b'INDSPIRE Q&ANew Fictions for a New Era. Andfocus on my responsibilities asNorthern families can afford to still, beyond all of his success,a student.have their child travel 10 hours to he was a very humble trapper,a place theyve never been and hunter and fisherman who stillBeyond that, its helped me meetstay with people theyve never lived in his cabin with his wife upsome amazing people and attendmet for a whole week. It would be until the last few years of his life.some inspiring events. One inmuch more meaningful to bring Harold passed from cancer thisparticular was a coders conferencesomething like that up to them.past winter.in Toronto led by Future Engineers Canada, funded by Amazon. I wasWhat kind of message When I had the idea for theasked to be a judge for an eventwould you give to young Walking With Our Angelswhere coders had to make a pieceIndigenous people who initiative, Harold was the firstof music on their software thatwant to pursue their dream person I consulted about myreferenced one of the Truth andcareer but who might not idea and what I hoped to do.Reconciliation Commissions Callsbe sure where to begin or Sitting and talking with him, heto Action. Ive been able to meetwho are facing barriers to said that any meaningful solu- some great people and build ontheir journey?tions to this social issue needsome of the relationships Ive been to be community-based andbuilding on for years.In my experience, people are very community-led, meaning theresupportive of young people with cant be any umbrella solutionsIf you were given $1 milliona passion and an interest and a and one-size-fits-all policies. Thatto create an Indigenous- skill they want to nurture and became something I reiteratedfocused organization orgrow. Most caretakers want to on the walk toothe need forinitiativeor to support anencourage that growth and give community-based solutions. Thatexisting onewhat wouldpositive feedback, so dont think was something from Harold, soit be? you need to do it alone in isola-I would definitely say he wastion and be great before you start an inspiration. It would be extremely meaningfulto share it, just start sharing it. to have a land-based music educa- Find out: What are your passions? He was always so encouraging oftion program. Particularly, duringWhat are your hobbies? Then my music. Of course, I was alwaysthe summer holidays and in rurallook around to see who might travelling and he was also busynorthern communities wherehelp you grow those skills. doing book tours and publishing,theres not a lot of extracurricular so we didnt always have theprogramming offered for childrenFor example, when I was young, opportunity to spend much timeand youth other than maybe sportsI really loved photography. I took together. But when we did, thein the school gym or perhapsa lot of pictures and my mother visits were always important andfishing and hunting if they comeposted some of my photos on meaningful to me. Ill rememberfrom families where thats theher Facebook page. She was my time with Harold as longsummer plan. For youth who dontgetting a lot of compliments and discussions, coffee and dialogue;do those things, it would be greatsome professional photographers we could talk for five or six hoursto give them access to really goodreached out to her and said, We uninterrupted. Ill miss that. Iquality music instructors and havehave a group that goes out to the hope other people find his workthe opportunity to make friend- boat lunch some nights to take because hes a very valuableships and be in a place where theyphotos of the Northern Lights source of wisdom.can learn collaboratively from onewhen theyre active. If Tristen another. It would also be great towould like to join us, he can. And What did it mean to you tohave this therapeutic escape inI did. That only happened because receive an Indspire Award?their beautiful natural environ- my mom shared my interests with ment, which will help them beothers, and other people who There is some prize moneymore connected to the land. had those same interests were attached to the awards, and asable to reach out to me and offer somebody who recently wentUnfortunately, all of those fiddletheir assistance, their knowledge back to university to start ancamps that I have been to haveand their friendship. That was education degree, [receiving thebeen very out of reach formeaningful to me and it had a award] took a lot of financialNorthern people because theyrehuge impact. Im sure the same concerns off of the experience.so far south and very expensivewould be true for young people Its helped me to just study andto attend. I dont think a lot ofwho have interests. 18indspiration2022'