Jean-Luc Kanapé is an Innu activist and actor from Canada, most prominent as a caribou conservationist."In Canada’s boreal forest, one man works to save the caribou". Borneo Bulletin, November 24, 2022. A researcher for the Pessamit Innu Band council, he is involved in efforts to track and monitor the population of caribou in the Pipmuacan region near Pessamit and Baie-Comeau.Marie-Laure Josselin, "Le gardien des atikuet". Ici Radio-Canada, April 24, 2021.
In 2021, he received an emerging leadership award from the First Nations Guardians Gathering, an organization of Indigenous environmentalists and conservationists.Josianne Bérubé, "Jean-Luc Kanapé remporte un prix soulignant le leadership autochtone". Le Manic, June 19, 2021.
He had his first acting role in the 2021 film Nouveau Québec,"Jean-Luc Kanapé dans Nouveau-Québec : « une réconciliation entre les deux peuples »". Ici Radio-Canada Première, March 26, 2022. for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a Film at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023."Le film québécois Viking obtient 13 nominations aux prix Écrans canadiens". Ici Radio-Canada, February 22, 2023.
In 2024, he appeared in François Péloquin's film The Thawing of Ice (La fonte des glaces).Charles-Henri Ramond, "La fonte des glaces en salle le 22 mars". Films du Québec, January 26, 2024.
In fall 2024 he launched Sous les barrages (Under the Dams): Tshishe Manikuan, a seven-episode podcast about Innu history, through Ici Radio-Canada.Lucas Sanniti, "Un balado sur les « derniers nomades » de Pessamit". Le Nord-Côtier, September 10, 2024. He won the award for Best Narrative Audio production at the 2025 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.Jamie Casemore, "Seeds takes two awards at 2025 imagineNATIVE". Playback, June 11, 2025.
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