Wanbdi Wakita is a Dakota spiritual leader who has devoted his life to teaching and healing and continues to share his culture with anyone who asks for help. He has worked tirelessly to support the healing of individuals, communities and the relationship between First Nations and non-First Nations people. A residential school survivor and a veteran with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry peacekeeping mission in Europe, more recently he has spent more than 30 years working as an Aboriginal spiritual caregiver in federal, provincial and territorial prisons and currently works with the inmates at Milner Ridge Correctional Centre. As chief of the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, he developed a culturally unique senior citizens’ home and established two medical boarding homes to house Indigenous clients from northern communities visiting Winnipeg for medical care. He continues to share his culture with anyone who asks for help and is a strong advocate for the preservation of the Dakota language.
