First Voices Radio

Doug George-Kanentiio joins Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse for the full hour. A few weeks ago, the remains of 215 children were found at the Kamloops Indian School in British Columbia, Canada.The Kamloops Indian Residential school was one of the largest in Canada and operated from the late 19th century to the late 1970s. The school was opened and run by the Catholic Church until the federal government took it over in the late 1960s. Indigenous children, some as young as 3 years old, we were forcibly taken from their families and put into residential schools in Canada. Same as what happened in Native boarding schools in the United States, their hair was cut off, they were forbidden to speak their Indigenous languages, and to see their families — some didn’t return home for many years. Countless children suffered terrible indignities, mistreatment, and horrors, including beatings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, disease, and even death. Residential school experiences continue to affect many survivors today. Doug George Kanentiio was one of those students. Doug attended the Mohawk Institute in Branford, Ontario, and wrote about it in a recent column, “Our Mohawk Councils Failed to Protect the Residential School Children,” published by indianz.com on June 14.

Doug George-Kanentiio was born and raised at the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne. He attended school on and near the reservation before enrolling at Syracuse University and then the Antioch School of Law. Doug was a co-founder of the Native American Journalists Association before serving the Mohawk Nation as editor of the journals Akwesasne Notes and Indian Time. He worked with the late Vine Deloria, Jr. on the Traditional Knowledge conferences before joining the Board of Trustees for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Doug is currently vice-president for the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge, a non-profit higher learning facility that is based on Iroquois principles. He resides on Oneida Iroquois Territory with his wife, the renowned Grammy-award winning artist Joanne Shenandoah.

Production Credits:
Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Lakota), Host and Executive Producer
Liz Hill (Red Lake Ojibwe), Producer
Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Studio Engineer and Audio Editor, WIOX 91.3 FM, Roxbury, NY

Music Selections:
1. Song Title: Tahi Roots Mix (First Voices Radio Theme Song)
Artist: Moana and the Moa Hunters
CD: Tahi (1993)
Label: Southside Records (Australia and New Zealand)
(00:00:44)

2. Song Title: Take Me Home
Artist: Indian City
CD: Here and Now (2017)
Label: Rising Sun Productions, Inc.
(00:52:05)

3. Song Title: It’s OK
Artist: Nightbirde
CD: It’s OK (2020)
Label: Next Level Recording
(00:56:15)