Mtis kayaker and Cree doctor among this year's Indspire Award winners

JamesLavalle, 20, got the call about winning anIndspireAward after finishingkayak practice.

TheMtisman from Manitoba who has competed internationally in canoeing and kayaking had heard of theIndspireAwards but didn't think his work was inspiring enough to earn one.

Lavalleis one of 12 recipients ofIndspireAwards this year, which honourthe education and achievement of First Nations,Mtisand Inuitin Canada.

Though he isn't on the Canadian national team currently, he still represents Canada internationally he most recently raced at the World University Championships in Hungary.

"It's pretty humbling, knowing that the committee and the organization thinks my story is just as inspiring andimpactfulfor the community,"Lavallesaid.

Lavalle, who has dyslexia andADHD, fell into kayaking becausehis parents were trying to find some extra-curricular activities to help him with his school struggles.

They tried many sports, including basketball, baseball andUkrainiandance (and he's not even Ukrainian).Lavalleliked water, but didn't like swimming. The only option remaining, he found, was the kayak.

He stuck with it. Focusing on kayaking also helped him stay focused in schooland in a way, it helped him connect with his culture.

"The one thing I was doing is what my ancestors have been doing on the same river for thousands of years,"Lavallesaid.

"That piece really hit me later in life that I was kind of acting out, in a way, a modern voyageur."

He wants to start a program that helps Indigenous kids get involved in canoeing and kayaking.

"A lot of cultural aspects and Indigenous aspects have been stripped away from the sport. I'd like to bring a lot of that back and not necessarily have a competitive club, but to get people to start paddling again and to get people using the river in a traditional way," he said.

"Paddling has been such a life-changer for me with school and everything. I want to be able to remove some of those barriers for other people so everyone has access to the sport."

Traditional medicine

Dr. Marlyn Cook said she was stunned when she found out she was to receive an Indspire Award for her work as a family physician on reserve lands for 30 years.

Cook was on the board 25 years ago for the Indspire Awards, then called the Aboriginal Achievement Awards.Now it's full circle for the physician, who practises in her home community of Misipawistik Cree Nation in Manitoba.

Cook's workfocuseson combiningWestern medicine withtraditional Indigenous healing practices. After finishing medical school, she took a seven-day workshop on traditional healing practices and when she went to practise in Cross Lake, she looked to traditional healers for knowledge.

"When I met the old man that I started learning from, he told me, 'We've been waiting for you,'" she said.

Cook continues to use bothtypes of healing in her practice with the traditional side new to many of her patients who may have had culturetaken away through intergenerational trauma, she said.

"They try to take the Indian out of the child, but when you go back to ceremony, you're putting the Indian back in the being," she said.

'It's not about me'

Ronald Derrickson's success in the ranching business was afactor in earning him his Indspire nod, but it wasn't the only one.

His advocacy work for Indigenous communities in legal disputes as a Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs wasalso important to both him and his community, he said.

"I was surprised, a little bit delighted and wasn't going to come to the awards until my daughter pointed out to me the importance of this award for me to inspire other Natives," he said.

Given the opportunity to inspire Indigenous youth across the country, he said he couldn't pass it up.

"It's not about me," he said. "It's about a lot of other people."

Other recipients of the awards this year include:

• AtoatAkittirq from Igloolik, Nunavut, is an Inuit elder and Gemini award winner.Akittirqis receiving the Lifetime Achievement award.

• Barbara ToddHager from St. PauldesMtisSettlement, Alta., is a documentary filmmaker, writer and producer.

• JijjuuMary Snowshoefrom the Gwich'inNation inNorthwest Territories, is a traditionalGwich'inteacher who continues to live off the land.

• Dr.VianneTimmons, who isMi'kmaw from Nova Scotia, is an educator and university president.

• DianneCorbiere fromM'ChigeengFirst Nation, Ont., is the first Indigenous lawyer named as one of Canada's Top 25 Most Influential by Canadian Lawyer Magazine.

• PeterDinsdale from Curve Lake First Nation, Ont., is the president and CEO of YMCA Canada.

• BrigetteLacquette from Cote First Nation, Sask., is the first First Nations athlete to play on Canada's women's Olympic hockey team.

• Billy-RayBelcourt fromDriftpileCree Nation, Alta., is an award-winning poet and published author.

• Kelly FraserfromSanikiluaq, Nunavut, is a Juno-nominated pop musician.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Feb. 22, 2019, withCBCandAPTNbroadcasting them on a later date in June.