When the lawyer and the firefighter’s wife met, they found out they were working on the same mystery.

The mystery was caused by a human-made chemical that environmental regulators should have known about but didn’t. A chemical that is said to be so toxic, it is unclear if any contact with it is safe.

The chemical was created by a corporate giant, and then another corporate giant began using it to provide the world with so-called revolutionary products. Products that come with a very steep price.

This is a fascinating story of two people unravelling a ball of yarn that would reveal the poisoning of the world.

Listen to The Poison Detectives on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please be warned: This episode contains two descriptions of violence against children.

Land claims can take generations to settle. Sometimes communities lose patience, sometimes development forces them to take a stand or risk losing their land forever. Barricades have become a familiar scene in Canada. The land issue is rarely settled when barricades come down. Instead, the community is left with court cases, post-traumatic stress, and unresolved human rights issues. Some of those people are children.

In the first half of this episode, we’ll introduce you to three people who survived land conflicts. In the second half, they share their experiences with each other as they meet for the first time.

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Of all the things journalists have to cover in Indigenous communities, land actions are the most complicated, involving a tangle of history and relationships journalists trip into unprepared. This episode is not about the land defenses themselves – but about the emergence of a public relations war to control the story the media tells.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please be warned this episode contains stories of violence and sexual assault.

This episode looks at how women are reclaiming their role as mothers, teachers, leaders, and sacred beings, despite everything colonialism has thrown at them. We interview three women whose stories intersect:

Terri Brown, a former chief of the Tahltan First Nation in British Columbia, and former president of the Native Women’s Association (NWAC)

Dr. Beverly Jacobs, Mohawk, Six Nations, is the Senior Advisor to the President on Indigenous Relations and Outreach at the University of Windsor and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law. She is also a former President of NWAC

Tori Cress, Ojibway and Pottawattami, G’Chimnissing is a land and water defender

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The landback movement isn’t just about getting land back. It’s more than that. It’s a reclamation of culture too.

We take a deeper dive into Indigenous versus Canadian law and examine how Canada is hoarding land.

Our guests are Métis artist, activist and thinker Christi Belcourt and Anishinaabe artist and knowledge keeper Issac Murdoch, who took land back and established the culture camp Nimkii Aazhibikong.

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In Part 2, after a peaceful reclamation of the army base built on their land in 1993, elders of Stoney Point led a movement to take back Ipperwash Provincial Park, which was also part of their original land and contained a burial ground. Racism and political interference turned a peaceful movement into a violent act of state aggression on Sept. 6, 1995. This episode recalls the events of that night and examines the fallout in the 28 years since, asking if reconciliation will ever be possible for the people of Stoney Point.

Interviews include Bonnie Bressette, Caroline “Cully” George, Pierre George, Kevin Simon, Claudette Bressette, Alabama Bressette, and Donald Worme.

The episode is in memory of Anthony “Dudley” George.

Deep thanks to editor Heather Menzies and Kerry Kilmartin, publisher of Our Long Struggle for Home: The Ipperwash Story by Aazhoodenaang Enjibaajig, in which Stoney Pointers tell their full story in their own words, available on Amazon.

Research for this episode included:

• The Ipperwash Inquiry Report: A road map to better relationships between Aboriginal people and the Ontario government
• One Dead Indian: The Premier, the Police, and the Ipperwash Crisis, a book by Canadian investigative journalist Peter Edwards

Sound in this podcast included:

• “Fifty ways to trick a treaty” by David A. Moses with many meegwetch-es for writing that for us, reach him on Twitter
• Late Night News (Problems) by Farewell Davidson

This episode included sound from Ipperwash Land Expropriation: Hell of a Deal (1989) — The Fifth Estate and Royal Canadian Army Cadet recruiting film, Pt. 1 — 1977.

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Bonnie Bressette was only five years old when a truck came to Stoney Point, and she watched as her house was loaded up onto the truck to be taken away. Her father explained the government was taking their land to build an army base but promised to return it after the war. Legally, the government had to. They didn’t.

In Episode 1, we hear from three generations of Stoney Pointers about how every system failed them. They explain their longing to rebuild their community and what led them to take over a military base in 1993.

The episode is in memory of Anthony “Dudley” George.

Interviews include Bonnie Bressette, Caroline “Cully” George, Pierre George and Kevin Simon.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.