Cindy Kenny-Gilday

Cindy Kenny-Gilday
Born1954
Délı̨nę, Northwest Territories, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Alberta
Occupation(s)Environmentalist and activist for Indigenous rights
Employer(s)International Union for Conservation of Nature
Diavik Diamond Mine
Organization(s)Dene of Deline First Nations Uranium Committee
World Wildlife Fund Canada
Canadian Native Arts Foundation
Children3

Cindy Kenny-Gilday (born 1954) is a Sahtu environmentalist and activist for Indigenous rights in Canada. She has campaigned about the contamination of land and people by uranium mining at Great Bear Lake during World War II and was Chair of the Dene of Deline First Nations Uranium Committee. She has also worked a special advisor to the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Renewable Resources, has moderated United Nations (UN) conferences and chaired the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Taskforce for Indigenous People.

Early life and education

Kenny-Gilday was born on an aeroplane that was transporting her mother to Norman Wells.[1] She was raised in Délı̨nę, Northwest Territories, Canada.[2] Her father Joe Kenny was a pitchblende ore (containing uranium) carrier from the shore of Great Bear Lake.[3][4][5]

Kenny-Gilday studied a bachelors degree in Education at the University of Alberta[6] and was one of the first Indigenous teachers in the Northwest Territories.[2][7]

Activism

Kenny-Gilday was the first Indigenous councilor of the IUCN and established and chaired the IUCN Taskforce for Indigenous People.[1][7][8] In 1993, she moderated the UN Conference on Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable Development.[7] She has also worked a special advisor to the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Renewable Resources.[9]

In 1997, Kenny-Gilday appeared in the environmental documentary film The Barrens Quest.[10] She was also featured in the 2025 environmental documentary film Atomic Reaction.[3][11]

In 1997, Kenny-Gilday was one of a group of Dene people who travelled to Japan to pay their respects to the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and participate in memorial activities.[12][13][14] That year she also spoke at a plenary session of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE).[15] With Robert Del Tredici she wrote to the Nikkei Voice in Toronto in 1997 and 1998.[16]

From 1998, Kenny-Gilday was Chair of the Dene of Deline First Nations Uranium Committee, which advocated for Indigenous communities impacted by nuclear radiation.[17][18] She has highlighted how Sahtu men that worked in the mining operations unknowingly irradiated themselves and developed lung, colon, and kidney cancers as they were not warned of the danger.[19][20] Both Kenny-Gilday's father and brother died from cancer during the 1970s.[1] She has said that:[19]

"Deline is practically a village of widows, most of the men who worked as laborers have died of some form of cancer. The widows, who are traditional women were left to raise their families with no breadwinners, supporters. They were left to depend on welfare and other young men for their traditional food source. This village of young men are the first generation of men in the history of Dene on this lake to grow up without guidance from their grandfathers, fathers and uncles. This cultural, economic, spiritual, emotional deprivation impact on the community is a threat to the survival of the one and only tribe on Great Bear Lake."

Kenny-Gilday was a member of the Dene First Nation delegation who met with the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, Jane Stewart, and the Minister of Natural Resources, Ralph Goodale, in June 1998 in Ottawa to present a 106-page document titled They Never Told Us These Things which recorded the "deadly and continuing impacts of radium and uranium mining" and included a 14-point action plan.[21][22][23] She published "A Village of Widows" in Peace, Justice and Freedom: Human Rights Challenges for the New Millennium (2000).[24][25]

As of 2011, Kenny-Gilday worked as Aboriginal relations manager for Diavik Diamond Mine in Yellowknife.[1] She is also a board member of the World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF) and the Canadian Native Arts Foundation.[7]

Personal life

Gilday lives in Yellowknife with her husband and their three children.[7]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Voyageur, Cora J.; Newhouse, David; Beavon, Dan (8 October 2011). Hidden in Plain Sight: Contributions of Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity and Culture, Volume II. University of Toronto Press. pp. 105–107. ISBN 978-1-4426-6337-4.
  2. ^ a b Jacobson, Brittni (5 July 2017). "Women's Monuments and Landmarks Across Canada". Canadian Women's Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 June 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Atomic Reaction". The Wellington Times (Canada). 21 November 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  4. ^ Johansen, Bruce E. (9 February 2023). Resource Devastation on Native American Lands: Toxic Earth, Poisoned People. Springer Nature. p. 59. ISBN 978-3-031-21896-5.
  5. ^ Johansen, Bruce E. (30 April 2007). The Praeger Handbook on Contemporary Issues in Native America: [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-313-08254-2.
  6. ^ Brodie, Hallie (11 January 2018). "Looking Back and Venturing Forward". University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 19 September 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Cindy Kenny-Gilday". Indspire. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  8. ^ Bhatia, Gurcharan Singh (March 2000). Peace, Justice and Freedom: Human Rights Challenges for the New Millennium. University of Alberta. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-88864-339-1.
  9. ^ The Nature Conservancy Magazine. Vol. 45–46. The Conservancy. 1995. p. 12.
  10. ^ Ray, Sarah Jaquette; Maier, Kevin (15 May 2017). Critical Norths: Space, Nature, Theory. University of Alaska Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-60223-319-5.
  11. ^ "Atomic Reaction: New Doc Explores Canada's Role in The Manhattan Project". Original Cin. 6 February 2025. Archived from the original on 21 July 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  12. ^ "Scholarship on Burning Vision". CanLit Guides. Archived from the original on 18 April 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  13. ^ Salverson, Julie (12 August 2011). "They Never Told Us These Things". Maisonneuve. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  14. ^ Gunter, Linda Pentz (3 August 2020). "When a Dene lantern shone in Hiroshima". Beyond Nuclear International. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  15. ^ Aboriginal Communities and Non-renewable Resource Development. National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (Canada). 2001. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-894737-01-2.
  16. ^ "Hiroshima Seen". Image Arts. Archived from the original on 7 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  17. ^ Price, John (2011). Orienting Canada: Race, Empire, and the Transpacific. UBC Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7748-1983-1.
  18. ^ Eng, David L. (21 March 2025). Reparations and the Human. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1-4780-6084-0.
  19. ^ a b Peterson, Kim (5 April 2005). "Canada, Racism, Genocide, and the Bomb: The Legacy of C.D. Howe". The Dominion (27). Archived from the original on 14 January 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  20. ^ Kuyek, Joan (12 September 2019). Unearthing Justice: How to Protect Your Community from the Mining Industry (in Arabic). Between the Lines. ISBN 978-1-77113-452-1.
  21. ^ Barnsley, Paul (1 August 1998). ""Village of widows" wants gov't attention (impact of radium and uranium mining on Dene people)". Windspeaker. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  22. ^ "Dene People Call for a Response to Uranium Deaths in Deline". The Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. 25 March 1998. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  23. ^ "Evidence - ENSU (36-1) - No. 63". House of Commons of Canada. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  24. ^ Bhatia, Gurcharan Singh (March 2000). Peace, Justice and Freedom: Human Rights Challenges for the New Millennium. University of Alberta. ISBN 978-0-88864-339-1.
  25. ^ May, Theresa J. (1 May 2022). "Kinship and Community in Climate-Change Theatre: Ecodramaturgy in Practice". Journal of Contemporary Drama in English. 10 (1): 164–182. doi:10.1515/jcde-2022-0011. ISSN 2195-0164. Archived from the original on 15 July 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  26. ^ "Cindy Kenny Gilday". La gouverneure générale du Canada (in French). Retrieved 3 August 2025.
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