Illuminated by a bright spotlight, Matthew steps onto the iconic red circle of the TED stage, proudly wearing a ribbon shirt—honouring the Anishinaabe culture he’s worked so hard to reclaim.
With eloquence and courage, his spoken word poem reveals the invisible scars of intergenerational trauma, captivating the TEDxWinnipeg audience.
“When a flower doesn’t grow, we change the environment it grows in,” he says.
“Environments are what set up families to struggle. Change the environment, and patterns of behaviours change.”
Matthew’s entire life’s work is reflected in that powerful sentiment. A veteran community champion with a fierce passion for restorative justice, he helps families find the opportunities and tools to transform their pain—and seeks to spark social change at all levels.
“Healing isn’t just about people,” he explains. “It’s about healing systems, too.”
That’s why Matthew tirelessly fights for better laws and policies—ones that incorporate the voices and experiences of kids, families, and communities.
Only a few months before taking the TED stage, Matthew was part of a group of advocates who amended the Child and Family Services Act through Bill 223, prohibiting the removal of children from their families solely because of poverty.
“Most parents and caregivers want the best for their child—a warm coat and a good meal,” he explains, “but if the parents and caregivers are struggling to make ends meet, sometimes a child’s needs will not be met.”
“Let connections be the corrections to breaking cycles.”
In Manitoba, nearly 90% of the 10,000 kids in care are Indigenous—a reality triggered by generations of Indigenous families traumatized by laws and policies that displaced and isolated them, deprived them of resources and denied them access to cultural healing.
Deeply troubled by this overrepresentation, Matthew describes it as a “humanitarian crisis” that could be prevented by making help more accessible for families.
“It is in everyone’s best interest when [supportive] spaces are available for people,” he explains, “whether they have money or not.
“Keeping families together and empowering parents with skills and resources can also be transformational.
“Multigenerational healing happens in the strength of the family. Let connections be the corrections to breaking cycles.”
“I was separated from my family for 4,988 days.”
Matthew’s work is deeply personal to him, as a survivor himself.
On Little Saskatchewan First Nation, Matthew and his brother were raised within a broad family structure, cared for by multiple maternal figures while their mom, a single parent, worked night shifts to scrape by.
Yet the child welfare system didn’t recognize the way his family unit embraced an extensive network of relatives, so they temporarily removed Matthew from his home for the first time at only four months old, and permanently when he was five.
“I was ripped from my family, who loved me,” he says. “I was separated from my family for 4,988 days—a life sentence for a child.”
Without the guidance of a role model or the comfort of his family and culture, Matthew suffered pain, low self-esteem, and struggled to find his identity and purpose in the world.
“I was sexually abused and exploited multiple times,” says Matthew. “There was no one there to protect me.”
In search of belonging and connection, Matthew was recruited into a gang at 15.
“When you deprive a child of love, affection, connection, attention, and family, they will naturally seek it in their environment,” Matthew says of the foster-care-to-gang pipeline.
“These youth who are shuffled around in homes—they’re easy targets.”
“[My culture] gave me hope and direction.”
Life began shifting when, for the first time, Matthew was exposed to Indigenous ceremony while attending Children of the Earth High School—which became medicine to him.
“It gave me a Higher Power and something to centre my worth on,” he shares. “It gave me hope and direction. It gave me ceremony and community.”
By reconnecting with his Anishinaabe roots, Matthew also found the strength to leave the gang life behind—and start a loving family of his own.
“[I realized] I was being misguided in my attempt to find my heart’s longings,” Matthew reflected in a 2019 Gang Action Interagency Network documentary.
“[Finally], I understood that I always had been wanted and needed by my community—I was just prevented from my community.”
“We can’t feel like we’re alone in this.”
Following high school, Matthew persisted in his pursuit of traditional knowledge. He began studying at Urban Circle Training Centre, an Indigenous-led agency offering certified, culturally based education programs made possible by caring United Way Winnipeg donors.
During his time at Urban Circle, Matthew received his Spirit name: Travelling Star Man.
“Up until then, I felt lost in life,” he says. “But my Spirit name reframed for me that I wasn’t lost—I was just travelling through all these experiences in order to help others.”
Today, Matthew continues walking that same path. From serving as a trauma-informed counsellor to leading a numerous men’s groups to address a variety of relevant topics, including preventing domestic violence, he’s worked at a handful of United Way Winnipeg partner agencies—including Marlene Street Community Resource Centre, Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, New Directions, Ndinawe, and Oshki-Giizhig.
Now working at Acorn Family Place, Matthew facilitates a 17-week strengths-based, trauma-informed, culturally safe parenting program designed to work with fathers to promote safety and well-being of children and their mothers.
“The Caring Dads program is all about meeting men where they’re at and teaching them skills so they can repair relationships,” he shares. “We can’t feel like we’re alone in this.”
As a loving father himself, Matthew feels hopeful knowing he’s turning the tide for his 15-year-old daughter.
Fuelled by his own hard-won resilience and with the support of his community, Matthew is breaking cycles by making sure she has opportunities to explore her cultural identity and grow fully into her potential.
Earlier this year, father and daughter danced alongside each other at the 19th annual Manito Ahbee Pow Wow—a profound moment Matthew will never forget.
“She’s very introverted—but when she was dancing, it was like all of her social anxiety melted away,” he shares. “She’s amazing and beautiful and I love her.”
“The grief that we experience in life CAN be healed.”
Ultimately, while helping others heal is a mission for Matthew, he’d like to see more families get the support they need to stay together, flourish, and avoid trauma and the need for healing.
Before the audience at TEDxWinnipeg breaks into applause and a standing ovation, Matthew offers a few final words—ones he wishes he could’ve heard for himself growing up.
“All pain is valid. It never needs to be compared, feared, or shut down,” he says, “and the pain, trauma, and grief that we experience in life CAN be healed.
“When you pass by a mirror, I want you to affirm your existence here—it’s needed,” he says.
“I want you to say to yourself, ‘I am needed.’ Breathe in the love as you meet it; let it shower your spirit, feed it. Heal and experience that you are love—and that is reality.”
