Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This Memory Project online panel discussion features three Memory Project speakers, moderated by award-winning journalist Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais.
This panel was recorded live on November 7, 2024.
Please support our projects by donating at: historicacanada.ca/donate
Specialist Fourth Rank (retired) Randi Gage is the founder of Indigenous Veterans Day (8 November), a traditional Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, U.S. Army Vietnam Era veteran, Charter Vice-President of the National Aboriginal Veterans Association, Charter Secretary/Treasurer of Manitoba Indigenous Veterans Association, and a Memory Project speaker.
Lieutenant Commander (retired) Bill Shead is a member of the Peguis First Nation. He served 36 years in the Regular and Reserve Force of the Royal Canadian Navy initially attending College Militaire Royal de St. Jean. He is a graduate of Dalhousie University and the Canadian Forces Staff College. He served as Mayor of Selkirk, Manitoba; Prairie Regional Director General for Veterans Affairs Canada; and Chief Executive Officer of Neeginan Centre. Currently, Bill serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Neeginan Centre, Vice Chair of Neeginan Education, Training, and Employment Service, and Indspire – a charity supporting Indigenous education. As well, he is Secretary-Treasurer of the Prince Medals Committee, a Governor of the Manitoba Division of the Canadian Corp of Commissionaires, and Co-chair of the Friends of the Peguis-Selkirk Treaty working to erect a treaty monument on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building in 2024.
Major (retired) Bob Crane is Blackfoot from Siksika First Nation and is a veteran of UN missions in Israel/Syria (UNDOF) and Iran/Iraq (UNIIMOG). He is a Gulf War veteran and has served in the Arctic and in the United States on exchange duty. He also served in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. During his time in the military, he was the senior serving Indigenous member in the Canadian forces.
Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais is a Cree and Gitxsan journalist and multi-award-winning broadcaster who’s been on Canada’s media scene for more than two decades. She’s worked at CTV News Winnipeg, a correspondent for APTN National News, and is proud to have served as the Indigenous Music Development Coordinator at Manitoba Music from 2018-2024. Shaneen has won awards for her series about The Sacred Sundance, is proud of Breaching the Sacred—an investigative piece exploring the tragic reality of Indigenous women living with addictions and using while pregnant. She was honoured to win first place for Historica Canada’s Canadian Aboriginal Writing Challenge for her play, Notay Kiskintamowin “Wanting to Know”, in 2008.
Produced by the Memory Project. For more stories, visit thememoryproject.com/, also see the youtu.be/nniCNm19mAQ, youtu.be/4RrtGg3KnR4, and youtu.be/JfmNzuthTHM.
This Memory Project online panel discussion features three Memory Project speakers, moderated by award-winning journalist Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais.
This panel was recorded live on November 7, 2024.
Please support our projects by donating at: historicacanada.ca/donate
Specialist Fourth Rank (retired) Randi Gage is the founder of Indigenous Veterans Day (8 November), a traditional Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, U.S. Army Vietnam Era veteran, Charter Vice-President of the National Aboriginal Veterans Association, Charter Secretary/Treasurer of Manitoba Indigenous Veterans Association, and a Memory Project speaker.
Lieutenant Commander (retired) Bill Shead is a member of the Peguis First Nation. He served 36 years in the Regular and Reserve Force of the Royal Canadian Navy initially attending College Militaire Royal de St. Jean. He is a graduate of Dalhousie University and the Canadian Forces Staff College. He served as Mayor of Selkirk, Manitoba; Prairie Regional Director General for Veterans Affairs Canada; and Chief Executive Officer of Neeginan Centre. Currently, Bill serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Neeginan Centre, Vice Chair of Neeginan Education, Training, and Employment Service, and Indspire – a charity supporting Indigenous education. As well, he is Secretary-Treasurer of the Prince Medals Committee, a Governor of the Manitoba Division of the Canadian Corp of Commissionaires, and Co-chair of the Friends of the Peguis-Selkirk Treaty working to erect a treaty monument on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building in 2024.
Major (retired) Bob Crane is Blackfoot from Siksika First Nation and is a veteran of UN missions in Israel/Syria (UNDOF) and Iran/Iraq (UNIIMOG). He is a Gulf War veteran and has served in the Arctic and in the United States on exchange duty. He also served in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. During his time in the military, he was the senior serving Indigenous member in the Canadian forces.
Shaneen Robinson-Desjarlais is a Cree and Gitxsan journalist and multi-award-winning broadcaster who’s been on Canada’s media scene for more than two decades. She’s worked at CTV News Winnipeg, a correspondent for APTN National News, and is proud to have served as the Indigenous Music Development Coordinator at Manitoba Music from 2018-2024. Shaneen has won awards for her series about The Sacred Sundance, is proud of Breaching the Sacred—an investigative piece exploring the tragic reality of Indigenous women living with addictions and using while pregnant. She was honoured to win first place for Historica Canada’s Canadian Aboriginal Writing Challenge for her play, Notay Kiskintamowin “Wanting to Know”, in 2008.
Produced by the Memory Project. For more stories, visit thememoryproject.com/, also see the youtu.be/nniCNm19mAQ, youtu.be/4RrtGg3KnR4, and youtu.be/JfmNzuthTHM.
