Sudbury-area Indigenous businessman doesn’t want government help – Sudbury Star
Nov 27, 2025
Roy Roque is a member of the Wahnapitae First Nation and the driving force behind White Owl Film Studios
Roy Roque knows what the future can look like for Indigenous Canadians.
He’s a member of the Wahnapitae First Nation living on the north shores of Lake Wahnapitei, a popular lake 50 kilometres north of Sudbury. Roy didn’t grow up on a reserve, but he’s figured out ways to attract commerce to this enclave and retain talented young people. And he prefers to do business without government money – or strings – attached.
“In 1944, my grandfather sold his status card to the Canadian government for $400,” Roy chuckles, “because he wanted to be able to vote, and he wanted to be able to go to the liquor store.” When the feds reinstated his family’s status in 1988, Roy relocated to the Wahnapitae reserve. “At that point in time, when we first came out here,” he says, “there were two people. We had no hydro, no phones, no nothing.”
