Shirley Bear (May 16, 1936 – November 19, 2022)[1] was a Wolastoqiyik artist, traditional herbalist,[2] poet, and activist from Tobique First Nation, part of the Wabanaki Confederacy.
[5] In 1996, Bear moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she lived for ten years and served important roles in several major institutions: Cultural Advisor to the British Columbia Institute of Technology; First Nations Advisor at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design; and Resident Elder for First Nations House of Learning at the University of British Columbia.
In 2011, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery organized a major retrospective exhibition called Nekt wikuhpon ehpit — Once there lived a woman, The Painting, Poetry and Politics of Shirley Bear (curated by Terry Graff).
[9] Shirley Bear was a longtime advocate for Indigenous and women's rights in Canada.
[10] As part of the Tobique Women’s Group, Bear was at the forefront of a long campaign that eventually resulted in Bill C-31, an amendment to the Indian Act in 1985 that ended over one hundred years of legislated sexual discrimination against Indigenous women.