27 Facts About Maria Campbell

Maria Campbell has had great influence in her community as she is very politically involved in activism and social movements.

Maria Campbell is well known for being the author of Halfbreed, a memoir describing her own experiences as a Metis woman in society and the difficulties she has faced, which are commonly faced by many other women both within and outside of her community.

Maria Campbell is the oldest of eight children, and had to drop out of school to care for her siblings when her mother died.

Maria Campbell moved to Vancouver at age fifteen, but returned to Saskatchewan in her twenties and became an organizer in her community.

Maria Campbell remembers early stages of her life in her community when her and her siblings learned how to hunt and trap, dance, play the fiddle, and learned the use for roots, herbs and barks.

Maria Campbell's family was a mix of Scottish, French, Cree, English and Irish.

Maria Campbell had negative attitudes towards school, resulting in feelings of resentment towards her community and family.

Maria Campbell's father, who was a hunter and trapper, became an alcoholic and her mother died around this time during childbirth, leaving Maria Campbell and her siblings on their own.

At the age of fifteen, Maria Campbell married a man named Darrel, with the hope that it would allow her to remain with her siblings and be able to provide for them.

However, Darrel was abusive towards Maria Campbell and had her siblings taken away.

Maria Campbell moved to Vancouver with Darrell, expecting her life to improve however, claims the poverty she witnessed in Vancouver was far worse than anything she had seen in her community in her early life.

The difficulties which Maria Campbell had experienced drove her to develop an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Maria Campbell eventually recovered from her drug and alcohol addiction and was reunited with her children.

In Maria Campbell's Halfbreed, the first chapters focus on the early stages of her life, where her sense of identity was created from her community near Spring River, Saskatchewan.

Maria Campbell's community had a prominent role in the formation of her identity.

Maria Campbell's text is often received as a story of Indigenous oppression experienced in Canada.

Maria Campbell is the author of three children's books: People of the Buffalo, Little Badger and the Fire Spirit, and Riel's People.

Maria Campbell has translated stories in The Road Allowance People to Cree and Michif.

Maria Campbell chose to translate her work into what she describes as "Village English", as she felt that this was more representative of her experiences and community, then using standard English.

Maria Campbell has been featured on the CBC Radio talk show Our Native Land.

Maria Campbell is coordinator and member of Sage Ensemble, a community theatre group for Aboriginal elders, and is actively associated with the Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre in Saskatoon.

Maria Campbell was a founder of the first Women's halfway house and the first Women and Children's Emergency Crisis Centre in Edmonton.

Maria Campbell has worked with Aboriginal youths in community theatre; set up food and housing co-ops; facilitated women's circles; advocated for the hiring and recognition of Native people in the arts, and mentored many indigenous artists working in all forms of the arts.

Maria Campbell sits as an Elder on the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Justice Commission, and is a member of the Grandmothers for Justice Society.

Maria Campbell has worked as a researcher, meeting with elders to gather and record oral historical evidence of many aspects of aboriginal traditional knowledge, including medical and dietary as well as spiritual, social, and general cultural practices.

Maria Campbell has become the leader of many Metis social movements and has become very active in the political community.

Involvement in activism and politics has allowed Maria Campbell to reconnect with her childhood community.