Unreserved: Canada Reads, fashion missteps and mandated learning

Education — whether in school or in life — is key to unlocking misconceptions and letting in new ways of thinking.

Indigenous peoples sometimes call education the new buffalo; where this once abundant animal once sustained entire nations, we must now find new ways to nurture and grow.

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This could mean walking with each other down the dark path of racism and talking toward a new path of understanding. It means acknowledging our roles as teachers, even when we don’t want to. It is also in the reclaiming of names and challenging the names that are used to label.

This week on Unreserved:

High school students from across Canada gathered in Winnipeg to share experiences of racism in hopes of breaking down barriers and building bridges. Grace Genaille, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student, was one of 250 delegates who attended the three-day conference called Bridging the Gap. We’ll also find out how vice-provost of Aboriginal Initiatives Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux is re-indigenizing Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

Plus, artist Aaron Paquette, writer Marilyn Dumont and comedian Ryan McMahon talk about being "inconvenient Indians" and educating white people. In preparation for the launch of CBC's Canada Reads on March 16 - 19. This panel discusses one of the contenders, Thomas King’s book The Inconvenient Indian and share their experiences.

And how a fashion line crossed cultural boundaries.

Lisa Charleyboy is the owner of Urban Native magazine and is a fashion follower. But when she saw the latest frocks to hit a Milan runway her jaw hit the floor.

Canadian design duo, Dsquared2, launched a new fashion line they say is inspired by First Nations. They are calling it  #Dsquaw. Find out why Charleyboy calls that the glamorization of colonization.

Plus music by: Sierra Noble, Digging Roots, The Johnnys, and Shaun Anderson.

Tune into CBC Radio One after the 5 p.m. news in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut and after the 4 p.m. news in Yukon and the N.W.T. for these stories and more on Unreserved. 

You can also listen on demand.​