Sierra Youth Podcast

We’ve made the difficult decision to move on from this chapter of our lives. Join us as we come together for one final group chat as a verbal love letter to this project, each other, and you - our listeners. Get ready for laughter, a few tears, and a whole lot of gratitude as we reminisce on our favourite moments from the past two years. Stay tuned though! There’s more to come from the next Sierra Youth Executive Committee members! We hope you enjoy this episode and don’t forget to keep the conversation going and rate, review and subscribe! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! Follow us on Instagram!

Hello everyone and happy National Poetry Month! This month, we are so excited to be chatting with Selina Boan. Selina is a white settler-nehiyaw writer currently living on the traditional and unceded territories of the thexʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-waututh), and sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) peoples. Her debut poetry collection, Undoing Hours, was published in Spring 2021 by Nightwood Editions. Her work has been published widely, including The Best Canadian Poetry 2018 and 2020. She has received several honours, including the 2017 National Magazine Award for Poetry, and was a finalist for the 2020 CBC poetry award. She is a poetry editor for CV2 and Rahila’s Ghost Press. Today’s episode is a really special one that includes intimate performances of three poems from Selina’s book! We dive into so many themes throughout this episode, from language, to education and decolonization, to the intimacy of poetry and so much more. This is a joyful, deep, and loving conversation about celebrating who you are and celebrating others and their joy. Plug in your earphones and get listening! How to Support Selina’s Work: Follow Selina on Instagram and Twitter @selinaboan Want to make Selina’s day, month, and year? Buy her book here or find it at your local bookstore! Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! Follow us on Instagram!

As new wilderness attractions continue to pop up across the country to promote tourism and outdoor recreation, there can be many negative and long lasting effects on wildlife and Indigenous communities. In this episode, we focus on the Kootenay Boundary region where a proposal for a ski resort has been gaining government approval despite warnings from locals on how this resort will negatively impact the wildlife living on the land. Biologist Wayne P. McCrory, Autonomous Sinixt Campaign and Project Coordinator KL and Wild Connection spokesperson Nicky Blackshaw provide us with insight on how important it is to protect our wildlife, how to amplify the voices of Indigenous communities who have historical ties to the land, and why a “Tesla of ski resorts” does not automatically mean it is good for the environment. If we don’t preserve and value the limited spaces our wildlife have, our human impact on nature can become irreversible. For more information, visit The Wild Connection and Blood of Life Collective websites to find out how you can help prevent developers from building on natural wildlife sanctuaries. Don’t forget to support us on Patreon! Follow us on Instagram!

Hello everyone and happy new year! We are so excited to be back and kicking off our first episode of 2022 with a special guest; Janelle Lapointe. Janelle is an Afro-Indigenous climate justice and Indigenous rights activist from Stellat’en First Nation, currently working in communications for the David Suzuki Foundation as a guest on the lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples. Today’s episode starts off with Janelle’s journey to becoming a climate and Indigenous rights activist. We then dive into an important conversation about the events taking place on the West Coast with respect to the Wet’suwet’en peoples, the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline, and the ‘national myths’ that surround perceptions of so-called ‘Canada.’ Today’s chat is one that you don’t want to miss so plug in your earphones and get listening! To follow along with more of Janelle’s journey, you can find her on Instagram and Twitter at @janellelapointe.  Janelle’s Instagram Janelle’s Twitter Janelle’s PayPal (TIP YOUR EDUCATOR!) Janelle’s article in the National Observer: An environment of anti-racism is how we win David Suzuki Foundation Support for Wet’suwet’en: Check out the Wet’suwet’en Supporter Toolkit and write your government representatives to tell them to get RCMP off of Wet’suwet’en land!!! Books: Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call by Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land, Rebuilding the Economy by Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent by Martin Lukacs University of Alberta Indigenous Canada FREE Course Stay up-to-date on all things Wet'suwet'en: Gidimt’en Yintah Access  Brandi Morin: Cree/Iroquois/French | Awarded Journalist @Songstress28 on Twitter Amber Bracken: Documentary photographer @photobracken on Twitter Michael Toledano: Documentary filmmaker and photographer on Wet’suwet’en land @M_Tol on Twitter 

We are back for season 2, BABY! This week the team kicks off a new series of conversations with Gloria Pancrazi (@gloriapancrazi) and Elena Jean (@elena.jean). They are the filmmakers behind the newly premiered documentary, Coextinction (@coextinctionfilm). This film is all about orcas, specifically the Southern Resident killer whales, who are most often found swimming in the waters of the Pacific Northwest. We chat about why this species is so incredible, the importance of listening to Indigenous knowledge holders, and what needs to be done to achieve co-existence. As always, we hope you love the episode and can’t wait to hear your thoughts!  Coextinction Website & Trailer  We are the youth chapter of a grassroots non-profit, to support our work, please visit our Patreon   This episode of Sierra Youth Podcast was produced by Aviva Lessard. Our editor is Justine Van Dyke. Graphic design by Carissa Kirk. Social media support by Abbey Gagnon. The rest of our team includes Brynna Kagawa-Visentin, Emily Markholm, Jackie Layton, Jessica Cloutier and Micaela Yawney.

It's time to talk about ecological grief. Ecological grief is the grief that’s felt in response to experienced or anticipated ecological loss. It may arise from acute environmental disasters or from experiencing the loss of land, species, or even bodies of water. It doesn't have to feel hopeless though, we can use our personal experiences with grief to come together and build up our communities. At the end of this episode, we give our listeners a little 10-minute exercise to practice discussing ecological grief with those closest to you, also check out @ubcclimatehub's photo series on "Strategies to move through and beyond climate anxiety," it really helped us!