A Landscape of Beauty and Violence
The country is made up of a diverse and vast geographic regions. From the arctic, the Atlantic to Pacific ocean – one would agree there is magnificent beauty in every part of Turtle Island. That beauty only goes so far to those whose lives are marked by violence. They may see this landscape differently. But regardless of...
VIDEO: Tom Jackson urges people to ‘make change’ for Attawapiskat
Actor & musician Tom Jackson made Attawapiskat the last stop on his 2011 Christmas tour – and he brought a camera crew with him, including Algonquin filmmaker Caroline Monnet. The result is a short documentary about the remote northern Ontario community, which gained international recognition after it was learned that some residents were forced to...
INTERVIEW: Prof. Chris Powell on why ‘Canada’ and ‘genocide’ can and should belong in the same sentence
Today on Urban Nation LIVE, home to my alter-media-ego on Winnipeg’s STREETZ FM, I had the opportunity to discuss the provocative thesis of my friend Chris Powell‘s new book, “Barbaric Civilization: A Critical Sociology of Genocide.” An assistant professor of sociology at the University of Manitoba, Powell’s thesis is provocative because he applies the book’s radical premise — that “civilization produces genocides” — not only to places like Rwanda and Nazi...
VIDEO: Island Indians’ last stand against forces of nature and commerce
Quick plug for a Kickstarter project trying to raise funds for a doc about a small, beleaguered Indigenous community on Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana. According to filmmakers Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez, the area’s coastal marshland is eroding at the equivalent of one football field every 30 minutes … Only a half-mile of...
VIDEO: “Survival, Strength, Sisterhood” tells 20 year story of BC’s missing/murdered women march
Appreciated energy behind this community-centered documentary telling the two-decades long history behind Vancouver’s annual march — now thousands-strong — in memory of murdered or missing women from the Downtown Eastside, “a neighbourhood deeply misunderstood.” Co-creators Alejandro Zuluaga and Harsha Walia have produced a doc that earnestly explores the “realities of women organizing for justice,” as...
PHOTOS: Indigenous communities in Paraguay tell their own stories
Amnesty International is presenting four simple yet engaging slideshows created by the Yakye Axa and Sawhoyamaxa communities in Paraguay, both of whom are “fighting to regain the right to live on their ancestral lands.” Other project partners include Photovoice and Tierra Viva. Below is one of the photographic slideshows, “Through Our Own Eyes: Water, Food...
VIDEO: On-camera clashes between police and Aboriginal people
The recent court-ordered release of a 50-second, silent video showing an Ottawa Police officer kicking Terry Delay, a homeless Aboriginal man, while in custody has me recalling other contentious clips. There’s enough of them out there that I thought I would make a compilation; I was struck by the number of them I could recall...
AUDIO: Discussing Canada’s soft support of the UN Declaration; Aboriginal Political Twitterers
Better late than never with the Nov. 16 edition of MEDIA INDIGENA on ‘THE WORD’ with host Lady V and MI’s Rick Harp as they discuss Aboriginal accounts to follow on Twitter for political junkies, and how Canada’s “Statement of Support” for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples got immediately tested...
VIDEO: Alberta Tar Sands debate gets down and dirty
Ho-leh, did the sparks fly at this debate in Vancouver. First, a little backstory: Ezra Levant, author of Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands, was originally scheduled to face off against Ben West of the Wilderness Committee over the premise of Levant’s book. And for most of the night, that’s just what they...
