One dish, many spoons

Jordan Carrier's new podcast highlights Hamilton's Indigenous history

Jordan Carrier created the One Dish, Many Stories podcast to share the history of Indigenous peoples and places in Hamilton. The podcast was created in her last year of undergraduate Indigenous Studies at McMaster University. She developed the project under the supervision of Vanessa Watts. For this project, she recorded three episodes and later released them after graduating.

"[The podcast is about] understanding the history that the lands that Hamilton sits on existed long before we called this place Hamilton. Nations lived on these lands and they had their own terms for the lands or how they used the lands,” said Carrier.

Starting a podcast was something she always thought about but never followed through with until recently. For Carrier, it was an awakening moment to see how little people knew about Indigenous stories in Hamilton and how single-sided the history of Hamilton seemed to be within the community.

“I started thinking somehow we need to incorporate other stories. There’s more than one narrative to history and experiences — even contemporary experiences. That’s when I had the idea of the podcast,” said Carrier.

Each episode of the One Dish, Many Stories podcast highlights different topics with the united goal of educating the larger community about Indigenous experiences.

In the first episode released, she shared her own story alongside the history behind various names of places on the land now known as Hamilton. She discussed how her experiences with racism as a child
affected how she perceived and carried herself. To her, sharing her own story was crucial in understanding why she created the podcast.

The second and third episodes delved into well-researched thoughts on relationships Indigenous peoples have with treaties and Northern Indigenous people being displaced from their homes and
being sent to the Sanitorium in Hamilton.

"[In] the very first episode . . . I talk about the racism I experienced as a young Indigenous person and how I internalized that. It wasn’t until I moved to Hamilton and got connected to the Indigenous community in Hamilton that I really started to embrace my identity as First Nations person,” said Carrier.

In each recent episode, she has a guest come to contribute to the conversation. All the guests either reside in Hamilton or work within Hamilton. It was important for Carrier to include the perspectives of other Indigenous peoples within Hamilton when talking about the history and the repercussions of past events.

“It was really important to have local context and perspective to really highlight that Indigenous peoples are still here. We’re still thriving. We’re still reclaiming all that’s been taken from us or our loss through the colonial project,” said Carrier.

Carrier emphasized there is always more that can be done and the importance of self-reflection on one’s privilege and presence within an area. She encouraged reflection and continuous learning about the stories of Hamilton beyond traditional teaching.

“Continue questioning, “Okay, why do I only know this one perspective out of our existence as people in Hamilton? What is missing?” There are so many different communities that make Hamilton what it is,” said Carrier.

One Dish, Many Stories touches on the experiences of Indigenous peoples in what is now Hamilton and the history behind it. Carrier currently has three episodes out and hopes to release more soon. She hopes listeners will learn from the podcast and continue to educate themselves.