Two Saskatchewan Metis women who overcame incredible odds have received national recognition for making Canada a better country.
Zondra Roy, 26, and Jo Ann Episkenew, 63, are two of the 14 winners of the cross-Canada Indspire awards for outstanding aboriginal achievement.
They both have hard luck stories, coming from poor backgrounds and difficult family environments. Despite the challenges they persevered and flourished, never giving up on themselves or their culture.
The big announcement of the award winners was made in Toronto last week.
Episkenew says it was kind of odd that she was being honoured in the city where she was once living on the streets.
“How the heck does this happen? It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was not in that sort of a place,” she said. “Yah, being in Toronto to be honoured was quite something, I remember being homeless in Toronto.”
Episkenew is on leave from the First Nations University. She is currently the chair of the Indigenous Peoples Health Research council, and says she loves what she does and is quite amazed and even amused that people look at her as a role model.
Three young indigenous people, including Roy, were named youth award winners. Roy is completing her urban native education degree at the Gabriel Dumont Institute in Saskatoon. She is also writing a book.
Life has not always been good for her, but she says connecting with her culture and receiving unconditional love from female mentors made her who she is today.
“So I appreciate the patience people had for me and the love they didn’t have to give me, but they did,” she said. “Those people are my family now, my circle is tight.”
The awards ceremony will take place in Vancouver in February. It will be broadcast live. The Indspire awards have been around for 23 years now, recognizing the positive changes and contributions being made by Canada’s Indigenous people.
Indspire is the largest non-governmental funder of Indigenous education.