Ep. 28: Sport, Survival, and Spirit: How Waneek Horn-Miller Turned Pain Into Power

In this heart-expanding chat, Dr. Candace Linklater sits down in person with Waneek Horn-Miller—Mohawk Olympian, activist, and one of the most influential Indigenous women in sport—for a conversation that is as vulnerable as it is visionary. They explore the complicated beauty of Indigenous rage, healing, and authenticity in a world that constantly tries to box Indigenous women in. Waneek reflects on surviving a near-fatal stabbing during the Oka Crisis at age 14 and how that trauma shaped her sense of power, purpose, and protection. She shares how sport became the container for her rage, and how ceremony, self-reflection, and motherhood helped her alchemize that fire into compassion. The two discuss how kindness has nothing to do with being polite and everything to do with being loyal to what is just—even if it makes others uncomfortable. They unpack how rage, when left unexpressed, can mutate into internalized harm, and how ceremony must hold space for all emotions—not just grief and peace, but fury too.Waneek speaks candidly about navigating traditional and Christian expectations, including the pressure to wear ribbon skirts, and how she has always stood a little outside of dominant narratives—even within her own community. Both women share how their relationships to dress, identity, and spirituality have been shaped by purity culture, lateral violence, and a deep hunger for autonomy. They discuss love as a verb rooted in action, accountability, and deep presence. For Waneek, true love doesn’t hurt—it sees, uplifts, and creates peace. Through their shared reflections on creation, ceremony, and connection, this conversation becomes a living testament to Indigenous self-determination, feminine power, and the right to take up space with both tenderness and rage. @waneek www.waneekhornmiller.com-Relentless Reflection Where in your life have you been taught to silence your rage, and what would it look like to honour it instead?What does kindness mean to you when it’s rooted in justice, not politeness, and how do you extend that same kindness inward?Relentless ActionsName and honour one moment of anger or grief in your life that was misunderstood, dismissed, or internalized. Write it down. Speak it aloud. Witness it.Choose a daily ritual like running, art, prayer, journaling that connects you to your spirit and reframes it as ceremony. Let it be yours, without needing permission.Relentless ResourcesDocumentary – Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) by Alanis ObomsawinFilm – Beans (2020), directed by Tracey Deer Send Us a Text with Your Thoughts or Questions!Join the RIW Patreon Community RIW WebsiteMusic Produced by Award-Winning Anishnaabe DJ Boogey the Beat