New APTN show spotlights Indigenous businesses
Reality TV fans have a new opportunity to get their fix of business shows, as a new series features Indigenous businesspeople from across Canada.
Airing on Sunday nights on APTN, Bear’s Lair is similar to Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den, but instead of pitching their ideas and giving up ownership of their companies, contestants are trying to make it back to the final episode and win the $100,000 grand prize.
Six episodes are grouped into categories, and contestants try to impress the judges with their business ideas.
Show creator, judge, and Indigenous business mentor, Geena Jackson said the series can’t be called a competition, but something close.
“We’re calling it a ‘co-op’etition because I think people that watch the series are going to see that about how we uplift each other, how we support each other,” Jackson told CTV News.
One of the contestants is 3R Innovative Imaging, a business made up of high school students from One Arrow First Nation.
Phoenix Willier, Andy Daniels and Ruby Daniels take recycled materials and create unique Indigenous youth artwork.
Business Club Coordinator, Joe Taylor said it started as a school project, but the students have been taking and fulfilling orders throughout the pandemic. Now, their artwork is carried in 14 stores.
Business Club Coordinator Joe Taylor, Phoenix Willier, Andy Daniels and Ruby Daniels of 3R Innovative Imaging. (John Flatters/CTV News)“We used business as a way of finding out about things they knew nothing about, and meeting people they would not otherwise have a chance to,” Taylor said. “They’ve met the movers and shakers of the corporate world, and everywhere they go, they become the centre of attention in a heartbeat.”
Self-taught Indigenous baker, Alicia Hrbachek of Ally’s Cake Creeations said showcasing her business to the Bears was a great experience, but the connections she made are even more rewarding.
“It was a super supportive environment,” Hrbachek told CTV News.
“And then to be surrounded by so many Indigenous entrepreneurs, some just starting up and some way up there with buildings and staff, it just made me feel like where I was in my life was where I was supposed to be.”
The final episode of season one airs October 16th, but Jackson said plans for season two are already in motion.
“I’m just so excited for the nation to see who we are as people,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.