“When I was part of an extreme faith, from the age of 21-29, I had no connection to the Aboriginal community because of what the faith people had told me.

 People were quick to remind me that all people who don’t accept their way of thinking will not be in paradise. For the longest time I struggled with this concept and was deeply hurt by this. I did a lot crying during those days.  I used to cast shouts of confusion to the universe wondering why it’s so cruel. Not only was I a victim of religion I was also a victim of media, who had told me to be ashamed of my roots.  Later in life I broke free from the cult and I was starting to get control of how I responded to media. At the age of 32, I was finally allowed to attend a Pow-Wow without feeling the weight of sin and evil upon me. It was one of the highlights of my life.”

Read more about the video and Ricky’s journey back into his culture on Ricky Ogima’s blog.