Jared BigCanoe owns and operates BigCanoe Indigenous Market.

The owner of a new Indigenous market in a Mississauga mall went from struggles with addiction to running a successful business.

BigCanoe Indigenous Market will open at Erin Mills Town Centre during National Truth and Reconciliation Month. It is the first Indigenous-owned and operated storefront in a Mississauga mall.

A family business, owned and operated by Jared BigCanoe, the vision is to continue a family legacy by creating an authentic space to engage in Indigenous traditions through storytelling, ceremony, healing, art, beading and trading culturally crafted handmade Indigenous goods.

Jared, a member of the Georgina Island First Nation, experienced intergenerational trauma. His grandmother and grandfather attended the Spanish Residential School in northern Ontario. 

Residential Schools were government-funded, church-run institutions that operated across Canada for over a century. Their purpose was to assimilate First Nations children by forcibly separating them from their families, languages, and cultures. Though these schools are now closed, their effects continue to be deeply felt.

The BigCanoe family experienced confinement, loss of culture, loss of heritage, severe economic restrictions, dehumanization and loss of family.

“That has a trickle-down effect through my dad’s life, my mom’s life, and then eventually to us,” Jared told INsauga.com. “And our job as healing people is that we’re supposed to break cycles because there’s a lot of unhealthy behaviours that became normal in our families, and then it’s like now we’re doing the work to make sure that our children don’t have to grow up with that kind of stuff happening.”

Jared struggled with addiction.

“I was pretty much homeless, and I was experiencing some troubles with opiate addiction,” he said.

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Seeking ancestral guidance, he went to a spiritual healer who gave him simple advice.

“He said, if I continue to use, my life will get worse. If I get sober, my life will get better,” Jared said.

Jared wanted to break the cycle for his daughter, who is nine years old now.

“I’m about just under six years sober, and I’m back on my feet, and I’m parenting my daughter full time,” he said. “So I’m feeling very lucky about where I’m in life.”

He takes a cultural approach to recovery, relying heavily on ceremonies as well as ancestral guidance.

The first BigCanoe Indigenous Market opened in Georgina in June 2024. Jared was invited to Erin Mills Town Centre for Indigenous History Month last June. He provided a performance and educational piece at the mall and was invited to come back in September last year. He brought in a cultural display with artwork and T-shirts for Orange Shirt Day.

Everyone wanted to buy the shirts and the mall management saw the interest in the products, he said. They invited Jared to participate in a pitch contest where the first prize is a kiosk in the month of December. He won and the success with the kiosk led to a store.

The BigCanoe Indigenous Market will open in an approximately 1,000-square-foot store near Sephora, Miniso and Aldo. The store symbolizes resilience, cultural reclamation and reclaiming visibility.

“The opening of the BigCanoe Indigenous Market Storefront shines a beacon to those still stuck in addiction,” he said. “Offering hope, healing and inspiration to all Indigenous youth and intergenerational trauma survivors.”

The BigCanoe Indigenous Market will carry exclusive Indigenous fashion brands, art pieces, luxury beaded jewelry, moccasins, traditional and contemporary homeware, cultural education, healing sessions, handmade crafts, pow wow music and grandfather drums. All sourced from various nations across Turtle Island.

The grand opening of BigCanoe Indigenous Market is on Sept. 22 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Celebrations will include an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, cake, non-alcoholic bubbly, exclusive deals and addresses from Elders and City Councillor Martin Reid.

The grand opening is a collaboration with Crystal Harbans, the founder of WellnessXChange.

Now, supporting his daughter and operating two stores, Jared reflects on the words of his spiritual healer.

“I can’t believe how good my life has gotten at this point,” he said.


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