Shirley Cheechoo

Shirley Cheechoo (; born 1952) is a Canadian Cree actress, writer, producer, director, and visual artist, best known for her solo-voice or monodrama play Path With No Moccasins, as well as her work with De-Ba-Jeh-Mu-Jig theatre group. Her first break came in 1985 when she was cast on the CBC's first nations TV series Spirit Bay, and later, in 1997, she found a role on the CBC's TV series The Rez.

She was named chancellor of Brock University in July 2015, the institution's first female and first aboriginal chancellor. She held the position to 2020.

Biography Shirley Cheechoo was born in 1952 in Eastmain, Quebec, and grew up in Moose Factory and Hearst, Ontario. Shirley spent her early life on traplines with her parents and brothers, but at the age of nine was sent to a residential school, Shingwauk Indian Residential School. At this school Cheechoo, like many other residential school survivors, experienced violence and abuse and was told that "her parents would die if she ran away." After leaving school at fifteen, Cheechoo experienced problems with substance abuse, but eventually, she turned her life around and began to work in film and theatre to explore themes of healing and survivance post-trauma. Her experiences at a residential school and her road to healing are documented in her stage play 1991 Path with No Moccasins.

Career

Shirley first gained national attention with Path With No Moccasins. Her directorial debut was with a short film called Silent Tears, which won several film festival awards for Best Short Film and was "screened at the 1998Sundance Film Festival."

Shirley realized that she could "ease a pain or raise an issue with her film work" and so dedicated herself to creating film by enrolling in writing classes, director's labs, acting workshops and film schools.

Much of her art is based on biographical elements. Path With No Moccasins gave Shirley the opportunity to "speak about her life and the struggle to retain her identity, and Cree heritage". Silent Tears chronicles the events of a "harsh winter trip with her parents to a northern trap line when she was eight years old". She was also awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Award in 2013 to recognize her commitment to education. She also received the Anishinabek Nation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.

Writings and appearances

Plays

Path With No Moccasins (1991) Tangled Sheets (1994) Your Dream Was Mine (2005)

Film Year Title Director Writer Shadows in Deep Water 1998 Silent Tears 2000 Backroads 2001 Tracks in the Snow 2003 Pikutiskaau (Mother Earth) In Shadow 2005 Johnny Tootall 2013 Moose River Crossing

Narrator Utshimassits: Place of the Boss (1996)

Media appearances Spirit Bay (1984) Medicine River (1993) The Rez (1996) Song of Hiawatha (1997) Silent Tears (1998) Johnny Greyeyes (2000) Backroads (2000) Christmas in the Clouds (2001) MVP - Mrs. Lemonde (2008) Provided the illustrations for Tales the Elders Told by Basil H. Johnston

Awards

Best Short Film - Silent Tears Telefilm Canada/Television Northern Canada Award for Best Canadian Aboriginal Language Television Program - Silent Tears (1998) Best Director. Reel World Film Festival (Toronto 2000) Lifetime Achievement Award in the area of art (2008). Given by the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, now Indspire. CTV Fellowship Award Eagle Spirit Award Independent Filmmaker of the Year (Arizona International Film Festival) (2002). Best Film for Johnny Tootall at the 2005 American Indian Film Festival.