Latest news with #IndigenousRepresentation
CTV News
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
‘Seeing people that look like us': Amazing Race Canada features most Indigenous contestants in show's history
Best friends and roommates, Rebecca Merasty and Rebecca Watt, are competing on Season 11 of the Amazing Race Canada. The Amazing Race Canada is making history this season with the highest number of Indigenous contestants the show has ever seen. Season 11 premieres Tuesday night with six Indigenous participants — including Rebecca Merasty, from Saskatchewan's Flying Dust First Nation. Merasty is teamed up with her best friend and roommate, Rebecca Watt, who is from the Pehdzeh Kí First Nation in the Northwest Territories. 'We didn't grow up seeing people that look like us, other than Pocahontas ... which obviously isn't the greatest representation,' Merasty told CTV News from Vancouver, where she now lives. Merasty said she was first contacted by a casting producer. A few weeks later, Watt was also individually contacted. 'They had no idea we were besties and roommates,' Merasty said, taking the two separate messages as a sign. 'We were just like, 'Okay, I guess we're doing this. This is creator telling us that it is time for us to go on The Amazing Race.'' Now known as 'The Rebeccas,' the duo said representation was a driving force behind joining the race. 'That was such a big motivating factor for us. You know, having those little eyes look up at us and be like, 'Hey, they kind of look like us. We can do that, too!' And just like encouraging youth to really go for it, go for what they want,' Merasty said. Teams are competing for two 2025 Chevrolet Blazers, a trip around the world, and a $250,000 cash prize. The new season kicks off in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium.
CBC
27-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Sir John A. Macdonald statue at Queen's Park to be uncovered after 5 years
Hoarding that has covered a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald on the grounds of the Ontario legislature for the past five years is set to soon be removed. The statue of Canada's first prime minister has been boxed up since 2020, when it was vandalized. The monument was one of many to be targeted across the country amid anti-racism protests and as Canadians grappled with the history of residential schools. Macdonald is considered an architect of the country's notorious residential school system that took Indigenous children from their families in an effort to assimilate them. Progressive Conservative and Liberal members of a non-partisan board of the legislative assembly agreed earlier this month on a motion to remove the hoarding after the statue is cleaned. Speaker Donna Skelly says the statue should be ready this summer and she welcomes both supporters and protesters to come to Queen's Park. Government House leader Steve Clark says a legislative committee has been tasked with looking at how to respect Indigenous representation at Queen's Park amid a project to rehabilitate the building.
