text: David Hannan - Nathan Adler
  "As a Metis artist much of my recent work has involved the (sometimes) dark satire of the concept of wilderness and the erasure of the Indigenous presence from the landscape. "
  Ottawa/Mettawa
  Kispiox Band, Gitxsan Nation
  As I now speak 2 European languages fluently (and another 3 un-fluently), I aim to prove that, where European languages have room for 2 genders only, Native languages have room for many. This, I submit, is the source of the violence against women, and Aboriginal women most especially, by men, and heterosexual men only -- the 2-gender system does NOT work; one gender has way too much power over the other; we need to explore other models. And the key just might be contained in the very architecture of Aboriginal languages, an "architecture" where there is no gender, one where we are all, to one degree or another depending on who we are, both male and female. And one where God is neither male nor female. Or is both.
  Tomson Highway is Cree playwright, novelist and musician from Barren Lands First Nation, Brochet, Manitoba.
  When I think of my teachings I think of my Mom because she is the one who gave them to me. When I wrote my first play "Indigenous Like Me" it was for her. The final scene of the play reads;
  "Now, no matter what I do I hear her voice. Doesn't matter if I am studying the Indian Act at University or the history of colonialism, residential schools, or even feminism because it's her voice I hear. It's her teachings I remember and her life I think of when I approach those issues. And it makes me happy. It makes me happy because I realize that makes me Indigenous Like Her."
  Jack Horne is a playwright of the Tsawout Band, WSANEC, Coast Salish, B.C.
  "I am currently working on a feature documentary that looks at four 60s Scoop siblings recovering a sense of family that was denied to them."
  My film and media work comes from my own desire to reconnect to my Cree family and history, as I was part of the 60s and 70s Scoop. My films reflect issues that I grapple with or that fascinate me and all are inspired by my Indigenous community. I did Two Worlds Colliding because the Starlight tours happened in my city and directly affected people I knew. I made 7 Minutes, a short independent film about a young woman who is part of the "almost missing" because a man followed her home from the library and tried to put her in his van. These are issues that directly affect Indigenous peoples in Canada. But I also make work that reflects my interest in regeneration and resurgence of Indigenous culture. This is where my buffalo work is especially relevant. My independent film Buffalo Calling is about one particular herd's survival in the face of near-extinction and diaspora. My next buffalo film focuses on Indigenous peoples' contemporary efforts to repair our bond with the buffalo, one that was damaged after colonization. I am currently working on a feature documentary that looks at four 60s Scoop siblings recovering a sense of family that was denied to them. I am also writing an independent drama about a Cree family who decides to hide their children during the residential school era.
  I like to push myself to make different types of films: investigative, experimental, dramatic, observational, and finally, with the new buffalo project, personal point of view. I took a hiatus from filmmaking to pursue a graduate degree but I am now once again immersed in making films.