Meet some of the Indigenous changemakers that made 2021 a year of learning and unlearning
This year on Unreserved, Indigenous leaders and changemakers from across Turtle Island shared wisdom and stories of how they're creating positive change.
The Unreserved team sifted through interviews from the past year for highlights. Here are some of the cultural guardians from Unreserved's class of 2021 who deserve a little pomp, circumstance and celebration.
Michael Greyeyes
Michael Greyeyes is an actor and director from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. His ability to take on important historical roles, such as Sitting Bull in the 2017 film Woman Walks Ahead, comes from knowledge he learned on set and from listening to the Indigenous nations that know these characters best. Greyeyes has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows over his storied career, including the role of Gooch in Dance Me Outside (1994), a zombie-killing warrior in Blood Quantum (2019) and Terry Thomas in the television series Rutherford Falls.
Angeline Boulley
Angeline Boulley is the author of Firekeeper's Daughter, a young adult mystery novel that's reaching young people in ways that only a good story can. Before the release of Firekeeper's Daughter, her first novel, Boulley worked for the United States Department of Education. This experience, she said, gave her insight into the struggles young people face as they seek out their individual identities.
Emmaline Beauchamp
Emmaline Beauchamp (Mshkogaabwid Kwe) is an Anishinaabemowin learner and teacher. She and her husband, Monty McGahey (Ozaawaa Giizhigo Ginew), are raising their children in an English-free home. They're both constantly learning as they discover new words and ways to explore the world around them in their Ojibway language.
Natan Obed, Lisa Koperqualuk and Brian Pottle
Natan Obed is president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the organization that represents 65,000 Inuit in Canada. In 2019, the ITK released its National Inuit Climate Change Strategy, which Obed is now trying to get on the desks of leaders around the world.
Lisa Koperqualuk is vice-president of international affairs with the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), an international non-governmental organization representing about 180,000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Chukotka (Russia). Koperqualuk was part of a delegation of Inuit leaders attending COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, that shared stories of the dire impacts of climate change on the Arctic.
Brian Pottle was also part of the Inuit delegation to COP26. He'spresident of the National Inuit Youth Council, an organization established by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. Pottle reminds us of the connection between a changing climate and suicide rates in the North. Many communities are losing important connections to their traditional ways of life because of vanishing sea ice and rising sea levels, he said.
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