Big vision for Okanagan’s first Indigenous owned 2D animation studio

A successful Kelowna animator is launching a new business and film with a vision to blend Indigenous storytelling into his work, and raise Indigenous representation in the entertainment industry.

Harley Knife was a cartoonist on popular kids shows including Max and Ruby, Pete the Cat, and Baby Shark’s Big Movie.  

His new company Môhkomân Creative Inc. is the first Indigenous owned 2D animation studio in the Okanagan, with a a brick-and-mortal location set to open in Kelowna in the next few months. He’s also developing and producing a short to be released in April.

“It’s been a rollercoaster ride, but I couldn’t be happier to work as hard as this,” he said.

Knife’s road to success wasn’t easy, and he’s all too familiar with the generational trauma Indigenous creators can carry, and the glass ceiling they face in the entertainment industry.  

Knife grew up partly on the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation in Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan and partly in BC, going in and out of the foster care system.

“Mom moved us to BC for some reason, I’m not sure why, but we’d eventually get taken in to the foster care system,” he said. “Then mom would get us back, take us back to the reserve, then move back to BC. I was constantly going in and out of foster care.”

Knife blends his life experiences into his animation work and has made them the backbone of his upcoming film, Myself and I, which features a fictional main character called Bear, who takes on the physical form of a puppet when emotionally triggered.

“I’m tackling a bit of what that means in the sense of healing generational trauma, acknowledging that inner child and understanding everyone is going through their own healing journey,” he said. “The puppet is supposed to represent his inner child.”

Last month, Knife came home with his family from a camping trip to find an email from the Canada Council for the Arts informing him he’d been selected to receive $100,000 for the development of the film.

“It was an emotional moment, and that was it, that’s laid the groundwork for everything,” he said.

One goal for his new company is to offer mentorship to Indigenous creators interested in the animation industry.

According to the TAP Network’s Diversity in Tech Dashboard, Indigenous professionals made up 0.8% of the BC tech workforce in 2024.

Knife was part of the initial data pool of 4,000 people in 2017 when the results showed 0.007% percent of Indigenous representation in the industry.

It fuelled his drive to share his story and actively work to change the industry standard.

He speaks at local events and schools to inspire the future generation.

“The numbers were so low which led me to share my story more in hopes of inspiring kids to get into the tech industry, not just animation itself,” he said.

“There are so many talented Indigenous creatives out there, it’s a matter of shining a light on them.,” he said. “We don’t have the opportunities a lot of the general society gets.”

Knife didn’t have many mentorship opportunities while learning the trade, but was able to land an internship at Yeti Farm Creative in Kelowna with the help of a government incentive to pay half his wages at the time.

“The company took advantage of that as much as possible because they saw my passion and how badly I wanted into the industry,” he said. “They did all they could to help me and here I am 12 years later with a laundry list of amazing shows I’ve worked on.”

Knife’s company name was inspired by a story about a historic scout and ancestor of his, Kitchi Môhkomân, or Big Knife.

“When Chief Ahtahkakoop signed treaty 6, Big Knife was sent to set the markers for Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation. He moved the markers out to make the reserve bigger and is part of the reason the land is there today.

“We carry that legacy forward by scouting out the digital landscape for our people and the next generation.”