"Rage is love on fire."

This episode feels like a long-awaited conversation between kindred spirits. Host, Dr. Candace Manitopyes, connects with Kaniehtiio (Tiio) Horn and unravel Indigenous sterotypes from the very beginning of their talk. 

The two women immediately get into convos about the complicated, beautiful, and sometimes jagged truth of existing as light-skinned Indigenous women.

They also talk about rage. 

Tiio shares how she carried a quiet shame about her anger for years after surviving the Oka crisis; trying to fit herself into boxes that never held her. 

Now, she uses that energy as creative fuel.

Her work, including her role as the Deer Lady in Reservation Dogs and her horror-comedy (and quite cathartic) film Seeds, serves as a vessel for that unbridled spirit. She creates art that demands we look at the reality of who we are, and how there is deep strength in admitting that we all have violence inside us. It's just a matter of learning to channel it into our stories instead of against ourselves.

This conversation serves as an invitation to every person who has felt silenced. Tiio reminds us that we possess the agency to craft our own narratives. We are reclaiming our joy, rage, and futures.

Relentless Reflections

• Stop labeling your rage as something that needs to be hidden or suppressed. Spend time this week sitting with your rage, naming its source, and acknowledging that your anger is a valid response to your history and your environment.
• Identify the spaces in your life where you are defaulting to people-pleasing to maintain a false peace. Question whether you are shrinking your own voice or your boundaries to keep others comfortable, and sit with the reality of what that silence is costing you.

Relentless Actions

• Select one specific area of your life—whether it is your creative work, your advocacy, or your daily decisions—where you will consciously pour your energy instead of swallowing it. Use that force to build, write, or act on something that serves your truth.
• Actively seek out people in your life who refuse to be "yes" people for you. Ask them for unfiltered feedback on your goals, your ideas, and your blind spots so you can stop second-guessing your own power and move forward with clarity.

Relentless Resources

• Follow Tiio's journey on Instagram here: @kaniehtiio
• Check out Reservations Dogs (Hulu) to watch Tiio's iconic role as Deer lady or check out her horror-comedy film Seeds (a MUST watch) 
  
  

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

Hockey is good medicine, and Harlan Kingfisher (aka Smudge the Blades) is proving that with every single stride on the ice. 

In this episode, Dr. Candace hangs out with the legend behind Smudge the Blades, Harlan Kingfisher, to dig into his journey from Sturgeon Lake to the junior and college rinks. They talk about how he turned his passion into a platform that celebrates First Nations identity and explore how his viral "Smudge Celly" became a movement, encouraging Indigenous kids to bring their culture onto the ice and feel proud of who they are while they play.

Beyond the gear and the hype, Harlan is all about showing up for the community. He works to make sure kids have the equipment they need and helps cover registration fees so they can get in the game. They chat about why this matters, how he stays grounded, and why it is vital to create a space for the next generation to chase their dreams without needing to change who they are.

Relentless Actions

• Use your own resources to help a youth in your community with hockey equipment or registration fees. This contribution ensures a young person gains the confidence to participate in the game.
• Find specific ways to integrate your authentic identity into professional or social spaces. When you choose to be yourself, you dismantle barriers for others and grant them permission to do the same.

Relentless Reflections

• Identify the practice that keeps you humble and connected to your origins. Whether it is family, community service, or a personal ritual like smudging, prioritize this practice to stay grounded during busy times.
• Consider your capacity to influence others. Reflect on how you distribute your energy and resources to ensure you pull others up alongside you as you achieve your goals.

Relentless Resources

• Smudge the Blades: Visit Harlan’s platform to see how an apparel brand serves as a vehicle for cultural pride and community support.
• Local Grassroots Sports Boards: Contact your local minor hockey or community sports board. Ask about specific opportunities to sponsor a child for the upcoming season to remove financial barriers for families.

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

Ever feel like you need the perfect plan before starting your business? 

In this episode of Relentless Indigenous Woman, Dr. Candace Manitopyes welcomes Michelle Cameron, CEO of Dreamcatcher Promotions, to talk about the messy, real, and rewarding path of Indigenous entrepreneurship. 

From their hilarious first meeting stuck in a blizzard-bound minivan in Northern Ontario to Michelle building a multi-million dollar company with nothing but a used embroidery machine and YouTube tutorials, they discuss how you don't need perfection to start, you just need the drive to change your life.

The two dig deep into breaking the "poverty mindset," the importance of seeking help through Indigenous Financial Institutions (IFIs) for business planning, and why true luxury is a calm nervous system and time with family. 

If you’ve been letting fear or shame hold you back from your vision, this conversation is your sign to keep going. Tune in to learn why you deserve to thrive, how to stop trying to do everything yourself, and why "Growth Valley" is where your biggest breakthroughs happen.

Relentless Actions

• Outsource the "Scary" Parts: If "business plan," "taxes," or "finances" are stopping you from starting, stop forcing yourself to do it alone. Seek out your local Indigenous Financial Institution (IFI); they often have programs that provide funding specifically to hire consultants who can write business plans and handle financial setup for you.
• Audit Your "Spending vs. Investing": Take a hard look at your current money habits. If you are struggling with a "poverty mindset" where money disappears as soon as it arrives, try starting small by setting aside even a minimal amount (like $100/month or a percentage of income) into a "slush fund" or savings account to build a buffer. Practice shifting from impulsive spending to intentional investing in your own business growth.

Relentless Reflections

• Redefine "Growth Valley" vs. "Death Valley": While the first five years of business are often called "Death Valley" due to high failure rates, view them instead as "Growth Valley." This phase is a crucible for your own personal development. It will force you to become more innovative, brave, and honest about what is—and isn't—working in your venture.
• Wealth is More Than Material: Colonization has distorted our relationship with luxury. True luxury is not just material possession; it is a calm nervous system, the ability to trust your relationships, having time for your family, and the freedom to contribute back to your community. When you ground yourself in these values, you become a more resilient and effective entrepreneur.

Resources

• Indigenous Financial Institutions (IFIs): These organizations are essential for Indigenous entrepreneurs. They provide not just capital, but often access to "aftercare" programs and consultants who can teach you financial literacy and business planning. Look for your regional IFI, such as the First Peoples Economic Growth (Manitoba) or similar entities in your province.
• Dreamcatcher Promotions: Indigenous-owned and trusted nationwide, we create custom branded merchandise and apparel that reflects your organization’s identity and supports your goals https://www.dreamcatcherpromotions.ca/ 

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

What if the very tools we use to understand history (time, progress, and even language) are the exact things preventing us from achieving true collective liberation?

In this episode, Dr. Candace Manitopyes welcomes author and speaker Patty Krawec to discuss the profound necessity of "unforgetting." They dismantle the myth that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are sufficient, arguing that without a fundamental shift in how we relate to the Land and each other and history, we are simply building a larger, more inclusive colonial tent. 

Patty shares how Anishinaabemowin and other process-oriented, Land-based ways of knowing offer a radical alternative to the Western, noun-based, and time-obsessed worldview. They explore why our stories, science, and sense of self are inextricably linked to place, and why we must move from passive consumption of information to intentional, capacity-based action. This is an invitation to stop "dunking" on each other on social media and start building webs of knowledge that actually sustain our communities.

Relentless Actions 

1. The Capacity Audit: Stop "rage-posting" and start organizing. When you feel triggered by an injustice, don't let it paralyze you. Instead, adopt the framework discussed in the episode: Ask yourself four questions: What can I learn about this? Who is already doing the work? What is my actual capacity to help? And what is the most constructive thing I can do right now? Whether it is starting a small book club or supporting an existing group, move from consumption to contribution.
2. Commit to Intellectual Decolonization: Intentionally break your dependence on the traditional canon. Commit to reading broadly—specifically prioritizing Indigenous, Black, and queer authors whose work challenges the "European binary" lens. Treat this as a discipline to rewire your own brain, forcing yourself to engage with perspectives that view history as place-based and relational rather than linear and progress-oriented.

Relentless Reflection 

1. On Honesty vs. Approval: Dr. Candace asks, "Where is the approval coming from in how you function and operate in the world?" Reflect on a project, role, or political stance you have taken recently. Was it an authentic expression of your heart's alignment, or were you seeking validation from a system you claim to oppose?
2. On Relational History: Patty notes that Western history is obsessed with when things happened, while Indigenous ways of knowing focus on where things happened. How would your understanding of your own family, community, or local history shift if you re-centered your perspective around the land you are on, rather than the dates on a calendar?

Relentless Resources

1. Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec: A foundational text for excavating history and reimagining our relationships.
2. Thousandworlds.ca: Patty Krawec’s blog, where she continues the vital work of reflecting on literature, history, and our place in the world.

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

This conversation opens with the beautiful, grounding discovery that Dr. Candace (the host) is blood kin with Jocelyn, a reminder that this work is always rooted in relationship and interconnectedness. 

In this episode, Dr. Candace connects with Jocelyn Formsma, CEO of Indspire, to unpack what leadership looks like when we move beyond top-down models and into the role of a "big auntie"—someone who shows up to mentor, advocate, and walk beside the next generation. 

They explore the transformative power of bravery, reframing "faking it till you make it" not as a deception, but as a practice to build the muscle of strength already within us. By prioritizing professional networks and mentorship, we are creating a foundation of capacity-building that ensures our youth feel safe, proud, and supported in their leadership journeys.

They dig into what decolonial and solidarity work truly demands, acknowledging that it isn’t found in slogans or performative gestures, but in the messy, consistent work of showing up, immersion, and genuine care. 

When facing the overwhelm of these big spaces, Jocelyn reminds us to lean into curiosity (asking "why" instead of retreating into segregation) and to embrace the duality of strength, where we can be both powerful leaders and vulnerable humans, fuelled by the joy and humour that keep us going. 

Relentless Actions

• Implement "30 Seconds of Bravery" for Networking: When you feel the hesitation of being shy or uncertain, set a physical or mental 30-second timer. Use that window to introduce yourself, walk to the front of the room, or send that outreach email you’ve been holding onto. Don't let the "water get colder" by waiting—just jump in.
• Build Your Professional Peer Network: Following Jocelyn’s advice, actively identify and nurture a peer group separate from your personal circle—people you trust to discuss work, strategy, and challenges. These are the people who will provide the "real responsibility" and ongoing mentorship you need to advance, just as your own mentors did for you.

Relentless Reflections

• On the Duality of Strength: Are you allowing yourself to hold conflicting truths simultaneously? Reflect on whether you are suppressing your vulnerability in an attempt to project "badass" leadership. True endurance comes from balancing the knowledge that you are powerful with the humble acknowledgment of your own humanity and mistakes.
• On Moving Beyond the "Settler Question": Instead of constantly asking for spoon-feeding or seeking comfort in these dialogues, reflect on whether you are doing the "messy work" of immersion. Are you showing up in ways that go beyond slogans, hashtags, or performative gestures to build actual, lived relationships with Indigenous people and communities?

Relentless Resources

• The "Oshkatsuck" Youth Council: Look into the work of the Oshkatsuck (formerly the National Decade for Youth Council), which Jocelyn highlights as a gold standard for youth engagement and capacity building. Use their model as a template for how to center youth voices in your own organizational structure.
• Indspire’s Educational Programs: Explore the resources and scholarships offered by Indspire. Even if you aren't directly applying, their model of "capacity-building" and educational support is a powerful roadmap for how to systemically value and invest in Indigenous futures rather than just offering charity.

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

In this episode, host Dr. Candace Manitopyes speaks  with Nicole Robertson, a Cree media specialist from the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation and one of the most respected voices in Indigenous communications.

With over 30 years of experience across Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., Nicole has shaped the way Indigenous stories are told through her work as a journalist, producer, and media strategist. This dialogue invites listeners to embrace the cyclical nature of life, recognizing that growth often requires moments of grief, stillness, and surrender. 

Relentless Questions

• What expectations am I carrying that were never truly mine to begin with?
• In what ways can I offer myself more grace as I step into a new season or identity?
• How can I stay grounded in my values and identity while navigating systems that may not reflect or affirm them?

Relentless Actions

• Pause and reflect before reacting. Give yourself space to process emotions, ask deeper questions, and respond with intention rather than urgency.
• Stay rooted in community and culture. Whether through language, ceremony, or relationships, continue to reconnect with the spaces and practices that ground you. Growth does not always have to happen in isolation.

Relentless Resources

• Follow Nicole Robertson and her work in Indigenous storytelling and media at @muskwamedia on Instagram
• Listen to the Stolen Voices Podcast, which explores human trafficking in Indigenous communities and amplifies critical conversations around Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit peoples.

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

To walk through this world as an Indigenous trans or queer person is to reclaim a sacred, ancestral freedom that the colonial design never anticipated. In this episode, Dr. Amáyá Scott and Dr. Candace Manitopyes connect the threads of their experiences, exploring how joy functions as a revolutionary act of defiance. 

Their conversation journeys through the exhaustion of the digital age, where algorithms thrive on anger and leave our nervous systems frayed. They offer a gentle invitation to step away from the screen and return home to the messy, beautiful, and wonderfully inconvenient spaces where community actually lives—the post office lines, the grocery store aisles, and the quiet corners of our physical neighborhoods.

Love and joy can be found in what may seem like the mundane.  

Relentless Actions

• Choose one digital interaction—a comment, a "like," or a political post—that you would typically engage in to signal your stance, and instead, redirect that energy toward an unmediated, physical interaction. Spend that time waiting in line at a local shop, offering a genuine, unhurried greeting to a neighbor, or sitting in a park without your phone. This is a practice of choosing the friction of real life over the frictionless, automated feedback loops of the algorithm.
• Identify one space in your life—whether it is your workplace, your home, or a public setting—where your identity or your joy is expected to be managed or diminished. Intentionally bring your full, vibrant self into that space, refusing to perform or dilute your presence. To exist in your truth, particularly when it contradicts the colonial standard, is a direct, relentless act of reclaiming ancestral territory.

Relentless Reflections

• As you move through your day, ask yourself: Who is this platform serving when I am angry? Reflect on how your digital consumption—particularly the outrage cycles—is an extension of a colonial design that thrives on your nervous system being perpetually dysregulated. Consider how your attention is an ancestral resource, and reflect on what it would mean to reclaim it as a tool for deepening your actual, tangible relationships.
• Reflect on the ways you have been taught to minimize, pathologize, or hide your queer or trans essence to fit into colonial lines. Instead, hold the perspective that your existence is an unbroken, sacred continuity. Consider how simply choosing to be whole—rather than "productive" or "palatable"—shatters the colonial mirror and invites a new, expansive reality for everyone around you.

Relentless Resources

• “I Am Proud to Be My Mother’s Daughter”: The Gift and Joy of Indigenous (Trans)womanhood in the Colonizing University by Dr. Amáyá Scott https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392686833_I_Am_Proud_to_Be_My_Mother's_Daughter_The_Gift_and_Joy_of_Indigenous_Transwomanhood_in_the_Colonizing_University 
• https://dineaesthetics.com/ 

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

Colonial binaries impose a rigid grid of control, yet ancient Indigenous cosmologies have always held a different truth. Renowned Cree scholar Dr. Alex Wilson dismantles these imposed limitations by braiding Indigenous knowledge with the non-binary nature of quantum physics. 

She reminds us that "Queering is transforming poison into medicine." This conversation invites listeners to reject the constraints on identity and step into the vast, fluid reality of being Indigenous, where existence is not a set of isolated points but an expansive, vibrant web of relationship.

Dr. Wilson also shares the "coming in" concept, a journey of returning to community, culture, and self. The discussion examines the lasting impacts of colonization, residential schools, and imposed binaries while offering hopeful visions for healing, belonging, and collective resurgence.

This episode provides guidance for Indigenous people, Two-Spirit individuals, queer folks, educators, and anyone committed to learning or unlearning. It presents pathways for transforming colonial harms into medicine and reclaiming the complexity of Indigenous identity.

Relentless Questions

1. What parts of myself have I learned to hide to fit colonial expectations, and what would it look like to bring those parts back into relationship with my community, my ancestors, and myself? 
2. How might the Land, waters, plants, animals, and skies around me challenge the binaries and assumptions I have inherited about identity, belonging, and what is considered "normal"? 

Relentless Actions

1. Spend time on the land without trying to categorize or control what you see. Observe a river, a patch of moss, the moon, migrating birds, or changing seasons. Notice the diversity, transformation, and fluidity that already exist in the natural world, and reflect on what these teachings reveal about human identity and relationships. 
2. Reach out to someone who helps you feel fully seen. Whether it's family, friends, Elders, chosen family, or community members, intentionally nurture relationships where authenticity is welcomed and celebrated. Practice "coming in" by building spaces where people can bring their whole selves without fear. 

Relentless Resources

1. "Coming In" by Dr. Alex Wilson. Explore Dr. Wilson's research on "coming in," which reframes identity not as leaving one community behind, but as finding and creating circles of belonging where one's whole self is welcomed. This framework offers a deeply relational and Indigenous alternative to mainstream narratives of coming out. 
2. Pedagogy of Moss by Dr. Candace Manitopyes - a decolonial, symbiotic growth model designed to nurture responsive, culturally safe school environments for Indigenous and 2SLGBTQ+ K–12 students. Conceptualized by researcher and educator Dr. Candace Manitopyes in this dissertation, it uses moss as a metaphor for relational systemic growth, collective resilience, and community-driven collaboration

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

In this episode of the June IndigiQueer series, host Dr. Candace welcomes the talented and iconic Ryan Breezy, a Diné and Southern San Juan Paiute model and makeup artist. 

Join them as they explore the vibrant world of Indigenous fashion, the importance of representation, and the journey of self-discovery through art and culture. 

Listeners will be inspired by Ryan's commitment to community and the way he embraces his identity with boldness. He emphasizes the significance of uplifting Indigenous voices and creating inclusive spaces where everyone feels seen and valued.

The conversation also delves into the challenges Ryan has faced, including imposter syndrome, and how he has learned to embrace his uniqueness and share his story with others.

Ryan shares his experiences in the fashion industry, the significance of community, and how he unapolegetically embraces his identity with boldness and authenticity. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that celebrates Indigenous voices and creativity!

-

Relentless Questions

1. How has being queer and Indigenous shaped the questions you ask in academia and in life that colonial institutions are often unwilling or unable to ask?
2. What does it mean to reclaim queerness not as a modern import or identity category, but as a sacred, pre-colonial way of being and relating that many Indigenous nations already held in deep relationship with the land?

Relentless Actions

1. Sit with grief and pause when needed. Allow grief to be a generative space rather than rushing productivity. Check in relationally with yourself (through therapy, internal dialogue, or ceremony) so that the work you bring forward comes from depth instead of performance or avoidance.
2. Pull the next thread. When engaging with patriarchy, feminism, or any colonial structure, keep asking the deeper question: Where did this come from? Move beyond surface-level analysis into the roots in Christian colonial frameworks, and actively reconnect with your own ancestral knowledge and responsibilities — whether you are Indigenous or a settler.

Relentless Resources

1. Follow Ryan Breezy to see his boldness in fashion and in life grow in real-time at @ryanbreezy2 on Instagram 
2. Follow Dr. Autumn Black Deer (@DrBlackDeer on Instagram and LinkedIn) — for sharp, anti-colonial, relational scholarship at the intersections of queerness, Indigenous sovereignty, abolition, and child welfare.

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat 

Our June IndigiQueer series kicks off with Dr. Candace Manitopyes and Dr. Autumn BlackDeer as they explore Indigenous queerness, decolonization, grief, identity, academia, and liberation beyond colonial binaries.

They unpack how colonial systems shaped modern understandings of gender, sexuality, and what it means to reclaim Indigenous ways of being rooted in sovereignty.

Dr. Autumn shares openly about grief after losing her mother, learning to write again, navigating academia as a queer Indigenous scholar, and refusing to compartmentalize herself in professional spaces. 

Dr. Candace and Dr. Autumn also discuss the impact of Christian colonial frameworks, the violence of binaries, Indigenous understandings of queerness before colonization, and why liberation must always be collective.

-

Relentless Questions

1. What colonial narratives about identity, gender, power, or belonging have I inherited, and what happens when I begin asking the next question?
2. In what ways have I compartmentalized parts of myself to survive systems that were never built for relational, collective humanity?

Relentless Actions

1. Spend time reconnecting to relationship with land, community, ancestry, language, ceremony, creativity, or the parts of yourself that colonial systems taught you to silence.
2. Pull at one thread. Choose one belief, assumption, or “normal” social expectation and ask where it came from, who benefits from it, and who is harmed by it.

Relentless Resources

1. Learn more about Indigenous understandings of gender and sexuality by researching Two-Spirit histories, teachings, and community-led resources from Indigenous nations and knowledge keepers.
2. Explore relational and decolonial healing practices such as Internal Family Systems (IFS), grief work, land-based learning, and Indigenous scholarship focused on sovereignty, abolition, and collective liberation.

Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!

Join the RIW Patreon Community 

RIW Website

Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat