Joséphine Bacon is an aboriginal person from Betsiamites. Director of film documentaries, she is equal parts poet and songwriter. Her songs, which include Mishapan Nitassinan, are performed by Chloé Sainte-Marie. She has recently published a series of poems in Aimititau! Parlons-nous! In 2014 she was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and in May 2010, she was awarded the Prix des lecteurs du Marché de la Poésie de Montréal for her poem “Dessine-moi l’arbre,” from her book Message Sticks/ Tshissinuatshitakana. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Montréal as well as a Companion of the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec. She was the subject of a 2020 documentary, Call Me Human (Je m’appelle humain). She lives in Montreal.
Photo credit: Jean-Christophe Stefanovitch.
