Community activist.
Born on 22 November 1982, daughter of Bonnie and Chris Forester, her childhood was spent in the Tyndall Park area of Winnipeg. After graduation from Sisler High School, she studied nursing for a time before moving to the Creative Communications Program at Red River College in 2013, where she met her future husband, Brent Smith. She completed a BA degree in Communications from the University of Winnipeg (2007) and an MA degree in Health Leadership from Royal Roads University (2014). Though facing medical challenges, she defended her thesis from a hospital room.
While attending college, she worked in marketing and public relations with an independent record label and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority until her health declined to the point that she had to go on permanent disability. After entering the chronic care program at the Riverview Health Centre, her advocacy led to changes in institutional decisions to transfer patients to another facility and cut nursing staff. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she made social media posts and gave interviews to call attention to its impacts on those in chronic and personal care facilities. Near the end of her life, she wrote a weekly column in the Winnipeg Free Press about her experiences living with chronic illness. In recognition of her community service, she received a King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025).
She died at Winnipeg on 14 February 2025 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 22 February 2025.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 February 2025
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