When an Opioid Crisis hits a First Nation it’s different than in a city. In the city the addicted are mostly strangers. But in Pikwakanagan, if you see somebody behaving strangely on the reserve, you know them. You know your neighbor's business. You are your brother's keeper. So addiction is not just about the pain of losing somebody you love. It's about desperately hoping to save someone you love or protect someone you love.

In the final chapter of The Newfoundlander, Justin meets a distant Brake relative of the same age — someone who asked a lot of the same questions he did, but ended up in a very different place.

Often underreported or ignored by national media, the unique and complex issues facing the people who call Yukon home rarely get the attention they deserve.

Starting in the early 2000s, the federal government allowed for the creation of a new First Nations band in Newfoundland, the Qalipu First Nation. Many people from across the province joined, including Justin Brake and his family. But, did they have a legitimate claim to Indigenous ancestry?

Three generations of Indigenous panelists join us this week on what The Backbench thought was the biggest story of 2021: the unmarked graves on former residential school grounds. We break format to take stock of what has been promised and repromised, the diversity of demands from Indigenous communities, and what a new "interlocutor" position can do to help with healing.

The discovery of 215 residential school children in a mass grave spurs this week's discussion on how journalists report stories about Indigenous people. And in the wake of this news, a Bill that could empower Indigenous children is largely eclipsed. 

102 Indigenous children died in Ontario’s child welfare system because of underfunding and an indefensible inequality of services.

If there's one lesson we can take away from what's happened with Jody Wilson-Raybould, it's to tape all of your calls. And what's more important to the Trudeau Liberals: reconciliation or cold hard donations?

Betty Ann Adam is a reporter with the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. She is also a survivor of the “Sixties Scoop”. When she was a toddler, the Canadian government pried her from her mother’s arms. She was raised by foster parents. A modern version of this is still happening to Indigenous children across Canada.  

Welcome back to a brand-new season of Commons! To kick things off, the Commons team is profiling each of the four candidates vying to replace Thomas Mulcair as leader of the federal NDP. This week, we speak with Guy Caron. Also, we look at the summer political stories that evolved while we were on hiatus: the Charlottesville tragedy and subsequent events in Canada, the influx of asylum seekers crossing the border and Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle which may have just doubled the bureaucracy for Indigenous peoples.