The Nobility of the
Female Soul includes a
Leader, Decision-Maker,
Educator or Mediator,
Negotiator, Center of
the Family and Community.
She also needs a
rollicking good sense of humour
to handle it all.
(Author unknown)
Native Women's
Association of Canada
The NWAC is founded on
the collective goal to enhance, promote and foster the social,
economic, cultural and political well-being of First Nation and
Metis women. Since 1974, NWAC's mandate is to achieve equality for
all Aboriginal Women in Canada. This organization is actively
involved with partner organizations across the globe towards this
goal...including The United Nations and Amnesty International to end
the discrimination against indigenous women.
Aboriginal Women have of
course made notable contributions to Canada.
Here are a few examples:
Susan Aglukark: Talented singer
and songwriter from the Canadian Arctic.
Anna Mae Aquash:
Canadian activist born on Mi'kmaq reserve in Nova Scotia who
dedicated her life to helping native people.
Pitseolak Ashoona: A
talented Inuit artist from the Canadian Arctic.
Molly Brant: An
influential Mohawk diplomat.
Amelia Douglas: A
pioneer in the fur trade.
Pauline Johnson:
Mohawk poet and performer who increased awareness of Aboriginal
culture.
Mikak: Inuk
leader who worked to develop peaceful relationships with Europeans in
Labrador.
Nahnebahwequay:
Heroic pioneer in the battle for Native Rights.
Alanis Obomsawin:
Distinguished filmmaker from the Abenaki Nation.
Buffy Sainte-Marie:
Talented musician and activist, born to Cree parents in
Saskatchewan.
Shanawdithit:
Courageous woman who was the last of the Beothuks in
Newfoundland.
Tookoolito: An
important guide and interpreter in the Arctic
.
Kateri Tekakwitha:
Mohawk woman who maintained her religious beliefs even when
persecuted.
Thanadelthur: A
Chipewyan Dene woman, influential in the fur trade.
Molly Rools: At
age 23 became North America's first female sea captain in 1939.
Sally Ainse:
Oneida Trader, diplomatic courier and landowner.
Demasduit: A
heroic Beothuk woman
.
Mary Two-Axe Early:
An activist from Kahnawake Reserve in Quebec.
Elsie Knott: The
first female Indian Chief in Canada under the Indian Act.
Marguerite Vincent
Lawinonkie: A talented Huron woman who helped save the
Huron-Wendat.
Kirkina Mucko: An
inspirational midwife and nurse from Labrador.
Angela Sydney: A
woman dedicated to preserving her Tagish and Tlingit heritage.
Charlotte Small: The
woman who helped David Thompson map a nation.
Note: Many of these women
are featured in the books ~
100 Canadian Heroines:
Famous and Forgotten
and 100 More Canadian
Heroines: Famous and Forgotten.
Each has a story and
history to share...about which few of us non-Natives know.
From the foregoing list, I
confess that I'm familiar with only 4 or 5 names.
Sally Simpson, a student
at Wilfrid Laurier University, stated, “We don't celebrate these
significant people and in my opinion, we need to.” Through her
studies she has created a list of indigenous firsts through
Canadian history...in their profession or of cultural significance.
Her list has now grown to include 60 women. Proudly she discovered
the number of Six Nations Women making it on the list.
Words of Aboriginal
Wisdom
In Honour of all
Women...Past, Present and Future
Bullying,
cyber-bullying, jealousy, hate, greed, lies, arrogance, searing
self-absorption, destructive 'power over' mentalities...are all
wasteful pursuits...and causes the female heart to fall to the ground
and the world to shatter that much more. It is beyond
healing...beyond human conscience when women fight with each other.
We are Mother Earth's heartbeat...the life-givers. It is our
responsibility to bring 'peace, harmony and balance' back to the
world. This will not happen if we contrive to find fault with
ourselves and perpetuate it on our sisters. Remember sisters, as the
Cheyenne say, “When the hearts of women are on the ground...all the
weaponry in the world will not save the earth.”
(Shannon
Thunderbird...Coast Tsimshian Elder)
Ojiba Teaching:
The woman is the foundation on which nations are built. She is the
heart of the nation. If that heart is weak, the people are weak; if
her heart is strong and mind is clear, then the nation is strong,
knowing its purpose. She is the center of everything. (Late Elder,
Art Solomon)
Cherokee Saying:
When the white man discovered this country, Indians were running it.
No taxes...no debt...women did all the work. White man thought he
could improve on a system like this.
Haudenosaunne
Teaching: Before the men could go to war, it was
customary for women to make the moccasins. If the women did not want
war, they did not make the moccasins.
Courage is the capacity to
confront
what can be imagined.
(Leo Rosten)
Merle
Baird-Kerr...compiled March 2, 2015
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