Matriarch Movement

This week on the podcast, we welcome two very impressive women. Chelsea Vowel is a Métis writer and educator from manitowsâkahikan (Lac Ste. Anne) Alberta, residing in amiskwacîwâskihikan (Edmonton). She is a Cree language instructor at the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and author of Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada. She and her c...

This week on the podcast, a fan favourite is back for round two! This week, host Shayla Oulette Stonechild is joined once again by Caitlyn Kasper. Caitlyn is an Anishinaabek woman from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation. She holds an Honours Specialist in Political Science from the University of Toronto and a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall. She is currently a candidate for a Master of L...

This week, host Shayla Oullette Stronechild is joined by Chelsey Luger. Chelsey is a Writer and Wellness Advocate, originally from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Born and raised in North Dakota, she was educated on the East Coast and is now based in Arizona with her husband and two daughters. Chelsey's writing and broadcast work has been published by dozens of...

Christi Belcourt is a Michif (Métis) visual artist and author living and working in Canada with a deep respect for Mother Earth, the traditions, and the knowledge of her people. Belcourt's work often focuses on questions around identity, culture, place, and divisions within communities. In addition to her paintings, she is also known as a community-based artist, environmentalist, and advocate for...

This week, host Shayla Oulette Stonechild is joined by none other than Kelly Boutsalis. Kelly is a writer and journalist, based in Toronto. She is Mohawk, and from the Six Nations reserve. Her words have appeared in the Toronto Star, CBC, Elle Canada, Fashion, Flare, and more. This episode is for anyone who wants to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes as a journalist. Listen to how Kel...

Meet Leah Gazan, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg Centre. Leah is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota Nation, located in Saskatchewan, Treaty 4 territory. Leah's lineage has played a big role in her fight, she credits a lot of her inspiration to her mother, a Chinese Lakota and her father, a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Currently the NDP Critic for Children, Families, and Social Development, as well a...

This week's episode is about finding self-love and learning to love yourself. Adeline Bird is an Afro-Anishnabe Author, Filmmaker, and Producer. She grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, but is a proud member of Treaty #4 Rolling River First Nations. Adeline currently works as a writer and freelance producer, producing segments for daytime television hit shows such as CTV's The Social & Etalk. A...

This week on the podcast, host Shayla Stonechild is joined by Caitlyn Kasper. Caitlyn is an Anishinaabek woman from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation. She holds an Honours Specialist in Political Science from the University of Toronto and a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall. She is currently a candidate for a Master of Laws at Osgoode Hall, with a specialization in Constitutional Law. In...

If you've been following Shayla for a while, you know that this episode has been highly anticipated. This week, host Shayla Stonechild is joined by Inuk politician, Mumilaaq Qaqqaq. Mumilaaq Qaqqaq (ᒧᒥᓛᖅ ᖃᖅᑲᖅ), is an Inuk woman, Member of Parliament, and human rights defender. Elected in 2019, she is one of the few people to have given a speech in the House of Commons before being elected. The two...

This week, host Shayla Oulette Stonechild is joined by writer, podcaster, and CBC Radio host, Falen Johnson. Falen is Mohawk and Tuscarora (Bear Clan) from Six Nations Grand River Territory. Her writing has been featured in Brick, The Canadian Theatre Review, Granta Magazine, and she was named one to watch in 2020 by Maclean’s magazine. In this episode, Shayla and Falen discuss the importance of I...

This week, host Shayla Oulette Stonechild is joined by Vancouver-based, award-winning journalist, author, and artist from the Gitanmaax band of the Gitxsan nation, Angela Sterritt. In 2021, Angela won a Canadian Screen Award for reporter of the year for her coverage of an Indigenous man and his then 12-year-old granddaughter who was racially profiled and arrested while trying to open her first ban...

This week, host Shayla Oulette Stonechild is joined by Chippewa and Potawatomi artist from Rama First Nation and Moosedeer Point First Nation, Chief Lady Bird. You may have seen her thought-provoking artwork that explores contemporary colonialism and Indigenous futurism on murals in Toronto, or in illustrations for the Art Gallery of Ontario, Vice, and Flare Magazine. Chief Lady Bird is also a boo...

This week, host Shayla Oulette Stonechild is joined by guest Monday Blues. Monday is a Two-Spirit Togolese-Secwépemc showgirl, model, decolonial life & business coach, and jewelry designer. Monday is a grad of the Erickson International Coaching Program, and has been a professional burlesque performer since 2011. She has traveled the globe as a solo female adventurer and loves to live outside her...

Ashley Callingbull is a Cree First Nations woman from the Enoch Cree Nation in the province of Alberta, Canada. She is a model, actress, jingle dress dancer and First Nation’s activist who was the reigning Mrs. Universe 2015. She is perhaps best known for her role on the Gemini award-winning series Blackstone and Tribal, but her work goes well beyond the screen. Ashley is also an international mot...

Leigh Joseph is a member of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) First Nation; her ancestral name is Styawat and she is an ethnobotanist by training who completed a Masters of Science in Ethnobotany at the University of Victoria under the guidance of her Skwxwú7mesh community. She is also the founder of Sḵwálwen Botanicals, a line of botanical skin care products that honours traditional Skwxwú7mesh plant kn...

Lesley Hampton is an Anishinaabe and Mohawk womenswear designer and artist based in Toronto whose fashion label is focuses on body positivity and Indigenous representation. Lesley’s brand offers collections that range from eveningwear to athleisure—Lizzo was recently seen working out in one of her two-piece sets. Lesley also believes in the importance of partnering with other Indigenous designers;...

Ilona Verley is Nlaka'pamux and the first Indigenous, Two-Spirit and LA-Based queen to appear on Canada's Drag Race, and in the franchise as a whole. Originally from so-called Vancouver, Ilona identifies as non-binary. She* auditioned for Drag Race a total of three times before making it onto the Canadian version of the show where she made it to 6th place, and appeared until episode 7. In this con...

Tanya Talaga does not need an introduction at this point: she is an award-winning Canadian journalist and author of Polish and Indigenous descent, and the First Ojibway woman to deliver the CBC Massey Lectures. Her book Seven Fallen Feathers, a national bestseller that tells the story of even Indigenous high school students who mysteriously died in Thunder Bay, won the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize. Throu...

Nimkish is a rising Indigiqueer pop artist living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, known as Vancouver, Canada. Her first album, Heartbreak On The Coast, was released in 2019 and and her latest single, YSB, featuring artist ASCXNSION, came out just a few days ago, to her fans’ great delight. Her new album, Damage Control, was written during a pe...

This episode features host Shayla Oulette Stonechild in conversation with Nahanni Fontaine, a Canadian politician, MLA with the NDP in Manitoba, public speaker, advocate, and Indigenous Matriarch, about last week's erasure and censorship of posts about Missing Indigenous Women, Girls and 2-spirit by Instagram. In this raw conversation, Nahanni also opens up about her journey, with no details off l...

Originally from the US Pacific Northwest, Korina Emmerich was inspired to create clothes and accessories that honour her patrilineal Indigenous heritage from The Coast Salish Territory, Puyallup tribe. Today her brand, EMME Studio, is a fixture in leading fashion publications, and her approach to sustainable clothing is recognized by her peers and loyal clients across the US and globally. Focused...

Michelle Chubb, known by her handle @indigenous_baddie, is a 23-year-old social media star, with almost half a million followers on TikTok where she shares content blending Indigenous regalia, relatable anecdotes, and social justice activism. She is Néhinaw, or Swampy Cree, currently part of Oxford House, a First Nations Cree community in Northern Manitoba. Growing up in the city of Winnipeg, Mich...

Cheyenne Leskanic is of Mvskoke, Italian & Scottish ancestry and she is the founder of Three Medicines Longhouse & Three Medicines Birth. With a little over a decade of experience as a Yoga teacher, and as many years of recovery from substance addiction behind her, Cheyenne has made it her purpose to live in integrity and to create places of connection for all people. Drawing on her own experience...

“The history is not your fault, but it is absolutely your responsibility.” In this episode, host Shayla Oulette Stonechild speaks with decolonial educator Nikki Sanchez, a Pipil/Maya and Irish/Scottish academic, who is also an Indigenous media maker and environmental educator. Nikki holds a masters degree in Indigenous Governance and has completed her Ph. D. with a research focus on emerging visua...

“For too much of my youth I did worry about what my friends thought, I did worry about what boys thought and I did worry about what people I didn’t know thought of me.” Host Shayla Oulette Stonechild speaks with Tenille Campbell, a Dene and Métis poet, photographer and advocate for body positivity and for Indigenous rights from English River First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. Her acclaimed poet...