Biographies

Many and more Aboriginal notables are represented on the Canadian Aboriginal Newspaper site at http://www.ammsa.com/windspeaker/index.htm. Choose the link “People of Honour.”

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Linda Laliberte

Linda is the founder of the Mother Bear Consulting firm in Edmonton, Alberta. Linda has over 20 years experience working as a teacher and counsellor with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities. Linda was the recipient of the Esquao award in 2001.

Tom Longboat

Tom Longboat was an internationally successful runner born in Ontario on the Six Nations Reserve in 1887. He won the Boston Marathon and became known as the “best in the Western Hemisphere.” He retired from running in 1912 and in 1916 enlisted to fight during WWI. He used his athletic ability to run messages from one post to another. Today there is a sportsmanship award known as the Tom Longboat Award presented annually in his honour by the Aboriginal Sport Circle.

Ted Nolan

Ted Nolan of Sault Ste. Marie was a NHL hockey player and coach. He played in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings. He became assistant coach for the Hartford Whalers for one season, and was head coach for the Buffalo Sabres for the 1995 season. In his second season he was awarded the Jack Adams trophy for top coach. In 2005, he coached hockey in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Bill Reid

Bill Reid is a Haida artist who carves and preserves jewelry and totems. His totem pole carvings are known and exhibited internationally.

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Buffy Sainte-Marie’s first home was the Piapot Cree reserve in Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. She grew up in the United States, where she completed a University PhD and is the writer of hundreds of notable songs. Many of her songs were also recorded by the most famous names in the business. Many will remember Oscar winning “Up where we Belong,” and the well known “Universal Soldier,” and “Until It’s time for You to Go.” For five years, she and her son Dakota were featured on Sesame Street. She is a teacher, artist, activist, and mother.

Allen Sapp

Allen Sapp was born on the Red Pheasant Reserve Saskatchewan in 1929. He began painting as a form of communication to compensate for his poor writing skills and his general poor health. His work represents the life of northern forest Cree. He is a member of the Order of Canada.

Mary Two-Axe Early

Mary Two Axe married a non-Aboriginal and lost her “official status” due to a clause in the Indian Act. Because this seemed unjust, she took the case to the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. After many years of appeals, she received reinstatement as an “Indian” in 1985 and later was awarded the Governor Generals Award.

Roy Henry Vickers

Roy Henry Vickers is a Tsimishian Canadian born in British Columbia. He is internationally recognized as one of the best native artists in the world. His work may be large–as in airports and colleges, and smaller portraits and traditional patterns. He is a founder of VisionQuest.

Laura Vinson

Laura is a folk singer with a mixed heritage of Cree, Cherokee, French, and English. She was born in the Rocky Mountains near Jasper National Park. She is the lead singer in the band Free Spirit who has performed at such venues such as Big Valley Jamboree. She also has a native talk show called Native Voices.

From Kainai Board of Education, Peoples and Cultural Change, Duval House Publishing.

Walking Buffalo

Walking Buffalo is also known as George McLean and Tatanga Mani. He was born by the Bow River in 1871, taught on his reserve, worked in Calgary as a blacksmith and as a scout for the North West Mounted Police. He participated in the buffalo hunt, became a Medicine Man, used the dog travois, and observed the development of the Mounted Police and the signing of Treaty 7. He travelled the world with the message to “stop hating each other and start being brothers the way the Great Spirit intended.” He was known as the Ambassador of Understanding. Walking Buffalo visited Buckingham Palace. It was estimated that he had travelled 200,000 km by the time he was 87.