For Aboriginal peoples the drum is the heartbeat of the Creator, the heartbeat of life and the heartbeat of their peoples. Drumming is a central element to all native ceremonies; the drum is believed to be a conduit, through which the Creator’s spirit m

When I came out of that first sweat lodge, I was looking to the heavens, there were stars everywhere, it was beautiful. That is when I knew : this is what I was missing.
- Mike Doucette

Our languages may be different, our skin color may be different, but we are all the same.
- Mike Doucette

Mike is like a brother, a cousin, a father, a mother... He's all of those things combined into one very special person.
- Mi'sel Joe

20 annual powwows held in Conne River.
Less than 11000 Mi'kmaq speakers in Canada and the United States.

Mike Doucette from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is a Master of Ceremonies who has revived Mi’kmaq culture, not only in his hometown of Eskasoni, but right across the Maritimes. A child of Residential School survivors, Mike did not grow up with Mi’kmaq culture, his parents taught him English and Christian values, as they themselves were taught. Mike’s childhood was plagued with many of the common problems we see on reservations; alcoholism, drug-addiction, physical abuse, and domestic violence. ...

Nestled along the edge of the Bras d’Or Lake (a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve), in Cape Breton (NS), Eskasoni is home to approximately 4,000 and is one of the largest Mi’kmaq speaking communities in the world. The name Eskasoni comes from the Mi

There were over 1,200 documented cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women between 1980 and 2012

Aboriginal women are five times more likely to die under violent circumstances than their non-aboriginal counterparts

Bridget Tolley is an Algonquin woman and grandmother of five from the Kitigan Zibi reserve in Outaouais, a region of western Quebec. An outspoken and committed activist, Bridget co-founded Families of Sisters in Spirit, a grassroots movement to raise public awareness of the often-unacknowledged murder and disappearance of Indigenous women. She also plays an active role in other social causes, including First Nations education, housing and child welfare and police violence.



On October 5th 2001, Brid...

Sisters in Spirit was originally a five-year initiative established by the Native Women’s Association of Canada to research and raise awareness about violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. Set up in 2005, the SIS research team gathered s

An Indian reserve is an area of land set aside under the Indian Act for the use and benefit of First Nations peoples. There are over 3,000 Indian reserves across Canada, each governed by a band, a First Nations governing unit comprising of a chief and cou

The Algonquin are a First Nations group from southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, in Canada. They are one of the tribes within the much larger group of Algonquian-speaking peoples, which includes Cree, Mi’kmaq, Innu and Blackfoot, among others. Today, t

The Highway of Tears is the name given to a tragic 720 km stretch of Highway 16 in northern British Columbia, Canada, where a string of killings and disappearances took place between 1969 and 2011. Police estimates of 19 victims are hotly disputed by Abor

The word “powwow” has become part of our own language. It originates from the Algonquian term “pau-wau” or “pauau” meaning a group of medicine men and refers to Indigenous North American social gatherings. Traditionally, powwows were community

For me, it’s important to keep going to make sure that this doesn’t happen to other families.
- Bridget Tolley

All these women are loved. They’re important to somebody and that’s what matters.
- Bridget Tolley

The Sliammon Nation, also known as the Tla’amin First Nation, is a First Nations band government located on the Sunshine Coast of British Colombia. If you have watched episode 10 of konnected.tv, you will have no doubt heard Ta’Kaiya Blaney talking ab

The Indian Act is a Canadian statute that was first passed in 1876 and that governs how the Canadian state interacts with the First Nations of Canada and their members. The Indian Act has two main features: it a) says how Reserves and Bands can operate, and b) defines who is (and who is not) recognized as Indian. It is often considered to be controversial, and it has been said that it was introduced as a way to enforce Euro-Canadian standards of “civilization”.



There have been many amendments to...

The term Residential Schools refers to an extensive school system put in place by the Canadian Federal Government and administered by the Church. These schools had one main purpose: “To kill the Indian in the child”. This controversial school system,

If you’ve watched the konnected.tv episode about Ta’Kaiya Blaney you will know doubt have heard her in Paris at COY11 (Conference of Youth), which took place days before COP21 last year.



The United Nations Climate Change Conference that took place between November 30 and December 12, 2015 was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the 11th session of the meeting of the parties to the 1997 Kyoto P...