Nurse, Indigenous elder.
Born at the Peepeekisis Cree Nation in Saskatchewan in 1935, daughter of Nora Keewatin and John Thomas, she attended the File Hills Indian Residential School near Balcarres, Saskatchewan. In 1958, she graduated from the Winnipeg General Hospital's nursing school, becoming one of the first Indigenous nurses in Manitoba. She remained at the hospital until 1973, serving as a head nurse, then worked for a health organization that served mostly Indigenous people in downtown Winnipeg. In 1983, she became a nursing instructor at Red River College and retired in 1996. She died at Winnipeg on 16 January 2023. She is commemorated by a building at the Health Sciences Centre, named for her in 2007.
“From residential school to one of Manitoba's 1st Indigenous nurses,” CBC News, 18 March 2018.
“Ann Thomas Callahan, trailblazing Indigenous nurse, made 'lasting impact' on health care,” CBC News, 18 January 2023.
We thank Catherine Collins for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 January 2023
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