Pauline Rose Shirt
Born
Saddle Lake, Alberta
EmployerGeorge Brown College

Pauline Rose Shirt OOnt is a Plains Cree Elder from Saddle Lake, Alberta, Red-Tail Hawk Clan and member of the Three Fires Society and Buffalo Dance Society.[1] A lifelong activist and educator, she currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.[2] Pauline is currently the Elder at George Brown College in Toronto, ON.[3] In 2023 she was appointed to the Order of Ontario.[4]

Activism

In 1974, Pauline and her then-husband Vern Harper, led the Native People's Caravan.[5] The caravan travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa to deliver a manifesto to the government on the treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Over 200 protestors peacefully gathered on Parliament Hill on September 30, 1974.[6] Among the issues that were highlighted by the protestors were Indigenous self-governance, control over education, better housing and health services.[7] This event is recognized as a turning point in Indigenous activism in Canada for the attention it garnered in non-Indigenous circles.[5]

Community work

Pauline has been a member of the Attorney General of Ontario's Elder Advisory Council since 2015.[3] The Elder's Council is an advisory body intended to guide Ontario as it works to reclaim Indigenous approaches to justice in the province.[8]

Pauline serves on the Elders Council of the Urban Indigenous Education Centre. In operation since 2008, the work of the council focuses on the well-being and opportunities for First Nations, Metis and Inuit students in the Toronto District School Board.[9] It is guided by the Elders Council, of which Pauline Shirt is a member.[10] Pauline also acts as cultural advisor to the Board of Directors of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival[11]

Kapapamahchakwew - Wandering Spirit School

In 1976, after unsuccessfully finding a public school that was culturally appropriate for her son's (Clayton) - education, Pauline started the Wandering Spirit Survival School (WSSS).[7] Originally a private school that started in her living room,[12] it was eventually declared an alternative school by the Toronto District School Board in 1977, thus making it the first school in Canada entirely operated by Native people.[2] Kapapamahchakwew, the Wandering Spirit for whom the school was named was a Cree War Chief, with whom Pauline shared lineage, though she did not know this at the time.[13]

WSSS operated on principles of self-determination through Native education - a response to the residential school system that had been imposed upon First Nations, Metis and Inuit people in Canada.[2] At the Wandering Spirit School, family and community were prioritized, and children learned about their traditions, culture and language through dance, storytelling, camping and song.[7] In 1983, it was officially recognized as a Cultural Survival/Native Way school, no longer an alternative school,[14][15] and paving the way for the creation of other Indigenous schools in the TDSB.[2] In 1989, it became the First Nations School of Toronto (FNST).[15] In 2019, there was a renaming ceremony to return it to its origins: Kapapamahchakwew - Wandering Spirit School. This renaming was emblematic of the reclaiming of the complicated story of Wandering Spirit, in which he is recast as a fierce defender of his people and not a "killer of one's own", as was the common sentiment for several generations, owing to varied interpretations of the events that transpired during the Frog Lake Massacre.[2][13]

Film credits

Plays the role of Elder Chahigee in the 2021 film Night Raiders.[16]

Honours and Awards

2020 IPPY Award Best Nonfiction Book Regional Canada East Bronze Medal for The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School with co-author, Sharon Berg.[17]

2023 Named to the 2022 Appointees to the Order of Ontario.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Potts, Kerry (30 September 2021). "Indigenous Toronto: Wandering Spirit School and the vision of Nimkiiquay". Spacing Toronto. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Potts, Kerry (2021). Bolduc, Denise (ed.). Indigenous Toronto : Stories That Carry This Place. Toronto, ON: Coach House Books. ISBN 9781770566460.
  3. 1 2 "Team". George Brown College. 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2023-10-05.
  4. 1 2 "The 2022 Appointees to the Order of Ontario". news.ontario.ca. 6 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Native People's Caravan". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  6. ↑ "Following the Red Path". www.connexions.org. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  7. 1 2 3 Bascia, Nina; Fine, Esther Sokolov; Levin, Malcolm, eds. (2017). "Alternative Schooling and Student Engagement". SpringerLink. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-54259-1.
  8. ↑ "Elders' Council named 2020 Guthrie Award recipient". TAG: The Action Group on Access to Justice. February 5, 2021.
  9. ↑ "The Urban Indigenous Education Centre". www.tdsb.on.ca. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  10. ↑ "Elders Council". www.tdsb.on.ca. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  11. ↑ hunachew (2022-06-23). "Board of Directors | imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival". Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  12. ↑ Wandering Spirit Survival School, retrieved 2023-05-30
  13. 1 2 Monkman, Kent (2023). Being Legendary. Toronto: Art Canada Institute. pp. 112–115.
  14. ↑ "First Nation School of Toronto. Kapapamahchakwew - Wandering Spirit School (GR. JK-12)". TIPP - Tkaronto Indigenous Peoples Portal. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  15. 1 2 "Kapapamahchakwew - Wandering Spirit School". www.tdsb.on.ca. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  16. ↑ Trente-trois (2021-11-15). "A Guardian Will Come From The North » Area 33". Area 33. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  17. ↑ "2020 Regional". ippyawards.com. Retrieved 2023-10-05.
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