Joan Young has lived in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains near Calgary most of her life. Her professional life was spent teaching young children, but her passion outside the classroom has been exploring the cultural and physical landscapes around her. Spending long hours adventuring in the eastern slopes of the mountains, travelling the backroads of the prairies, and meeting the people who live there, she first met members of the Blackfoot nations in her early twenties. Their mutual membership in the Bahá'í Faith allowed her to begin spending significant time with them. Some of these individuals became close personal friends, significantly affecting the way she viewed the history of the land around her. She began recording stories of lifelong friendships between Blackfoot and settler individuals in 2013.
