One woman’s inspiring strength honoured by U of M

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This article was published 16/06/2015 (4052 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Marion Ironquill Meadmore has spent her adult life in Fort Rouge/Crescentwood. Her accomplishments define the roles women had to continue in the home (raising three boys) while society brought women into the workforce.

Marion took on that challenge so well that she was recently honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Manitoba. Marion is from Peepeekisis Cree Nation in Saskatchewan but came to Manitoba to attend a residential school.

Driven by a desire to help people, she entered pre-med studies at the U of M. Her intentions to serve people as a doctor were interrupted by marriage to Winnipeg Blue Bombers lineman Ron Meadmore but she never lost sight of people in need around her.

Marion was among the first native people to move from reserves to major urban centres such as Winnipeg. At the time, people needed help finding housing, jobs, and the social supports that can help people build a strong community. So Marion helped organize programs like Kinew (Eagle) Housing, which would employ people to renovate rundown housing into safe, affordable accommodations that could be made available at reasonable rents. (Kinew now manages over 600 homes in Winnipeg).

Marion eventually decided to go back to school and, in 1977, she became the first indigenous woman lawyer in Canada. She was also a founder of the National Indian Brotherhood, the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre movement and much more.

She is honoured to be acknowledged for her achievements but has never been much for awards.

When informed she was going to receive the Order of Canada, Marion wasn’t going to travel to Ottawa until she learned that Anne Murray was being honoured at the same time. She’s a huge fan and just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to meet one of her favourite entertainers.

Awards are about the past and Marion is about the future. There are still a lot of things that she wants to get done and she wants universities to be her partner. So, Marion accepted her award because it provided her with an opportunity to share an important message with today’s post-secondary educators.

Marion isn’t very fond of how universities spend much of their time and resources on things such as the history of the Indian Act, colonization and so on.

“It’s time to put all that behind us and focus on the future,” Marion said. “Otherwise, we are still living under colonialism.

“It’s time to turn the page and prepare for the world the way it is now and the way it is going to be.”

Marion is well aware of the adage that we learn from history so that we don’t repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past.

“The systems which have caused those mistakes are still in place,” Marion said. “But what is the use in spending so much time studying failure?

Don Marks is a community correspondent for Osborne Village. You can reach him at marksonthings@gmail.com