Amazing Empowering Women of Canada

Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013)

As one of Canada’s most acclaimed graphic artists, Kenojuak Ashevak travelled the world to showcase her Inuit art throughout the 1980s and early 2000s In the 1950s, she became the first woman to collaborate with West Baffin Cooperative, a well-known printmaking shop at Cape Dorset focused on Inuit graphic art Following her debut there, Ashevak received near-instant recognition for her simple yet whimsical interpretations of the natural world Her most famous work, The Enchanted Owl, which uses energetic linework, was featured on a Canada Post stamp in 1970. In 1993, Ashevak was commissioned to create a piece she called Nunavut – Our Land to commemorate the many milestones leading to the establishment of the territory. It’s a lithograph depicting Arctic life in Canada and is on display in the Canadian Museum of History. She was a Companion in the Order of Canada and is the first Inuit artist inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

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Shirley Firth (1953–2013) and Sharon Firth (1953–Present)

Twins Shirley and Sharon Firth were among the first Indigenous athletes to represent Canada at the Olympics They were members of the first Canadian women’s crosscountry ski team and competed in four Winter Olympic Games from 1972-1984 Between the two, they won 79 medals at the national championships After retiring from skiing, Sharon returned to the Northwest Territories in the mid-’80s and reestablished the defunct Territorial Experimental Ski Training Program, the same Indigenous youth-targeted initiative that introduced her and Shirley to competitive skiing Shirley moved to Paris, where she taught about Dene and Inuit cultures in numerous European institutions In 2015, they were inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/canadian-women-in-history/