Honouring Indigenous Children & Motherhood — with Angel Gates and Eva Takakanew

Content Warning: The stories in this series deal with difficult and sometimes traumatic topics. This episode in particular discusses substance use, family separation and residential schools. Please practice self care, stop listening, and seek help if you need to. Scroll down to find links to available supports.

For the final installment of the Voices of the Street podcast series, host Angel Gates invites Megaphone author Eva Takakanew into conversation about her powerful writings.

As longtime friends, Angel and Eva share and discuss pieces of writing that shine a light on the traumatic histories and ongoing impacts of the Indian Residential School system and the Sixties Scoop.

Eva reads her poem, “My Mother’s Comfort,” published in the 2021 Voices of the Street anthology, as well as her article, “The truth must be told,” calling for truth and accountability from colonial institutions.

Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/voices-of-the-street/165-angel-gates-eva-takakanew.html

Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/165-angel-gates-eva-takakanew.html

Mental Health Support:
Crisis Centre BC: https://crisiscentre.bc.ca/
Indian Residential School Survivors Society: https://www.irsss.ca/services
KUU-US Crisis Line: https://www.kuu-uscrisisline.com/
WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre: https://www.wavaw.ca/
BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services: http://www.bcmhsus.ca/

More Resources:
— “The truth must be told” by Eva Takakanew: https://www.megaphonemagazine.com/vendor_voices_july_2021
— ‘Neglected in Life, Dishonoured in Death’ - The Tyee: https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/06/01/Neglected-Life-Dishonoured-Death-TRC-Excerpt/
— Megaphone Speakers Bureau: https://speakersbureau.megaphonemagazine.com/

About the series:
The 2021 Voices of the Street anthology, “INSIDE we are all the same,” jumps from the page in this special podcast series.

Featuring interviews with writers and personal reflections on how their lived experiences merge with the themes of the text, this podcast series illuminates Voices of the Street in a new way.

The Voices of the Street podcast is a six-part series for Below the Radar, curated and hosted by participants of Megaphone’s Speakers Bureau.

Read more: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/voices-of-the-street.html

Bios:

Angel Gates is aboriginal from the Haida Nation. She is the proud mother of three amazing kids and has been a dog owner for five years. She is a passionate human being and activist always fighting for human rights or the environment. When she is not doing work with the Megaphone Speakers Bureau, she is an actress. She has been nominated for Best Actress twice. At night she likes to relax with a glass or two of vodka and smoke crystal methamphetamine.

Eva Takakanew was born in Edmonton, Alberta and is from Thunderchild First Nation near Turtleford, Saskatchewan. She is a descendant of Chief Poundmaker. Eva moved to Vancouver and lived with her biological mom until just after her first birthday and then was adopted at the age of two. Last July, Eva graduated with a diploma in family community counselling from Native Education College and hopes to one day work with youth. She also has aspirations to become a Native court worker. Eva loves to write and says it helps her calm her busy brain, which never seems to shut off.

Cite this episode:
Chicago Style

Gates, Angel. “Voices of the Street: Honouring Indigenous Children & Motherhood — with Angel Gates and Eva Takakanew” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, March 22, 2022. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/voices-of-the-street/165-angel-gates-eva-takakanew.html