Relentless Indigenous Woman Podcast

In this powerful cousin episode, Dr. Candace Manitopyes welcomes her cousin, Dr. Tara Hutchison, a young Cree physician from Moose Cree First Nation, for an intimate and wide-ranging conversation about medicine, culture, identity, and the realities facing Indigenous communities today. Both women discuss the emotional labour of being Indigenous professionals in colonial systems: balancing advocacy with gentleness, resisting the pressure to be palatable, and unpacking the internal battles aroun...

In this gripping episode, Dr. Candace Manitopyes sits with award-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker Tanya Talaga, whose work has become a lifeline for truth in a country still wrestling with denial. From the moment they begin, the conversation feels less like an interview and more like two Indigenous women pulling back the curtain on generations of silence, survival, and spiritual return. Tanya shares her path from being the lone Indigenous journalist in mainstream newsrooms of t...

This is the episode that will make listeners laugh, blush, heal, and rethink everything they were taught about love, shame, and who they’re allowed to become. In this electric and tender conversation, Dr. Candace Manitopyes connects with with Dr. Tenille K. Campbell, a Dene, Métis, poet, photographer, PhD holder, auntie, and unapologetic storyteller whose work has cracked open space for Indigenous women, femmes, and queer folks to reclaim desire without shame. Tenille shares the raw, of...

This episode opens like someone cracked a window in a crowded room. Fresh air, honesty, and two Indigenous minds settling into a conversation that feels intimate, necessary, and decades overdue. Dr. Candace Manitopyes connects with internationally acclaimed Cree artist Kent Monkman, whose work has reshaped how the world understands history, queerness, and Indigenous presence. Kent speaks about the power and pain behind paintings like The Scream, describing how art becomes both meditation and ...

In this episode, Melrene Saloy Eagle Speaker—Blackfoot designer, artist, and founder of Native Diva Creations and Authentically Indigenous—opens up about the heart, history, and hard lessons behind her work. From carrying her ancestors into global fashion stages to building one of Calgary’s most beloved Indigenous markets, Melrene shares how legacy, loss, and love continue to shape her artistry. She reflects on navigating backlash to her Medicine Collection, describing what it means to create...

Dr. Candace Manitopyes sits down with Anishinaabe singer-songwriter Natasha Fisher, a rising independent artist known for her moody, edgy fusion of pop, alt-rock, and unapologetic storytelling. Their conversation gets deep into the heart of Natasha’s creative process, her path to sobriety, and the personal history behind her newest album, Temporary Feelings. Natasha shares how songwriting has always been the place where she can say the things she can’t always speak out loud. Her music, often ...

Our guest this week is Chyana Marie Sage, a Cree-Métis and Salish memoirist, journalist, poet, model, and author of the national bestselling memoir Soft as Bones. Dr. Candace and Chyana unpack truth-telling, survival, and the power of naming your own story. Chyana speaks vulnerably about her journey from silence to self-expression, describing how writing her memoir became an act of reclamation, giving voice to her younger self who had once been silenced by trauma and shame. She shares how tra...

In this deeply personal episode, Dr. Candace Manitopyes returns to the Relentless Indigenous Woman Podcast with honesty, gratitude, and renewal. She shares the story of her wedding to her sweetheart, Alex Manitopyes, a ceremony rooted in intimacy, cedar medicine, and Cree traditions. She reflects on how love, rest, and joy have reshaped her relationship with activism, creativity, and resistance. After stepping away from social media during their honeymoon, Candace speaks candidly about ...

Siibii —a queer, trans, non-binary Cree artist–joins Dr. Candace Linklater in this episode where shit gets real. Known for their breakout single YOY, which has surpassed three million streams and earned a SOCAN Young Canadian Songwriter Award, Siibii blends atmospheric pop with lyrical honesty rooted in family, land, and spirit. Signed to Ishkode Records, their music—including their latest single User—confronts contradictions, self-doubt, and longing, while simultaneously creating space for I...

Dr. Candace Linklater sits down with renowned Métis artist Christi Belcourt, whose work bridges ancestral knowledge, land-based resistance, and decolonial imagination. Candace introduces Christi as one of the most iconic Indigenous artists of our time, celebrated worldwide for paintings that echo traditional beadwork and speak to Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and cultural survival. They discuss how Christi’s art serves as both a love letter to Indigenous futurity and a bold c...

This conversation with Drezus (Jeremiah Manitopyes) gets real. He takes us through his journey—from rising in the Indigenous hip hop scene to reclaiming his power through sobriety, fatherhood, and ceremony. Raised in the city but spiritually rooted in his culture, Drezus shares how reconnecting with the Land and working with youth has become his deepest source of inspiration. Whether he’s jumping into rivers with his kids or sitting by the fire in remote Cree communities, he paints a picture ...

In this warm, wise, and wildly relatable episode, Dr. Candace Linklater and Dr. Tasha Spillett dive deep into what it means to mother, mourn, and move through the world as Indigenous women. It’s part heart talk, part medicine, as they unpack everything from generational grief to gentle parenting, from cultural reconnection to the quiet rebellions of everyday love. Dr. Tasha opens up about how motherhood pulled her closer to her Cree roots, while Dr. Candace reflects on queer Indigenous identi...