Episode 4
Episode 4: My Grandmother Said "Leave Some For the Birds"
Guest Marjorie Beaucage
Marjorie Beaucage is a Two-Spirit Métis Auntie, filmmaker, art-ivist and educator, a land protector and a water protector. Born in Vassar, Manitoba, to a large Métis family, Marjorie’s life’s work has been about creating social change, working to give people the tools for creating possibilities and right relations. Whether in the classroom, community, campsite or the arts, Marjorie’s goal has been to pass on the stories, knowledge and skills that will make a difference for the future. For Marjorie, story is medicine.
As a Two-Spirit Métis Elder, Marjorie takes on the tough topics that need to be discussed. Her work is focused on giving voice to, and creating safe cultural spaces for, traditionally silenced or excluded groups. Marjorie is known on the local, regional and national levels as an Elder who speaks truth to power, and who holds space for difference. She has been a Grandmother for Walking With Our Sisters; the Elder for OUT Saskatoon; and the Elder-In-Residence for the University of Saskatchewan Student Union. She has also been called on for national research initiatives that focus on Indigenous women living with HIV, Indigenous Harm Reduction, Indigenous youth who experience sexual and gender-based violence, and posttraumatic stress. In all of these, Marjorie returns to story as medicine, to art as medicine. Marjorie says of her work, “creation is a powerful thing; whether you’re making a baby or a loaf of bread or a movie, it comes from the same place. To get people to tap into that energy, that creates possibilities, so they don’t get stuck in this craziness that we’re in is transformative.”
In the summer of 2021, Marjorie stepped into the role of Water Walker and Water Protector and started walking for the water. She began a 1900Km Water Walk to protect the Saskatchewan River, starting at the headwaters (Saskatchewan Crossing) near the Columbia Icefields in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Winnipeg. She continued her walk for the water in 2022 and says it will take four years to complete the Saskatchewan Water Walk.
Transcript
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the following for their contributions towards Episode 4 of Indigenous Sexual Futures
Special Guest
Auntie Marjorie Beaucage
Host Storyteller/Producer
Doris Peltier
In Grandmother's Hands - Poem
Read by Marjorie Beaucage
Technical Producer
Paula Burrows - Jupiter Productions
ISF Theme Music and Creative Sound
Cozmic Cat, Classic Roots, Elder Gayle Pruden
Indigenous Knowledge Advisory
Feast Centre Council of Elders and Gathering Lodge Committee
Executive Producers
Feast Centre Co-Leads - Randall Jackson & Renée Masching
Feast Centre Staff
Will Gooding (National Director), Catherine Booker (Research Coordinator) and Doris Peltier (Community Engagement Coordinator) and Feast Centre Research Assistants Bridget Marsdin and Esther Kim
Podcast Branding Design
Compassion Creative
We acknowledge our funders
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Indigenous Sexual Futures is produced on the ancestral lands of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations within the lands protected by the Dish with One Spoon wampum. We acknowledge the ancestors of this territory, and we also acknowledge the lands and territories of all our guests.