Joséphine Bacon (born April 23, 1947), 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 ...

poet from

Pessamit Pessamit (formerly Betsiamites, or Bersimis), is a First Nations reserve and Innu community in the Canadian province of Quebec, located about southwest from Baie-Comeau along the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Betsi ...

in Quebec. She publishes in French and

Innu-aimun 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 com ...

. She has also worked as a translator, community researcher, documentary filmmaker, curator and as a songwriter for Chloé Sainte-Marie and . She has also curated an exhibit at the

Grande Bibliothèque The Grande Bibliothèque () is a public library in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its collection is part of (BAnQ), Quebec's national library. Membership in the library is free to all residents of Quebec. It has some 10,000 users per day ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

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, ...

and teaches at Kiuna Institution in

Odanak Odanak is an Abenaki First Nations reserve in the Central Quebec region, Quebec, Canada. The mostly First Nations population as of the 2021 Canadian census was 481. The territory is located near the mouth of the Saint-François River at its co ...

Life and career

Bacon was born in the Innu community of Pessamit in 1947 and spent the first five years of her life out on the land with her family before entering boarding school in

Maliotenam Maliotenam (Mani-Utenam in Innu-aimun) is a First Nations reserve in Quebec, located adjacent to the city of Sept-Îles. Together with Uashat some distance away, it forms the Innu The Innu/Ilnu ('man, person'), formerly called Mont ...

. In the 1960s she moved to

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

where she worked as a secretary, later attending secretarial school in Ottawa run by the Office of Aboriginal Affairs. She moved to Montreal in 1968 and later became a translator and transcriber for anthropologists interviewing important Innu elders and knowledge keepers in Labrador and Quebec. She is the subject of Kim O'Bomsawin's 2020 documentary film '' Call Me Human (Je m'appelle humain)''. She was appointed as an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2023. She currently resides in

Works

*''Désobéissons ! Eka pashishtetau !''. Tinqueux : Éditions du Centre de créations pour l'enfance, 2019 *''Uiesh , Quelque part''. Montréal, Mémoire d’encrier, 2018 *''A tea in the tundra = Nipishapui nete mushuat''. translated by Donald Winkler. Bookland Press, 2017 *''Guetter l'aurore : littératures et résistances, 1944-2014''. Genouilleux: Passe du Vent, 2014 *''Akin Kadipendag Trickster''. Montreal: Possible Editions, 2014 *''Mingan my village : poems by Innu schoolchildren''. translated by Solange Messier. Fifth House Publishers, 2014 *''Un thé dans la toundra = Nipishapui nete mushuat''. Mémoire d'encrier, 2013 *''Mingan, mon village : poèmes d'écoliers innus''. co-authored with Rogé,Laure Morali, Rita Mestokosho. Éditions de la Bagnole,2012 *''Nous sommes tous des sauvages''. co-authored with José Acquelin. Mémoire d'encrier, 2011 *''Bâtons à message, Message Sticks , Thissinuashitakana''. Montreal: Mémoire d'encrier, 2010 *''La créature des neiges = Kunapeu''. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2008

Filmography

Bacon has directed one documentary, and has worked as a translator and narrator in documentaries by film maker Arthur Lamothe and

Gilles Carle Gilles Carle, (July 31, 1928As fully funny, Carle had pleasure to always give himself one year less, and to let people think wrongly that he was born in 1929, "The Year of the Big World Crash": see on the Quebec French newspapers that many write ...

, including: *''Tshishe Mishtikuashisht - Le petit grand européen : Johan Beetz'' (1997) *''Ameshkuatan - Les sorties du castor'' (1978) Her first documentary film, about a meeting between Innu elders and clan mothers from

Kahnawake The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal. Establi ...

, has been lost. In 2025, she acted in Caroline Monnet's '' Rumble (Pidikwe)'', the film is selected in Forum Expanded at the

75th Berlin International Film Festival The 75th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, took place between 13 and 23 February 2025 in Berlin, Germany. American filmmaker Todd Haynes was named the Jury President for the main competition. It marked the f ...

, where it will have first screening in February 2025.

Awards and distinctions

* in the category of Quebecois poetry for her work ''Uiesh / Quelque part'', 2019 * Indigenous Voices Awards, in the category of works published in French, 2019 * Officer of l’Ordre de Montréal, 2018 * Champion of the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec, 2018 * Prix International Ostana – écritures en langue maternelle, 2017 * Reader's Prize at the Montreal Poetry Market for her poem "Dessine-moi l’arbre", 2010 * Honorary doctorate from

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

, 2016. *

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

finalist for ''Un thé dans la toundra/Nipishapui nete mushuat'', 2014 * Grand Prix du livre de Montréal finalist for ''Un thé dans la toundra/Nipishapui nete mushuat'', 2014

References

External links

Bacon
at kwahiatonhk, 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Josephine Living people 1947 births 21st-century translators 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century First Nations writers First Nations poets Innu women writers Innu writers Canadian women poets Poets from Montreal Officers of the Order of Canada