Pod the North isn't celebrating International Podcast Day

Vol. 78 - On Orange Shirt Day, we need allyship from the international podcast community to honour the Indigenous peoples, podcasters, and Survivors on Turtle Island.

Sep 30, 2025

Shé:kon from Haldimand Treaty Land! It’s the National Day for Truth and Reconcilliation / Orange Shirt Day!

BTW:

As of August 29, 2025, there are currently 39 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 37 First Nations communities across Canada.

NOW PLAYING - Roots and Hoots: Classrooms of Injustice series

A special project featuring eight episodes with Survivors and Indigenous scholars who shed light on the Federal Day School System.

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Why Pod the North can’t celebrate International Podcast Day

A note on allyship from the international podcast community in honouring Orange Shirt Day in Canada.

For the last 5 years, September 30th has been an uncomfortable day for myself as a podcaster living in so-called Canada. That’s because while the global industry celebrates International Podcast Day, Canadians and Indigenous communities across Turtle Island also recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Orange Shirt Day).

Canada is founded on genocidal levels of violence against First Nations peoples. These communities were here long before colonial settlers arrived and were brutally displaced from their homes, their land, and their culture. Their children were forced into the Indian Residential School system to be stripped of their Indigenous identities, autonomy, and childhoods. Thousands of children’s lives were lost under the brutality and open secrecy of this system, and over the last five years countless unmarked and undocumented burials have been uncovered at the former sites.

The trauma of colonialism and the residential schooling system continues to bleed into modern day life in Canada and simply cannot go ignored. For generations, Indigenous peoples have been impacted by colonial disenfranchisement, police brutality, racism, governmental bureaucracy, and boil water advisories on reserves that only continue to rise.

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its final report after 8 years of work, detailing 94 Calls to Action for the Canadian government. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a direct response to Call to Action 80, which calls for a federal statutory day of commemoration. In 10 years, Canada’s response to the full 94 Calls to Action had been slow.

For this reason, I can’t in good conscience celebrate International Podcast Day today.

September 30th is a day in Canada to mourn the children who never returned home and honour the Survivors of residential schools. To understand the truth of the violence perpetrated by colonizers in Canada.

On this day, September 30th 2025, genocide is all too common as we witness the bloodshed of innocence people and children in Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is something Canada is all too familiar with, and a reality that can’t go ignored by the international podcast community.

Podcasts remain one of the most accessible and meaningful ways to share the voices and histories that shape our modern world. Today I call on the international podcast community—my friends and colleagues—to honour the Indigenous peoples, podcasters, and Survivors on Turtle Island. I call on those who consider themselves as allies to listen and learn.

Here are some places to start:

See You In Court has dropped a three-episode series today which follows the life of a little girl named Leticia, whose childhood became the centre of a precedent-setting Supreme Court case over Indigenous child welfare.
Stolen: Surviving St. Michaels is the timeless 2022 series from Connie Walker. Connie unearths how her family’s story fits into one of Canada’s darkest chapters.
IDEAS — How Indigenous survival offers a blueprint for everyone’s future. “Five of the eight kids went to the schools. The youngest did not. That was both because Alex and Maggie realized that the schools were not the promise that they had held themselves out to be, but also because those kids were to learn something else,” says Anishinaabe writer Jesse Wente in his talk about a vision for a common future based on ‘deep remembering’ of the past.
Auntie Up! — Residential School Denialism. NDP MP Leah Gazan discusses her private members’ bill to end residential school denialism and why the history of residential schools is denied in the first place.

A Day to Listen 2025 is airing on radio stations across the country from 6AM-6PM. Mohawk/Tuscarora Six Nations poet, January Rogers, co-hosts the day with Kiefer Collision, a Haida speaker. Programming is focused on reflecting on the last decade since the 94 Calls to Action were released. You can listen online from anywhere.

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Shayla Oulette Stonechild | Matriarch Movement Podcast

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Kairyn Potts | Real Rank Podcast

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Dr. Pamela Palmater on Auntie Up!

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Thank you to Pod the North’s supporters!

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What’s going on in Canada’s podcast ecosystem:

Sep 10, 2025 — Sorry For Your Loss is the new show from The Walrus Lab and Mount Pleasant Group about death. The show explores the questions we often avoid: What happens to a body after it’s taken away? How do you talk about death with kids? And what should you say—or not say—to someone in their final days?

Sep 15, 2025 — Stop Rewind: The Lost Boy is the new podcast from Curiouscast and Blanchard House. Told through rare original recordings and rich sound design, the 10-part series tells the true story of Taj Khyber Rowland, a child in India who kidnapped at a bus station, adopted into America, and grew up as a member of the Mormon Church in Utah.

Sep 23, 2025 — You Wanted This is the new podcast where YOU pick the topic and hosts, Richard and Reid, pick how they handle it. In the first episode they discuss the books, movies, TV, and games of Tolkien’s legendarium, from Lord of the Rings to the Silmarillion and beyond!

Sep 24, 2025 — Can’t Be Censored is the new podcast from former host of CBC News Network’s Canada Tonight, Travis Dhanraj. “Tired of spin? Fed up with political correctness? So are we.” says the show’s series description. Candidly, statements like that always make me raise an eyebrow, but I listened anyway. Since his resignation in July, there’s been a fair amount of commentary on Travis’s depature from the CBC, including on Canadaland and more recently The Ben Mulroney Show. Travis ultimately filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, saying that he was harassed out of his job. I won’t pretend to know the truth of the whole thing, but what I do know is that the story is messy. Despite the promise of coming with receipts of CBC’s “performative diversity and tokenism”, the audio recordings Travis shares on the first episode of Can’t Be Censored really seem to highlight fundamental differences in opinion between him, producers and execs — a tough nut to crack. Travis also mentions on the pod that Tucker Carlson is set to be an upcoming guest on the show, and visa versa. Yeesh.

Sep 24, 2025 — Audio drama Woodbine has launched its second season, “Emiel Holdings New Employee Video”, just in time for spooky season! Here’s a snippet from the show description to get you in the spirit: “Here at Emiel, we like to think of ourselves as a community. A family, even. One not tied through blood - although that is a part of it, in a sense - but through a shared commitment….”

Oct 4, 2025 — A new podcast Furball Confidential is set to premier next month and I am SO ready for it. I was already begging host and creator, Jen Moroz, to have me on as a guest when I saw her in Calgary recently. The show takes a gleeful swandive into one of our deepest, but least talked about, relationships - the one we share with out pets.

Actual play podcast, No Quest For The Wicked has joined the Pickaxe Podcast Network! The network describes its shows as “unashamedly geeky and hosted by lifelong friends”, which couldn’t be more true for NQFTW. The show recently celebrated with a live stream last week as a part of Pickaxe Week.

Since going dark in 2020, Ryan McMahon has announced the resurgence of Indian & Cowboy, now an independent Indigenous media company supporting podcasts, scripted and non-scripted TV, and filmmaking. What was formerally an Indigenous podcast network, Ryan announced his plans in a Substack livestream back in July. There are a variety of projects currently in various stages of development. “The integrated studio structure at Indian & Cowboy Creative Media Inc. is a game-changer,” said Ryan on LinkedIn last week. “We’re building something exciting. Stay tuned.”

Acast and Amazon Music Canada want to support your true crime podcast! Acast and Amazon Music are set to highlight a special collection of Canadian true crime podcasts on Amazon Music to help with discoverability. Apply here!

The 2025 Canadian Radio Awards are open for submissions, including a Best Podcast category! If your podcast has seen some radio waves this year, you may be eligible for the award.

The finalists at for the 2025 Signal Awards have been announced and they include a number of notable Canadian shows that you can vote for until October 9th! Sorry, About the Murder, The Copernic Affair, StanLand, The Oath, In Her Defense, This Is Ottawa, Big Lash Energy, The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby, and so many more!

From the industry at large:

YouTube has announced some great new updates that Canadian podcasters should know about, notably the new ability to dynamically insert ads! If you’re posting your show on YouTube, or have been considering it, don’t miss giving this blog a read.

What are the biggest and best podcasting events in Europe and beyond?

Eurowaves

has you covered if you’re booking your next business trip, planning a vacation, or just looking to meet fellow audio professionals. The newsletter has released a guide today that includes everything from major industry events like Radiodays Europe and The Podcast Show London, to festivals like PodFest Berlin and Cheerful Earful London. It also highlights top awards!

Events:

Oct 1, 2025 — [WEBINAR] From Script to Success: Production Secrets from Trophy-Winning Podcasts: this webinar joins CBC’s Chris Oke along with Katie Simon (NPR) and Kristin Nelson (The Boston Globe) in a behind-the-scenes discussion on making network podcasts.

Oct 1-2, 2025 — [VIRTUAL] The inaugural Health Podcast Summit is a free, virtual event designed to elevate and demystify the role of podcasts in Health Communication.