Évelyne St-Onge
Co-founder of Quebec Native Women Inc
Évelyne St-Onge was born in Moisie in 1945 to Innu parents. Today, she lives in the North Shore community of Mani-Utenam. After graduating as a nursing assistant, she first worked at Hôtel Dieu in Montréal, then in Schefferville. Having attended Manitou College, she was part of the group of women who founded the Quebec Native Women Inc. (QNW) in 1974. A deeply involved activist, she fought countless battles within her community: for Aboriginal education, for the preservation of language and culture, and for the protection of Innu territories. She was always "sitting front row centre", as she so aptly puts it. She is also one of the founders of Productions Manitu, the first Indigenous video production company in Québec. As director of the cultural sector of the Institut culturel et éducatif montagnais (now Institut Tshakapesh), she distinguished herself particularly through her work in bringing Quebecers and Indigenous peoples closer together. She was also part of the touring team for the "Under the Shaputuan" program, visiting over a hundred schools across Québec. In November 2015, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Université du Québec à Montréal for her outstanding contribution to the development of the Innu Nation in particular and First Nations in general. Today, she is very active within the Guardians of [Innu] Sacred Sites organization.
