Geneviève McKenzie-Sioui, sometimes performing under the name Shanipiap, is an

Innu The Innu/Ilnu ('man, person'), formerly called Montagnais (French for ' mountain people'; ), are the Indigenous Canadians who inhabit northeastern Labrador in present-day Newfoundland and Labrador and some portions of Quebec. They refer to ...

musician, writer, television creator, and activist in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Born in

Matimekosh Matimekosh (or Matimekush, officially Matimekosh 3) is a First Nations reserve on Lake Pearce in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. Together with the Lac-John Reserve, it belongs to the Innu Nation of Matimekush-Lac John. It is an enclave ...

in 1956, she later relocated to

Wendake Wendake () is the current name for two urban reserves, Wendake 7 () and Wendake 7A, () of the Huron-Wendat Nation in the Canadian province of Quebec. They are enclaves entirely surrounded by the La Haute-Saint-Charles borough of Quebec City, w ...

. She is a singer-songwriter in the

Innu language Innu-aimun or Montagnais is an Algonquian language spoken by over 10,000 Innu in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada. It is a member of the Cree–Montagnais– Naskapi dialect continuum and is spoken in various dialects depending on the c ...

, and an author in both Innu and in French, has been the producer/director/presenter of her own children's television program on

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is a group of Television in Canada, Canadian Specialty channel, specialty television channels based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The channels broadcast programming produced by or highlighting Indigenous p ...

and

TFO TFO is a Canadian French language educational television channel and media organization serving the province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario French-language Educational Communications Authority (OTELFO), a Crown corporation owned by t ...

, and has recently been active in the

Idle No More Idle No More is an ongoing protest movement, founded in December 2012 by four women: three First Nations women and one non-Native ally. It is a grassroots movement among the Indigenous peoples in Canada comprising the First Nations, Métis a ...

movement.

References

1956 births 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century First Nations musicians 21st-century First Nations women Canadian women singer-songwriters Innu people Singers from Quebec 21st-century Canadian drummers First Nations women singers People from Côte-Nord Living people Canadian writers in French Idle No More Innu women writers Innu writers Innu women musicians 20th-century Canadian drummers Canadian women drummers {{Canada-singer-songwriter-stub