Acknowledgements

I have received a tremendous amount of support at the University of Calgary. In the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Office I would like to acknowledge Richard Sigurdson, George Colpitts, Pascale Sicotte, and Virginia Tumasz. In the Office of Indigenous Engagement I would like to thank Shawna Cunningham and Michael Hart. I am thankful to my home department Classics and Religion for administrative support.  Special thanks to Marica Cassis and Michael Hart, without your extraordinary level of encouragement I would have not pursued this project. Project costs were subsidized by allocating research funding through the Department of Classics and Religion and funding provided by the Faculty of Arts, including an Energizing the Arts Grant.

In the creative process, each of the songs on this album went through various stages of production.  This was a team effort, and I am in debt to the engineer-producers who contributed ideas along the way.  I want to thank Roy Salmond for helping me rediscover the studio; Doug Romanow for adding your magic and taking “fix it in the mix” to a new level; Steve Dierkens for being patient, remarkably generous, a first-string bed track quarterback, and seeing the potential of the message for lyric videos; Derek Pulliam, for providing the hub studio, enduring my penchant for experimenting, your relational approach, lyrical insights, and sharing your toys with Connor.

Many others deserve recognition: Randy Schroeder, Scott Bartlett, Famira Racy, Naomi Pulliam, Sean Carleton, Phil Robertson, Craig Learmont, Kent McCrae, Chris Byrne, Neil Gunhold, Jonathan Lagore, Kim Beale, Dave McCann, Dave Horrocks, Kalum Teke Dan, and Doreen Bergum.

I am grateful to my family.  Sarah for background vocals and helping edit lyrics; Aron for background vocals; Silas for recording bass tracks and background vocals; Rachael for background vocals; Carla for helping write lyrics, providing feedback during song writing, mapping out arrangements, and background vocals.

Land acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge that these songs were recorded on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region, also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3. Additional production and mixing were completed on the traditional lands of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Further recording and CD manufacturing were completed on the shared, unceded traditional territory of the Katzie, Semiahmoo, Kwantlen and other Coast Salish Peoples. I have written songs derived from select historical narratives and would like to acknowledge the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, the Sayisi Dene First Nation, the Grassy Narrows First Nation, the traditional territories of Treaty 1, and the Métis homeland of the Red River.