more and more skinny gray whales returning to the San Ignacio Lagoon, one of their breeding areas off the Baja coast. They also seeing fewer calves being born. Last year the team counted just 17 whale pairs. From that, they estimate 85 calves were born in 2025, well below the 1,600 or so born in 2014.

Because of greenhouse gas emissions, the Arctic is warming four times faster than the global average.

The lever we have to pull to help the whales is slowing or reversing climate change. It’s something we know we need to do, but we haven’t done it.

I couldn’t find anything about the grey whale, but to many indigenous communities along the Northwest coast, the Orca is a symbol of family, harmony and community. The Orca will often spend their whole life traveling with the same pod or large family group, working to protect all members of their pod, and raising each calf with care. The Orca is also a symbol for romance as the whale mates for life.

Last year Alberta Premier Danielle Smith enacted three pieces of legislation impacting transgender youth.

Bill 26 prohibits gender affirming medical care for children and youth under the age of 16, even if their parents’ consent and their healthcare providers approve the care.

Egale Canada, Skipping Stone and five gender diverse youths took the government to court, arguing that the law violated sections 7, 12 and 15 of their Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Court of King’s Bench agreed and granted an injunction, blocking the bill from coming into effect while a constitutional challenge proceeded.

On December 11, 2025, the government passed legislation invoking the notwithstanding clause, which essentially overrides the Charter rights of gender diverse people and prevents the court from striking the law down.

In response, the Saddle Lake Cree Nation asserted its inherent sovereignty by invoking the “medicine chest clause” of Treaty 6.

Signed in 1876, this clause required the federal Crown to maintain a medicine chest at the house or office of each federal Indian agent.

Indigenous lawyers interpret this provision as a binding, modern constitutional promise to deliver comprehensive, full health care coverage, which includes gender affirming care.

They argue that this clause places the administration of health care on reserve land strictly within federal jurisdiction.

Seeking to provide a refuge from Alberta’s discriminatory laws, Saddle Lake Chief Dale Steinhauer and prominent Two Spirit family physician Dr. James Makokis announced plans to establish a medical “safe haven” on their reserve.

They plan to recruit doctors and insulate them from provincial regulatory bodies.

First Nations youth already face a suicide rate 5 to 7 times higher than non Indigenous youth, with young First Nations females experiencing a 12 fold increase.

And studies show that stripping away supportive environments and gender affirming medical care makes transgender youth nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide.

When these intersecting realities collide on a reserve, the cumulative risk of suicide becomes catastrophically elevated, making safe havens an absolute matter of life and death.

Dr. Makokis and the Saddle Lake community are providing a blueprint for other reserves across Canada who are faced with a government that spreads misinformation and cloaks transphobia as “protecting children’s rights.”

I’m looking at you Saskatchewan.

Let me know what you think in the comments and if you want to learn more about Indigenous culture and history, join our growing Substack community. We are still welcoming new members to our tribe.

The First American Revolution was not in 1775. It happened 100 years earlier.

When conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado arrived in the Southwest in 1540, he imposed Requerimiento, or requirements, on the Native Americans. This religious doctrine authorized the Spanish to subjugate Native Americans and force them to abandon their own faiths. According to the document, meant to be read by conquistadors to the Indian people, failing to submit would have dire consequences: “We will take you and your wives and children and make them slaves, and as such we will sell them, and will dispose of you…and will do to you all the harm and evil we can.”

In Pueblo thought and culture, when religion is suppressed, the natural order of life is disrupted.

Po’pay, whose name means “Ripe Squash,” was born around 1630. He became a prominent leader and member of a medicine society. When the Spanish outlawed traditional practices, Po’pay and 46 other Pueblo leaders were convicted of sorcery for continuing them; three were hanged in public. Po’pay was among those publicly flogged.

On his release, Po’pay went into hiding at Taos Pueblo. From there, he spent four years organizing a rebellion.

In 1675, Po’pay orchestrated the revolt across two dozen communities who spoke six different languages and were spread over 400 miles.

To coordinate the timing of the uprising, Po’pay sent runners to deliver knotted ropes to local leaders who, despite speaking different languages, could “read” the scheduled date by undoing one knot a day until they were all undone. When the last knot was untied, the Pueblos rose up in unison against their overlords.

They seized Spanish horses. They sacked haciendas, blocked roads and cut off the water supply to Santa Fe. In retribution for their religious oppression, they vandalized and set fire to Catholic churches.

After about a week, the Spanish departed Santa Fe, and for 12 years the Spanish were kept out of the region.

To the Pueblo people, Po’pay is their hero. If they had lost, the languages and culture of their ancestors would have been lost forever.

In 2005, a statue of Po’pay was unveiled in the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

He was one of only a small number of Indigenous people enshrined.

If you want to learn more about Indigenous culture and history, join our growing Substack community. We are still welcoming new members to our tribe.

The following story is one version of a Haudenosaunee tale that teaches every creature has a purpose and importance according to the Creator’s plan. Lacrosse is in the forefront of the legend.

Long ago a lacrosse game was set to be played by the animals with four legs and the winged birds. Captains for the animals were: the Bear, noted for overpowering all opposition due to his girth; the Deer, known for speed and agility on the field; and the Great Turtle, who withstood harsh blows, but continued to move toward his opposition.

The winged birds’ captains were: the Owl, who was wise and whose keen sight allowed him to keep his eye on the ball; and the Hawk and the Eagle, each excelling in rapid movements.

As the birds were preparing for the game they noted two little creatures, climbing up a tree to their leaders. The small animals, a mouse and squirrel, asked if they could be on the birds’ team. Eagle was perplexed and asked why they did not ask the animals with four legs. The little creatures said they had but were rejected and laughed at by the other animals because they were small.

Taking pity on the small creatures, the bird captains contemplated how they could incorporate the mouse and squirrel into their team. The decision was made to make wings for the little animals. But how would they do it?

One innovative bird thought the leather used for water drums could be removed from the drumhead and attached to the legs of the little mouse. The result: the bat was created.

The birds ordered the bat to catch the lacrosse ball when they threw it in the air. He showed great skill in circling and dodging and managed to keep the ball constantly in motion, never dropping it to the ground. His remarkable skill convinced the birds to allow him to play on their team.

Alas, there was no more leather to make wings for the squirrel. It had all been used for the bat’s wings and there wasn’t enough time to acquire more. With time running out, one bird suggested stretching the squirrel’s skin in the hope of making wings. After much tugging and pulling of the fur between the front and back feet the wings were made and the flying squirrel created.

Now the game could begin.

Two of the captains, Eagle and Bear, met and a face off began. The flying squirrel caught the ball and passed it to Hawk, who kept it in the air for some time. But then, as the ball nearly hit the ground Eagle saved it and through elaborate maneuvers kept possession of the ball even saving it from the fastest of the animals with four legs, Deer. Faking a pass to Squirrel, Eagle passed it to Bat, who scored the winning goal for the birds.

The legend illustrates that everyone has qualities that can be of great help when needed, no matter how big or small you may be.

Did you know that the Mexican gray wolf is an endangered species that was deliberately exterminated, rescued from extinction with a captive breeding program, and has only recently recovered to a few hundred animals.

And Trump just signed an executive order that might allow cattle ranchers to start killing them again.

By the late nineteenth century, cattle and sheep ranching had spread across the Southwest. Wolves killed some livestock, and ranchers lobbied government to treat them as enemies of settlement. Bounties were offered to private citizens who killed them.

The government sent professional hunters into wolf country with traps, rifles, dogs, and poison. They trapped wolves with steel traps that held their leg. They dug pups out of dens. But the most disgusting way they killed them was with poison.

A dead cow, horse, deer, or other animal was laced with poison and left where wolves were expected to feed. Pieces of poisoned meat were placed along trails, near water, and around carcasses. They used strychnine, Compound 1080, and cyanide devices. This did not only kill the wolf, it killed any animal that came across the poisoned meat, including scavengers, coyotes, foxes, birds, and domestic dogs.

In 1950, the US gave Mexico poison, equipment, and instruction to help Mexican ranchers kill the remaining wolves. By the 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf was close to extinction. It was listed as endangered in 1976.

Then public opinion shifted and conservation groups started winning court battles, even though the livestock industry fought tooth and nail to drive the wolf to extinction.

Between 1977 and 1980, five wild Mexican wolves were captured. Along with two wolves already in captivity, they became the seven founders of the new breeding program.

Today there are 319 Mexican grey wolves that are still listed as endangered. And the livestock industry is once again pressuring the government to let them start killing the wolves again. This is what led to Trump’s recent executive order.

If you care about the wolves, like I do, we need to make our voices louder than the cattle ranchers.

If you want to learn more about Indigenous culture and history, join our growing Substack community. We are still accepting new members to our tribe.

I plan to make a longer video this Sunday about wolves and their relationship with Native Americans before the Europeans arrived.

In an Anishinaabe creation story, the Creator gives Original Man a responsibility: to travel across the Earth and name the living things he encounters. During his journey, he notices that other animals have companions. He is alone and asks the Creator why. The Creator sends Ma’iingan, Wolf, to accompany him. Together, they travel the Earth, visiting its places and learning about the life surrounding them. Their shared journey brings them close, and they become like brothers. Their companionship also reveals their relationship with the wider world. The plants and animals around them sustain their lives. As Original Man and Wolf come to understand each other, they also recognize their dependence on the other beings with whom they share the Earth. When their journey is complete, the Creator tells them that they must separate. Each will follow a different path. Their bond, however, will continue. Whatever happens to one will also happen to the other. Both will be feared, respected, and misunderstood. Original Man and Wolf obey and go their separate ways. Their separation establishes different places within creation while preserving a connection between their futures. The two retain responsibilities towards each other. Wolf helps sustain healthy animal populations by taking sick and weak animals. Humans have a responsibility to protect wolves from harm. The story gives meaning to the understanding of Wolf as a relative. Brotherhood carries an obligation to consider his survival and the conditions in which he lives. His place in creation remains connected to the lives of Anishinaabe people. The Bad River Band draws a connection between this teaching and the histories of persecution experienced by wolves and Anishinaabe communities. Both have suffered displacement and attacks on their continued existence. Efforts to protect wolves therefore concern a relationship reaching back to creation. For communities carrying this teaching, the story explains why decisions about wolves have cultural and spiritual consequences. Protecting a relative honours the bond formed when Original Man and Wolf first walked the Earth together.

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Indigenous Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered on their land, they rode in chauffeured cars and lived in mansions.

Then, one by one, the Osage were killed. Mollie Burkhart watched as her family became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. Other Osage were also dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who investigated the crimes were also murdered.

As the death toll rose, the case was taken over by the newly created FBI and its young, secretive director, J. Edgar Hoover. Struggling to crack the mystery, Hoover turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White, who put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent. They infiltrated the community and exposed one of the most troubling conspiracies in American history.

David Grann wrote a book about it: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI and Martin Scorsese turned it into a film starring Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. So, if you’d rather read the book or watch the movie without knowing who was responsible, then hold off on watching this video, because there will be spoilers.

Learning an Indigenous language could save us from catastrophic climate change.

The world will soon cross a dangerous climate change threshold. That’s according to a new report from the United Nations. Maybe the way out of this mess is to teach our children an Indigenous language.

Language is not just a tool for communication; it influences how we see the world. European languages, like English and French, rely on nouns. They see the world as static, separate objects. But many Indigenous languages, like Mi’kmaq, rely on verbs. They look at the world through actions and relationships.

In English, we say “the river flows.” In French, “la rivière coule.” Both languages separate the physical object, the river, from its movement. But in Mi’kmaq, a river is not a static noun. The single verb wantaqpegitg means “it is a calm flowing current.” The water, its stillness, and its motion are contained in the word. The landscape is not a collection of things; it is a series of ongoing events.

This difference changes our relationship with the environment. Languages based on nouns objectify nature. Europeans see trees, land, and water as inanimate objects that can be owned and exploited. Because a noun is a product, the land becomes a resource.

Indigenous worldviews, built on verbs, see a living network of relationships. You cannot easily own an action. You can only participate in it. Humans are not masters over nature; we are part of an ongoing, living process.

This relational worldview even shapes how people interact. In English, “welcome” is a polite greeting. In Mi’kmaq, the word is Pjila’si. It loosely translates to: “Come in, sit down, there is space for you here.” When your language sees the whole world as alive, welcoming a guest means inviting them into a living circle.

For all my followers here, I would like to say Pjila’si.

And if you want to join our growing Substack community, we are still welcoming new members to our tribe.