By Derek Craddock
From the shores of their community in northern Saskatchewan to the bright lights in Toronto, one Indigenous family had an experience to remember.
The Morin family from the Big River First Nation took part in an episode of Family Feud Canada, with the episode set to air Monday night.
Dabney Warren was the team captain for the family and brought along her husband T.J., her sister Summer Morin, her younger brother Buddy Morin and her oldest sister Carla Daniels.
So what was it like to step onto the stage and see the game show live in person?
“It was a little bit surreal,” Warren said. “We were still going through the motions and being in shock because none of us have had that kind of experience before of being on an actual game show. It was a lot of excitement, nervousness (and) gratefulness to have the opportunity to be there.”
While Warren couldn’t share details about the episode before it airs, she said the family had a lot of fun playing the game.
“We were nervous about not being TV-ready or making a fool of ourselves on national TV,” she said. “In the end, we had fun, and it just came together. We obviously had cringy moments on the episode we’re dreading seeing.”
What’s more important is that the family members are proud that they appeared on the show and represented Indigenous people and their communities.
“Us coming from a somewhat small community of 4,000 people and actually having that on national TV, we were proud to represent Big River First Nation,” Warren said. “A lot of our community members have been proud to see our family name and our community’s name on a big platform like that. It was just a proud moment for us.”
The Big River First Nation isn’t the only Indigenous community recently featured on the show. On Nov. 8, a family from the Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation in Manitoba will have their episode aired while another from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory appeared in three episodes earlier this month.
The Morins’ episode is set to air on CBC and CBC Gem on Monday at 7:30 p.m.