my five-part series on Indigenous children in care finished airing today. here it all is, in its entirety, if you're interested. I. 'the savage-civilized dichotomy'

According to the TRC, peak enrolment at residential schools reached 11,539 in '56-57.

Data from the 2016 census, the latest that is available, suggests around 14,970 Indigenous children are in foster care.

cbc.ca/listen/live-ra…

an indigenous person cutting their braids is an incredibly powerful, emotional act.

https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1311762466414632960

growing our hair is often a sign of healing. a journey. it's not one we take lightly. we often start the growth of our hair as a symbol of recovery, and cut it when the pain is too much. we leave the symbol with what hurts us, and begin anew.

each and every day i think about how residential schools ripped the culture away from nohkom (my grandmother). this does not and will not go away for me. today is a good day for unaffected folks to remember, to learn and to action around the legacy of residential schools. according to 2016 census data, 52.2% of kids aged 0-14 in foster care are Indigenous, even though they represent only 7.7% of the total child population here. there are just over 28,000 kids are currently in the foster care system. that's ~14,600 kids.

we need to remember the story of aaron swartz, who literally died advocating for gatekeepers like jstor to allow the general public to access academic articles and journals

https://twitter.com/JSTOR/status/1299444402071404544

colleges and universities are generally less accessible to poor people - even though they are publicly funded. those who attend college get access to jstor and therefore have the resources to contribute to databases of academic journals like jstor in their studies.

it is time for some

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/ \ "can you spare some kibble"

Thread: 2005 was a particularly bad year for the Edmonton Police Service - I helped @NehiyawRob and his brother Joel tell their story from 15 years ago.

cbc.ca/1.5652300 Rob and Joel say they were arrested and assaulted by two EPS officers. they say police took them on a version of a 'starlight tour,' a practice where police would put people in the back of a police van, drive them around and drop them off in an unknown area for them to walk back.

in 2013, washington football team owner dan snyder said he'd "NEVER" change the name -- even told reporters to use caps. wild how much the needle can move in a few years. also important to note that there is precedent for team name change in D.C. based on the advancement of societal issues -- in the 90s, the washington NBA team was called the bullets. but the owner, citing high gun crime in the city, changed the name to the wizards.

my first for @CBCDay6: i explored a couple facets of the #yeg football team name that i think hadn't been talked about much. cbc.ca/1.5643356 1) the etymology of the word.

i was always taught the E-word came from the Cree word for 'he eats it raw.' but linguists think it actually came from the Innu word for 'netter of snowshoes.'

cbc.ca/1.5643356

last year, i went to report on a Cree culture camp in saskatchewan for @DocProjectCBC and @CBCUnreserved. i left with my life changed forever, and i made a radio documentary about it. thread! a bit of BG: i grew up unable to engage in Métis/Cree tradition. much of it was ripped away from us once nohkom was sent to an Indian day school. i talked about it a bit in this thread.

https://twitter.com/kylemuzyka/status/1177003394160123904

just absolutely dumb-guy confused that some people are finding out about systemic racism now when some of their favourite (predominantly Black and Indigenous) musicians have been screaming this in their ear for decades what are YOUR favourite songs about systemic racism? one of mine is i pity the country by willie dunn.

the polaris long list came out this week! some truly great artists/records on there. but i wanted to share a few records that didn't make the list that i loved.

polarismusicprize.ca/long-list/ Garçons - Be Human (just straight up genre benders) open.spotify.com/album/218UehGT…

bad music opinions i have: a thread 1) i love the four really popular sugar ray songs

i read this story from @SStevensonCBC a few days ago and was reminded of something thomas king wrote in the inconvenient indian: did you know that as late as 1951, Indigenous people were not even allowed in pool halls? cbc.ca/news/canada/ed… the law was introduced in 1930 as a part of the Indian Act. pool hall owners could receive a fine and up to one month in jail for allowing it.

bit of convo re: frank oliver and his racist past. wanted to share a couple stories i wrote on this, most of which is still salient today. cbc.ca/news/canada/ed… the follow-up, talking about how instead of us erasing history, it's actually a teachable moment to rename and remove: cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

when statues come down and things are renamed, I find it interesting that there's a faction of people who believe it's erasing history - when systems have been doing that for, well, ever. one of many examples: the legacy residential school not being taught in schools until 2015. cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

quick thread about something weird that happened to me. a few weeks ago, my Amazon account was breached. I found out because I got a notification that I spent $97 on some weird bamboo art. here's the catch: it was on my account, but it was purchased by a card that isn't mine and was set to deliver to an old address (I don't really shop on Amazon anymore so it had out-of-date info).

quick thread: a few weeks ago, much before it was mandatory, the care home she stays in limited visitors to one per visit. they also closed off visits entirely much before it was necessary. it was to protect people like her.

https://twitter.com/kylemuzyka/status/1247311752024350721

today, my mom and auntie got to visit her (keeping their distance) for her birthday. she was very happy to see them.

RCMP have arrested and charged an adult man with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the two Métis men who were killed near Siebert Lake. More info coming tomorrow.

background: cbc.ca/1.5516904 update: here's some more info, including name of accused, Anthony Michael Bilodeau. police believe there was a "physical confrontation" between occupants of two vehicles, when Bilodeau arrived in a third vehicle and shot them. Bilodeau also turned himself into Bonnyville RCMP.

made a fricking playlist! feat. @TTTOPSSS @KotaTheFriend @CarolineRoseFM @Thundercat @aladeankheroufi @MTHADLEY @theestallion @deatochrisantho @Elaquent @emmettkaimusic and a whole bunch more. open.spotify.com/playlist/4iCxE… addendum: r&b duo ÎVA's track Anersaartorit is so, so great. open.spotify.com/track/4ldsyZWU…

both @anothercardinal and @onemorecardinal are doing some important work, trying to quantify the effects of COVID-19 on Indigenous artists. @naheyawin cbc.ca/1.5501436 The consensus: many need immediate help. "Indigenous artists, it's not like we were in a fantastically secure place prior to this outbreak — many artists were already in a quite tenuous position," Jacquelyn says.

john oliver for sure going to do an episode on canada and pipelines and blockades and protests soon and i for one am not looking forward to the situation being oversimplified. it's always interesting when these shows do big takeouts on stories i pay close attention to and how i feel like they miss lots of nuance.