(Ottawa, ON) April 12, 2023 – On this week’s episode of Roots and Hoots, host Gordon Spence is pleased to be joined by Heidi Metcalfe. Heidi is a proud urban Inuk with family roots in Nunatsiavut (Labrador). She is a mom, the first Ottawa Inuit based foster parent, a cultural ambassador, throat singer, and Inuit Games demonstrator. Heidi is also one of the founders of the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre now called Inuuqatigiit Centre, which empowers Inuit families in Ottawa through culture-based programming and services. Gordon and Heidi sit down to talk about the importance of volunteering and of building community programming that ensures better outcomes for all.

Having been raised in Ottawa, Heidi has been an urban Inuk her whole life. When Heidi became a mother, she and other parents felt like there should be more services for Inuit children and families, than existed at that time. With this vision in mind, the urban Inuit parents developed the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre, which later became Inuuqatugiit. The Centre uses a strength-based model, where children come first and the goal of programming is to provide experiential learning activities and support for all Inuit in Ottawa. 

Work and play seem to effortlessly intermingle into Heidi’s outlook on life. She shares her journey of becoming a throat singer, through the insistence of her best friend and performing partner Lynda Brown. Together they form Sunsdrum or Siqniup Qilauta and travel nationally and internationally performing and instructing Inuit and non-Inuit on the importance of cultural reclamation. Heidi prides herself on being able to teach throat singing in under one minute – and even puts this theory to the test with Gordon!

As their conversation winds down, Heidi shares lessons she has learned from her father about how important it is to honour those who came before. Heidi comments on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and how it has opened the door to addressing other important issues, such as the Sixties Scoop, the child welfare system, policing systems, education systems and more. Heidi aptly shares how there cannot be Reconciliation without the truth first. We are still in the process of truth gathering, she shares, and through this process, Reconciliation will certainly one day become a reality. The episode closes off with Siqniup Qilauta playing the musical game of throat singing, with sounds of laughter and sisterhood reminding us all of the power of a little fun!

The LHF is a national, Indigenous-led, charitable organization that has been working to promote healing and Reconciliation in Canada for over 21 years. The LHF’s goal is to educate and raise awareness about the history and existing intergenerational impacts of the Residential and Day School Systems and subsequent Sixties Scoop on Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) Survivors, their descendants, and their communities to promote hope and healing in Canada. The LHF works to encourage people to address discrimination and injustice in order to contribute to the equity, dignity, and respectful treatment of Indigenous Peoples and to foster Reconciliation.

The LHF has more than 25 educational exhibitions that promote awareness of Indigenous history that are free to borrow and is working on making exhibitions available online. LHF also has curriculum for K-12 and for adults, along with Activity Guides, Workshops and Training, podcasts, all aimed at educating Canadians about Indigenous history and the shared history of Residential and Day Schools, the Sixties Scoop, etc. The LHF works to develop empathy and understanding so as to eliminate racism against Indigenous Peoples. 

For media inquiries:
Teresa Edwards, B.A. JD.
Executive Director and In-House Legal Counsel
Legacy of Hope Foundation
Phone: 613-237-4806 Ext. 303 info@legacyofhope.ca