Nicole Weatherly's deep connection to the art and genius of her brother, his challenges and his unique essence underpin the space for change she's created under the banner Superstar X.

Cohosts Jessica Vandenberghe and George Lee talk with Nicole about what makes her and her website tick, on the eve of Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the launch of Love 2024, a multiplatform, weeks-long extravaganza.

Subtitled An (un)Learning Summit for Truth & (re)Conciliation, Love 2024 kicks off on September 30, connecting Indigenous and non-Indigenous people through art shows, truth talks and Superstar X Magazine. The festival of ideas, words and imagery promotes healing and actionable steps to reciprocity across Turtle Island.

Jessica, George and Nicole discuss:

• Nicole's journey from the small town of Czar, Alberta, to the big-city lights of Toronto, Ontario
• the tricky distinctions and pratfalls of so-called allyship—along with the tricky distinctions and pratfalls of discovering and sharing your ancestral identity
• why and how Superstar X connects to her brother, Edward, and others who fall outside mainstream labels
• how art breaks down barriers to reach into our souls, revealing and personalizing universal truths
• personal motivations for social change
• the adoption and use of information technology as a force for good within and beyond Indigenous communities.
• and much more.

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unsettledjourneys@gmail.com

Deborah Curran's passion for the environment flows through her psyche and the work she does as a lawyer, an academic and a consultant.

"If you met me in my 15-year-old self and drew a line, it would be pretty straight to where I am today," says Curran, a professor with the Faculty of Law and the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria.

Jessica, George and Deborah discuss:

• the inherent limitations of colonial law in addressing Indigenous and environmental issues
• how some Indigenous communities are putting an outward-looking face on their internal legal orders
• the pressure, expectations and workloads placed on Indigenous leaders
• the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• the growing role of Indigenous awareness training in Canada's professions
• the work and purpose of UVic's Indigenous Law Research Unit and student-led Environmental Law Centre
• and much more.

Support the show

Join our Facebook community: www.facebook.com/UnsettledJourneys/

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unsettledjourneys@gmail.com

About 10 years ago, a stranger unwittingly revealed facts about Tom Wilson's adoption, pointing the singer and guitarist with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings towards life-changing truths about his identity.
His origins had been hidden from him for more than five decades, even though a sense of not belonging and a recurring dream had made him suspect things were not exactly as they appeared.
Growing up in Hamilton, he'd come to think of himself as "a big, puffy, sweaty Irish guy, when I'm actually a pretty big Mohawk guy," Wilson tells cohosts Jessica Vandenberghe and George Lee.
"Now I can continue in my life, knowing the blood that runs through me, and that only strengthens my intent creatively," says Wilson, a member of the Kahnawake Mohawk Nation in Quebec. "My job now is to bring the Mohawk culture into the light, to battle whatever way I can, artistically or with my voice, or through standing as a land defender, or through starting an Indigenous scholarship, which I did at McMaster—all those ways are fighting colonialism."
Find out more about Wilson, his thoughts on Canada, colonialism and identity, and his way of living a Mohawk life in this episode of Unsettled: Journeys in Truth & Conciliation.

The Tom Wilson Indigenous Bursary in Honour of Bunny Wilson
https://tomwilsononline.com/scholarship/
Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/531052/beautiful-scars-by-tom-wilson/9780385685672
Beautiful Scars TVO Documentary
https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/beautiful-scars
The Art of Tom Wilson
https://tomwilsononline.com/art/
Kahnawake Mohawk Nation
http://www.kahnawake.com/
Thunder Bay Podcast
https://www.canadaland.com/shows/thunder-bay/
Thunder Bay on Crave
https://www.crave.ca/en/tv-shows/thunder-bay

Support the show

Join our Facebook community: www.facebook.com/UnsettledJourneys/

Check us out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsettledjourneys/

Become a paid subscriber: https://ko-fi.com/unsettledjourneys

Questions, comments, suggestions, offers to volunteer:
unsettledjourneys@gmail.com