‘I know my worth’: Indigenous singer explains decision to turn down Vancouver Canucks anthem offer

An Indigenous artist is speaking out about her decision not to sing the American anthem at Wednesday’s Vancouver Canucks First Nations Night.

Her decision is also sparking discussion on the larger issue of the idea of artists being asked to perform mainly for exposure rather than money.

Inez Louis, from the Skowkale First Nation in the Fraser Valley region is a six-time Aboriginal Peoples’ Choice Music Awards recipient. The honour has since been renamed as the Indigenous Music Awards.

In recent years, she’s shifted priority to her health-care career, but still performs from time to time.

The Vancouver Canucks had asked her to sing the U.S. anthem at its First Nations Night. But when she heard the offer of $100 and two game tickets, she was left underwhelmed and tried to negotiate a higher rate, describing the situation as “performative reconciliation.”

“I am the descendant of a people who have been oppressed by a race-based law, the Indian Act; living in a colonial society that has suffered many setbacks — intergenerational trauma, residential schools, Sixties Scoop, missing and murdered Indigenous women and boys — so many things,” Louis told CityNews in an interview. “So to be disrespected like that, I just said ‘No, thank you’ and was happy to move on, and maybe they could offer this free opportunity to somebody else.

“Because I know my worth at this point, and I do need to represent my family and my community in a good way, and to ultimately be respected.”

CityNews reached out to the Canucks and in a statement, the organization said it fully respects Louis’ decision. It added that it compensates all anthem singers equally, providing a pair of tickets for each game they sing.

It pointed to pre-game ceremonies with the Orange Shirt Society; Tk’emlúps te Secwépem; and Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh Nations; plus Canucks alumnus Ron Delorme. It added the game featured a limited-edition First Nations Night jersey designed by Musqueam artist Chase Gray, with partial proceeds from jersey and merchandise sales going toward the Orange Jersey Project.

The club also said it is making a $20,000 donation to Native Education College on behalf of the Canucks for Kids Fund.

Other Indigenous artists have also taken to social media, saying they turned down the team’s invitation to perform.

Vancouver Musicians’ Association president Noah Reitman says as a union leader, he’s never supported the idea of artists being offered to perform primarily for exposure.

“As a musician, we are a unique union, because we do what we love,” said Reitman. “We’re not manufacturing automobiles, we’re not cleaning hotel rooms. We are playing music … something we’ve loved doing since we were small. And unfortunately, that means it’s a little bit easier to exploit, because people can say ‘Oh, don’t you want to do the thing that you love for a live audience?’

“Well, it’s a commodity. I’ll say that a very similar union would be the players’ union for the Canucks. Because guess what? People love to play hockey too, but it’s important that hockey players are fairly compensated and they know that, and they’re paid well because they insist upon it.”

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While anthems are typically very brief, he feels the compensation that is often offered by teams doesn’t line up with the work that actually went into artists reaching that level.

“It’s a couple of minutes to do the anthem, sure,” said Reitman. “It’s a couple of minutes to sing a world-famous song. But where did it come from? It came from hours alone in a room learning how to do your craft. It came from hours and hours of private lessons, which are not cheap.”

The Canucks are not an outlier, and it’s well-known that pro sports teams offer minimal compensation for performances in North America. Even at the Super Bowl halftime show, American outlets report prominent singers are generally paid the union scale, far less than they’d make performing a concert.

Nevertheless, as Canadian Actors Equity Association president Scott Bellis puts it: “exposure presents a great opportunity, but it doesn’t pay the rent or buy groceries.”