Maria Campbell

Maria Campbell ( born April 26, 1940 near Park Valley, Saskatchewan ) is a member of the Métis. She works as an author, is a film director and works on the radio and for the stage. It is one of the Métis Elders and speaks four languages, namely Cree, Michif, Saulteaux and English. She is a professor at the University of Saskatchewan.

Life and work

The location of Park Valley, in the Campbell grew up lies about 130 kilometers northwest of Prince Albert. Her father was John ( Dan ) Campbell, her mother's name was Dubucque. Her first monograph was her autobiographical scale work Halfbreed of 1973. It is now used widely for the school.

Her first stage play, Flight, was the first Indian theater production in Canada. Here, a mixture of dance, storytelling and dramatic staging, which was interwoven with indigenous art forms emerged. Two of her productions have been performed in Scotland, Denmark and Italy. She stated from 1985 to 1997 his own production company, the Gabriel Productions. At the National Film Board of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation brought pieces like My partner My People under. Moreover, it belongs to the ensemble of Sage, a theater group of elders ( Elders ), and the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company in Saskatoon is connected.

In Canada, it was also known as a fighter for indigenous rights. She was one of the founders of the first Canadian Halfway House for women, in which a withdrawal could be carried out. The same applies to their Women and Children 's Emergency Crisis Centre in Edmonton. She has worked with young people, founded construction groups, supported artists.

When Elder it belongs to the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Justice Commission, as well as the Grand Mothers for Justice Society of.

Mary Campbell was 1991-1997 Lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan. As a teacher, she worked as an assistant professor, then (to date) as a professor at this university. As a visiting professor from 2000 to 2001, she went to the Brandon University, has been working since 1998 on a temporary Saskatchewan Federated Indian College. In 1985 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Regina, 1992, he was the York University, in 2000, the Honorary Doctor of Athabasca University.

In her work, she focuses on the history of the Métis and the methodology and conduct of research in the oral tradition ( Oral History ).

Honors

Campbell has received numerous awards, including an appointment as honorary chief of the Black Lake First Nations (1978), a National Hero of the Native Council of Canada (1979 ), the Chalmers Award for Outstanding New Play (1986, for The Book of Jessica ), the Gabriel Dumont Medal of Merit from the Gabriel Dumont Institute ( 1992). These were followed by the Saskatchewan Achievement Award from the provincial government (1994 ), the National Aboriginal Achievement Award (1995 ), Chief Crowfoot Award from the Department of Native Studies at the University of Calgary (1996 ), the Nolson Prize of the Canada Council (2004), then the Saskatchewan Order of Merit and the Distinguished Canadian Award (both 2006). In 2008 she was Officer of the Order of Canada.

Works (selection)

Monographs

• Half Breed ( 1973)
• People of the Buffalo ( 1975)
• Riel 's People (1976 )
• Little Badger and the Fire Spirit (1977 )
• The Book of Jessica ( co-author ) ( 1987)
• Stories of the Road Allowance People ( 1995)

Films ( mostly as a writer or director )

• Edmonton 's Unwanted Women (1968 )
• Red Dress (1977 )
• Road to Batoche (1985 )
• Cumberland House (1986 )
• My partner My People (1987 )
• Joseph's Justice (1994 )
• La Beau Sha Sho (1994 )
• Journey to Healing ( 1995)