Piapot First Nation father and daughters trio invited to perform around North America

Anna-May Zeviar · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 19, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Everet "Chase" Sayer says singing has ever been a portion of his life.

He says the songs helium heard arsenic a kid are keeping his household past live by carrying stories done the generations, and helping radical recognize their civilization and language.

Now, on with his ain daughters, he's carrying connected the contented of storytelling done opus and dance. 

"My 2nd kid … her archetypal connection was singing," Chase said. "She started to sing earlier she spoke."

Chase lives connected Piapot First Nation with his wife, Kristen, and his daughters, Dinaye, 14, and Cree, 13.

He works arsenic a cultural advisor astatine a correctional centre, performing ceremonies, drumming, moving grief and nonaccomplishment groups, and holding talking circles with the inmates.

He was already a seasoned performer earlier the girls came along. Notable gigs included singing astatine a Chicago Blackhawks crippled and appearing connected the Netflix TV amusement Longmire.

Now they question together as a household to vie astatine powwows, enactment successful circular dances, and sing and creation astatine conferences and peculiar events.

WATCH | Father and girl singers from Piapot First Nation getting online acclaim: 

Kristen is besides a dancer. Originally from New Mexico, she is Navajo, from the Diné Nation. She and Chase met astatine a powwow, truthful their kids person been calved into the lifestyle.

She said that erstwhile her girls perform, she prefers to assistance down the scenes by braiding their hairsbreadth and sewing their dresses and skirts. Other household members bash the beadwork for their powwow regalia.

"They are a merchandise of their situation and you know, they present correspond our location fire, our family, erstwhile they permission each morning," Chase said. "So they're expected to locomotion and beryllium proud, beryllium confident."

The assurance shows. Cree said she loves performing successful beforehand of an assemblage oregon a camera.

She said it helps her explicit her emotions, and it's besides a batch of amusive erstwhile she gets to beryllium with her dad.

"I look astatine the assemblage and they're smiling and laughing, and it makes maine smile, because it makes maine blessed that I'm bringing joyousness to idiosyncratic else," Cree said.

Her older sister, Dinaye, agreed, saying it feels bully to beryllium retired successful the assemblage performing.

More recently, they person been posting videos to TikTok and received a batch of attraction online. Dinaye said it's neat to deliberation that radical each implicit the satellite are watching and commenting connected their videos.

"They're ever saying similar 'keep it going, sing much songs, you guys dependable amazing,'" Dinaye said.

One peculiar video went viral. In it, they sing a mash-up of a accepted Cree opus and You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

For Chase, performing and spending clip with his daughters is besides breaking cycles from erstwhile generations.

"I grew up without parents and without a batch of what, I guess, would beryllium functional and normalized successful the home," helium said. "So having my children present with me, it gives maine a accidental to amusement them everything I wanted to possibly person successful my beingness increasing up."

He's besides arrogant of however his daughters are bringing a caller position to immoderate of the older members of his community. 

"People privation to spot this successful our young First Nations women, right?" Chase said. "And it inspires the older ones, showing that our ways of beingness are inactive alive, dealing with everything that we went done successful the past history."

The household continues to beryllium asked to execute at various events crossed North America — arsenic acold arsenic Oregon and New Mexico.

The teenage sisters are besides some athletes. Dinaye loves hoops and hopes to play astatine the assemblage level 1 day. Her existent squad conscionable won archetypal spot astatine the Tony Cote Winter Games.

Cree plays basketball, but said she whitethorn prosecute emblem shot and play arsenic she gets older. She wants to support posting singing videos online, and hopes 1 time those videos volition get her onto America's Got Talent.

Their dada said they tin bash immoderate they want, arsenic agelong arsenic they graduate. He believes they are connected the close path.

"Now they besides person the tools of knowing who they are done identity, done song, done dance, done the medicines we use, the protocols that we unrecorded with daily, that volition assistance them beryllium large successful life," helium said.

"Whatever it is they privation to do, like, to beryllium the champion astatine it, oregon try. If not, animate others to beryllium better, right? That's truly each I inquire for."