Sahtu Dene advocate Cindy Kenny-Gilday has been named an officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General Louise Arbour.
Kenny-Gilday’s work “exposed the devastating health and cultural impacts of uranium mining on her community in Great Bear Lake,” the governor general’s office stated in naming her to the Order of Canada.
“She advanced Indigenous rights globally by helping to integrate traditional knowledge into international conservation policy and amplifying Indigenous voices in United Nations sustainability discussions.”
Born in Délı̨nę in the 1950s, Kenny-Gilday spent decades documenting the aftermath of Sahtu uranium mining, including concerns about elevated cancer rates and a degradation in Sahtu community wellbeing and culture.
She brought national attention to the issue as chair of Délı̨nę’s uranium committee.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“We are talking about a village in crisis here. We’re talking about whether the one and only tribe on Great Bear Lake is going to survive. We’re talking about cultural diversity. We’re talking about biological diversity,” Kenny-Gilday told federal politicians in 1998. “The village is a village of widows.”
Her advocacy went on to reach a broad audience. She is described by the charity Indspire as the first Indigenous person to serve as a councillor in the IUCN World Conservation Union, establishing its first Task Force for Indigenous Peoples.
In the late 1990s, Kenny-Gilday was among a Dene delegation that travelled to Japan in a trip connected to the involvement of NWT uranium in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
More: Documentary examines NWT’s ‘silenced’ World War Two history
Friday’s announcement from the governor general’s office also included promotions for Christine Sinclair and Michael J Fox, who become companions of the Order of Canada.
Kenny-Gilday is one of 56 people added to the order this week.
