More about some of the people from the 8th Fire TV series.
When Nakuset was young, her Jewish adoptive mother in Montreal would instruct her to tell people that she was Israeli and not First Nations.
Born to a Cree family in Manitoba, Nakuset says she spent many years wrestling with her identity.
She has come to terms with being " a Jewish Indian. I'm proud to be both."
It wasn't always the always the case. Nakuset, (her Mic Mac spirit name "Sun" was given to her by an Elder), was a child of the infamous "60s Scoop".
From the 1960s to the mid 1980s, more than sixteen thousand First Nations and Métis children were taken from their own families and communities, without their families' consent, and placed for adoption.
The majority were taken into non-Aborginal homes and grew up unfamiliar with their own culture.
"I think it's the social workers who told the parents who adopted these Aboriginal children that it's better not to go into their Aboriginal identity."
Today Nakuset is the Executive Director of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal. Many of the clients are still dealing a painful past she shares.
As a mother now herself, she's determined that her own children be aware of their heritage.
"My kids since they were babies have been to been to pow-wows, to any cultural event that I go to. They're not going to have any issues about whether they are or not. [Native] They'll know they are.
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