Singer and songwriter Sandra Sutter found her way back to her Indigenous ancestry, meeting her birth family at the age of 30. She says she wishes the children who died in residential schools could also find their way home. “With my own story, I really identify with the families who never found their children. In my case, my birth father’s family were just so glad to have me because he died at 31 years of age. And they didn’t know that he had a child. In fact, he didn’t know he had a child,” Sutter told CTV News. Sutter was recognized this year at the YYC Music Awards as Indigenous Artist of the Year. She has released a new single, River of the Past, ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Sutter is of Cree and Métis heritage and says she is grateful for the non-Indigenous family that raised her. “I was adopted at four months of age, given up at birth, or taken away at birth, we’re not quite sure, and adopted into a really good family in Saskatchewan who, fortunately, introduced me to music,” Sutter said. River of the Past will be part of Sutter’s upcoming album, Storytellers, which will be released in 2027.
