Fraser Heathen, the podcast host of OLCN 7TH Generation. (Facebook/ OLCN 7TH Generation)

By Kenneth Cheung

OLCN 7TH GENERATION PODCAST

‘Our goal is to empower’: Onion Lake podcast bridges community through conversations

Jan 28, 2025 | 6:48 AM

With a microphone and openmindedness, an Onion Lake Cree Nation-based podcast aims to “close the gap” and foster a sense of community involvement amongst Saskatchewan’s First Nations and beyond.

“The original vision was to open doorways of communication, to have discussions around things that are hard to talk about,” said Fraser Heathen, the host of OLCN 7th Generation Podcast. He is also a former councillor of Onion Lake Cree Nation.

What started as an initiative under a youth and women’s empowerment program has grown into a platform for sharing people’s stories and celebrating Indigenous culture. Through the podcast, he sheds light on community issues such as mental health, cultural preservation and grassroots problems while promoting open dialogue between the Nation’s leadership and its members.

A platform rooted in community needs

With Onion Lake’s population of over 4,000, Heathen saw a need for more communication methods.

NEW EXTENSION

Battlefords Trail Breakers expand snowmobile trails to Turtleford along with new warm-up shelter

5h ago

FIREARMS BUST

23-year-old wanted man arrested in Mudie Lake with illegal guns, facing 14 charges

Jan 28, 2025

OLCN 7TH GENERATION PODCAST

'Our goal is to empower': Onion Lake podcast bridges community through conversations

Jan 28, 2025

“We have over a thousand homes in our community, [so] going door-to-door isn’t feasible, but the podcast allows us to engage directly with members and gather feedback,” he said.

Episodes have featured guests from different “walks of life,” including community leaders from surrounding areas, psychologists and even athletes, such as Colby Stanley, a professional Chuckwagon Association driver based in Meadow Lake.

He said live-streaming on multi-platforms encourages interactive dialogue by inviting viewers to comment and join the conversation in real time.

Expanding beyond just a podcast

Beyond sitting in a studio, Heathen’s work includes mobile live-streaming equipment, allowing him to broadcast events like hockey games, sports tournaments and Powwows.

He noted that this capability allowed him to virtually bring listeners and viewers to last year’s Saskatchewan Indigenous Summer Games in Lac La Ronge, which gave the community the opportunity to support their team in real-time, even from afar.

“Our mobile setup is a game-changer,” he noted. “Whether it’s a powwow or a land-based camp, we can capture and share those moments, keeping our community connected.”

One of the other key focuses of the podcast is to revitalize the Cree language, particularly among the youth. To achieve this, he hosts a Cree podcast every Thursday, inviting elders to speak exclusively in Cree to promote the language.

“Our language is our identity,” he said. “It is an investment in future generations and a way to keep our culture alive.”

Also, as the podcast is heavily focused on the topic of mental health issues. Heathen uses his own experiences to shape the conversations aimed at destigmatizing the label of “men can’t be soft.”

“Part of the reason why we do this is to hopefully impact viewers, especially First Nations people, to make them know that they are not alone and that maybe there are tactics that they haven’t tried yet that we are discussing here that they can use for themselves,” he explained.

Looking ahead, as the OLCN 7th Generation podcast is only six months old, he said it is becoming a cornerstone of the community. He’s hoping to expand the studio by hiring more staff and increasing programming to serve Onion Lake and even non-Indigenous people better.

He also sees opportunities to use the mobile live-streaming setup as a revenue-generating service.

“Our goal is to empower, educate and connect; whether it is through sharing stories, promoting events, or offering support, this podcast is about building a stronger community,” Heathen noted.

Anyone interested in listening or watching more episodes of the podcast can click here.

—

cjnb-news@pattisonmedia.com