New CBC British Columbia podcast uncovers land theft in Canada
Listen to Land Back now
Listen to Land Back and subscribe now at CBC Listen, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
Land Back. You've seen it on banners unfurled from overpasses, spray painted on walls and cited in legal documents. But what does it actually mean?
In the new CBC British Columbia podcast Land Back, Gitxsan host Angela Sterritt takes a deep dive into land theft in Canada. The award-winning CBC reporter travels through Indigenous territories and speaks to leaders to understand how the federal and provincial governments still control the mass of land in Canada, despite Indigenous ancestral rights and title to land which has been proven in courts time and again.
From Gitanmaax to Sen̓áḵw to Unist'ot'en, and from blockades to court battles and government negotiations, Sterritt looks at the ways Indigenous people are pushing against colonial institutions to take their land back.
Land Back is available now at CBC Listen, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
Episode 1: The Eviction
Is evicting settlers what we mean when Indigenous people say "land back"? Gitxsan podcast host Angela Sterritt meets the leaders who fought Canada in the historic Delgamuukw case regarding Aboriginal title, and learns why that battle continues today.
Episode 2: War Zone
A day in the life of Sleydo' – a devoted mom who faces down police raids on the frontlines of the conflict between the Coastal Gaslink pipeline and Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs.
Episode 3: The Dream
Angela visits the Unist'ot'en resistance camp in Wet'suwet'en territory and meets three generations of women committed to this vision. Along the way, she is forced to face the complexities of reclaiming land in the midst of colonization.
Episode 4: The Bridge
Near the ruins of a residential school, three Sto:lo nations reclaim 60 hectares of Crown land in the Fraser Valley. Angela meets with a survivor and hears about the connection between residential schools and land theft.
Episode 5: A Village Burned
In 1913, the Squamish village of Sen̓áḵw is burned and residents are barged away to make room for the developing city of Vancouver. Now, a slice of that land is reclaimed. Angela investigates what "land back" means in the heart of Squamish, and why it's making some white people upset.
Episode 6: The Crown
In the final episode, Angela puts questions from Indigenous land defenders to Canada's Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller, and asks why governments talk about reconciliation but still fight First Nations in court.
