In Memory

Laura Cranmer (‘Na̱mg̱is/Haida) As a survivor of Canadian Indian residential school system as well as the Indian Hospital system, I began my post-secondary journey with the intention to gain literary skills to make sense of the ongoing colonial impact on my family relationships. Combining my academic and my creative writing with my therapy over decades of studying, writing and healing has been a halting, two-steps forward one-step back journey to self-empowerment. My current work, an applied theatre research project based on my script, “Scenes from the Nanaimo Indian Hospital” examines a chapter in what G̱wa̱nti’la̱kw called “our long dark winter”. This community-engaged research addresses the oppression suffered by Canadian Indigenous peoples (in the Indian Hospital system) through theatre while also uplifting Indigenous languages, cultures and communities. 

Debra Hanuse is a retired lawyer who previously practiced in aboriginal and corporate and commercial law. In 2014, she was elected chief of the ‘Na̱mg̱is First Nation, which comprises more than 1,700 members, and whose principal community is located on Cormorant Island (Alert Bay) in British Columbia. Debra formerly served as a BC Treaty Commissioner, on the Board of Governors of Simon Fraser University, and as a Board member for Big Sisters of Canada.

Myrna Cranmer was born in Alert Bay BC 73 years ago. She returned to live with her Aunty Glo in 2017. Myrna attended and graduated from UBC in 2001; and then graduated with her Masters in 2004. She is now living in her Auntie’s house where she is writing her conversations with Gloria Cranmer Webster. 

Halie (Kwa̱nx̱wa’logwa) Bruce is a Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, and Scottish/Canadian mother, wife, lawyer, mediator, adjudicator, sometimes soccer coach and Sixties Scoop Survivor. She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2008. Her practice areas include Aboriginal, family, child welfare, fisheries law, Indigenous laws and governance. Halie has also devoted part of her practice to Indigenous restorative justice initiatives, including writing Gladue Reports for Indigenous people at bail, sentencing and appeal courts in BC. Halie attended Simon Fraser University before attaining a Bachelor of Laws degree from UBC. She has over thirty years of experience working with Indigenous communities, and Indigenous, provincial, and federal governments. In 2014, Halie co-founded the law firm Cedar & Sage Law, which focuses on Indigenous laws, Alternative and Traditional Indigenous Dispute Resolution mechanisms and peacemaking protocols. Halie also is a former Board member of the Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation, the BC Aboriginal Justice Council, and the Parole Board of Canada.

Louise Mandell was one of the founding partners of Mandell Pinder, a law firm specializing in Aboriginal and Treaty Rights law. In 2011, she moved out of the day-to-day practice of law but remains connected in the esteemed capacity of partner emeritus to the firm. On behalf of her many First Nations clients, she has devoted her professional life to the advancement of their Aboriginal Title and Rights and Treaty Rights. She was brought into the area of Aboriginal law when it was in its infancy, working under the direction of the late Grand Chief George Manuel, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. Acting for UBCIC, she was legal counsel in their fight against the patriation of the Constitution. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997 and, in 2001, was awarded the Georges A. Goyer QC Memorial Award for exceptional contribution to the development of Aboriginal and Treaty Rights jurisprudence across the country. In 2013, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs recognized and honoured her by creating the Louise Mandell Legal Research Collection. In June 2012, she received an honorary doctor of laws from Simon Fraser University. And in October 2014, she was appointed as the second chancellor of Vancouver Island University.