'A sense of home': The Comeback Society to expand Indigenous cultural programs in new space
A local non-profit is hoping a new office space can help reconnect Indigenous youth to their culture.
At the start of the month, The Comeback Society (TCS) moved into a space on the second floor of the building that houses the Regina Food Bank.
“I’ve been a mother and a podcast co-host, so I never in a million years expected to now be in a building and managing The Comeback Society as an agency,” said Alicia Morrow, TCS founder and chief visionary officer.
TCS started out as a podcast with Morrow and her sister Lexie. The two used the platform as a way to amplify Indigenous voices while discussing their experiences growing up as “urban Indigenous,” living in the city without access to their culture.
“I didn’t really know who I was and then I was brought back home and was adopted back into my community and I really started to build those ties,” Morrow said.
“I realized through the conversations with the podcast that I really wanted to do something more.”
The non-profit organization is the “something more” that Morrow was looking for. TCS offers cultural programs to Indigenous youth and adults in Regina. They host workshops in land-based education and traditional practices including hide tanning, ribbon skirt and regalia making, beading and powwow.
“I hope they take a sense of belonging in community and a sense of kinship that’s really been missing in our community, and a sense of home,” said TCS cultural collaborations director Chanel Daniels.
Before moving into the new space, TCS held programs in other community businesses in partnership with other organizations. The hope is to expand those programs into their building to create a safe space to learn.
“It’s going to be an open door for people to either find their identity or find their community that I didn’t have when I was younger,” said TCS executive director Pearl Daniels.
“That’s how they are going to find themselves with these programs offered through The Comeback Society.”
Daniels and her sister Chanel started volunteering with TCS a year ago. Now, both of the sisters are part of the team, helping run the agency that has a goal of being self-governed by 100 per cent Indigenous leadership.
“It’s important that we as Indigenous folks lead the way that we go forward from here, and that we lead in everything that we do,” Morrow said.
When Morrow started the podcast, she said the goal was to reach five people. Three years later, she said hundreds have accessed TCS workshops, and thousands have been fed under the organization’s food sovereignty programs.
Each week, TCS hosts Soup Bowl Sundays in partnership with the Regina Food Bank. Morrow said the group has provided more than 16,000 meals in the last year.
In an effort to make the food program 100 per cent sustainable, TCS harvests its own meat, including buffalo, and will soon grow its own fruits and vegetables in community gardens beginning this year.
“We really want to, as an Indigenous organization, implement the ways of our lives prior to colonization to really make this program sustainable,” Morrow said.
Alicia Morrow shows off her hand tattoos dedicated to The Comeback Society. (Allison Bamford / CTV News)
Morrow has her own comeback story. She suffered serious injuries from a car accident about four years ago.
Following the crash, she said she had a dream, which is what inspired TCS.
“I didn’t know what it meant and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it,” Morrow said.
“But I knew that coming back was something that meant I was in my own life coming back from the car accident, coming back as an Indigenous person and kind of re-learning.”
Morrow hopes she can inspire comeback stories in other Indigenous people’s lives through reconnecting with their culture.
“There’s nothing else I want to do in my life,” she said.
“We weren’t supposed to be here and for us to be here and in this capacity, that’s the beauty in it.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
RCMP not investigating possible foreign interference cases related to Chiu, Dong: Duheme
Canada's federal police force is not investigating any possible instances of foreign interference in the cases of former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu and Liberal-turned-Independent MP Han Dong, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme says.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Federal government grants B.C.'s request to recriminalize hard drugs in public spaces
The federal government is granting British Columbia's request to recriminalize hard drugs in public spaces, nearly two weeks after the province asked to end its pilot project early over concerns of public drug use.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
CFL suspends Argos QB Chad Kelly at least nine games following investigation
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.
Boy Scouts of America changing name for first time in 114 years, aiming for inclusivity
The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.
opinion Tom Mulcair: Trudeau's handling of Poilievre's 'wacko' House turfing a clear sign of Liberal desperation
When Speaker Greg Fergus tossed out Pierre Poilievre from the House last week, "those of us who have experience as parliamentarians simply couldn't believe our eyes," writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his column for CTVNews.ca
MPs agree Canadian gov't should improve new disability benefit
The federal government needs to safeguard the incoming Canada Disability Benefit from clawbacks and do more to ensure it actually meets the stated aim of lifting people living with disabilities out of poverty, MPs from all parties agree.