-(Toby): I find Indigenous artists struggle in the city because of stereotypes, stigmas and oppression.

So, I struggled as an artist as well.

Certain spots wouldn't give me my platform, so I went out and made my own platform.

Art saved my life, 100 %.

(theme music) -(narrator): Toronto, situated on the northern shores of Lake Ontario, is Canada's largest city.

Derived from the Mohawk word Tkaronto, meaning "trees standing in water", the territory was originally occupied by Indigenous people including the Mississaugas of The Credit Nation, The Anishinabeg, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee and Wendat.

Toronto is also host to a proud and vibrant Métis Community with a population of just over 15,000 people.

But Toronto's history with the Métis wasn't always a proud one, for it was here where a bounty was placed on the head of Métis leader Louis Riel and the calls for his execution were the loudest.

-Yeah!

Oh!

Wiii... Go again!

I grew up not knowing that I was Métis.

I was about, I think I was 21 when I found out.

Careful!

My mom never told me, so they sort of kept that quiet.

So, it was a real shock to me.

You did it.

Yeah!

But I was doing tattoos before that and I wasn't really incorporating my spirituality or language or culture or traditions or anything like that.

I learned so much about my people.

I did a lot of research historically, politically.

I took Indigenous studies and it made me realize that there is a lot of language, culture and traditions that's missing and the arts is like the number one platform for expressing your emotional understandings.

I can use that platform to express what was missing so dear to me for all those years.

So, like, I sort of found myself.

And when I started incorporating that into my artwork, my life changed.

-(narrator): An old friend comes to visit Toby.

Today, she will be receiving a hand poke tattoo to commemorate her work as an activist and the important role she plays within her community.

-My name is Suzanne Smoke.

My spirit name is Golden Eagle Woman.

I sit with the Bear clan and I'm from Alderville first nation, Mississaugas of Rice lake.

Bojo!

-Hey, Suzanne!

-How are you, my friend?

-I'm OK.

How are you?

-I'm good!

Here for my tattoo and some moose.

-Come in.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So, what did you want to get done today anyway?

-We're doing a cuff.

So, this is my water cuff... for my family that was done hand poke.

And now I want a tiny cuff here on this side representing the elements.

-Okay.

-I'm getting another cuff here and it's for my role for community and mother earth.

This one was more of a personal one for my family.

This one is for that work that radiates out, right?

So, community and family and it's from the water.

-What about just traditional element markings like triangle, triangle, triangle and triangle... -Earth, fire, air and water.

Could we do the water element here?

-Sure.

-Toby is one of the best tattoo artists, I really love his work.

So he did that one for me.

And this one is for missing and murdered Indigenous women.

So this one is really, I guess, a really poignant piece for me in memory of my cousin Patricia from Alderville First Nation, but also so many of our sisters and our brothers too that are going missing.

But this one is for the work that I do with missing and murdered Indigenous women and their families.

Women are water-carriers.

We're sacred.

We have a womb.

We carry that water and before that water comes to the earth that life comes first.

And so for me, being a woman, we're sacred beings, and creator gave us the role to create life.

And we're the only doorway with which that the human spirit comes to the earth and we need to be honoured and held sacred.

♪♪♪ -(Toby): As a tattoo artist, when you're getting a tattoo, it might be for healing purposes, it might be for personal reasons, for memorial and also it might be maybe for ceremonies, so that is really close and dear to that person that is getting the tattoo.

-We really have to hold our women up and honour them and allow us to do the work that we do for the water.

You know, our songs cleanse the water and the air.

Who's going to sing those songs when our women's voices are going missing and those voices are lost?

We need to be proud of who they are as Indigenous people.

This one's water.

Water's first.

-That's the air.

-And then Mother Earth.

-And then that's Mother Earth.

Awesome!

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-(narrator): Toby's life is busy, but he always finds time for his family and his daughter.

He knows the importance of passing on his heritage and keeping those teachings strong for future generations.

-So, what I'm doing is I'm putting this together, showing my daughter the cultural ways of fishing for harvesting.

So I really want her to learn her language, culture and traditions properly.

This is just something I do, like, father and daughter.

Hopefully, it's a tradition thing and she really gets the hang of it when she's older and she's able to do this with her children.

♪♪♪ -(narrator): Living in Markham, a suburb of the Greater Toronto Area, doesn't provide much in the way of cultural learning.

So, Toby heads out of town to practice and teach his skills to his daughter on Region Seven Métis Territory.

(drumbeat and rattling) -Hopefully, I can see a salmon here today since I drove out an hour.

Fish!

Go get some fish.

It's to feed my family.

Go get a fish?

Not yet?

There's one over there.

See them right there.

You can see them jumping right in there.

Maybe we see another one, we just missed that one.

I don't give it away or whatever... If I do give some away, it's for like there's a mobilize activism thing happening and there's people that need to be fed or they do a homeless meal or something and I donate some.

Things like that, I'll get involved.

Watch your head... Oh, yeah!

Oh, right there!

Right there, right there, right there!

Missed him.

I missed a steelhead or a salmon a while ago.

Was a pretty big one.

If I don't catch anything, I don't catch anything.

I mean, it is what it is.

Not everything is perfect.

Mother Earth has a funny way of working.

(sigh) I have no control over her.

So, sometimes it's disappointing that I don't harvest what I want to harvest, but I mean, there's always tomorrow.

-(narrator): After a day's lesson in patience, the sun begins to set and Toby and his daughter decide to head home.

But like the old saying goes, "good things come to those who wait."

-He's way over there, he's right there!

He's right there.

I want her to know from day one that she's Métis, that she's Indigenous.

I'm going to show her her cultural ways.

I'm going to show her fishing.

I'm going to show her that this is your culture.

Our people survived off of this, we depended on this, you know.

The fish.

Nice.

So I really had to scavenge for this one.

It's a nice one, a nice healthy one.

Very satisfying.

My daughter's happy, she started laughing when I caught it so that means, she's happy.

Fish?

Fish.

(babbling) (laughter) Okay, let's go.

There we go!

When I caught the fish with her, she was laughing, she's was like "yeah!".

Because she knows that we're going to eat it.

If I teach her at a very young age, then she's gonna know what's it there for.

-(narrator): Battling drug addiction, Toby came to Toronto in 2013, seeking help to overcome the hardships that had flipped his world upside down.

-I had absolutely nothing and I was addicted to drugs.

I was on methadone and... about everything else known to man.

My children died in 2003, in a fire and... I completely lost it after that.

Some people might not understand the struggles of that or whatnots.

And they clearly can't understand a personal struggle that somebody's feeling emotionally because there are no words to express the feelings that you feel inside at that point in time, or how you're thinking or feeling emotionally or struggling with it.

So, I'm 33 years old, you know what I mean... I went to rehab for detox and then... I went to Na-Me-Res, Sagatay.

That's a men's shelter, a healing shelter.

I applied for college and I went to school for social work.

I totally love the Indigenous style of healing compared to the Eurocentric way of healing because I was a person, I mattered to somebody.

When I started going to the gym, it was a thing like... Changes my way of thinking.

Believe it or not, it's almost like a sort of meditation.

I'm not going to do it half-assed and go halfway in, I'm going to go all the way in.

It's the same thing in life, like let's say if I'm going to do something business-wise or if I'm going to do something, that's going to benefit my family or that‘s going to be life-changing experience it's going to be positive for the community or whatnot, I'm not going to do it halfway in, I'm going to do it all the way in.

That's the only way to get positive results and effective results is to do it all the way.

♪♪♪ -(narrator): Today, Toby begins the process of leaving his old shop and hitting the road with his latest endeavour, a "mobile" tattoo studio.

-It's hard to let things go sometimes, you know.

It's a very nice spot.

I'm really gonna miss it.

I like the windows and the view and the space.

There's just so many emotions walking in here knowing that I won't be here anymore.

But I know that there is more emotions inside of me that knowing that there are new things to come and maybe better, better, better ventures.

So, it's pretty easy for me to let it go now, at this point.

So, I keep every stencil from every piece that I have ever done.

It's not necessarily for me to go through.

I'm not gonna through these one by one and start... I'm gonna put these in a container and I'm just gonna leave it there for my daughters, when my daughters grow up.

So, they can go through it with their grandkids.

My studio specializes in Indigenous arts, nothing else.

So, my mission statement is cultural to Indigenous people's arts, language, culture and tradition.

I try to, you know what I mean, showcase as much as I can if I have the space or the capacity to do so.

So, when I sell something out of my shop, it's going to be Indigenous.

That's a partridge feather that I've harvested.

So, I harvested this partridge and I ate him when my dad was still alive.

See how old it is?

First person I ever went hunting with.

-(narrator): Sometimes, leaving an important part of your life behind can be difficult.

But like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, change can be a beautiful thing.

-I'm really gonna miss this place.

When I was in grade 4, you know, they would make fun of me and throw rocks at me or, you know, tease me in class.

I noticed the teachers calling me like "petit savage" or whatever or something, you know.

And I would not even catch on because I was clueless, I didn't know.

So, it was like they knew I was Native but I didn't.

There was like a mini powwow in the gym, and I started crying when I heard that drum beating.

All of a sudden, I was just crying.

You know what I mean?

I was like, why am I crying?

Now I think back to it, I'm like: "Oh, that's why I was crying.

I'm Métis, I'm Native, you know, and I didn't even know."

♪♪♪ -(narrator): Toby prepares his mobile studio for a road trip.

Reaching isolated communities, Toby is able to share his talent and spread his art, far and wide.

-So, I got this mobile camper.

I bought it small like this, so it's compact.

So I can pull it with a vehicle.

So, my plans for the trailer is to be able to accommodate and access secluded communities.

Every community that I've been into has welcomed me.

That's how I come into the community.

I just say I have a mobile unit and then they contact me, then they say, "Come here, I got a space for you, I got a whole bunch of people that want to get tattooed."

And they invite me into their community.

I have my wash station and my generator in there.

Yeah, I put all my supplies that I need to sanitize everything and clean and keep everything proper.

Face masks, hand sanitizer like I said, all my tattoo supplies.

My tattoo chair, you know what I mean, and away I go.

-(narrator): Tonight, Toby is preparing a feast to celebrate his daughter's first fish.

He's invited Kara Jade, an important friend, to join in the celebration.

-Kara, she's such a good friend of mine.

She's like my sister.

I really look up to her as well because she does so well in her arts, and she inspires me by how dedicated she is and how well she does.

♪ Okay, you wanna roll Kara Jade, hunh?

♪ ♪ Let's go ♪ -My name is Kara Jade.

I'm from Winnipeg, Manitoba and Moosomin First Nation near Cochin Saskatchewan.

♪ Yeah, come over and see ♪ ♪ And maybe you could be my pretty baby ♪ ♪ The way you step-in amazes me ♪ ♪ It's got me mesmerized and hypnotized ♪ I wanted to really incorporate the culture, but just like natural.

♪ Catch off the wall rebound ♪ ♪ As soon we come for your mind then we headed eastbound ♪ You know how I always have powwow dancers on my sets.

So, I didn't want to have them in the background, just dancing.

I just wanted to capture the natural vibe of an Indigenous festival.

But with two-spirit twist to it.

-Yeah, that was totally cool.

I really loved that music video.

-When colonization first began, they weren't even allowed to dance or to sing.

They weren't allowed to do any of those things to express ourselves culturally or spiritually.

And, like, my Kokum is a survivor of residential school and so, to be able to use my voice when she couldn't is so important to me.

-"My people will sleep for 100 years, but when they awake, it will be the artists who give them their spirit back."

The Louis Riel quote.

And she got like a little Métis floral there.

Oh yeah, look at that one!

That's exactly how I want them.

Alright!

Here we go!

We got some BBQ fish.

I want some more of that.

(indistinctive chatter) This is the salmon I caught yesterday.

-(man): Oh, nice!

-And I had my daughter on my back on the packsack.

I speared the salmon and she was on my back, she was like, "Fish".

And when I speared the fish, "Ah, ah", she started laughing.

-(narrator): Toby is preparing to give a tattoo in his new trailer before heading out to isolated communities.

Vallee Trudeau has brought her son Sonny Pion to receive his first tattoo.

Seeing Toby's art on social networks, Sonny is excited to have Toby commemorate his spirit name in ink.

-You're ready for your design?

-Let's do it.

-Alright, cool.

-I'm thinking of incorporating my spirit name and a nickname I've gotten from my family into one design.

So, it will incorporate a campfire from my spirit name Jigshkode, which means by the fire.

And it will incorporate a bear because that's my nickname that I have been given to by my family since as long as I can remember.

-Nice.

So, it's like a vision.

-Yeah, a little bit.

-Okay, so let's try and make this vision come together.

♪♪♪ -It's really cool how you both incorporated your spirit names into that.

-It's got some meaning behind it, you know.

-Yeah, for sure.

Are you nervous?

-A little bit.

I mean, I trust Toby though.

I know he's going to do a good job.

♪♪♪ -Sonny, come here.

So, you see how the smoke is coming out?

-Yeah, it looks awesome.

-I'm sure that will work perfect.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ So, if you want to come in.

-Alright.

-You're gonna have to take off your jacket.

-Yeah!

-Okay.

He'll be safe with me.

I'm only allowed one person in here at a time, so... -Alright.

-My style is more modern, urban contemporary Indigenous art.

So, I like to mix up everything.

What do you think about the placement there?

-I think that looks good.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ -(Toby): Being able to use modern-day art into the older school ideology of clan systems or spirit names, is totally fun for me as an artist because I'm able to visualize or create something totally different.

And it pushes me a little bit out of my element which creates a more artistic, you know, collaboration with the client and myself and it creates something beautiful.

♪♪♪ As a tattoo artist, I'm always learning stuff every day.

I am studying the arts of tattoo.

I am never ever a master.

-I was always worried about when I got a tattoo that I'd want it to be something that's meaningful, and this definitely fulfilled that.

This has got a lot of meaning behind it.

It means a lot to me.

-You want to show your mom?

-That's awesome!

Wow!

-Yeah.

-(Vallee): Very cool.

-(Toby): Think so?

-Yeah, what do you think son?

-I think it's awesome.

-Yeah, that's awesome.

-I feel awesome.

This is definitely a good one to start it off with and I think it'll be the first of many and Toby just did an awesome job with it.

♪♪♪ -(Toby): I find that through all those years, until I had my drug abuse and my drug addiction, and I lost myself for those 10 years.

Now that I have something positive and beautiful, I don't want to lose it.

(motor whirring) So, I'm trying to make up for the grounds of all those years that I've hurt everybody, that I've hurt along my way.

It's not just myself that I've hurt by being that way.

I know I hurt my family members that worry so much about me.

You know, I can't fix all that, but what I can do right now is keep what I have.

So, like I have my wife, I have my kids, I have my business, I have my life now.

And I'm going to support my family as best as I can.

My daughters are gonna have everything that I have never ever had.

That's the reason why I go go go and I don't stop, and I work for hours.

I have no choice, man.

This is the life I want.

This is the life I get if I work for it.

(motor whirring) -If you enjoyed Skindigenous and would like to see more clips about these artists or more about the locations featured in the show, head over to skindigenous.tv.

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Come check it out!

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