[4] Kirkness attended a private high school in the 1950s 160 kilometres away from Fisher River with her tuition paid by the Women's Missionary Society of Canada.
The federal government at the time argued that the Indian Act was discriminatory and that the special legal relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state should be dismantled in favour of equality, in accordance with Trudeau's vision of a "just society."
The federal government proposed that by eliminating "Indian" as a distinct legal status, the resulting equality among all Canadians would help resolve the problems faced by Aboriginal peoples.
[5]: 110 [15]: 96 —an intensive annual "summer school for Indigenous language activists, speakers, linguists, and teachers"—hosted at the University of Alberta, Edmonton[16][17] In her 2008 presentation to the United Nations, Priscilla Settee described how "Cree scholars and language specialists, Dr. Freda Ahenakew and Dr. Verna Kirkness ... helped inspire the development of the CILLDI.
[3][4] Kirkness has "written and edited eight books and is published extensively in academic journals"[3] including her 2013 autobiography entitled Creating Space: My Life and Work in Indigenous Education.
[6][8][18] The title referred to her work at UBC in "terms of access and support to enable Aboriginal students to enter any of the faculties was a way to make space in higher learning.
Settee noted that this new scholarship on linguistic, cultural and critical political discourse- that establishes "necessary varied theoretical and practical strands" represented "Indigenous world views and methodologies" and integrating storytelling.