Soleil Launière 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 ...

writer, actress, performance artist and musician from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, who was the first

Indigenous Canadian Indigenous peoples in Canada (also known as Aboriginals) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of Canada. They comprise the First Nations in Canada, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis#Métis people in ...

artist ever to win the

Francouvertes Francouvertes is an annual music festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which spotlights emerging francophone and indigenous musical artists from Quebec. At the end of each year's festival, three finalists are named, following which a jury presents ...

competition for emerging musicians from

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, ...

. A member of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation from

Mashteuiatsh Mashteuiatsh is a First Nations reserve in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, about north from the centre of Roberval. It is the home to the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation. It is located on a headland jutting out on the w ...

, Quebec, she is the daughter of an Innu father and a québécoise mother, and her work is often themed in part on her status as an indigenous woman who can often

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland *Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *El Paso, Texas, a city which translates to "The Pass" * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see Li ...

for white. She launched the production company Auen Productions in 2019 to produce theatrical and performance work.Amelia H. Clark
"Soleil Launière: Montreal’s Must-See Multi-Disciplinary Artist"
''

McGill Daily ''The McGill Daily'' is an independent student newspaper at McGill University and is entirely run by students. Despite its name, the ''Daily'' has reduced its print publication to once a week, normally on Mondays, in addition to producing online- ...

'', November 4, 2024. Her stage play ''Akuteu'' was a

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 ...

nominee for French-language drama at the

2023 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2023 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 25, 2023, and the winners were announced on November 8.Indigenous Voices Award The Indigenous Voices Awards are a Canada, Canadian literary award program, created in 2017 to honour Indigenous literatures in Canada.

for French Poetry or Drama, and the awards for Poetry/Drama and Discovery at the 2024 Salon du livre du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. In 2023 she released the album ''Taueu'', which features songs performed in English, 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 ...

. In addition to her victory at the Francouvertes, she received

Félix Award The Félix Award ( is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' (ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian province of Quebec. The award The firs ...

nominations for Indigenous Artist of the Year and Indigenous Language Album of the Year at the

46th Félix Awards The 46th Félix Awards was held on November 3, 2024, to honour achievements in Quebec music. The ceremony was hosted by comedian Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais. The advance gala, presenting the awards in lower-profile and industry categories, was hel ...

in 2024. In the same year, she acted in the short film '' Katshinau (Les Mains sales)''. She identifies as

two-spirit ''Two-spirit'' (also known as ''two spirit'' or occasionally ''twospirited'', or abbreviated as ''2S'' or ''2E'', especially in Canada) is a umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a trad ...

.Joshua Janke
"Innu artist Soleil Launière debuts her Taueu album"
''Nation News'', November 13, 2023.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Launiere, Soleil 21st-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian film actresses Canadian stage actresses Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Canadian multimedia artists Canadian queer actresses Canadian queer writers Canadian queer artists First Nations actresses First Nations performance artists First Nations women artists First Nations dramatists and playwrights First Nations women singers Innu women musicians Innu women writers Actresses from Quebec Artists from Quebec Musicians from Quebec Writers from Quebec Two-spirit people LGBTQ women writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century First Nations musicians