On December 25th ’21, we lost one of our beloved hosts of this podcast, as Candy Palmater passed away. We’ve come together one more time with hosts Jamar McNeil and Anne-Marie Mediwake as they, along with the producers of this show, share some of their fondest memories of Candy.

We will miss Candy’s powerful insights, funny stories and unique perspectives on so many important issues but especially on matters affecting Canada’s Indigenous communities. We are so incredibly honoured to have had her as part of this podcast.

In our final episode, we are shining the spotlight on the mental health of the BIPOC LGBTQ+ community. According to Rainbow Health Ontario, LGBTQ2S+ people experience stigma and discrimination, and this stigma can have a variety of negative consequences throughout the life span. Large Canadian studies indicate that LGBTQ2S+ people are more likely than heterosexuals to report unmet mental health needs and were more likely to consult mental health practitioners. To help us better understand some of the community’s experiences, we have three guests who share their journey and insights on this episode. Prabhjot Seehra grew up in a traditional South-Asian family and had to navigate his sexual identity as a gay man within traditional family structures, Preity Kumar who also grew up in a traditional Indo-Guyanese community shares the impact of her coming out as a queer woman on some of the most important relationships in her life and 20-year old Levi Nahirney, who knows what its like to navigate many identities after being adopted from Vietnam along with his twin sister and then coming out to his family as transgender when he was just 13. We also have queer-identified psychotherapist, Tenniel Brown, who talks about the mental health impacts of experiencing multiple forms of marginalization at a given time and what we need to do to be better allies to the community.

Here are the various conversations:

@5:39 - Prabhjot Seehra

28:55 - Preity Kumar

@55: 08 - Levi Nahirney

@1:13:48 – Psychotherapist Tenniel Brown

This episode contains discussion on mental health issues. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is in crisis please go to your local hospital or call 911 immediately. For information about services in your area, please visit www.cmha.ca. To reach the Canada Suicide Prevention Service, call 1.833.456.4566 or 1.866.APPELLE in Québec (1.866.277.3553).

Other resources:

Browns Consulting

Psychology Today

Black Therapist List

Ontario College of Social Workers

Ontario Association of Social Workers

Bell Let’s Talk

Canada’s Indian residential school system opened in the 1800s but the legacy of those schools is evident even today showing up in high poverty rates, over-representation of Indigenous children in foster care, a disproportionate number of Indigenous people in the prison system and hundreds of missing and murdered Indigenous women. And echoing what the community has been saying for a long time, since May of this year, more than 1,300 suspected graves have been found at or near former residential school grounds. In this episode, we speak with two residential school survivors, former First Nations chief Edmund Metatawabin from Fort Albany and Roberta Hill of the Six Nations of the Grand River, who give us first-hand accounts of the abuse and trauma they endured when they attended these residential schools. The episode also features children and grand-children of residential school survivors, Janet Head from Opaskwayak Cree Nation and author David Robertson, who share the lasting impacts these schools have had on their lives and community. Cree family physician, Dr. James Makokis, also gives us an understanding of what intergenerational trauma looks like from a professional lens and leaves us with resources on how intergenerational healing can take place.

Here are the various conversations:

@5:38 – Edmund Metatawabin

@41:39 – Roberta Hill

@56:29 – Janet Head

1:13:53 – David Robertson

1:32:04 – Dr. James Makokis

This episode contains discussion on mental health issues. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is in crisis please go to your local hospital or call 911 immediately. For information about services in your area, please visit www.cmha.ca. To reach the Canada Suicide Prevention Service, call 1.833.456.4566 or 1.866.APPELLE in Québec (1.866.277.3553).

Other Resources:

Bell Let's Talk

Mohawk Institute

David Robertson

Indian Residential School Survivors Society