The good fight New APTN docuseries about Indigenous youth leaders features two Manitobans By: Eva Wasney Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Saturday, May. 11, 2024 Last Modified: 2:29 PM CDT Monday, May. 13, 2024 Updates

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Two Manitobans are featured in a new documentary series highlighting the work of young Indigenous leaders across Turtle Island.

Rylee Nepinak, a member of Sagkeeng First Nation, and Tréchelle Bunn of Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation are among the youth starring in Warrior Up!, which premières today on APTN.

Nepinak is the co-founder of Anishiative — an organization that introduces inner-city youth to land-based teachings — and has cycled from Vancouver to Halifax to raise awareness and support for the suicide crisis in Tataskewayak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba.

Bunn is a University of Manitoba law student, former Bisons hockey player and youth chief with the ​​Southern Chiefs’ Organization. In 2021, following the discovery of 215 possible unmarked graves on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, she organized a Healing Walk to honour the residential school survivors and victims from her community.

“My grandparents, my kunshi Mildred and my unkan Donald, they both attended the former Birtle Residential School,” Bunn, 24, says. “I grew up hearing their stories and experiences and it’s something I’ve always kept with me.”

As a child, Donald wanted nothing more than to run away from the church-run facility in northwestern Manitoba. Bunn wanted to give others who had attended the school the opportunity to walk away — symbolically and literally — from the site of the now-demolished building, which is located roughly 27 kilometres from Birdtail.

“For a lot of survivors in my community, it was the first time they had been back to the school since they were forcibly taken there,” she says. “It was a really powerful moment.”

“For a lot of survivors in my community, it was the first time they had been back to the school since they were forcibly taken there.”–Bunn

The event included a pipe ceremony and teachings about the history of Canada’s residential school system. Many non-Indigenous participants came out in support.

The following year, Bunn — who lives by the principle “movement is medicine” — turned the concept into a half-marathon-length Reconciliation Run for the first annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The run continues to grow and has gained sponsorships from local and international businesses, including Under Armour.

Bunn’s story is featured on episode 3 of Warrior Up!. The 30-minute segment, filmed in 2022, follows her through hockey practices and the launch of the first Reconciliation Run.

She was surprised to be cast in the show after responding to a submission call out from APTN.

“That was pretty surreal,” says Bunn, who has grown more comfortable in her identity as a role model over the years. “It was a really cool experience for myself, but I think it was an amazing opportunity for my entire community and my family — I know my grandparents were pretty excited to be on TV.”

Warrior Up! is co-hosted by actors Anna Lambe (True Detective), Joel Oulette (Trickster) and Joshua Odjick (Little Bird), who crisscrossed North America to shoot over the course of a year.

Odjick hosts both episodes filmed in Manitoba. During his visit with Nepinak in Tataskewayak he learned valuable lessons about dressing for northern climes; while in Birdtail, he learned how to pick a healing medicinal plant with Bunn and her father, Gabriel.

It was a really cool experience for myself, but I think it was an amazing opportunity for my entire community and my family — I know my grandparents were pretty excited to be on TV.”–Bunn

“The irony was that it was growing behind my family’s home; in the backyard there was an abundance of that medicine,” says Odjick, who had many personal experiences while working on the show. “The people who I interviewed, I learned a lot from their stories and how they carried themselves and spread messages and literally (acted like) warriors — that definitely changed me.”

Warrior Up! was inspired by the youth-oriented global climate movement spurred by Greta Thunberg. Montreal-based Picture This Productions started brainstorming a series focused on young Indigenous environmental activists, but quickly decided to expand the concept.

“We realized there were so many other kinds of activism that Indigenous youth were doing across North America,” says series co-writer and co-producer Maureen Marovitch.

The company received hundreds of applications from young leaders and got to work on the difficult task of narrowing down the field to create 13 episodes of compelling TV. While the stories vary in subject matter, common themes emerge throughout the advocacy work.

“Every effort was a group effort, but (these young people) were often the leaders or the spokespeople or the initiators who started the process, ” Marovitch says. “And all the youth managed to get over obstacles and keep going, which is a sign of good leadership.”

She hopes the series can serve as positive inspiration for viewers of all ages.

New episodes of Warrior Up! air Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. on APTN and are available to stream on APTN lumi.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @evawasney