WHY PORCUPINE?

Porcupine asks important – and sometimes prickly – questions about reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.

Canada may be one of the best places live in the world, but not for Indigenous people. As a country, we have committed to making amends for a terrible history of colonization. After 151 years, our country is just beginning this journey of healing, but where do we all fit in?

In this 12 episode podcast series, hosts Merrell-Ann and Michael try to understand reconciliation from people who are living it. They have in-depth, funny, and revealing discussions with a variety of people, from activists to comedians, who are all focusing on improving Canada through reconciliation in big, small, and surprising ways.

Merrell-Ann Phare and Michael Miltenberger have spent most of their professional lives working directly with indigenous people and they have seen shifts in legal and political thinking that have happened over the last three decades.

As a lawyer and a politician, they have deep experience sitting in rooms with both indigenous and non-indigenous people grappling with the same question: “How do we heal from the past and move forward at the same time?”

What they find might surprise you: while there is still much work to be done, and to be done carefully, but there are amazing examples of people working together in the way we should have embraced 151 years ago.