Journalist. Entrepreneur. Kwantlen FN, Nooksack Tribe. rjago.substack.com / knowledgekeepr.ca
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Bluesky seems like it's dead - at least for Native people (no disrespect to the 4 Native people I know on here). So I'm done for now. You can find me on Linkedin here: www.linkedin.com/in/robertjago/ Substack here: rjago.substack.com and Instagram here: www.instagram.com/rjjago/
I’ll definitely take a look - I’m actually going to the Okanagan in the next couple weeks to do interviews about Native peoples’ views on nature. Anyone you’d suggest talking to?
Next bracket - which Canadian icon should I name this dog park poop bin after? Bracket one: Terry Fox or the Holy Spirit?
I vote ogopogo, because what represents BC better than cultural misappropriation, and condescending treatment of cherished First Nations icons? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Head Huntress.
Accurate.
The bakery-going public won't be free until the last brioche is shredded with the crust of the last ciabatta.
This is exactly the type of accountability reporting that we need more of on reserve -- even when it comes from outside. First Nations governments are first and foremost - governments - creations of the Indian Act, and their citizens deserve an engaged press. therover.ca/cancelled-el...
I feel like law is the only profession where they think you're dumb for not knowing their shop-talk. Like dude, don't drop 'functus' in a sentence with a normie without explaining. If I use insider Native shop talk in a sentence, I explain it before moving on, because I'm trying to *communicate*.
I’ve noticed that Substack and Linkedin have become way more active lately.
A very well camouflaged owl in the park this morning.
Native politics viewpoint (+ seeing his people at the Summit) - as incorrect as Carney was, it comes from ignorance. That's fixable. It's not *IGNORANCE!!!* in the Poilievre sense, it's just not getting it. It's the difference between Canada and the US. One you can fight, and one you survive.
Then out and about today, ran into the Pride Parade and for real almost hit Mark Carney's motorcade on a scooter - my breaks screeched. But on the way saw #FailMayor For all the criticism people have of the PM, we always have SimCity to show us that Carney's at least making an honest effort.
My step daughter was by today and we spent the afternoon making Iron Chef fan fiction comics with AI. She has autism and very specific interests, which meant the Iron Chef battles got extra. As did the celebrity judges. 1
Doing research and stumbled on this population protection for the year 2025, done back in 1964 -- and wow. If the statistician is still alive, they deserve a medal.
Went to see samurai fight and taiko drummers with the kids, then Korean bbq and soju, and a scooter ride home in the midst of a swarm of twinks, and past the pride day skyline (and later the pride street disco).
Early morning seawall walk. Saw this big dummy about to do it... (if you don't know, seagulls eat starfish, but always to amusing results... google seagull eating starfish to see). Also saw a seal doing belly flops, but he stopped every time I took my camera out.
Returning to my disappointment at the Sunrise - this guy gets it: www.youtube.com/shorts/KgXGp...
BTW I found the episode, it's the cold open where Al Bundy is watching a John Wayne film called: "I shoot 'em cuz they're Injuns". That's woke commentary by 1980s/early 90s standards.
So looking forward to the Taiko drums - and also a chance to replace my Vancouver Asahi hat.
I was trying to find a specific episode of Married with Children, and then Google made it weird.
We discussed how going in with that mentality burns bridges in Indian Country - where government is close, and retribution frequent and unpunished. Treating both communities the same reveals an incuriosity or ignorance about First Nations life. We’re not a ‘minority’ group like any other.
A journalist in Northern Ontario posted these FYIs about talking to reporters. And they’re all true of course - but I had a conversation with a Native writer yesterday (before seeing this) - and every point is a rule we talked about breaking in First Nations communities.
Found a hidden gem at Uniqlo:
[checks BNA] woah, checks out
What if Justin Trudeau lost the boxing match?
I interviewed someone at SETI years ago and he explained that these sorts of robots are the most likely form of alien life - because they survive indefinitely- long past the lifespan of their creators. And if there are UFOs, they’d be orphaned, AI-run robot drones like these:
The same 60s Scoop, same residential schools - but the Post defends one and condemns the other. So it’s not the -cide that’s the sticking point, it’s the geno-.
New report - Russia is running residential schools, doing their own 60s Scoop in Ukraine (though at a proportionately far smaller scale than Canada did) - and the word ‘genocide’ is used for it without qualifiers. www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder...
Based on my experience during COVID, and that time I temporarily went deaf - and discovered that I was waaaaaay happier, because there was nothing to bug me in my home anymore.
And to avoid riots and disruption, the government opened up every empty home or place under construction, emptied the food stores, strategic fuel reserve, and everyone had a home, stuff was cheap, and scarcity didn't matter anymore.
Short Story Idea: we follow people through their day and everyone is fantastically happy, and then towards the end we pan up to see a comet getting closer to the earth. And slowly reveal that everyone's happy because in the year since we found out, construction stopped, advertising stopped...
Everything you said is wrong.
First thought: Spock. Punk. Bus nerve pinch. Second thought: no one does it in loud places. Let bus drivers play music. Give people a reason to put headphones in.
Found in my Notes when I woke up: if X-Files was set in the Star Trek universe, it would be about a racist cop who blamed aliens for everything. Not sure what I can do with that, but point taken.
Now for me - that makes the story of Sasquatch brave and worthy of reverence - not a joke to pit against raccoons. Same for cedar - our olive branch - they pit against weed or whatever. I was married on a bed of cedar, per the customs of this country.
I actually did a podcast explaining that the outsider awareness of Sasquatch owes a lot to the Sts’ailes nation appropriating appropriation to practice our illegal faith in public, and save our holy relics from destruction. www.canadaland.com/podcast/816-...
I’m not super thrilled that the state broadcaster is jokingly putting Salish supernatural beings up for a vote to see which best represents BC. That seems like asking which picture of Mohammed to put on a stamp. Young Mohammed or Old Mohammed? What fun…
I never cease to be impressed by the public administration of certain band and tribal governments. There's a tsunami heading this way -- and it comes during the big intertribal paddle 'festival' with dozens of First Nations canoes and hundreds of paddlers on the ocean right now.
A friend helps run a venue on Main Street in Vancouver and they’re hosting a Taylor Swift dance party this week and asked for help getting the word out - so if you know anyone who might be interested: www.eventbrite.com/e/heratige-a...
Hello I am a First Nations person in a Canadian film, I am currently in or have just left a residential school.
One satellite per 600 users?!?!
CBC needs a program for new reporters, to make them visit different parts of the country.
Up early, so decided to watch the sun rise. ngl don’t understand the appeal. It’s like sunset’s anemic cousin. 2/10.
I've tried 4 or 5 different ways to create a Twitter account to scan it for business purposes, and it's failed every time. I don't know how anyone is still joining that site. Tried email, phone, hosted email, apple, google, nothing works, errors every time.
Aztec Batman
Awesome.
Make this movie.
Those paving stones are everywhere, but the taupe architecture really is an eastern thing. I moved to Toronto from Vancouver ages ago and remember thinking 'wtf, is this?!'. Southwest BC is uniformly blue and green glass, as real estate God intended.
I think that’s an issue with the edit and changing some hedging language tbth. I do think more stuff will end up moving south / or rather more stuff will get National Interest status in the south than north. But I can write more about that later. Tweeting in between takes.
For a project I'm looking at old reporting on Native warfare, and found this from a newspaper in 1763, talking about why Natives are mad. (remember, unless its at the end of the word, the 's' looks like an 'f' in old typography):
Dunno. Definitely retiring though. So many of those old guys with band money have Mexican villas so maybe that? He deserves it.
Sonny McHalsie's big going away event is next week out there. You can see everyone at that.
I've got an article out on the Narwhal today... talking about the First Nations Leaders Summit from the inside. One thing I talk about in this piece that I haven't elsewhere was how weird it was to see the disrespect from Cabinet Ministers to Musqueam MP, Wade Grant.
Oh my! That's not enough food for that many steps. But also, that's a LOT of steps. You'd be surprised how few people can do that.
You can follow them here: bsky.app/profile/dave...
I love this (sad it has to happen / but happy people like these are willing to take that leap for their principles): youtube.com/shorts/muZsC...
These are great points - English is an stress-timed language - where the space between each stress is equal, even if the number of syllables in between is different. Classic case: the cat sat on the mat. Stress on each A, with the 'onthem' crunched down, but perfectly comprehensible...
That feeling when you see an announcement from the government, and realize that you were siting on a 'scoop' and didn't do anything with it. Womp womp.
I’m not thrilled with that podcast network using tape of me introducing the podcast as a stand in to direct criticism over something I had no control of, and no advance say.
That’s my view of the imagery. But I’m not a fan of Western music to begin with, and it doesn’t represent my creative voice - if that doesn’t sound too pretentious.
We were a few episodes in before Angel and I realized the music they added was AI. I never listened to it that carefully-just skipped to script stuff to edit.
For my old podcast, Pretendians, people on reddit and from the old podcast network were complaining about our use of AI music. For the record it was going to be Kendrick’s DNA, then Lizzo’s Truth Hurts - then we settled on this: youtu.be/omkZtbmjLGA?... but the rights never came together..
Siri needs to have a different name in Canada. I swear, every interaction I have with another human here - and that thing's going off.
It’s the sushi, isn’t it? That’s a me thing. I ate fish every meal for my first 5 years of life, and will never touch it again as long as I live.
5. We’re now in the era of Pan-Indigenous cultural colonization. Not just pan-Indian like before. But stuff is coming from the big US nations in the south, and going from here to Australia and New Zealand. It’s a flattening of culture, powered by those who suck up grants meant to preserve it.
2. E-bikes are the best way to get around for any distance under 15k each way. 3. A machine can do your work without taking your job. 4. Bacon, beer, donuts, maple syrup, and sushi are all horrible.
1. The Subway vegetarian sub (sans veggie patty - and covered in pickles, onions and pickled peppers) is a culinary delight and still good value for the money. It’s low cal, and a go-to fast food for me if I’m trapped away from a kitchen.
Maybe they meant to say ‘father’ - not how I read it…
Heading back from my manic pixie dream city, to my vegan fitness influencer town.
Oh! that rooming house... weird how they're all so flammable. Any word if they got everyone out?
Big fire in East Van - anyone know what it is?
Canadian reference. The Liberal PM, and the Conservative party leader.
Also - finally found végé-pâté - a former sine qua non of my wife’s friday night “girl dinner”. It’s like not pate, and you put it on toast?
Montreal food trip - sadly Triple Crown (and its Big Nasty) is gone. So went to Romados for charcoal fired chicken - rotisserie chicken is such a thing here that Gordon Ramsay briefly tried to capitalize on it with a restaurant on Laurier. #CrisseDânes
Montreal food trip continued some more - potatoes dauphinois in a can. Impossible to find in BC or order online, but this one shop in Atwater has them. *Had* them. They’re uncomfortably, inexplicably good, creamy, rich…
Thanks! Fingers crossed my 40-something body will still be cool with it tomorrow.
Good enough that you gotta buy 2.
And if you’re wondering how I could possibly eat that much… new steps record (and that’s not counting the 30km biking, or factoring the sprint up Mount Royal.
Montreal food tour continued… Coco Rico and their roasted potatoes that cook on the bottom of their chicken rotisserie and boil then bake in chicken fat. Plus ribs, because they gave me a deal as it was right before close.
Glad I caught you before the hour was up to say thank-you for being there to cover our local story when it was needed.
Montreal food tour continued... Lester's - the better smoked meat, the betamax of brisket. All the meat, none of the tourists.
Just did a very sweaty interview with APTN (I just ran up Mt Royal stairs).
Back in Montreal for a few days. Which inevitably will become a food tour. First stop: Wilensky’s. My old afternoon-sneak-away from the office tradition.
Yep, I know - they held us back and went looking for a stamp and that’s the first one they found.
Posted an update on the Summit on my substack rjago.substack.com/p/summit-wra...
Hey other Indians. Suck it, today in Ottawa I *literally* got a stamp on my hand from the Prime Minister's Office to confirm that I'm officially "One of the Good Ones". Not even kidding. There was a protest outside of the Summit and they stamped our hands so they could tell us apart.
I thought this was going to be an impactful picture at the Summit today, but now that I look at it, it just looks like Mark Carney is balancing a smaller mark carney on his head.
For online participants, the leadership summit is a mess. It’s behind schedule and all you can do is watch the feed of the in-person chiefs talking to ministers while you wait for it to resume - hopefully before it breaks for lunch.
Summit feeling like high school - where you lived on the zone boundary, and none of your elementary school friends transferred over with you. The only Salish person I've seen here is an MP.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
You'd have to go back in time to 1996 when it was plentiful. The closest is the Halifax donair on Davie at that place by Celebrities, or Superbaba on Broadway and Main. Both are good... but they don't have the fat, the grease, or the choice of toppings.
This shawarma would be a felony in Vancouver. Sooooo good. Skipped a free Def Leppard concert for it. Right choice.
Oh! I was disconnected from the news and apparently that thing that grounded us was a hijacking ?!?! www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
Well at least it’s not just me. I showed up and have been shuffled off into a spillover room with the other technocrats.
I’m waiting outside the summit venue, dreading going in and going through all that - still no confirmation from feds. But watching all the chiefs arrive is interesting. Almost no women??? Very different from our region.
