'The world is too messy for bureaucratic hurdles': Canada still bars Afghanistan aid
Ottawa has plans to finally stop blocking Canadian development aid to Afghanistan this year.
Tucked into an overheated Toronto studio, Oji-Cree singer-songwriter Aysanabee sings the opening lyrics of "River" from his debut album "Watin": "Take what you need, leave what you can, oh she told me and took my hand."
"I've been dreaming about doing this for as long as I can remember," he told W5 in an interview as part of a documentary special on his meteoric rise in the music scene.
2023 was a whirlwind year for Aysanabee. "Watin" was shortlisted for a Polaris Prize, his song "Nomads" reached No. 1 on Canadian music charts and he played his music for masses of fans in countless music halls around the world.
Last year, Aysanabee received a Juno nomination for Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year. He was nominated again under the same category for the 2024 Junos, as well as for Songwriter of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year.
"It was like London, Ont., to Spain, to Sarnia, Ont., like in the same week," he said. "Last year, we did like 184 shows."
His music also scored Wab Kinew's historic victory last year as Manitoba's first First Nations premier. "This is a great victory for all of us in Manitoba," Kinew said in his remarks.
"I haven't really had the time to stop and reflect on it," Aysanabee said.
"It's been surreal and I've been trying to take off the tunnel vision to kind of be in the moment, and really take things in," he said. "There have been these really special moments."
Aysanabee calls Toronto home now. Still, even when he's off the road, he says he's consumed with writing and recording new material.
Lana Gay is a host at Toronto's Indie 88. She first heard Aysanabee when he dropped into the radio station for a live session.
"Hearing those vocals through the wall … not knowing it was him in our other studio, and thinking, 'Who is that'?" Gay recalled.
"He sounds as amazing on record as he does in a studio session, as he does on stage," she added, "and his voice really cuts through. It's very powerful."
She says she loves the songs both as stick-in-your-head indie rock tracks and as tools to share the history of "Canada's great shame."
"Watin" is named after Aysanabee's grandfather and the songs are largely based on conversations they had over the phone.
Watin, who at the time was in a Thunder Bay long-term care home, told Aysanabee about his time in residential school.
"His health was failing, and so he was losing all these memories," Aysanabee said.
He recorded stories about Watin growing up in Sandy Lake First Nation, a six-hour flight north of Thunder Bay, Ont. Aysanabee lived there too, until he was four.
"I think I, like a lot of other people, always kind of struggled to reconnect with their roots because I moved off rez when I was four," Aysanabee said, adding Watin was his "last direct connection to our story and our family and our history."
Watin was taken away at age eight to McIntosh Residential School near Kenora, Ont., and renamed Walter.
"I didn't know all the things he had been through," Aysanabee said.
He says the stories were also a source of inspiration as he learned of his grandfather's resilience. Watin would also meet the love of his life during his time at the school.
"I think that was one of the main things that got him and my grandmother through," he said. "They had each other, and they fell in love."
He says the conversations also helped him along the path of his own self-discovery, which included reclaiming his family name, "Aysanabee," after going by Evan Pang until recently.
Aysanabee also worked as a journalist and video editor. He was employed as a digital content editor at CTVNews.ca until March 2022. He is no longer with the company.
Watch W5's documentary 'Aysanabee' Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV
Ottawa has plans to finally stop blocking Canadian development aid to Afghanistan this year.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at at universities across U.S., some of whom have clashed with police in riot gear, dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going, while several school faculties condemned university presidents who have called in law enforcement to remove protesters.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Hamas said Saturday it was reviewing a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, as Egypt intensified efforts to broker a deal to end the months-long war and stave off a possible Israeli ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
State-sponsored actors targeted security devices used by governments around the world, according to technology firm Cisco Systems, which said the network devices are coveted intrusion points by spies.
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'oesn't get' the global phenomenom.
Although it's still unclear how much damage Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy can do to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump this election, Washington political columnist Eric Ham says what is clear is both sides recognize the potential threat.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Russia launched a barrage of missiles against Ukraine overnight, in attacks that appeared to target the country's energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia said its air defense systems had intercepted more than 60 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”