Songwriter Ansley Simpson is a Toronto-based Anishinaabe musician known for her poetic lyrics, deeply moving vocal-only performances, and dream-like arrangements. She won ‘Best New Artist’ at the 2018 Indigenous Music Awards for her debut album “Breakwall” and is set to release a second album, “She Fell from the Sky” about Indigenous reclamation. In this episode, Ansley sets out to write a song about her personal connection between trauma and alcoholism, detailing her personal struggle towards sobriety.

Ansley finds inspiration from Cree author Harold Johnson’s book "Firewater: How Alcohol is Killing My People (And Yours)", which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Awards in 2016. Harold gives us statistics examining the problem, explaining that, “Every 2nd person is going to die an alcohol related death. In any other situation we'd call that a crime against humanity. Here we just keep partying in the free world.”