Pauline Shirt

Pauline (Nimikiiquay) Shirt (July 13, 1943 – May 7, 2024) was an Indigenous elder, activist and educator who cultivated space for Indigenous approaches to education and provided guidance and mentorship to the Toronto Indigenous community. She is best known for her founding roles in the Native People’s Caravan and Kapapamahchakwew – Wandering Spirit School. A Knowledge and Wisdom Keeper, leader, and pioneer in Indigenous education, Shirt served on several Elders councils and was frequently called upon for her cultural knowledge. In 2022, she was recognized with induction into the Order of Ontario.

Early life
A Plains Cree from the Red-Tail Hawk Clan, Shirt was born in Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Alberta. From a young age, Shirt had a love of learning that shaped her lifelong commitment to cultivating the educational experience of Indigenous children. Seeking higher education, she attended business school at the college level. In the late 1960s, Shirt moved to Toronto, where she encountered a new urban lifestyle and community. She became involved with the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto and began developing ties to Indigenous leaders and educators, beginning her political involvement with the Indigenous rights movement.

Activism and community work

Native People's Caravan
In 1974, Shirt co-founded the Native People’s Caravan, along with her then-husband Vern Harper and other prominent Indigenous activists. A cross-country protest involving a number of Indigenous activists, the Native People’s Caravan travelled from Vancouver to Ottawa to meet with parliamentarians and deliver their manifesto to the federal government. This manifesto, developed by Shirt and Harper, outlined demands related to treaty rights, Métis rights, poverty, healthcare, housing, and education. The Native People’s Caravan culminated in a protest in Ottawa which, though itself peaceful, was met with violent confrontation from the RCMP’s riot police unit. The violence of the police and the failure of the government to listen to the Caravan’s demands galvanized Shirt to make an impact on education in Toronto.

Kapapamahchakwew – Wandering Spirit School
In 1977, Shirt and Harper’s son Clayton refused to return to school because of the racism and cultural disconnect he experienced. Unable to find a school that would cultivate his Indigenous identity alongside his education, Shirt and Harper established the Wandering Spirit Survival School, which initially operated out of their home. Drawing inspiration from educational projects of the American Indian Movement, Shirt aimed to provide a “Native Way Education” as a means of strengthening self-determination and resistance. The Wandering Spirit Survival School was designated by the Toronto District School Board as an alternative school in 1977, and as a Cultural Survival/Native Way program in 1983. In 1989, the school was renamed the First Nations School of Toronto. This name changed again in 2018/19, when a renaming ceremony returned to the original spirit of the school and reclaimed the name Kapapamahchakwew – Wandering Spirit School.

Shirt was also a founder of the first Indigenous holistic practitioners’ clinic, Red Willow, and a member of the Three Fires Society and the Buffalo Dance Society. She served as a mentor and adviser for several boards and organizations. Most notably, she acted as a Guiding Elder at George Brown College, served on the Elders Council for the Urban Indigenous Education Centre of Excellence, and served on the Attorney General of Ontario’s Elder Advisory Council.

Pauline Shirt (right) with her daughter Luanna Harper, February 27, 2016

See also

“Pauline Shirt, Guiding Elder At George Brown College, Receives Order Of Ontario,” George Brown College, 2023.

“Wandering Spirit School and the Vision of Nimkiiquay,” article and interview with Pauline Shirt, 2021.

Video interview with Pauline Shirt, George Brown College, 2020.

“Wandering Spirit School,” Seven News, February 10, 1979.

Wandering Spirit Survival School, documentary produced by the National Film Board, 1978.

Following the Red Path: The Native People’s Caravan, Vern Harper, 1974.

Kapapamahchakwew - Wandering Spirit School, TDSB

Related Topics:
Alternative Schools – Cree – Indigenous Education – Indigenous Health Care – Indigenous Learning – Indigenous Peoples – Native Peoples – Persons/Aboriginal – Persons/Canadians – Persons/Women – Schools