Memorable Manitobans: Grace Easter (1955-1986)

Nurse.

She was born at the Chemawawin Cree Nations Community, located at Cedar Lake, Manitoba. The community was relocated when Grace was eight years old to 400 miles northwest of Winnipeg, near Easterville. Despite her remote location, and little access to education, she became a nurse. She became President of the Manitoba Indian Nurses Association and President of the National Aboriginal Nurses Association in 1978 until it could be permanently established in Ottawa in 1982. She was integral in the establishment of the first senior citizens home for Aboriginal people in Manitoba, the KeKinAn Center in Winnipeg. The home was said to have been the first of its kind in an urban center in Canada. She died at Winnipeg on 7 February 1986.

Sources:

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 11 February 1986, page 43.

University of Manitoba, History of Manitoba Women in Health, http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/health/resources/womhist/geaster.html.

This profile was prepared by Angela Graham and Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 29 December 2012

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