Lawrence Martin (born January 1956 in

Moose Factory, Ontario Moose Factory is a community in the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, which is at the southern end of James Bay. It was the first English-speaking settlement in lands no ...

)"Following their heart home: The creative journey for Indian artists has many beginnings but a common path". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', 11 May 1996. is a Canadian musician and politician. He has used the name Wapistan, derived from the

Cree language Cree (also known as Cree– Montagnais–Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is th ...

word for the

marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on t ...

, in his musical work.

Background

A member of the

Moose Cree First Nation The Moose Cree First Nation (formerly known as Moose Factory Band of Indians) ( cr, ᒨᓱᓂᔨ ᐃᓕᓕᐗᒃ, môsoniyi ililiwak) is a Cree First Nation band government in northern Ontario, Canada. Their traditional territory is on the west si ...

, he grew up in a small community called Moose River Crossing. As in the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

traditional communities, the whole hamlet became his family. One of his aunts, Abba, recognized his talent for

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

at an early age. She bought him an acoustic guitar and taught him to play. Once he learned how to strum three chords, he began to write songs. He was around twelve years old at that time. From the age of fourteen, he attended secondary school in North Bay. In the 1980s, Martin was executive director of the

Wawatay Native Communications Society Wawatay Native Communications Society (Wawatay for short) was formed in 1974 by the people of Canada's Nishnawbe Aski Nation in the Kenora and Cochrane Districts of Northern Ontario, as a source of communications technology, namely radio, televis ...

, a First Nations broadcaster in Northern Ontario. In this role, in 1989 he produced the first-ever television broadcast of a First Nations

pow-wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an ...

Politics

He became mayor of

Sioux Lookout Sioux Lookout is a town in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Located approximately northwest of Thunder Bay, it has a population of 5,272 people (up 4.7% since 2011), an elevation of , and its boundaries cover an area of , of which is lake and wetl ...

, Ontario, in 1991, becoming the first aboriginal person in the province ever elected to the mayoralty of a municipality that was not a

First Nations reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the ''Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Monarchy of Canada, Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benef ...

."Politics of the spirit". ''

'', 12 August 2006. He served in that position until 1994, and then took a job with the

Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS), also occasionally known as the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (without a hyphen) is the police agency for Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN). As of July 2020, NAPS has 34 detachments in NAN communities across the ...

."Martin balances politics, music, family and tradition"
''Ontario Birchbark'', Vol. 5, No. 10 (2006). In 1998, he was elected to his first term as grand chief of the

Mushkegowuk Council Mushkegowuk Council (pointed: ᐅᒪᐡᑫᑯ ᐅᑭᒫᐎᐎᐣ (''omashkeko okimāwiwin''); unpointed: ᐅᒪᐡᑫᑯ ᐅᑭᒪᐎᐎᐣ), or officially as the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council, is a non-profit regional chiefs' council representing Cre ...

, serving until 2001. During this time he ran as a candidate for the leadership of the

Assembly of First Nations The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is an assembly of Canadian First Nations (Indian bands) represented by their chiefs. Established in 1982 and modelled on the United Nations General Assembly, it emerged from the National Indian Brotherhood, wh ...

in its 2000

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

, but was not elected. He later moved to

Cochrane Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wit ...

, Ontario, becoming executive director of the local

Native Friendship Centre Friendship Centres are nonprofit community organizations that provide services to urban Inuit, Métis, and First Nations (Status and Non-status) people. Friendship Centres were first established in the 1950s, and there are now more than 100 cen ...

."Newcomer takes top job in Cochrane". ''

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began as ...

'', 11 November 2003. He was elected mayor of that town in 2003, becoming one of the few Canadian politicians ever to have held the mayoralty of two different municipalities. He served as mayor of Cochrane until 2010. He was elected to a second term as grand chief of the Mushkegowuk Council in 2014, in a by-election following the death of incumbent chief Stan Louttit.

Musical career

At the

Juno Awards of 1994 The Juno Awards of 1994, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 20 March 1994 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Roch Voisine was the host for the ceremonies, which were taped that aft ...

, he became the first winner of the Juno Award for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording for his album ''Wapistan Is Lawrence Martin''. He was nominated two more times in the same category, at the

Juno Awards of 1996 The Juno Awards of 1996, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 10 March 1996 in Hamilton, Ontario at a ceremony in the Copps Coliseum. Anne Murray was the host for the ceremonies, which were broad ...

for his album ''Message'' and at the

Juno Awards of 2003 The Juno Awards of 2003 were presented in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on 6 April 2003. The primary awards ceremony was hosted that evening by Shania Twain at the Corel Centre (now Canadian Tire Centre) and televised on CTV television network, CTV. ...

for ''The Right Combination'', an album he recorded as a duo with

Vern Cheechoo Vern Cheechoo is a Cree people, Cree folk and country singer-songwriter from Canada.Dariya Baiguzhiyeva"Moose Cree singer's new album will be dedicated to his late wife" ''Village Media, Timmins Today'', July 24, 2021. He is most noted as a two-time ...

."Knight, Cheechoo nominated for Juno". ''

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.com ...

'', 14 February 2003. Martin and Andrea Menard cohosted the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards in 2006. His song "I Got My Music" is featured on the 2014 compilation album '' Native North America, Vol. 1''."Light in the Attic Unearths the Forgotten History of First Nations Music with 'Native North America' Compilation"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', 8 October 2014.

Discography

*''Wapistan Is Lawrence Martin'' (1993) *''Message'' (1995) *''The Right Combination'' (2002) *''Dancing for Life'' (2009) *''Train of Life'' (2014)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Lawrence Living people 1956 births First Nations musicians Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year winners Mayors of places in Ontario Cree people First Nations politicians People from Sioux Lookout People from Cochrane, Ontario People from North Bay, Ontario Musicians from Ontario Canadian male singers Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters