**This episode was originally published on July 10, 2020***

The Indigenous Theatre program at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa was just wrapping up it's very successful first season when COVID-19 hit. It's artistic director Kevin Loring talks with National Chief Perry Bellegarde about the challenges he faces in overcoming the COVID shutdown, what the experience was like starting up the first ever national Indigenous theatre program inside a colonial performing arts institution and why he thinks Indigenous theatre and storytelling are more important than ever.

A special thanks goes out to the Red Dog Singers of Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan for providing the theme music for this podcast.

The Ahkameyimok Podcast is produced in Ottawa by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions. davidrcmcguffin@gmail.com