Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)

Jeannette Corbiere Lavell

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Occupation
  
Activist


Name
  
Jeannette Lavell

Jeannette Corbiere Lavell httpswwwcollectionscanadagccaobj030001f1

Full Name
  
Jeannette Vivian Corbiere

Born
  
June 11, 1942 (age 81) (
1942-06-11
)
Wikwemikong, Ontario, Canada

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. 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".

Corbiere Lavell married David Lavell in 1970, a non-Indigenous man, and subsequently was no longer deemed an Indian according to the Indian Act. 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". She later served as president of the Native Women's Association of Canada and founded the Ontario Native Women's Association of Canada. 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. She co-edited "Until Our Hearts Are On the Ground: Aboriginal Mothering, Oppression, Resistance and Rebirth".

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.

Awards

  • Persons Award (2009)
  • References

    Jeannette Corbiere Lavell Wikipedia