From music to helping others Indigenous youth take the lead

​All summer long Radio Indigenous shares our favourite interviews from our community, culture and conversations.

It is said that the youth are our future. If that's true then our future is bright, creative and woke! This week on Unreserved, the rising voices of our young people.

N'we Jinan

David Hodges, a hip hop music producer from Montreal, started the N'we Jinan Project, which means "our home" in Cree. N'We Jinan  travels across Canada helping Indigenous youth find their voice through music. A mobile recording studio and a video production team visits schools and youth centres and helps young people create an original song and music video that explores their lives, losses and triumphs. 

Rez Poetry

Leonard Sumner is an Anishinaabe singer-songwriter who created his own fusion of hip hop, country, rhythm and blues. Sumner, who is from Little Saskatchewan First Nation in Manitoba, burst on the scene with his 2013 album Rez Poetry and has been a fixture on the music scene ever since. Leonard's down to earth and wise beyond his years persona along with his music fusion captivates audiences everywhere.

Leading into the future

Tracie Léost has accomplished a lot in her 18 years of life, devoting most of her time to helping others. She volunteers twice a week with her outdoor hockey league. She planned, organized and ran 115 km in 4 days to raise money and awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. She travels across Turtle Island to share her journey and bring awareness to MMIWG and to stop violence against women and girls. She was a heroic character in a music video called Run Sister Run. And twice, Tracie has donated 12 inches of her hair to make wigs for kids with cancer. Now Tracie, who is Métis, is nominated for #iamSK​, an ambitious storytelling project by CBC Saskatchewan that will share stories of people who are leading us into the future.