On January 21, 2021, Ryan McMahon sat in for Jesse Brown as host of Canadaland’s Short Cuts podcast. Appearing alongside the Anishinaabe media creator was Karyn Pugliese, the former head of APTN News, who came with a sardonic observation.
“Do you realize the irony of having two Nish like us on a show called ‘CANADALAND’?” she asked.
Laughing, he said, “It’s never been lost on me.”
This week, McMahon debuts as host of CANADALANDBACK, a new Indigenous-led series that closely examines the implications of its title:
“Calling our show ‘CANADALANDBACK’ comes with a certain amount of responsibility, a certain amount of expectation — both from ourselves and our audience,” he says in introducing the first episode. “And it comes with a hell of a big job to do: present compelling, complex, and nuanced stories from Indian Country out to the world.”
Led by senior producer Martha Troian, CANADALANDBACK will showcase a diverse array of voices and experiences — from remote communities to large urban centres and everywhere in between — through documentaries, discussions, roundtables, feature interviews, and investigations. It will take the place of the flagship CANADALAND Monday show once a month for the next six months.
“In developing this show, we met as a community of Indigenous journalists and storytellers,” McMahon continues. “We gathered a few dozen folks from across this place now called Canada, and we sat and talked. There was discourse, debate, and in the end, maybe more questions than answers.”
This initial edition is an extension of those conversations, featuring a “group of masterminds” discussing what “Land Back” means to them and what the future holds for the movement. It also includes a report on Dechinta, the only fully land-based, university-accredited program in the world. The show’s associate producer is Cassidy Villebrun-Buracas, and the episode features additional reporting by Danielle Orr and Morgan Tsetta.
“As journalists, we look to challenge ourselves and our own ideas of what Land Back is and is not,” McMahon says. “And we hope you, the listener, gain a broader understanding of how dynamic the Land Back movement is.”
CANADALANDBACK artwork by Jessie Boulard.
