Sheila North is a Cree leader and journalist, who formerly served as Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.[1]
North is originally fromBunibonibee Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba.[2] As a teenager, she moved to Winnipeg to attendDaniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute, before graduating fromRed River College in 2006 with a degree in communications.[3] She then worked as a journalist for CBC News and CTV News.[4] She was nominated for a Gemini Award in 2010.[5] In 2012, she helped coin the hashtag #MMIW, for missing and murdered indigenous women, while working for theAssembly of Manitoba Chiefs.[6] She was involved in English-to-Cree translation for the 2012 documentaryWe Were Children.[7]
In 2015, she became Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the first woman to hold the position.[8] She was named one ofChatelaine’s top 30 women of 2015.[9] In November 2016, she appealed to federal Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau to accept an invitation to visitShamattawa First Nation after a fire destroyed the only grocery store in the nation.[10] In 2017, she addressed the federal parliament'sIndigenous and Northern Affairs Committee over the country's failure to compensate First Nations for hydropower development, as was agreed in the Northern Flood Agreement.[11]
In 2021, she announced she would be running to lead the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, aiming to become the first woman in history to become AMC Grand Chief.[13]
_(cropped).jpg)
