E42 Senator Michèle Audette

We had the honor of a lifetime speaking with Senator Michèle Audette, Senator representing Quebec. She is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, a Commissioner for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Women of the Year awardee, and one of, if not the leading voice for Indigenous rights and justice in Canada today. Our discussion began with youth mental health and its stigmatization, before turning to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, focusing on the structural reasons why only two of the National Inquiry’s 231 Calls for Justice have been fully implemented and more than half remain unstarted. We then explored Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Indian Act (new registration entitlements), where Senator Audette shared her firsthand experience of the harms caused and how a one-parent status model could begin to address longstanding discrimination and structural inequalities in the Indian Act. The conversation also delved into Indigenous languages, from the significance of Senator Audette’s swearing-in oath in Innu to governmental strategies for meaningful protection and revitalization, as well as the graduate program she helped create in Indigenous public administration to advance community-led self-determination. Lastly, we discussed representation, examining how to strengthen women’s presence in elected office and support their success, alongside ways to deepen youth engagement in democracy through initiatives like shadowing programs, Voices of Youth Indigenous Leaders, and Bill S-222 (Vote16 Act). Stay until the end to hear in an alternate timeline where Senator Audette pursued her passion for the arts as a fine arts teacher, which discipline she would teach! Tshinashkumitin.