Jeannette Corbiere Lavell

Jeannette Corbiere Lavell
Born Jeannette Vivian Corbiere
(1942-06-21) June 21, 1942
Wikwemikong, Ontario, Canada
Occupation Activist
Known for Canada (AG) v Lavell
President of Native Women's Association of Canada
Founder of the Ontario Native Women's Association of Canada

Jeannette Corbiere Lavell (born June 21, 1942) is a Canadian and Anishinaabe community worker who focused on women's and children's rights.

She was born Jeannette Vivian Corbiere in Wikwemikong, Ontario to Adam and Rita Corbiere. Her mother, a school teacher, was a cofounder of the Wikwemikong "Wiky" Powwow. Corbiere Lavell learned English from her mother and Ojibwe from her father. Corbiere Lavell attended business college in North Bay. After graduation, she worked for the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto as an executive secretary.[1] She was associated with the Company of Young Canadians, which gave her an opportunity to travel around the country, and was named, in 1965, as "Indian Princess of Canada".[2]

Corbiere Lavell married David Lavell in 1970, a non-Indigenous man, and subsequently was no longer deemed an Indian according to the Indian Act.[3] She challenged the Act in 1971; though her challenge failed, she inspired a later challenge, the success of which "permitted reinstatement of the First Nations women and children who had lost their status".[4][1] She later served as president of the Native Women's Association of Canada and founded the Ontario Native Women's Association of Canada.[3] Corbiere Lavell served as a cabinet appointee or the Commission on the Native Justice System, president or the Nishnawbe Institute, and president of Anduhyaun Inc. After she earned a teaching degree from the University of Western Ontario, she worked as a teacher and school principal.[2] She co-edited "Until Our Hearts Are On the Ground: Aboriginal Mothering, Oppression, Resistance and Rebirth".[5]

Her daughter, Dawn Harvard, was the youngest ever president of the Ontario Native Women's Association. That organization established an award in honour of Corbiere Lavell in 1987.[2]

Awards

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Jeannette Vivian Corbiere Lavell". Library and Archives Canada. 2000. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Erskine, Michael (April 9, 2014). "Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, a lifelong advocate for women". Manitoulin Expositor. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Smith, Keith D. (August 13, 2014). Strange Visitors: Documents in Indigenous-Settler Relations in Canada from 1876. University of Toronto Press. p. 452. ISBN 978-1-4426-0566-4.
  4. ↑ Kurszewski, Denise M. "Herstory Month in Canada - celebrating women's achievements". National Union of Public and General Employees. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Jeannette Corbiere Lavell". Debajehmujig Storytellers. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
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