Indigenous activist.
Born on the Peepeekisis Cree Nation in 1935, daughter of Indigenous leader Joe Ironquil, she attended the File Hills Residential School to the age of 13, then two years at a private school at Strasbourg, Saskatchewan followed by the Birtle Indian Residential School. In 1954, she married Ronald Hector Meadmore and they had three sons. She co-founded the National Indian Council in 1961, Canada's first national body that advocated for the rights of First Nations people, and was active in forming Kinew Housing, the country's first Indigenous housing corporation. She graduated with a law degree from the University of Manitoba (1977) and, the following year, became the first Indigenous woman to be admitted to the Manitoba Bar.
Active in the community, she founded the National Indian Business Association to support Indigenous entrepreneurs (1982) and Arrowfax Canada to publish directories of First Nations and Indigenous organizations around North America (1988). She organized and was pitcher for the Arrowettes, a women's baseball team that play in Winnipeg for 17 years. In recognition of her service, she was inducted into the Order of Canada (1985). She also received a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba (2024).
She died on 19 February 2025.
“Tireless advocate for change,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 February 2025.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 February 2025
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