In his last year of studies at MacEwan, Brett McKay (Bachelor of Communication Studies ’23) was learning off campus.
After reading about a two-year investigation into poor housing conditions and boil-water advisories on First Nations reserves, by Canada’s National Observer and researchers from Toronto Metropolitan University, McKay was inspired to go deeper.
The investigation looked at federally appointed third-party intervention into the finances of many First Nations reserves in debt crisis.
“An eight per cent debt service ratio – a modest figure compared to amounts commonly shouldered by municipal, provincial and federal governments – was enough to automatically trigger outside intervention,” reports McKay.
Under the guidance of Dr. Steve Lillebuen, assistant professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications, McKay embarked on his own research to examine the impact of third-party financial management companies on Indigenous reservations in Alberta.
For months, McKay focused on the impact to Kehewin Cree Nation, conducting independent research and phone interviews with members of the community, followed up by visiting the reserve. “I had to build and earn trust in order to tell the story in a way that was representative of their experiences,” he says.
Building those deep relationships was crucial to the research process and, McKay says, to uncovering the full history of the issue.
In more than half of the cases where the federal government appointed third-party financial management, conditions on the reserves deteriorated, as communities were forced to redirect infrastructure, housing and social programming funds to pay off debt.
“The significance of government intervention was understood within the Indigenous community,” he says. “But the general public tends only to look at isolated aspects of a situation.”
McKay’s work resulted in a piece of investigative journalism published on Windspeaker.com and APTN News earlier this year, and satisfied credit for an Advanced Independent Study course in his last year at MacEwan. While being published was nice, uncovering the story of the community is what really drove McKay to do this work.
“Being welcomed into Kehewin and to sit with people to hear their stories and their history has certainly changed how I report on Indigenous communities,” says the MacEwan grad.
These days, McKay is a working journalist with Great West Media, reporting on rural and municipal issues. He continues to look for the story behind the story.
“Having this experience prepared me for reporting on complex topics,” he says. “In the back of my mind, I’m always asking: What elements need to be drawn out? What stories aren’t being told?”