The popular Indigenous collective was named Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year in recognition of their latest album
A high-profile Indigenous drum group with ties to Batchewana First Nation has received top honours on the national stage.
On Sunday night, Bear Creek was named Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year at the 2026 Juno Awards — during its first-ever appearance at the Canadian music awards show.
The entire experience felt surreal for Joe Syrette, who said many of Bear Creek’s members come from small communities in both Canada and the United States.
“What a night,” Syrette said, speaking with SooToday from Mount Pleasant, Mich. on Tuesday.
“What a memorable moment — you know, it’s something that we’re never going to forget, for sure.
“But also it’s just being showcased or being honoured that way at a national level is just something different.”
The drum group won the award for its latest album entitled On The Move, recorded during the 2025 Apache Gold Intertribal Powwow on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona.
He said the group didn’t have an acceptance speech prepared before they were announced as award winners — but that didn’t stop Bear Creek from having its moment on the big stage.
Syrette, who grew up on Rankin Reserve in Batchewana territory, dedicated the Juno Award to “all of the Indigenous kids,” while telling them “this is what can happen” if they “believe in our ways.”
“A lot of what was said kind of came from our own feeling, and just putting a lot of thought into our group and all the things that we’ve been through,” Syrette said.
Bear Creek can trace its origins back to 1998, when a group of seven singers and drummers from various Anishinabek communities — including Batchewana, Serpent River and Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan — began performing together at powwows.
The group has seen a number of personnel changes throughout the years, eventually bringing in a diverse group of people with ties to Indigenous communities across North America.
“There’s so many different nations that we come from,” Syrette said. “But we all come together as a group, and every year — every summer — we hit the road.”
Bear Creek has been receiving an outpouring of support from family and friends after the group took to the podium in Hamilton to accept its first-ever Juno Award.
“My one cousin shared with me: he says, ‘this is proof of Anishinaabe success.’ I felt really honoured when he shared that with me,” Syrette said.
The drum group plans to eventually release a recording of its appearance at Gathering at the Rapids Powwow in Sault Ste. Marie earlier this year.