In this moving episode, Dr. Candace Manitopyes has a conversation with Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, the first Indigenous person to ever serve as Canada’s Minister of Indigenous Services, and a woman whose leadership was forged in lived experience, sharpened through education, and guided by a heart rooted in community.

What unfolds is an intimate, honest, and generous exchange between two Cree women reflecting on responsibility, belonging, exhaustion, joy, and the heavy yoke carried by those who are “the first.” Minister Mandy shares how becoming a mother at a young age shaped her sense of duty, how stepping into federal politics required a profound shift in lens, and how being the first comes with loneliness, scrutiny, and an unspoken pressure to set the tone for everyone who will follow.

She speaks with remarkable tenderness about grounding practices: beading, time on the land, a supportive husband who calls her back to rest, and children who remind her she is still just mom when she walks through the door.

Their conversation moves into the emotional terrain most people never see: queer kin who are forced from home, the harm of exclusion, the spiritual sensitivity of young people, and the courage required to transform systems from within. It is a conversation about what it means to lead without losing yourself.

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Relentless Actions

1. Take 10 minutes this week to unplug completely. Step outside, breathe, and let your nervous system settle without your phone nearby.
2. Reach out to one Indigenous leader, creator, or community member you admire and send them a note of gratitude for the work they do.

Relentless Reflections

1. Where in my life am I being called to lead with more grace, even when I feel unseen or overwhelmed?
2. What parts of my identity have I outgrown, and what new parts am I finally ready to claim?

Relentless Resources

1. First Nations Leadership Philosophies: A Systematic Review of Recent Academic Literature Book

2. Restorying Indigenous Leadership, article

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Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat

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 medicine as he confronts the legacy of residential schools. He shares how his new Knowledge Keepers series honours the children who secretly whispered their languages to each other—moments of quiet rebellion that kept culture alive. Candace meets him in that depth, recalling how seeing The Scream during the uncovering of unmarked graves felt like a punch to the heart.

Then Miss Chief Eagle Testickle enters: Kent’s iconic, gender-fluid alter ego. Part trickster, part theorist, part seductress, she’s his weapon for reversing the colonial gaze, stepping into Western art and rewriting the story from the inside. Kent and Candace dismantle the myth that queerness is new or un-Indigenous, naming how binaries rooted in Christian colonialism buried truths communities once held with ease.

Their conversation becomes a meditation on love, liberation, kinship, and the courage it takes to be oneself in a world that benefits from your silence. By the end, listeners are reminded that art can heal, queerness is ancient, and Indigenous love will always outlast the systems built to erase it.

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Relentless Actions

1. Visit a local gallery, museum, or online archive featuring Indigenous artists. Spend 10 minutes observing one piece without reading the caption first, just let your body respond, then learn its context.
2. Have a short conversation with someone in your life about a topic you usually avoid, such as identity, queerness, colonial history, or truth-telling. Keep it grounded, curious, and honest.

Relentless Reflections

1. Where in my life have I confused silence with safety? And what might become possible if I allow myself to speak or live more truthfully?
2. When have I witnessed love—mine or someone else’s—expand beyond what colonial binaries said was acceptable? What did that moment teach me about freedom?

Relentless Resources

1. Kent Monkman's website

2. The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: Vol. 1: A True and Exact Accounting of the History of Turtle Island, book

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Music Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat

In this episode, Candace sits with not one, but two Deadly Aunties—Stephanie Pangowish and Sherry McKay—two Indigenous comedians who have turned everyday Indigenous life, ceremony, mistakes, and cross-community confusion (“scone dog” vs. “bannock dog”) into a full career.

They talk about the realities of comedy behind the scenes: how humour travels across nations, how it sometimes absolutely doesn’t, and what happens when you try to make zoom-comedy work while staring at 48 blank squares.

Both share how they moved from regular jobs into the comedy world, a transition that can best be described as: terrifying, necessary, and apparently involving a lot of self-talk, prayer, and occasionally wanting to vomit. They also speak candidly about sobriety while working in environments where alcohol is built into the job, and how having a friend who will literally knock a drink out of your hand is underrated support.

Underneath it all is the thread that Indigenous humour has always been survival, connection, and medicine. Not the romanticized kind, just the practical kind that gets people through another day.

The Aunties show how laughter and honesty keep communities close, and why sticking with your purpose (even when you’re unsure) is worth it.

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Relentless Actions

1. Think of one conversation this week where you can use humour to build connection—not to avoid discomfort, but to ease into honesty the way Indigenous communities have done forever. Pay attention to what kind of humour feels natural and what kind strengthens relationships.

2. Whether it’s writing a short story, sharing an idea publicly, posting a TikTok, or attending an open mic (even just to watch), choose one low-stakes action toward a creative dream you’ve stalled on. The point isn’t perfection, but it’s building the muscle to follow that “scared-but-curious” feeling the Aunties described.

Relentless Reflections

1. What’s one moment in my life where humour carried me through something I wasn’t ready to say out loud? Consider how laughter has acted as medicine, grounding, or connection for you, and what that reveals about the role comedy plays in your relationships or healing.

2. Where am I currently choosing safety over purpose? The Aunties left the security of 9–5 jobs to pursue something uncertain but aligned. Reflect on a place in your life where you’re avoiding a leap, and why. What would support or community look like for you there?

Relentless Resources

1. The Deadly Aunties, website

2. In a good way: Reflecting on humour in Indigenous education, academic article

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