Shawnee Kish is an Indigenous, Two-Spirit individual who finds true purpose in music.
Shawnee Kish
Finding melodies that bring you home.
Shawnee Kish was a teenager when she found her purpose. She was struggling with her identity as an Indigenous, Two-Spirit person and turned to music, which turned out to be the right direction. “It gave me something to dream about, something to live for,” she says. “The older I got, the more I realized how much the world could use [the power of music].” Kish released her debut album in 2025, a ‘chaotic’ process that took her down a completely new path in her musical career. Her original direction was orchestral but as she got into it, the album took its own path and evolved into full-blown country. “I think I was trying to make it something it didn’t want to be,” says Kish. “Sometimes creative work just has a mind of its own.” Born in Welland, Ontario, Kish now calls St. Albert home, where she lives with her wife and daughter. Alberta has given her a sense of community she hadn’t felt before, even in her hometown. “This is somewhere I’m proud to raise my daughter because that is something money can’t buy,” she says. “I feel like this is the place I need to be.”
Daniel Johnstone, the founder of the Can Man Dan Foundation, seen in downtown Edmonton.
Daniel Johnstone
Taking good care, making real change.
Daniel Johnstone would love to go out of business. As the founder of the Can Man Dan Foundation, an Edmonton-based charity that seeks to alleviate poverty, Johnstone dreams of a day when his services are no longer needed in the community. “It would be nice to be forced into retirement, because that would mean there’s nobody to help,” he says. “Let’s hope I get there.” Johnstone was inspired to give back because of his own experience growing up in very humble beginnings with his single mother. The foundation is the culmination of more than 15 years of work by him — and now a team of people — supporting those struggling in the community, including children in need. His work has evolved from grassroots door-to-door fundraising to engaging with governments to make real change happen. He’s focusing efforts now on affordable housing to create change for the homeless community, using his platform to bring awareness to the issue. “I grew up poor — I have no powerful friends,” says Johnstone. “For a guy to go out and be able to raise $7 million for people in need, I couldn’t have done that without generous people donating. That’s Alberta. We take care of each other.”
Paul Brandt
Bound for true greatness.
Sitting next to a fireplace, watching giant snowflakes fall, Paul Brandt started thinking about all the things he loves about Alberta — six minutes later, he had the words to his “Alberta Bound” — a song that would resonate beyond the province. “The more I listened, it was about what Alberta symbolized — a better place, opportunity, chasing your dreams and taking a chance,” he says. “I love Alberta and what it stands for.” He was working as pediatric nurse and performing as a singer on the side when Nashville came calling and launched him into a whirlwind music career that’s spanned three decades and countless shows. Having been born in Calgary, his deep Alberta roots shaped his music and his approach to life. “We believe anything is possible in Alberta, and that’s unique.” Together with his wife, Liz, he founded #NotInMyCity, a national movement to combat human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Moved by a life-changing trip to Cambodia, their work now empowers thousands across Canada to recognize and respond to trafficking through education, resources and awareness. “Our work is rooted in hope,” says Brandt. “When families and kids are empowered to understand the signs and risk factors, we can make a huge dent in human trafficking, and change lives.”
Alberta has helped shape the music and the mission of Paul Brandt.
Based in Calgary, David Howard has committed his career to supporting those individuals who have served in the Canadian military.
David Howard
Giving our heroes the honour they deserve.
Call it a mission from the heart. Inspired by his late grandfather’s personal struggle as a Canadian veteran, David Howard channels his efforts and experience to support thousands of former military personnel. “When I got to know my grandfather very late in his life, what I found was a man that was suffering from post-traumatic stress,” says Howard, an entrepreneur. “I saw someone who was very proud that needed help and wasn’t getting it.” After his grandfather’s passing, Howard started a local Veterans Food Drive. Soon after, he began the Canadian Legacy Project, which offers free programs to help the transition from military to civilian life, including a business boot camp. In the last five years, the project has graduated nearly 300 veterans and helped many to launch their own businesses. In 2018, Howard started Homes for Heroes, a one-of-a-kind national program that builds small communities of homes that help address veteran homelessness. With three operating villages and one under construction, Homes for Heroes will soon have more than 20,000 bed nights per year. “Homes for Heroes is here because of the support that was given to us at home,” says Howard. “I think that the spirit of Alberta is that of philanthropy. People want to help others and they don’t do it for recognition. They do it [simply to] support. I think that’s an incredible thing to have in a community.”
In amongst the trees: a vital part of Jen Beverly’s work with the Wildfire Analytics Initiative.
Jen Beverly
Collaboration and innovation combine for safety’s sake.
Jen Beverly’s work isn’t about the wildfires, but about the people affected by them — ensuring communities have solid data so that individuals can get out of harm’s way in time. An associate professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Beverly leads Wildfire Analytics, a research group that develops practical tools for decision makers to use immediately for better wildfire management. Historically, research takes time to get from funding to publishing to practice. For wildfire research, complex modelling had become the prevailing standard, but was time-consuming and Beverly was unsure if it worked expediently enough in predicting outcomes. “We don’t have time to wait ten years,” she says. “The fires are here, causing enormous damage and coming at us more frequently than they used to.” The lightbulb moment for Beverly? Remove complication. She returned to the data from simpler models, earlier in her career, and found they were better and available sooner for decision-makers. Wildfire Analytics has since trained hundreds of people to build tools that users can implement right away — all at no cost. “Alberta’s attitude of curiosity and support for innovation has been key,” Beverly says. I could not have done the work I’ve done in the last 10 years had it not been for those collaborations.”
Frances Wright, seen here in her home in Calgary, is the founder of the Famous Five Foundation, an organization that strives to continue the legacy of five Albertan women who fought for women’s rights in the province in the ‘20s.
Frances Wright
Preserving the storied legacy of our visionaries.
It’s tempting to intertwine the storied history of the Famous Five with the unrelenting work of Frances Wright — despite the two being generations apart. Wright is the co-founder of the Famous Five Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1997 to celebrate and continue the legacy of the five Alberta women who fought for women’s legal rights in Canada. She has helped erect monuments, created curriculum guides and launched campaigns to share how five Albertan women changed democracy for Canada in the landmark Persons Case in 1929. “They weren’t just rabble rousers, or suffragists or feminists,” says Wright. “They were nation builders. Their contributions to Canada are quite extraordinary and still beneficial today.” Inspired by supportive parents and a sense of justice, Wright has fought for gender equity, championed at-risk women and led a campaign to restore gender equality in Canada’s national anthem. Alberta was one of the first provinces to secure the rights for women to vote and run for office. Wright hopes the Famous Five’s lessons will continue to inspire people to be active, engaged citizens — just as the five women were. “Albertans, for a long time, have played a fundamental role in the structure and ideas of Canada,” says Wright. “It’s up to each and every one of us to build a country, not just a province.”
David Farran
The best place for distilling success.
When serial entrepreneur David Farran retired, he decided he needed a project to give him a sense of purpose. He thought, why not start a whiskey distillery in southern Alberta? Farran was hardly new to the beverage industry, having been the first employee at Big Rock Brewery when it started in Calgary in 1985. In retirement, he saw an opportunity to highlight something special to the province through whiskey: its world-class barley. “We ship barley to Scotland so they can make scotch, and yet we’ve never made single malt whisky in the province until Eau Claire [Distillery] arrived.” Alberta’s unique climate also allows whiskey to mature in half the time it takes in Scotland, thanks to large fluctuations in temperature, humidity and pressure. Eau Claire Distillery is in Turner Valley, where speakeasies and hidden stills ran rampant during the prohibition era — the hills nearby were called Whiskey Ridge. Today, their whiskeys have won awards around the world, fostering a phase of growth with their products now available across the country. “I don’t think I could have done what I’ve done in my career any other place but Alberta,” says Farran. “Albertans support and respect entrepreneurs like no other place I’ve ever been. It’s a can-do province and we always have been.”
David Farran proudly distills whiskey in Turner Valley, Alberta.
Singer and drummer Carol Powder (seen here with grandson Noah) understands the power of music.
Carol Powder
The beat goes on.
Carol Powder has been singing since she was five years old. She had a unique vocal gift, given to her from her great-grandfather, that enabled her to sing any song she wished. She learned drumming from her grandparents — powerful music she performs with her grandchildren in their drumming group, Chubby Cree. The talents keep getting passed down. One grandson, Noah, has been playing since he was two. While women are not typically on the drum, Powder challenges the gender disparity in her music, inspiring other women and children to find their own melody. “When we sing, me and my grandkids, we make people cry,” she says. “They always tell us, we’re not hurting, we’re healing. It feels so damn good.” Powder is raising her many grandchildren in Edmonton, but grew up in Sandy Beach, where she was taught traditional knowledge, the land, medicine and stories. She has continued the work, passing down the gifts she was given. Her grandson, Octavius, out drums many men, singing a war call that Powder says sounds like an eagle soaring down from the sky. “I’m hoping they continue drumming, singing and teaching others that want to learn,” says Powder. “I’m hoping they pass down this to their kids and their grandkids and continue the legacy of my grandparents and my great-grandparents.”
Sarah Keilty-Dilling
The Steadfast Netminder.
Sarah Keilty-Dilling’s dream came true in 2024. The born-and-raised Calgarian signed onto the Calgary Wild as a star goalkeeper, beginning a new chapter playing at home in front of her family, friends and rescue dogs. Calgary Wild is Alberta’s first and only professional women’s soccer team competing in the Northern Super League (NSL). It was a proud — and unprecedented — achievement. “When I think of growing up in Calgary, I didn’t have females in any sport to look towards and say, that’s what I want to do,” she says. “The bigger the league and the Wild can grow, the more people and young girls can have role models in their own hometown. That’s really important.” Keilty-Dilling has been playing since she was five, a journey that has led her to the University of Texas El Paso in NCAA Division I, to semi-pro at FC Tucson where she was named team MVP and a league All-Star. She looks back at the past decade and sees many moments when she could have stopped playing, for one reason or another. “If there’s something you want to do for yourself, don’t let anyone else tell you to stop — you decide,” says Keilty-Dilling. “I am stubborn in that way. I have an unwillingness to give up.”
Goalkeeper Sarah Keilty-Dilling’s determination has her set for success.
Paulina Johnson is a co-research director at Braiding Knowledges Canada.
Paulina Johnson
Soaring with Blue Sky Woman.
Paulina Johnson — or her spirit name, Sîpihkokîsikowiskwêw, which means Blue Sky Woman — lives where her work begins. Nêhiyaw from Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacîs, Johnson is grounded in the relationships that shape her research, both as an assistant professor at the University of Alberta and as co‑research director of not-for-profit Braiding Knowledges Canada. Johnson specializes in Indigenous research methods, working closely with Elders and communities to preserve oral narratives, lived experience and teachings rooted in kinship and spirituality — wâhkôtowin in Cree. “I hold on to the values of Treaty and relationship, that this land is for us to share but also protect and advocate for together,” she says. That perspective also guides her research, in which she explores how environmental shifts affect not just ecosystems, but First Nations cultural practices, health and ceremony. And her future of such exploration looks bright. Johnson is a recipient of a 2024 New Frontiers in Research Fund grant, a multi-year international project on water security to trace shared waterways from First Nations across Alberta to the Rocky Mountains. “It’s important because when the environment is sick, one of the things that we often say is that that’s a relative going through this hardship,” says Johnson. “So, how do we advocate for them?”
