‘Something we grew up with’: Podcast highlights impact of ’60s scoop

What’s your relationship with the child welfare system?

That’s the one question Madeleine Bégin and Katelynne Adams will be asking during the upcoming season of their podcast, Spilling Labrador Tea Under Cedar Trees.

“This is a really hard topic but it also circles back to why we started (our podcast) in the first place,” Bégin said. “We both have parents, our Indigenous parents, that are from the ‘60s scoop, who were in the system and that experience is something we grew up with.”

“It’s just one of those things where it’s a very prevalent conversation that’s happening and we wanted to be able to use our platform to amplify some voices that might not normally be heard.”

Bégin and Adams met during their undergrad. Eventually, they wound up as roommates and after many late-night chats on the couch over tea, Adams suggested they start a podcast.

“It’s that ongoing joke of being like, people need to hear what we say,” said Bégin through laughter.

The Indigenous women — Adams is Inuk from Kuujjuaq, Que., and Bégin is Mi’kmaw from Nova Scotia — produce their podcast with a decolonial lens, all while ensuring it’s low barrier and inclusive.

“Our main goal overall whenever we do our podcasting is to create community and to ensure that people feel heard,” Bégin said.

Co-hosts Madeleine Bégin (cenre-right) and Katelynne Adams (centre-left) sit with team members Jam (right) and Katie May Anawak-Dunford (left) during a season three launch party for their podcast. Brave Art Media

The pair also ensure guests have a final say in what’s included and what’s left out of the episode they’re a part of.

“Immediately afterwards, we ask if there’s anything they can remember that they want removed,” Bégin said. “We make sure they know it’s their story and they can even decide later if it’s something they no longer want to share and we’ll take it down.”

Accessibility and authenticity are important for Bégin and Adams. “We have rough audio and we don’t care because that’s actually authentic and better represents the people that we’re talking to and how we actually talk,” Adams said.

While the pair are looking forward to the podcast’s upcoming season, they’re also looking forward to the connections it will forge.

“The fact that we’re going to be chatting with people that still might not have connections to their families, we want them to know that we’re now family, like you’re now a part of our family and we will always be there to support you and lift you up,” Adams said.

The teaser episode for the new season is out now and episodes will air monthly.