“When you are close to the land, you can see changes. We don’t want the role of ‘keeper of the land’ to die with us.”
An audience of almost 200 people gathered at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology on the rainy evening of October 24th for a discussion aimed at confronting and reframing climate change through the powerful lens of Indigenous storytelling. Moderated by Rick Harp (Cree) the panel Beyond Fires & Floods (BFF): Indigenous Narratives in an Era of Extremes featured four seasoned journalists bringing decades of experience in storytelling: Judi Kochon (Sahtú), Paul Seesequasis (Willow Cree), Tanya Talaga (Anishinaabe), and Mark Trahant (Shoshone-Bannock). Co-convened by SPPGA/CIS Prof. Candis Callison (Tałtan) and Harp, the event was part of a larger weekend gathering of international Indigenous journalists, experts, and storytellers.
“When you are close to the land, you can see changes,” said Judi Kochon, reflecting on the stark transformations in her home region, including the troubling disappearance of once-abundant animals such as herring. From a family of storytellers, Kochon emphasized the responsibility of carrying forward knowledge and connection from her ancestors: “We don’t want the role of ‘keeper of the land’ to die with us.”
Many spoke to the intertwined crises of climate change, capitalism, and colonialism, with Tanya Talaga observing that “covering climate change and covering colonialism is like covering the apocalypse.” Rick Harp noted that while Western mainstream media treated “information as a commodity and attention as something to be monetized,” there was a future in which journalism instead could function as a means of survival in a world where they “equip and console us.”
Reflections throughout the evening underscored the power of Indigenous knowledges to reframe how we understand the climate crisis as a lived story of survival, connection, and return. “It’s going to be circular,” said Tanya Talaga when asked about her hope for the future. “I believe we are going to come back to Indigenous knowledge.”
This event was supported by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, UBC’s Global Journalism Innovation Lab, UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the Museum of Anthropology.
Recordings from this public panel discussion along with other content from the Beyond Fires and Floods conference at UBC will be available in podcast form, forthcoming through MEDIA INDIGENA, hosted by Rick Harp.
