BIOGRAPHY
COVER
Using
Humour to Stop Teenage Suicide
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Selected excerpts from
First Nations Drum Celebratory Issue
BIOGRAPHY
Acclaimed
Aboriginal Writer Passes Away
BUSINESS
Metis
Refuse Premier Doer Order of the Sash
GOVERNMENT
National
Chief Pleased with Meeting with Premiers, Territorial Leaders
HUMOUR
Bee in the Bonnet:
Bad
News from the Doctor
Who Gives a Fish?
How to Beat a Woman
MUSIC
Here
to Stay: Thirty Years of Aboriginal Music
MODERN TREATIES
Supreme
Court Rejects Treaty Right to Log
Acclaimed Aboriginal Writer Passes Away
By
Lloyd Dolha
Aboriginal author and radio personality Bernelda Wheeler, passed away from cancer on Saturday, September 10, 2005 at the age of 68, at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, with her family by her side.
Wheeler was one of the first female aboriginal journalists in Canada
and was a pioneer with her work in media.
Born in Saskatchewan on April 3, 1937, of Cree, Assinaboine and Saulteaux
heritage, Wheeler left the reserve with her parents in the 1940s and moved
to Churchill, Manitoba.
In 1954, at the age of 17, she began her radio career as a disc jockey
for CFHC, CBC's northern service in Churchill.
Much of her success was achieved in Winnipeg between 1972 and 1982, when
she was host, producer and investigative journalist for "Our Native
Land," a national CBC radio program dedicated to aboriginal issues.
She was known for the ground breaking work she did for CBC radio, interviewing
and covering First Nations people, issues and events.
Wheeler was a pioneer when she began her work in the early 1970s and she
was the first indigenous voice many people heard on radio.
In 1982, Wheeler won the 'First Lady in Native Broadcasting' award for
her work on the national radio show. She was also nominated for two ACTRA
awards for Best Writer and Best Radio Program and, in 1991, was nominated
to the Order of Canada, for her work in media.
Wheeler
was also the author of numerous short stories and poems and was best known
for her four children's books. She received the Children's Choice and
the Toronto Children's Book Award for Where Did You Get Your Moccasins
and I Can't Have Bannock but the Beaver has a Dam. The book I Can't Have
Bannock is recommended for all elementary school libraries.
Wheeler was also an actor, acting in the play Someday at Saskatchewan's
Globe Theater and served as an advisor to the Aboriginal Film and Video
Alliance.
In her final years, she had a monthly column in Eagle Feather News.
Five days before her death, Wheeler was notified the she was being recognized
with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Anskohk Aboriginal Literacy
Festival for "her substantial contribution to Aboriginal Literature,
her professionalism and leadership as a writer and her dedication to her
craft and community."
"As a pioneer in media and literary circles, Bernelda will always
be remembered for her sensitive storytelling of the lives of aboriginal
people," said Eric Robinson, Minister of Culture, Heritage and Tourism,
for Maintoba.
Bernelda Wheeler is survived by her daughter, Dr.Winona Wheeler, and her
son Jordon Wheeler, and her extended family.