The Rocher River Descendants' Wrongful Amalgamation and Fight for Legal Recognition

On this episode, Rosemary is joined by her friend Brad McQueen, who is part of the Tatsanottine Dene (also known as Rocher River descendants) in the Northwest Territories. They discuss how his community, who are Treaty 8 signatories, were wrongfully amalgamated by the federal government in the 1960s. Brad also shares that continuing his grandmother’s fight for their Nation to get re-established and regain rightful legal recognition is a huge reason why he is pursuing law school. In Rosemary and Brad’s chats, a resounding theme shines through: that despite a people’s displacement by the colonial government, the sense of knowing where you are from, deep in your bones, is unshakeable and cannot be taken away.  Learn more about the Rocher River descendants' fight for recognition through the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) 2 part series:https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/refugees-in-our-land-rocher-river-displaced-people/https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/aptn-investigates-refugees-in-our-land/Tugah Northern Adventures, Brad’s family’s dog sledding tour company in Yellowknife:https://www.tugah.com/aboutus Image description and credit: View of the Hudson’s Bay Store and Demilt Store in Rocher River in summer 1995. Credit: Northwest Territories Archives. Follow us on Instagram @appealpodcast for more updates.Positive Morning Vibes by Universfield -- https://freesound.org/s/746212/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Hosted and edited by Rosemary Hu.Recorded at, and distributed by, CFUV Radio in Victoria, BC.