Episode 60: The Valley of the Birdtail with Douglas Sanderson and Andrew Stobo Sniderman

Ahkameyimok Podcast with Perry Bellegarde

Chief Perry is thrilled to be joined Douglas Sanderson and Andrew Stobo Sniderman for a fascinating and thoughtful conversation about their new book, "The Valley of the Birdtail."

It is a heart-rending, true story about racism and reconciliation.

Divided by a beautiful valley and 150 years of racism, the town of Rossburn and the Waywayseecappo Indian reserve have been neighbours nearly as long as Canada has been a country. Their story reflects much of what has gone wrong in relations between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians. It also offers, in the end, an uncommon measure of hope.

DOUGLAS SANDERSON (AMO BINASHII) is the Prichard Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and has served as a senior policy advisor to Ontario’s attorney general and minister of Indigenous affairs. He is Swampy Cree, Beaver clan, of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

ANDREW STOBO SNIDERMAN is a writer, lawyer, and Rhodes Scholar from Montreal. He has written for the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, and Maclean’s. He has also argued before the Supreme Court of Canada, served as the human rights policy advisor to the Canadian minister of foreign affairs, and worked for a judge of South Africa’s Constitutional Court.

And thanks to the Red Dog Singers for our theme song, Interbal.