- The CMMA Slaight Music Humanitarian Award
- The Meritorious Service Medal
- Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal
- YMCA Canada Peace Medal
- Honorary Kentucky Colonel
- Estelle Klien Award, Award of Excellence
- Peter Gzowski Award – PGI Canada National Literacy
- Innovator of the Year – Canada Folk Music Awards
- The Recording of the Year and the Entertainer of the Year – Central Canadian Bluegrass Award.
Joseph Boyden, CM, is a novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and public speaker. His internationally bestselling work including Three Day Road, Through Black Spruce, The Orenda, and Wenjack has been published in 25 languages and won numerous awards such as the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, Amazon First Novel Award, and France’s Prix Literaire du Monde. In 2012, Boyden received the Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Medal, for his contributions to Canadian art and culture, and in 2016 he was made a member of The Order of Canada. Awarded five honorary doctorates to date, Joseph also sits on the board of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and helped create a charitable foundation named The Onakawana Education Fund, that helps bring Cree youth of James Bay out onto the land.
Born in Moose Factory Ontario, Jules was raised by her Cree speaking grandparents in Moosonee, and also with her mother in Ottawa, a warrior of the Canadian Residential school system. Jules is a band member of Attawapiskat First Nation, the Ancestral lands of the MoshKeKo InNiNeWak. She currently resides in Vancouver where she is a PhD candidate with the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia, her research focus is Indigenous documentary and she aims to defend in early 2020. In 2010, she completed her masters at Ryerson University in Documentary Media where she was awarded the Award of Distinction for her thesis work, as well as the Graduate Ryerson Gold Medal for highest academic achievement.
While in graduate school, she produced her first feature documentary Remembering Inninimowin regarding her journey of remembering InNiMoWin (Cree).
Her research MooNaHaTihKaaSiWew: Unearthing Spirit is focused on Indigenous documentary and our relationship to stories.
Through Jules’ arts practice, she involves the use of film, photography, documentary, creative writing and installation. Her practice is deeply influenced by her Ancestral ties to the MoshKeKo. InNiNiNeWak teachings in the form of a story, is an integral way to ensure our Ancestors are respected and heard.
Nelson Tagoona, a one-of-a-kind musician best known for his inspirational messages and his unique blend of vocal percussion and traditional Inuit throat singing called "throat boxing" a custom musical performance style that merges two techniques into one: beatboxing and throat singing. This unique performance has garnered Tagoona high praise throughout Canada, including being awarded at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and named one of the “Top 10 Canadian Artists under 20” by CBC Music. Tagoona performed during the opening of the Northern Scene Festival at the National Arts Centre, Pan Am Games, and at numerous other festivals and events Canada-wide.
Nelson Naittuq Tagoona began writing songs and performing when he was 15. “In a lot of my songs I’ve always talked a lot about believing in yourself, being courageous and not being afraid and having a lot of heart. No matter how dark your days have been, you’ll see that shining light once again.” Nelson Tagoona
As a member of the National Centre for the Arts’ Music Alive program, Tagoona is frequently invited to perform at public events and for youth. The Music Alive program sends teaching musicians to work with children and youth in northern communities, including Iqaluit, Igloolik, Rankin Inlet, Pangnirtung and Kugluktuk.
Fusing elements of traditional Inuit throat singing with live looping and standard beatboxing, Nunavut’s Nelson Tagoona has created a sound that honours his culture, embraces technology and resonates with audiences across the world.
Dominique Daye Hunter aka DDaye (she/her/hers) is of Black/Sappony/Irish/Polish descent. Dominique seeks to heal through the power of storytelling. Using the mediums of poetry, hip hop, and wearable art, her goal is to empower femmes and people of colour by bringing awareness to social justice issues, environmental racism, womb wellness, and mental health.
Dominique has a Bachelor of Science in Nonprofit Leadership Management with an emphasis in American Indian Studies from Arizona State University. She lives between the southwest and southeastern United States.
Jeremiah Otis started working with Feathers of Hope, a branch of the Ontario Child Advocate office, in 2014 after attending the Youth Justice Forum. Jeremiah was a representative for the Mushkegowuk Region, speaking on behalf of youth regarding the issues they face, eventually speaking at the Gladue Conference, directly confronting policymakers on the validity of the Gladue System. Jeremiah started working as a facilitator for several other forums working on music and storytelling development workshops. In 2017 Jeremiah developed a peer-to-peer support network to aid the community dealing with the previous year’s Suicide crisis in Fort Albany. In 2016 Jeremiah formally started doing music under the name J.Otis creating the first rap group, mad squad, an indigenous youth rap group based out of Fort Albany.
After moving to Timmins, Jeremiah formally developed the program “Healing through music” to aid children with their crisis through the power of music to give them a sense of community again. During this time, Jeremiah started working in a larger capacity doing vocal engineering for himself and numerous artists. In 2019 Jeremiah started working with Jordan Cheechoo to help him secure a production contract with Universal Music Group, all while producing 4 songs. Jeremiah did a touring circuit in Toronto, performing at several clubs and venues as an independent artist.
After moving back to Fort Albany, Jeremiah became a frontline community worker on the flood watch, transitioning to the pandemic support team. In 2020 Jeremiah enrolled in Algonquin college’s music engineering and business program with ambitions of taking his recording company 67 records worldwide.
Christopher Cottle, from Toronto, Ontario, is a Youth advocate that has spent most of his life developing strategies to help amplify youth voices through his love of media and communication. Being a former youth, the care his work started working with the Child-welfare sector to help express the concerns of youth from south-western Ontario. After getting the chance to work directly with the former Ontario Child Advocates office, he worked alongside youth from across the province to develop regulatory policies for Bill 89, the updated child and family services act. After starting work with the OCA in a formal capacity as a Communication expert, Christopher developed events and interviews to highlight the struggles and ambitions of children in the office's Mandated areas. After meeting Jeremiah Otis at the OCA’s final Feathers of Hope forum, Christopher started working to lay the groundwork for his future projects and collaboration. Christopher became the producer of the CYC podcast network in 2019 and worked alongside Professor Wolfgang Vachon of Humber College social welfare program to produce interviews revolving around a professional in the social services sector, all while producing short films and music videos with the Bawaadan collective. After producing the well-received Midland Motel 77 short film with the collective, he has continued to work with various organizations as a content producer and advertising consultant for organizations like TechZenik, OSS Motorsports and TakingITGlobal, specifically on their #RisingYouth grant program.
Now Christopher has his sights set on developing a global presence for both 67 Records and Project Outsiders.