Indigenous Music Awards
The Indigenous Music Awards, formerly called the Aboriginal Peoples' Choice Music Awards, is an annual Canadian music award, given out to Aboriginal people who are in the music industry.
The APCMA receives financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Online Strategy. The ceremony is broadcast on television by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
In 2014 Iceis Rain became the first openly two-spirit person to perform at the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards.
In 2019, several Inuit artists, including Tanya Tagaq and Kelly Fraser, boycotted the awards over accusations of cultural appropriation. One of the award nominations in the Best Folk Album category that year was given to Connie LeGrande, a Cree artist from Saskatchewan whose album incorporated Inuit throat singing; however, LeGrande had performed the throat singing herself rather than hiring an Inuit collaborator. Lisa Meeches, the director of the awards, faced further criticism when she stated that she considered it impossible for indigenous cultures to appropriate each other.
