Indigenous-centered podcast has live recording in Winnipeg

By Cady Pavagadhi

Rick Harp, MEDIA INDIGENA’s editor-in-chief, takes a question from the audience at the live recording of the MEDIA INDIGENA podcast which focused on the legalization of marijuana on Oct.18, 2018./SUPPLIED

 

Indigenous, non-Indigenous students and community members attended a live recording of the MEDIA INDIGENA podcast on October 18 at the University of Winnipeg.

MEDIA INDIGENA is a weekly podcast that focuses on Indigenous current affairs. Rick Harp, host and producer for MEDIA INDIGENA, said the goals of the podcast are to share stories he wished to hear as an Indigenous person, the way he wished to hear them.

The podcast provides guests the freedom to speak without filters and fear, and this is what makes the podcast so special. MEDIA INDIGENA has grown immensely in the past eight years, and recently began hosting live podcast recordings. 

The event was the second ever live recording of the MEDIA INDIGENA podcast. The podcast’s round-table regulars, Rick Harp and Kim TallBear, discussed the legalization of cannabis and its relation to the Indigenous community.

Featured was special guest Tim Fontaine, founder and Editor-in-Grand Chief of Walking Eagle News. Traveling from Alberta, Fontaine came to Winnipeg for the Weweni Indigenous Scholars Speaker Series, as well as the MEDIA INDIGENA podcast.

The event was hosted by the University of Winnipeg Students Association (UWSA). Morgan Brightnose, president of UWSA, is the second Indigenous president of the association, and one of a few Indigenous people to ever be on the executive team. Brightnose personally reached out to MEDIA INDIGENA this past summer when planning what he wanted to provide the students with as president.

He said he wanted to deliver a consistent resource of Indigenous affairs for the community.

“If I wouldn’t do it, who would?” Brightnose said. “If we host inclusive events for Indigenous people, it will hopefully help them see themselves as a part of something larger.”

Last fall, The University of Winnipeg recorded 13 per cent of first-year students identified as Indigenous – one of the strongest Indigenous participation rates among other Canadian universities. Although there is a large Indigenous population within the community, there are few events that provide what MEDIA INDIGENA does. Both Brightnose and Harp said they feel as though mass media did not serve and represent their demographic growing up, and they hope to change that for others.

“What I like about MEDIA INDIGENA is that is it for us, by us,” Brightnose said.

Harp’s goal is to continue to involve the audience as much as possible. He said the weekly podcast provides the opportunity to build a community of like-minded people within a larger community. Storytelling and conversation have always been a central part of Indigenous cultures, and Harp is using this to share a variety of topics.

“We’ve barely scratched the surface,” Harp said.

 

To find out more about MEDIA INDIGENA and the live podcast recording, visit www.mediaindigena.com.

 

Morgan Brightnose prepares for the live MEDIA INDIGENA podcast event on Oct 18, 2018. The UWSA president was the driving factor for getting the event to the University of Winnipeg./CADY PAVAGADHI