SADDLE LAKE - A poet from Saddle Lake Creen Nation is among the 83 people named members of the Order of Canada. Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe also received the King’s Coronation Medal for her work preserving and passing on Plains Cree culture.
Halfe, now 72, is an acclaimed poet known for using both Cree and English in her published works. She also serves as an elder for the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Health Board, and Opikinawasowin “Raising Our Children.”
“I’m blown away by the fact that it’s getting public respect, what I do, and acknowledgement. I’m very fortunate." She adds that she feels small "walking among the giants . . . It is very humbling."
According to the Office of the Governor General, Mary Simon, the Order of Canada is one of the highest honours in the country. It is awarded to people “who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions to our nation.”
Halfe’s work as an elder and advisor includes making recommendations to solve problems and contributions to policy design and decisions in health care and education.
“That requires sometimes really hard work on a personal level, dealing with apprehended children and their families,” says Halfe, who also holds a Bachelor of Social Work.
A survivor of the Blue Quills Residential School, Halfe grew up in Saddle Lake and has ties to Onion Lake Cree Nation through her mother. She moved to Saskatoon with her husband as an adult and has two children and three grandchildren.
“We have to make some progress in mainstream society, and also help the people find direction in their lives and know how to use the system. When I left residential school, I had no idea how to use the system. I floundered all the way out, through my adolescence and into my married life,” says Halfe.
Halfe says she is always open to dialog “no matter how tough the discussions are.”
“We learn from each other. We learn from petty tyrants. We learn from people who are progressive thinkers and who are involved in the various disciplines of life in their professions. So, I'm open to learning all the time. I'm a student, always a student,” says Halfe.
Asked what the biggest thing she has learned over the years is, Halfe says there are a lot of people who are willing to take steps and be open.
“I really enjoy the public at large. It’s sometimes difficult learning, but it’s OK. We need each other to make a healthier environment and a healthier place for our children and our grandchildren,” says Halfe.
Other Albertans named to the Order of Canada on June 30 include pharmaceutical scientist Robert Foster, who helped discover the immunosuppressant voclosporin; museologist Robert Janes, who played a key role in the voluntary return of objects sacred to the Blackfoot Confederacy; and former senator and language rights champion Claudette Tardif, whose work has improved access to French education across the province.
