We're celebrating four Indspire Award recipients who create, educate, and inspire

The Indspire Awards represent the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows upon its own people. Every year, a dozen First Nation, Metis and Inuit people are chosen for their outstanding achievements across Turtle Island and beyond.

Nations Skate Youth is where Joe Buffalo and his team teach kids to skate, as a way to empower, inspire and instill pride. Joe is a legend in the skate community. Not just for his gravity defying feats on a board but also because of his incredible story of survival and resilience. He survived one of Canada’s last residential schools, confronted substance abuse in his life, and after picking up his first skateboard turned pro and became a legend. This year the Samson Cree man was recognized with a Sports Indspire Award.

One of this year’s Youth Recipients is Willow Allen. She is a fashion model, a cultural content creator with over a million followers and a soon to be social worker. After being discovered on Instagram, the Inuvialuit beauty has walked runways from Singapore to New York for big name brands like Clinique, Louboutin Beauty, and Canada Goose. But because home is where her heart is, Willow, who is from Inuvik, Northwest Territories also teaches people online about life in the north – just as her dad taught her on the land.

Building cabins with her grandfather inspired Reanna Merasty to build a career as an architect focused on holistic homes. Now, Reanna is an architectural intern. She also co-founded the Indigenous Design and Planning Students Association at the University of Manitoba. Reanna is a recipient of a Youth Indspire Award for her advocacy and dedication to changing the field of architecture.

Lori Campbell is a 60s Scoop adoptee: one of about 20-thousand Indigenous children who were removed by the government and adopted into mostly non-Indigenous families. She was lost - disconnected from her culture until she enrolled at the University of Regina. There she found a community of “aunties and uncles” that guided her on a journey of self-discovery. Now, as the Associate Vice President of Indigenous Engagement of the same university, she is on a mission to make universities a resource for other Indigenous people who want to find their way home.