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And the Indigenous Newsmaker of the Year goes to...
Cecilia Baptiste | June 30, 2015

A topic near and dear to many people's hearts was awarded Indigenous Newsmaker of the Year at a recent Saskatoon Aboriginal Professionals Association (SAPA) event.

SAPA hosted its ‘Celebrating Success – Indigenous Newsmakers’ event on June 19th at the Bessborough Hotel. This event showcased top stories that our Indigenous media experts have covered in the past year and culminated in the acknowledgement of the panelists’ top story. The vision was to highlight positive stories of individuals or organizations that covered Indigenous people, promote role models, including possible ‘hidden heroes’. The SAPA team hosted this celebration in recognition of Aboriginal History Month and in honor of the Summer Solstice. An event of this type focuses on the good within our community, and provides a venue for the non-Indigenous community to witness the many encouraging things happening in Saskatoon.

Panelists Larissa Burnouf and Creeson Agecoutay with moderator Leisha Grebinski.
Panelists (L to R) John Lagimodiere, Betty Ann Adam, and Merv Brass.
All the panelists with the moderator discussing who or what should be named Indigenous Newsmaker of the Year.
Myrna LaPlante accepting the distinction of Newsmaker of the Year on behalf of the MMIW movement and the advocacy of Iskwewuk E-Wichiwitochik.
Two nominees for Newsmaker of the Year: North Saskatchewan regiment chief warrant officer Joel Pederson (nominated by Larissa Burnouf) prepared youth to run the Metis Veterans Memorial Run in July 2014 and Belinda Daniels, who helps the communities regain the power of language by holding camps with youth. She has won awards such as the Aboriginal Research Excellence Award. She was chosen by Betty Ann Adam for her work she does with the youth and her continued desire to build stronger communities by bringing back the languages.
The SAPA team
Leanne Bellegarde speaks on behalf of the title sponsor, PotashCorp. SAPA’s other sponsor for this event was the U of S President’s Office. These are two organizations that continue to showcase strong leadership in corporate leadership, and recognize the importance of partnerships with the Aboriginal community with both sponsorship dollars and active participation.

What we found interesting at the event is that while we wanted to focus on positive stories, in reality there are many hardships and difficult issues that are inherent in who we are and what we face. While the media panel did a great job identifying inspiring people, the discussion continued to circle around the MMIW movement, the call for an inquiry, and the TRC work. In the end, the media chose MMIW and the advocacy of Iskwewuk E-Wichiwitochik.

This was a tremendous moment, as it acknowledges that within the context of difficulty and hardship, we are a resilient people who will not be quiet and will continue to be the voice for those that cannot speak for themselves. While the reason behind the MMIW movement is not positive or exciting, the work that people such as this group does is important and critical in order to push for understanding in the wider Canadian society.