Through The Fire

Christa Couture is an award-winning performing and recording artist, non-fiction writer, filmmaker and broadcaster. She is also proudly Indigenous (mixed Cree and Scandinavian), queer, disabled, and a mom.

Over the course of her acclaimed career, Christa has become known, unenviably, as an expert in loss: singing, speaking and writing about the childhood cancer that led to the amputation of her left leg, abortion, and the tragic deaths of her two infant sons. When it came time to make her fourth album, 2016’s eclectic, upbeat and twangy Long Time Leaving, a more run-of-the-mill loss, divorce, provided inspiration.

Those years of loss are revisited in her debut non-fiction book How To Lose Everything, published September 2020 by Douglas & McIntyre. But Christa’s most recent recording Safe Harbour tells a different story. Safe Harbour’s six songs were written during a thankfully tragedy-free, joyful time in Christa’s life that saw her leave Vancouver, her home of 17 years, and relocate to Toronto to start anew. During this time, Christa took a step back from recording and performing music to write her memoir, take on a daytime radio host job, and welcome a third child.

Her fourth album Long Time Leaving was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2016 Indigenous Music Awards, and before that, 2012’s The Living Record made Best-of-the-Year lists at CBC Music, Radio Regent and the Georgia Straight, which also chose the album to represent 2012 in their 50 Albums That Shaped Vancouver.

Christa’s sophomore album The Wedding Singer and The Undertaker won a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award, made the Top 10 on CBC Radio 3, and landed a #1 song on the National Aboriginal Music Countdown.

As a writer and storyteller, Christa’s essay “Sanibe” appears in the collection Radiant Voices: 21 Feminist Essays for Rising Up (TouchWood, 2019), and “These Are My Children” appears in The M Word: Conversations on Motherhood (Goose Lane, 2014). She has been published in Room, Shameless, and Augur magazines, and on CBC.ca. In 2018, her CBC article and photos on disability and pregnancy went viral. She has spoken for audiences of Walrus Talks, DNTO Live (CBC), Moses Znaimer’s ideaCity, and Imaginate in Port Hope, ON.

Her short, animated film How to Lose Everything: A Field Guide, based on an excerpt from her book and co-directed with bekky O’Neil won Best Animated Short at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco and the Imagine This Women’s International Film Festival in Brooklyn. The film will be the first in a series of five animated shorts for CBC Arts.

She was the midday host on Toronto’s 106.5 ELMNT FM for three years and has been heard as a frequent contributor to CBC Radio on Now or Never and The Next Chapter. As an arts administrator and advocate (and lover of tidy paperwork) she was the project manager of the Indigenous music platform RPM.fm and the general manager of Native Women in the Arts.

Prairie-raised, Christa spent 17 years in Vancouver and now calls Toronto home.

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zU_gJgRgan0

Some resources for grief suggested by Christa:

For bereaved parents: https://tcfcanada.net/articles-2/the-bereaved-parent/

Check out Christa Couture’s memoir, How to Lose Everything 

Katie Hawkins-Gaar has this great list of books about various grief experiences: https://bookshop.org/shop/mysweetdumbbrain

https://www.mygrief.ca/

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Robb Nash has accomplished a lot in his life. He’s had popular songs, a record label offer, was named one the most influential people in 2016 by the Washington Post and been featured in stories by CBC, Global News, the Huffington Post and CTV. If you ask him, however, he’ll tell you his biggest achievement lies in the thousands of kids who have heard his mental health message and used it as a catalyst to find their way to healthier lives. The story of how Robb went from a rock star with a record deal to dedicating his life to connecting with youth is unique. After a serious car accident, Robb fell into a deep depression. Finding his way to the other side was hard, and when he emerged, he decided to use his experience to tell kids that “they don’t have to die like I did before I started to live.” Today, Robb and his band, The Robb Nash Project, travel across Canada playing shows for students, sharing their music and inspiring youth with their message of hope. Robb has received over 600 suicide notes from students who decided they didn’t need them anymore after hearing his story. Through his songs, students connect to hope, seeing someone who like them has struggled with thoughts of suicide only to re-emerge stronger than ever. Robb has helped save the lives of hundreds, an impact bigger than selling thousands of records.

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cAsbXE4HeLU

The Robb Nash Project is an immersive concert experience that engages audiences through the power of music and storytelling addressing topics related to mental health such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, addiction, bullying and suicidal ideation.

Need Support? Please contact Kids Help Phone at 1800-668-6868 or text NASH to 686868

Some other resources you may want to check out:

Canadian Mental Health Association - https://cmha.ca

Mood Disorders Society of Canada - https://mdsc.ca

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health - https://www.camh.ca 

Mental health and substance use support for people in Canada and Canadians abroad. Always free and virtual, 24/7.

https://www.wellnesstogether.ca/en-CA

https://www.wellnesstogether.ca/en-CA/service/talk

A new three-digit telephone number available to Canadians in need of mental health and suicide prevention will be in place by November 2023, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission recently announced.

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I’m Don Amero and I want to welcome you to Through the Fire; a podcast and video series about overcoming adversity, re-framing misfortune, and celebrating courage. You likely know me best as a country musician. Maybe you’ve heard my music or seen me perform live before as I’ve been doing this for about a decade now. At the heart of what I do is STORYTELLING; I’m always looking to connect with you, whether it’s a song, a story, or a conversation. So…

I wanted to start this podcast because I’ve often been intrigued by the stories of others and what they've been through. I'm always digging to learn more! I’m also a 'heart-on-my-sleeve' kind of guy, which is why I share the best and hardest moments of my life with you.

 And here’s the thing; I got through those difficult times (even if new obstacles arise). The guests you're going to hear from on this podcast will share their stories from fire to fortune, and we'll get to live through their moments of courage and lessons-learned along the way.

My intention is to encourage and inspire listeners to face their challenges with kindness; towards both themselves and others. Many people see us on the mountain tops, and don’t realize the things that we have had to overcome to get here. We can all rise from the ashes. These are the stories that I want to share with my audience through this new platform which allows for a more conversational format accessible to anyone and everyone.

 How we come out of the fire may be the most interesting part of our stories! While some conversations will be heavy, when we approach difficult discussions with kindness and love, we can face the complexity of being human together. So, I invite you to join us for some incredible conversations on the Through the Fire podcast.

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