Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde
Episode 21: Policing, Health and Orange Shirt Day w Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler
Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario is National Chief Perry Bellegarde's guest. A veteran leader in the fight for a better system of justice for First Nations people, Grand Chief Fiddler and the National Chief discuss the key parts of the Liberal governments Throne Speech, including the importance of legislating indigenous policing as an essential service, ways to improve health care in First Nations communities, and the tragedy that, on Orange Shirt Day, Residential School survivors are still fighting for government compensation, decades after suffering systemic physical, sexual and mental abuse.
Alvin Fiddler is Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario. He’s also a member of the Muskrat Dam First Nation. In his decades of public service, Grand Chief Fiddler has led justice initiatives including the Ipperwash and Kashechewan inquests, and the joint inquest into the deaths of seven Nishnawbe Aski Nation youth in Thunder Bay. He also co-chaired the Debwewin Committee on implementing reforms to improve First Nations representation on Ontario juries.
A special thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan for providing the theme music for this podcast.
The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced in Ottawa by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions.