Through their theatre work as well as their socio-political activism, brother-sister duo Jacquelyn and Hunter Cardinal work towards helping Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities respectfully intersect.

“Our stories exist in a sea of other stories and teachings that have yet to be created for our time.”

Jacquelyn Cardinal is co-founder and managing director of Naheyawin. Naheyawin is an agency poised and working to help businesses, non-profits and institutions reinvigorate the spirit of Treaty into their organizations and build the bridges they need to cross into terrain they have not ventured into before. When Jacquelyn isn’t using ancient tools to solve contemporary problems, she is learning all she can about emergent technologies and exploring her love for film. Hunter Cardinal is an actor and Indigenous myth-architect. He is co-founder and director of story at Naheyawin. When he isn’t welcoming people into ancient worldviews and ways of being, he can be found connecting with his culture in ceremony or adapting his favourite songs to the mandolin.

In early 2019, Jacquelyn and Hunter wrote their first play, Lake of the Strangers, co-produced with Edmonton Fringe Theatre. Inspired byancient Nehiyaw mythology, this story follows two brothers in their last summeradventure. Through forests, rivers, and not knowing, Lake of Strangersis a journey of two brothers finding each other and themselves.