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Pauline Shirt
Pauline Rose Shirt OOnt was 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 resided in Toronto, Ontario for many years.[2] Pauline was the Elder at George Brown College in Toronto, ON.[3] In 2023 she was appointed to the Order of Ontario.[4] ActivismIn 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 workPauline was a member of the Attorney General of Ontario's Elder Advisory Council starting in 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 served 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 was a member.[10] Pauline also acted as cultural advisor to the Board of Directors of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival[11] Kapapamahchakwew - Wandering Spirit SchoolIn 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 creditsPlays the role of Elder Chahigee in the 2021 film Night Raiders.[16] Honours and awards2020 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
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