By Garry Maddox
Sarain Carson-Fox took Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his historic first visit to an isolated indigenous reserve for a documentary last year.
"I consider Australian Aboriginal people indigenous brothers and sisters" ... Sarain Carson-Fox in Sydney.Credit: Janie Barrett
The Canadian First Nations activist, television presenter and dancer wanted to show the new leader the problems facing the Shoal Lake 40 community in Ontario, including an epidemic of youth suicide.
"What many people don't know is that part of the reason Justin Trudeau got into office was because of the indigenous vote," Ms Carson-Fox says.
"We're in a really amazing moment in Canada, North America and maybe even here" ... Sarain Carson-Fox.Credit: Janie Barrett
"So many indigenous people came out to support him that they actually ran out of ballots in a lot of the northern communities."
While Trudeau's celebrity meant he was mobbed for selfies on that visit, he took on some of the community's problems, including the need for a new access road, which has since started construction, and an improved water supply, which is yet to happen.
"He was definitely out of his element and moved," Ms Carson-Fox says.
In Australia to launch her indigenous rights documentary series Rise, which starts screening on SBS Viceland next month, the livewire 29-year-old is also speaking about being "young and black" at the Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay on the weekend.
Sarain Carson-Fox in Rise.
While this is her first visit here, Ms Carson-Fox believes Canada's and Australia's indigenous people have much in common.
"We were colonised by the same kind of infrastructure so I think a lot of the things we're up against are the same," she says.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau poses for a selfie with an elder after receiving a ceremonial headdress while visiting the Tsuut'ina First Nation near Calgary last year. Credit: Jeff McIntosh
"Our fight for sovereignty, our fight for recognition, we both had similar cases with apologies from the government. I consider Australian Aboriginal people indigenous brothers and sisters."
First Nations people make up 2 per cent of Canada's population, with half living away from urban life on reserves that often lack proper schools, houses and jobs.
Sarain Carson-Fox in Rise.
Like some Australian communities, they are dealing with a youth suicide crisis. It's an emotional issue given Ms Carson-Fox's own father committed suicide when she was 15.
"There were three more deaths in the community just yesterday," she says quietly. "I was travelling for the last 24 hours and that's what I woke up to."
Despite that grim news, Ms Carson-Fox is surprisingly positive about the future for indigenous youth, particularly those who are tapping into technology to learn about their history.
"For a really long time we've been stuck in this predicament where we haven't been able to raise our own voices, we haven't been able to tell our own stories, so we've been products of colonisation and genocide," she says. "I think we're shifting that narrative now."
"And we're in a really amazing moment in Canada, North America and maybe even here – I'm sure I'll get to know that while I'm here – where's a lot of potential for some really great things happening.
"The North American Indigenous Games have opened in Toronto and there are thousands of indigenous kids from all over the world playing sport.
"And there are young people who are doing incredible things right now and elders who are reaching out to those young people to make sure they're taken care of [and passing] their culture and their language on."