Cree musician, singer-songwriter, and composer, Jason Burnstick from Winnipeg, Manitoba and has won many awards including the 2020 Leo Award winner for “Composer of the Year for Best TV Movie”. The roots of his music stem from the unique voice of his original 1920’s Weissenborn lap slide guitar. He is also one half of Burnstick, a husband and wife duo who released their debut album Kiyanaw. 

Jason sets out, after the birth of his son, to write a song that examines the struggles of reconciling his childhood trauma in foster care. He explains, “It frustrates me that thousands of First Nations kids are still going through foster homes today. I know how damaging it can be, and people say ‘you’re one of the good ones,’ and I just take such offence to that because I feel like we're all good, you know?”

With the help of Elder Dave Couchene, Jason explores the work men must do to become ‘a man of the earth,’ to become providers and protectors of their families in a world seemingly set against them. Elder Dave Courchene explains, “A man, the duties, the responsibilities to grow, to become what we refer to as a man of the Earth, ultimately those teachings come from the land. What we’re witnessing in today’s realities is a disconnection of man from nature.”