Speaker

Tiokasin Ghosthorse

Tiokasin Ghosthorse is from the Cheyenne River Lakota (Sioux) Nation of South Dakota. He is the host of First Voices Indigenous Radio on Pacific Radio. Tiokasin has been described as a ‘spiritual agitator, natural rights organiser, Indigenous thinking process educator and a community activator’.

Tiokasin Ghosthorse

He recently received a Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize 2016 from the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. He is currently a Nominee for a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship 2018 and a National Native American Hall of Fame Nominee 2018. Tiokasin was also awarded New York City’s Peacemaker of the Year in 2013.

Tiokasin has a long history of indigenous rights activism and advocacy. He spoke, as a teenager, at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Ever since his UN work, he has been actively educating people who live on Turtle Island (North America) and overseas about the importance of living with each other and with Mother Earth.

Tiokasin is also a master musician and one of the greatest exponents of the ancient cedar Lakota flute and plays traditional and contemporary music using both Indigenous and European instruments. He has been a major figure in preserving and reviving the cedar wood flute tradition and performs worldwide.