Cathy Elliott (1957–2017) was a

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

artist, musician, composer and playwright and member of the Sipekne'katik Mi'kmaq First Nation in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, Canada. She was known for working with Indigenous youth across Canada to express their culture through theatre and documentary film. She worked for several years with the DAREarts program and also wrote the first all-Indigenous musical to be offered at the

Charlottetown Festival The Charlottetown Festival is a seasonal Canadian musical theatre festival which has run from late May to mid-October every year since 1965. The Charlottetown Festival is hosted in Confederation Centre of the Arts every year. Named after its host c ...

. The musical, ''The Talking Stick'', was premiered in Prince Edward Island for the visit of the Duke and

Duchess of Cambridge Duke of Cambridge is a hereditary title of nobility in the British royal family, one of several royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom. The title is named after the city of Cambridge in England. It is heritable by male descendants by primogeni ...

in 2011. Elliott was struck by a car and killed while walking alongside a road in

Essa, Ontario Essa is a township in Ontario, Canada, west and south of the city of Barrie, Ontario, Barrie in Simcoe County. It is bounded by County Road 90 to its north, County Road 27 to its east, and Ontario Highway 89 to its south. The township is about ...

, on October 15, 2017.

Early life and family

Elliott was born 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, ...

on June 5, 1957, to Roger Cormier, an

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

, and Frances Bernard Cormier, who was Irish and Mi'kmaq. Her maternal grandfather ran away from residential school. Roger Cormier worked in the financial sector and as a result, the family lived in a number of locations in Canada, as well as

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

, Spain and Trinidad. Elliott studied graphic arts at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

and theatre at

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District in downtown Toronto, although i ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Her early work was in set design, costumes and it was later she began to work more as a musician, director and actor. Elliott was married to Peter Elliott and the marriage ended in 1991. Elliott moved in with her best friend and partner

Leslie Arden Leslie Arden is a Canadians, Canadian musical theatre composer, lyricist and librettist. She is best known for her work ''The House of Martin Guerre'' (co-book by Anna Theresa Cascio) produced by Theatre Plus (1993), the Goodman Theatre (1996) i ...

in 1992. Arden and Elliott made their home in

Alliston, Ontario Alliston is a settlement in Simcoe County, Ontario, Simcoe County in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It has been part of the Town of New Tecumseth, Ontario, New Tecumseth since the 1991 amalgamation of All ...

. The two worked closely together and collaborated on a number of projects.

Career

Elliott's professional career spanned more than thirty-five years where she was active in a variety of genres where she was featured as a writer, actor, playwright, composer and musician, making appearances across Canada. Her work frequently made reference to her Indigenous heritage and issues related to indigeneity in Canada. Known also as an educator and for her commitment to future generations of Indigenous people, Elliott worked extensively with Indigenous youth, particularly in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

. She was also known for her work with theatre students and as compassionate and generous teacher and person. In 2011, Elliott premiered a musical entitled ''The Talking Stick''. The production was put on by the Young Company of the Charlottetown Festival and featured stories and songs of Indigenous people in Canada and the entire cast was made up of Indigenous youth. Elliott had many credits as an actor taking part in productions in major cities across Canada, as well as smaller productions. In the summer of 2017, she appeared at the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) () is a Arts centre, performing arts organization in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one ...

in Ottawa in a musical by Corey Payette. Elliott played the part of Rita in Payette's ''Children of God'' is a story in which children from an Oji-Cree family are taken to a residential school in Northern Ontario. The National Arts Centre marked her death and contributions to arts in Canada by lowering their flags for three days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Cathy 1957 births 2017 deaths Canadian stage actresses First Nations women writers Canadian women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights First Nations actresses First Nations dramatists and playwrights Canadian theatre directors Canadian women theatre directors Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Canadian LGBTQ actresses Writers from Nova Scotia Actresses from Nova Scotia 20th-century First Nations writers 21st-century First Nations writers 20th-century First Nations women 20th-century First Nations musicians 21st-century First Nations women 21st-century First Nations people 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian women writers Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Lesbian dramatists and playwrights First Nations women artists 20th-century First Nations artists