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Victor Lethbridge
For over 25 years Victor has displayed his visionary thinking through numerous successful endeavours as a motivational speaker, businessman, educator, award-winning author, farmer, and rancher.
Victor’s humanitarian focus continues to be the presentation of workshops, predominantly to Indigenous students across Canada. His self-produced music and film clips are incorporated with traditional teaching methods, such as storytelling and humour, which confront critical issues such as bullying, suicide, drug and alcohol prevention and other high-risk behaviour. These workshops seek to empower the individual, provide hope and aid in healing.
Victor’s humanitarian focus continues to be the presentation of workshops, predominantly to Indigenous students across Canada. His self-produced music and film clips are incorporated with traditional teaching methods, such as storytelling and humour, which confront critical issues such as bullying, suicide, drug and alcohol prevention and other high-risk behaviour. These workshops seek to empower the individual, provide hope and aid in healing.
His mission is to be an agent of change. Victor’s workshop participants leave inspired to achieve their potential and to seek new insights and possibilities. Using a student-based teaching philosophy, he encourages personal growth and leadership skill development.
For this reason, he has embraced further education and is now focusing on adults, primarily Indigenous, in providing training, job skill development and business entrepreneurship mentorship through transformative learning opportunities. Victor embraces knowledge by continually seeking both academic and non-academic opportunities and modelling them to others.
Victor is a member of the Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation. His roots descend from his Great Grandmother, Crossed Eagle Quills, who arrived in Saskatchewan with Chief Sitting Bull in 1877.
Her son, Victor’s Grandfather William Lethbridge, attended the Indian Industrial Residential School in Lebret, SK. He always said his school experience was not ideal, but it kept him from starving and educated him in the ways to come. Although long gone from this world, his influence instilled in his descendants the value of family life, citizenship, and perseverance, all values that Victor finds foundational to his life. Grandfather gave Victor his Lakota name, “Tatanka Ocokanyan,” which when translated to English is “Middle Bull Buffalo,” known to be the protector of the herd. It carried a responsibility that Victor first demonstrated with his younger sisters and that has permeated every aspect of his emancipatory efforts with Indigenous people.
Victor with his wife Dorothy and daughter reside in Rolling Hills, Alberta where they have their farm and raise award-winning purebred Salers cattle. Their line of cattle produces bulls that carry the heritage traits of easy calving yet high-performance offspring with hair and hoofs comparable to that of buffalo.
“It’s important to me to connect with the students in order to inspire and motivate them. I believe that each of us has a purpose and each of us has the potential to fulfil what is uniquely ours. We can each make a big difference to those around us and it starts with the small things we do.”
Books: Author
In 2010 Victor released his first children’s book, the award-winning Little Chief and Mighty Gopher: The Pemmican Frenzy, followed by Little Chief and the Gifts of Morning Star. In 2016 his third book, You’re Just Right, was quickly embraced by a growing audience of readers.
All books have become Canadian Best Sellers and a reading favourite of many. Over 30,000 copies of Victor’s books have been sold and are available through Chapters, Coles, Indigo, and other bookstores.
With each book, Victor has teamed with multi-national corporations and Indigenous agencies. He’s furthering literacy and Indigenous culture through stories and the inclusion of keywords translated into Lakota, Blackfoot, and Cree.
He is fulfilling his desire of preserving the language, culture and heritage of Indigenous peoples.
D Bar V Farms: Cattle
Victor and Dorothy have a herd of purebred Salers cattle for which they won the Yearling Heifer Championship for their breed in November 2021 at Canada’s International Farm Fair, Edmonton.
Their herd grazes at their pasture along the Bow River. This location contains artefacts such as tipi rings, a grinding stone, and buffalo bones from Indigenous encampments.
This is a much-enjoyed recreational location for kayaking, fishing, camping, and hiking through scenic hoodoo coulees and badlands style terrain.
Also located on this land are palaeontology sites used by the Royal Tyrrell Museum for whom Victor and Dorothy are paleontological resource land stewards.
Victor welcomes the opportunity to provide tours at the property demonstrating how the land has provided for generations of nomadic Indigenous tribes and explaining conservation and sustainability practices of the Canadian prairie which are implemented with their grazing practices.
D Bar V Farms: Land
Victor and his wife, Dorothy, farm in Rolling Hills, Alberta where they own land in the Eastern Irrigation District. They manage their land and cattle operation under their company name D Bar V Farms.
The Lethbridge’s grow Timothy hay primarily for the export market. They have been innovative in furthering the marketing potential for this unique grass through their agro-business practices.
Victor recently was pictured on the cover of Farm Forum magazine with his agronomist from the Blood Reserve and CTV host, Darrel Janz while interviewing Victor as an Inspiring Albertan.
