I am pleased to welcome Mr. Bert Crowfoot as our guest speaker this week.

He is highly respected in many areas, and has graciously provided us with a brief biography:

Bert Crowfoot has two Indian names. His Siksika name is “Kiyo Sta’ ah” or Bear Ghost and his Kwakwaka ‘wakw name is “Gayutalas” or Always Giving. He was adopted by the Kwakwaka ‘wakw  at a potlatch in 2008, by Chief Adam Dick.

 Bert is a photographer with an intuitive eye developed over the past 30 years. Known for recording Aboriginal events and cultural knowledge through out North America, his travels always take him to new levels of perception. Most of Bert’s work is for sale with the exception of spiritual imagery.

Bert’s Siksika/Saulteaux cultural roots give him the inspiration to record and to preserve many spiritual practices with different nations. His images are taken with a highly respectful and sacred awareness of the protocols, sanctity and supernatural forces that are present in Indigenous spiritual rituals, nature and life. As part of this awareness, he believes these spiritual images are gifts to be shared with present and future generations to bear witness of the power of the Indigenous ways of life. Spiritual images cannot be sold.

 He is founder and CEO of the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA), General Manager of CFWE-FM, an Alberta-wide Aboriginal radio network and the Publisher of several publications including Windspeaker and Alberta Sweetgrass. AMMSA is Canada’s largest publisher of Aboriginal news and information and a recognized leader in Aboriginal communications in North America.

 Bert’s many honors over the years that include: a Lifetime Achievement Award from the province of Alberta; Venture Magazine’s “50 Most Influential Individuals in Alberta” (2004); Venture Magazines “100 Entrepreneurs who built Alberta” (2005); nominated to CBC’s Alberta 100 list (2005) and inducted into the Aboriginal Walk of Honor in Edmonton (2006). He is the great great grandson of Chief Crowfoot who signed Treaty 7.

Please come join us on Wednesday evening to hear more from this accomplished individual and learn a little bit more about his work and the culture that surrounds us here in Alberta and across the continent.