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After a stellar, groundbreaking career as a musician and advocate for Indigenous people and causes, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s stated connections to any tribe in Canada or the U.S. appear to be completely made up. The revelations in an investigation by the CBC’s The Fifth Estate are a heartbreaking disappointment to her fans who saw her as a trailblazer in an industry with so little positive Native representation. At least one Indigenous group is calling for a recent Juno Award for best album to be rescinded. Others like the Piapot First Nation, the Cree tribe Sainte-Marie identified with for more than a half century, stand behind her. Does she deserve complete outrage? Or can we, as Cree author Michelle Good asks, “remember the power that was there regardless of her deception?”

GUESTS

Dr. Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Environment and a professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta

Michelle Good (Red Pheasant Cree Nation), author, retired lawyer, and activist

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Cree Confederation (artist) Pakosiyimitan (album)

Break 2 Music: Crossroad Blues (song) Lakota John (artist) Lakota John and Kin (album)

Watch Sainte-Marie address the investigation here:

 

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In a 2022 interview with Native America Calling, Buffy Sainte-Marie talked about her personal history, including her adoption by the family who raised her.

@nativevoiceoneEXCLUSIVE: Watch Native America Calling host Shawn Spruce asks Buffy Sainte-Marie some poignant questions about her personal history, as part of a never-released pre-show conversation conducted in November 2022. This Tuesday, Shawn hosts a special edition of Native America Calling. https://www.nativeamericacalling.com/tuesday-november-7-2023-buffy-sainte-marie-the-weight-of-the-truth♬ original sound – Native Voice One

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Four northern tribes won a historic $59 million settlement with the federal government after a legal battle dating back three decades. The substance of the Pembina Tribes’ lawsuit is rooted in a treaty in the mid-19th Century. We’ll talk about what it takes to hold the United States accountable for dishonorable actions and the slow, difficult process to finally prevail against the odds.

GUESTS

Leslie Ann Wilkie Peltier (Pembina of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), Peltier v. Haaland lead plaintiff representative 

Melody McCoy (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Native American Rights Fund staff attorney

Chairman Jamie Azure (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians)

Break 1 Music: Migwitch Mahnomen (song) Chippewa Pow-Wow Drum Group In Ball Club, Leech Lake Reservation (artist) Songs of the Chippewa, Vol. 1 – Minnesota Chippewa Game and Social Dance Songs (album)

Break 2 Music: Crossroad Blues (song) Lakota John (artist) Lakota John and Kin (album)

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The increase in unprecedented damage from wildfires knows no boundaries and International Indigenous fire management experts see global participation as a solution. At the heart of their work is recognition that climate change is a major contributing factor.  They’re bringing traditional fire knowledge to a new generation who are inheriting some of the worst conditions for destructive wildfires in history. We’ll talk with some of those gathered for this year’s Indigenous Peoples Burning Workshop.

GUESTS

Charity Battise (Alabama Coushatta), student at the University of Oklahoma  

Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, and Yurok), Indigenous fire practitioner

Victor Steffensen (Tagalaka descendent), lead fire practitioner of the Firesticks Indigenous Alliance

Break 1 Music: Fire (song) Jimi Hendrix (artist) Are You Experienced? (album)

Break 2 Music: Bear Beats (song) Cheevers Toppah (artist) True Melodies (album)

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Since time immemorial, the Kuskokwim River in Southwest Alaska has fed Native families. Now, after years of failed salmon runs, Native families are confronting the potential loss of this vital resource. At the same time they are caught in the middle of a legal battle between the federal government and the state over how best to manage fishing in rivers that flow through both jurisdictions. The Alaska Federation of Natives just joined several tribal groups, taking he federal government’s side in the fight. We’ll look at what’s at stake for Alaska Native residents in this latest chapter in the evolving fight over subsistence fishing.

GUESTS

 Curt Chamberlain (member of the Native Village of Aniak), assistant general counsel for the Calista Corporation

Serena Fitka (Yup’ik), executive director of the Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association

Dr. Mike Williams (Yupiaq), vice chair of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Break 1 Music: Qalurru (Dip Netting) (song) Pamyua (artist) Drums of The North: Traditional Yup’ik Songs (album)

Break 2 Music: Bear Beats (song) Cheevers Toppah (artist) True Melodies (album)

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A non-Native woman in Alaska refuses to abide by a tribal court order to turn an Alaska Native foster child over to the girl’s family members. It’s a blatant disregard of tribal sovereignty even after a notable re-affirmation of the Indian Child Welfare Act by the U.S. Supreme Court. The woman took custody of the child, named Chanel, at the request of the girl’s father, right before he was convicted of murdering Chanel’s mother during a domestic dispute. We’ll look at that case, as well as efforts to bolster ICWA compliance elsewhere.

GUESTS

 Antonia Commack (Iñupiaq from the Native Village of Shungnak), best friend of Baby Chanel’s mother 

Bossii Opsal (Iñupiaq from the Native Village of Koyuk), Sacramento State University student and social media influencer 

Simona Bearcub (citizen of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes), community defense and land defender 

Matthew Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), law professor at the University of Michigan Law School and author of the “Turtle Talk” blog

Sydney Tarzwell, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund

Break 1 Music: Son of the Sun (song) Willie Dunn (artist) Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, And Country 1966-1985 (album)

Break 2 Music: Bear Beats (song) Cheevers Toppah (artist) True Melodies (album)

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One way Indigenous cultures keep kids in line is with frightening traditional stories that have a moral or practical lesson. They include tales of children being dragged underwater for wandering too close to the sea or getting haunted by bad spirits if they don’t respect their parents. We’re gathering around the microphone, turning off the lights, and listening to spooky stories from Cherokee, Muskogee, Inuit, and other storytellers, with special guest host Alyssa Yáx̱ Ádi Yádi London.

GUESTS

Choogie Kingfisher (United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma), storyteller and 2019 Cherokee National Treasure

Chris “Honka” Hill (Muskogee Creek), co-host of the Spirit Talkers Podcast

Break 1 Music: I Saw the Witch Cry (song) Anasazi (artist)

Break 2 Music: My Island Home (song) Warumpi Band (artist)

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Renowned director Martin Scorsese’s vision for the new movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon”, changed early in the production. He said he realized he wanted to be more respectful of the Osage Nation and its people in telling the dark period in their history. He brought on Osage consultants and Native talent throughout all aspects of the production from the script to the wardrobe. We’ll get perspectives on how this painful history was handled on screen.

GUESTS

Margo Gray (Osage), executive director for the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma and a direct descendant of Henry Roan 

Dr. Robert Warrior (Osage), Hall Distinguished professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kansas

Tara Damron (Osage), program director at the White Hair Memorial learning center

Plus, pre-recorded conversations with:

Christopher Côté (Osage), Osage language teacher and Killers of the Flower Moon language consultant 

Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear (Osage)

Break 1 Music: Salvation Adagio (song) Robbie Robertson (artist) Killers of the Flower Moon Soundtrack

Break 2 Music: My Island Home (song) Warumpi Band (artist)

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This month marks 220 years since the ratification of the Louisiana Purchase. In one fell swoop, the United States doubled in size, adding much of the land between the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. It was also the moment when colonial powers embraced the momentum of westward expansion that ushered in Manifest Destiny, the Indian Removal Act, and other actions that favored European settlement at the expense of the land’s original inhabitants.

GUESTS

Patty Ferguson Bonhee (Pointe-au-Chien), director of the Indian Legal Clinic and Clinical Professor of Law at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University

Dr. Laura Kelley, professor of history at Tulane University

Jonathan Rohrer, tribal historic preservation officer for the Caddo Nation

Break 1 Music: Caddo Round Dance Song (song) Stanley Edge (artist) Folk Music of The United States Issued from the Collections of the Archive of American Folk Song (album)

Break 2 Music: My Island Home (song) Warumpi Band (artist)