Desiree Dorion: The Country Music Queen of Canada

October 25, 2025

Written by Jaidah-Leigh Wyatt (@wyatt_______j)

Photography provided by Desiree Dorion (Laurie Pritchard, Renata Bardelli, and Dave Swiewicki)

Toronto might be one of the most popular cities Canada has to offer, but there’s talent to be found in all its corners. Dauphin, a small town in Manitoba, is one of these corners. It is home to one of Canada’s biggest country music festivals, a stage that was once a dream for Desiree Dorion, a Dauphin resident, powerhouse musician and multitalented achiever, but it is now just one step in her illustrious career thus far. The 3x JUNO award nominated singer has been creating music for decades and writing for even longer, and now she's tackling a new frontier in the music world.

With her first entirely self produced single out in the world, she joins a small niche of women and Indigenous producers. Hailing from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Desiree has stepped into uncharted territory for herself and opened new doors to cross into. Her next move could be anything, but for now, while we await her next album and look out for new shows from her, we can poke at the mind of one of Canada's most accomplished country singers.

I was able to speak with the award-winning musician early last month about her upcoming album, life-work balance and the new direction her latest single has taken her in.

Jaidah: So I wanted to ask did you always want to make country music or did you start going into music as a whole and gravitated towards it? And did you always see music as something that was gonna be full time for you?

Desiree: *laughs* That's a loaded question. I grew up in a small town in Dauphin where there was one radio station and all they played was country music and so it was kinda what I was exposed to I think more than anything. And then I started writing. My mom always had diaries and little books and stuff for me and I started writing as early as I can remember as early as five years old. And shortly after that is when I started singing and I don't think it’s something that you choose to go into I think it’s just something that you’re born with instinctively and intuitively. At least that’s how it was for me.

Jaidah: And you're a jack of all trades. You’re wearing several different hats at all times: a mother, lawyer, activist, musician and now producer. So how do you handle all of those different titles?

Desiree: I don’t *laughs*. You know some days I do one thing and the next day I’ll do another thing. Or some days I do a little bit of law and a little bit of music. Some days it's just music. So it just depends on the day and what I’m doing.

Being a successful musician and lawyer are two career paths that don’t often intersect, but nothing is unachievable for Desiree Dorion. Being a part of the First Nations community in Manitoba, Desiree has first hand experience of the hardships and lasting impacts colonization, land theft and residential school programs have had on her people. This, however, has only fueled her pursuit to continue helping those around her, whether it’s through powerful music or on the ground work law work.

Desiree: I've been asked a lot lately why am I still hanging onto law because music has been so busy and the reason is that my father’s a day school survivor, my grandmother’s a residential school survivor and my practice is largely Child Protection and Defence work. I feel like it’s really important and it feels like (a full circle moment) for me to be able to do the work that I do with Child Protection Defence and I don't know that I’ll ever give it up.

Jaidah: It’s good that you’ve found a balance to strike between all of your different hats! So you’ve been in the business (for a while) and you’ve achieved so much success and now you’re reaching for new heights and challenging yourself all over again. So what is the next step for you from here? Are you going to continue producing music for yourself, or are you hoping to start producing music for others? What is your continued evolution gonna look like, do you think?

Desiree: I have no idea *laughs* and you know what? I don't think I knew that I'd be doing what I’m doing now even two years ago. I think that I'm trying to learn more things and trying to be better than I was yesterday. And that's really what my focus is and right now my focus is trying to finish this next record. We’re looking at releasing that in January, end of January. And we’ve really been spending a lot of time focusing on our live shows so I want that to continue and I'm looking forward to some really exciting shows that we’re hoping to secure for next season.

Jaidah: Alright, well good luck with getting those shows done and I know you'll do a great job.

Desiree: Thank you!

Jaidah: And you mentioned this a little earlier when you talked about your law work, but could you also talk about the importance of giving back to the community? I've seen that you regularly do mentorships for other aspiring artists so could you talk a little bit more about that?

Desiree: Yeah well I mean I’ve been doing this since I was 13 years old which I hate to admit is coming on 3 decades but you know when I first started out in music there really was no mentorship available to me as an Indigenous artist. You just kinda had to learn as you went, learn about the business. And I think back to being 13/14 years old and going into photoshoots with a male photographer and you know things like that where you're intimidated or scared to be in those situations and I was really thankful to have some really good mentors along the way. Um I remember you know when I recorded my first record, it was with Craig Fotheringham and I was 13 and he was such a good human being and so kind to me and really just took me under his wing and took care of me and so I just feel like its really important and it's a responsibility I have now as someone who has been through the hoops, so to speak, to give back to emerging artists so their paths aren’t as windy as mine is

Jaidah: Mentorship is an often overlooked part of most creative industries I find. It can be super hard jumping into the industry, not really knowing what to do. There's always little hints and tricks that you can't really get through studying… things you have to learn through experience and it's nice to have someone to talk to who has that experience

Desiree: Yeah exactly.

Desiree started young and continues to thrive in this business. As a girl, she had dreams of being on stage at the country music festival in Dauphin and she has since achieved that goal in 2014 and went on to explore new heights in her career. Besides being living proof that dreams do come true, Desiree continues to push herself in other avenues, such as her new, genre-bending single Let Them.

Jaidah: Let's talk about genre and get into your new single, Let Them. So how would you define the sound in your latest single? It's kinda gritty and powerful, it's almost tittering the edges of rock a little?

Desiree: Yeah I mean that's a pretty good description. I think when we went into studio with this song, I wrote the track with Jesse Slack in Nashville when I was there in February, I knew I wanted it to be gritty, and swampy and a little dirty *laughs* and so that was the angle and I’m happy with the outcome of it. Lyrically the song was inspired by a friendship I had that had really just run its course and expired. And at first I was upset about that relationship, that friendship coming to an end. But… when I took that idea to Jesse, I just said “I want this to be a story about letting someone go” and if somebody doesn't wanna be a part of my life, then I just need to let them go and if they dont wanna support me then thats okay if they don't like me thats okay. The only person that I can control is me and I’m gonna control my reaction and (it) is literally just gonna be to carry on with my life and focus on what I do and focus on who I am and that's it.

Jaidah: That kinda perfectly answers my next question because I was going to ask what inspired the song. To me, although it sounds really personal, and you can tell this is someone you definitely had a close relationship with it also sounds like a response to the world in general. It’s like, although it's such a personal experience it can apply to so many different people and their experiences so I like that kinda worldliness it has to it.

Desiree: Aw, thank you.

Jaidah: You’re welcome! And just one more question about the song. Do you usually use music as an outlet to express your emotion and how is music filling that place in your life?

Desiree: Absolutely! Writing songs has been my cheapest and best therapist *laughs* throughout my entire life. It's probably the first place I go whenever I'm experiencing anything emotionally. If it's anger, if it's joy, if it's frustration, if it’s sadness - the first thing that I turn to is my pen and paper. And yes I’m old school. I still use pen and paper

Jaidah: I do a bit of writing myself, not music but other things and I do find myself wanting to return to pen and paper. I like the visceral experience of it, you can really feel what you’re doing.

Desiree: Yeah! Exactly.

Jaidah: Alright and my last question for you is is there anything you can tell us about your upcoming album?

Desiree: What I’m finding is that I’ve got a lot of songs that I've written that I’ve never shared before publicly or otherwise, and I've been looking through my vault of work I guess and I’m pulling from that. I think that there's some stuff that I overlooked that I've maybe written, you know 8 to 10 years ago and I’m just pulling up and I’m hearing them in a new way. And I think that's kinda what the focus on this one is gonna be. Just little pieces of who I am

Jaidah: Okay that sounds exciting! Well those are all my questions for you. Thank you :)

Desiree is a true inspiration for artists everywhere, representing the importance of giving back to your community and not being afraid to take on new challenges and move in new directions. You can find Desiree on instagram @desireedorion and listen to her music on Spotify and Apple Music.

Desiree Dorian

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