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INSPIRING LEADERSHIP

Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell

Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell is a testament to the power and beauty of Indigenous women. Her impact on Native Women, the Canadian Justice System and Canada as a whole is still being felt since her historic legal challenge to the Indian Act contending it was discriminatory to Native Women.  Since the mid-1960’s she has been involved in Canada’s Native community through a vast range of causes and organizations.

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Born in 1942 to an Ojibway family in Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island, she has always had a profound sense of purpose and dedication to the Native traditions in which she was raised.  In 1965 she was chosen as Indian Princess of Canada and later she was employed by the Company of Young Canadians, working in Native communities across the country.  She furthered her expertise in this area by becoming a social worker for the Canadian Indian Centre in Toronto, now the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto (NCCT).

In 2012 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Award.  In 2016, Corbiere Lavell was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws at York University for her work as a Native women's rights activist and educator. In 2018 she was honoured as a member of the Order of Canada these honours being just a small fraction of the recognition she has received over the course of her extraordinary life of public service.   

Today she is honoured for her continued leadership and the valuable role she has played and continues to exercise on behalf of the Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA).  She embodies the commitment of a warrior fighting for the rights of Indigenous women and their families.

She Is Wise Magazine

A new empowering voice for Indigenous women in print and on-line.

This new magazine is a platform that will actively support ONWA’s on-going work celebrating Indigenous women’s accomplishments and successes and tireless commitment to end racism and violence.

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The magazine framework centres on Indigenous Women’s leadership. It honours collective wisdom by reclaiming that which colonization had targeted, our inherent knowledge as leaders in our families and communities.

Talk4Healing is a culturally grounded, fully confidential helpline for Indigenous women available in 14 languages.