Marion Ironquil Meadmore, one of the 1st Indigenous women lawyers in Canada, left 'remarkable' legacy

One of the first Indigenous women called to the bar in Canada is being remembered for her ambitious work and enduring legacy that continue to benefit First Nations people in Winnipeg today.

Marion Lillian Ironquil Meadmore was 89 when she died in Winnipeg on Feb. 19, her obituary says. 

Ironquil Meadmore was born in 1936 on the Peepeekisis Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Her father, Joe Ironquil, was Ojibway, and her mother, Helen Poitras, was Cree and Métis.

Her call to the Manitoba Bar on June 29, 1978, made her a pioneer and an inspiration to many, including Karine Pelletier, who is now the chair of the Manitoba Labour Board.

Pelletier said she and her classmates looked up to Ironquil Meadmore while they were in law school in the early 2000s, and that she was particularly inspired by the fact that Ironquil Meadmore was 42 when she was first called to the bar.

"She's a bit of an inspiration to me, having myself completed a master's degree later in life," said Pelletier.

By the time Ironquil Meadmore graduated, she had been married for over 20 years to former Winnipeg Blue Bombers player Ron Meadmore and had raised their three boys.

Although her legal career was short-lived — she was a practising member of the Manitoba Law Society for six years — she still managed to break down barriers.

She co-founded Winnipeg's first all-female law firm in Winnipeg.

She also had a pivotal role in the development of the Canadian Indian Lawyers Association, now the Indigenous Bar Association in Canada, according to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

But Ironquil Meadmore's legal career was just part of her legacy.

The Law Society of Manitoba's newsletter, Communiqué, described Meadmore as a "champion for Indigenous self-governance and economic development" in a tribute this month.

In 1959, Ironquil Meadmore co-founded Canada's first Indigenous and Métis Friendship Centre and, in 1963, the precursors to the organizations now known as the Assembly of First Nations and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, her obituary says.

"Marion was a force for change, a visionary who built institutions that continue to advance First Nations sovereignty, rights, and self-determination," Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said in a news release in February.

Manitoba Métis Federation president David Chartrand remembers first meeting Ironquil Meadmore while he was active in the Friendship Centre movement.

He said Ironquil Meadmore's work to create friendship centres was "only one of the contributions she made to advancing reconciliation in Canada, at a time where very few Canadians understood the importance of this work."

'Remarkably forward-thinking'

She also co-founded Kinew Housing, the country's first non-profit housing corporation, in 1970. The organization was born out of a concern about access to affordable housing for Indigenous people in Winnipeg, the non-profit's website says.

The organization currently owns, manages and rents nearly 400 Winnipeg houses to Indigenous people at lower cost, according to the province's 211 service.

Ironquil Meadmore described people moving to Winnipeg from First Nations communities as "economic refugees," said Shaun Loney, a Winnipeg social enterprise activist who considered Ironquil Meadmore a mentor.

"Their economies were collapsing at home because of the rules of governments and because of what Indian agents were doing," Loney said.

"[Kinew Housing is] really an expression of how she understood Indigenous economies in a modern setting, that we don't build wealth for ourselves, we build it for each other," he said. 

Loney also thinks making Kinew Housing a non-profit was "just remarkably forward-thinking."

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew described Ironquil Meadmore's passing as a "profound loss" for the province, calling her a trailblazer, an accomplished athlete and a leader in Indigenous governance.

"She leaves behind a legacy of resilience and achievement," Kinew said in a statement.

In athletics, Ironquil Meadmore was an organizer and pitcher for the Arrowettes, a women's baseball team that played in Winnipeg's North End for nearly two decades, her obituary says.

The team represented Manitoba at the first North American Indigenous Games in 1990, with Ironquil Meadmore helping Manitoba clinch a gold medal in baseball and a bronze in archery, her obituary says.

Loney said the adversity that Ironquil Meadmore faced throughout her life did not keep her from success.

"It wouldn't have been that easy for her, especially since she went to residential school and she didn't receive a very good education there," he said.

Even at the end of her life, Parkinson's disease didn't prevent her from finding a way to express her ideas, Loney said, as he and his wife helped her write thoughts down on paper when she was unable to do so alone.

Ironquil Meadmore was one of five people to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba at the 2024 spring convocation.

"The speech that her son read on her behalf was brilliant," Loney said.

Ironquil Meadmore's accomplishments also earned her the Order of Canada in 1985. 

Loney says she left an enduring legacy that continues to benefit First Nations people in Winnipeg, calling her "one of the most remarkable people that has ever called Winnipeg home."

"There's thousands of Winnipeggers that are living in housing thanks to the organization she founded. There's organizations that are lobbying hard for the rights of Indigenous peoples, and she founded those," he said.

"There's people gathering in places she created, so I think Winnipeg would be a lot more dreary without her and a lot less hopeful."