Verna Patronella Johnston (1909-1996) was an Ojibway and Potawatomi (Anishinaabe) author, mother, grandmother, mentor, and community activist, known for helping Indigenous youth who had travelled to the city of Toronto for secondary and post-secondary educational opportunities from the 1960s through to the 1980s.

Her father Peter Nadjiwon was Ojibway and Potawatomi and her mother Charlotte Penn was English, Irish and Scotch.

[8][12] In addition to taking in young women studying in the city, Johnston also took in youth fleeing abusive foster homes and seeking sanctuary.

[6][15] Johnston moved home to Cape Croker several times after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, but eventually returned to Toronto where she was hired as housekeeper at Anduhyaun House, a hostel for Indigenous women.

[16] Verna learned traditional medicines and oral storytelling from her great-grandmother Mary Lavalée and her grandmother, whose family name was Jones.