From musicians and illustrators to storytellers and entrepreneurs, the scope of Indigenous excellence cannot be contained within one medium or space. Across Canada, Indigenous heritage is woven into creative practices ranging from a guided cultural tour in Whistler to a gallery-boutique in Montreal showcasing the works of Cree artisans. Below, meet some of the Indigenous creatives shaping their respective fields across Canada.

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A Contemporary Homage to Cree Artisanship in Old Montreal

Up a set of stairs in Old Montreal awaits a contemporary ode to Cree artisanship. Taking its name from the Cree word for hello, the online store Wachiya, which specializes in Cree arts and crafts from the Eeyou Istchee, or James Bay area, opened a bricks-and-mortar store in the summer of 2025. Designed by the Montreal interior design firm Clairoux, the space is part gallery, part boutique. But, says Clairoux’s lead interior designer and founder Frédric Clairoux, “The first thing is education. It’s not a store of accessories—it’s a store of creators.” —Elia Essen

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Photo by Morgan Gold.

Tia Wood Paves the Way for Indigenous Artists

The way Tia Wood answers each question in our interview is direct, saying only what’s needed but giving every response a thoughtful weight. Perhaps it’s her journey of discovering her purpose and voice as an Indigenous woman in music that shapes this style: precise, yet filled with her distinctive presence. Hailing from the dirt roads of Saddle Lake Cree Nation in central Alberta, the singer-songwriter blends her Cree and Salish heritage into her music, describing her sound as “Indigenous vocals with stuff you hear on the radio.” —Christina Armanious

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Talaysay Tours and Intrepid Aim to Amplify Indigenous Voices

During two hours spent around Lost Lake in Whistler, Talaysay Campo and her colleagues weave stories of their childhoods and First Nations legends through the We Are the Land walking tour. The Indigenous-led tour is part of a new partnership between Intrepid Travel and the Vancouver-based cultural tourism company Talaysay Tours. —Claudia Laroye

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Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun, The Impending Fire Storms, 2024.

 

Inside the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Future Geographies Exhibition

On the fourth floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery, there grows an 1,800-year-old red cedar. Stepping inside the tree’s hollow trunk, visitors are greeted by a video installation of British Columbia’s last remaining ancient rainforests. Sanctuary: The Ancient Forest Experience, a work by artist and Indigenous ethnobotanist T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss in collaboration with filmmakers Damien Gillis and Olivier Leroux, is part of Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change, the first major art exhibit in Canada to explore the relationship between this definitive modern crisis and contemporary art. —Chloe Berge

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Photo by Byron Dauncey.

 

Inuk Artist Shuvinai Ashoona Receives the Prestigious Governor General’s Award

Hailing from Kinngait (also known as Cape Dorset), Nunavut, Shuvinai Ashoona’s colourful, otherworldly creations speak to Inuit culture through a contemporary lens, seamlessly blending historical and present-day elements through drawings. A few works are self-portraits, while many are detailed fantastical landscapes peppered with human figures with animalistic features.

Ashoona’s work has been exhibited across the country and in the U.S. in an expansive list of distinguished galleries, as well as in Europe and the U.K. In 2022, an installation of six of her drawings received a special mention at the Venice Biennale. —Lauren Edwards

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