Martha “Mida” Donnessey (1928 - 2018)
	
Mida Donnessey was born in the McDame area of northern British Columbia and grew up in Lower Post.((Paul Tukker, “Yukon remembers Mida Donnessey – Kaska elder and language advocate.” //CBC News,// 11 December 2019. 2020 website:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/mida-donnessey-yukon-Obituary-1.4941599.)) She was the daughter of Mary and Old Smiley and her mother’s father was well-known Kaska elder George Steel. She and her husband, Raymond Donnessey, raised a large family that she taught to trap and live on the land.((“Late elder was key in helping preserve rich Kaska culture.” //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 27 December 2018. 2021 website: https://www.whitehorsestar.com/News/late-elder-was-key-in-helping-preserve-rich-kaska-culture.))
	
Mida spent much of her adult life in the Upper Liard area. She was a midwife who delivered over forty babies, and she had an immense knowledge of traditional medicines that she shared. She was a reliable source of knowledge and skills to researchers even beyond Yukon and northern British Columbia. She was fluent in the Kaska language and spoke at an international conference in Hawaii on Indigenous languages. She helped researchers at the University of British Columbia develop an online dictionary of the Kaska language for future generations. Mida’s opening prayers at events often took twenty minutes, as she took every opportunity to reach out and teach about her culture.((Paul Tukker, “Yukon remembers Mida Donnessey – Kaska elder and language advocate.” //CBC News,// 11 December 2019. 2020 website:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/mida-donnessey-yukon-Obituary-1.4941599.)) She worked for thirty-eight years for the Council of Yukon Indians and more than eight years at the Watson Lake High School where she taught language and Kaska lifestyles.((Liard Aboriginal Women’s Society. 2021 website: http://www.liardaboriginalwomen.ca/index.php/mida-donnessey.))
	
Donnessey gave birth to seventeen children, most of whom survived. She became one of the most respected elders in the Yukon and was a strong voice against global warming and for the need to act. She was well-known for her skill in tanning, beading, and making moccasins and gloves and was committed to passing on the old ways of doing and living.((“Mida Donnessey.” Watson Lake, 2020 website: http://www.watsonlake.ca/celebrity/mida-donnessey/.)) In 2003, she received the Queen Elizabeth Gold Jubilee medal in recognition of her activities in preserving the Kaska culture.((“Late elder was key in helping preserve rich Kaska culture.” //Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 27 December 2018. 2021 website: https://www.whitehorsestar.com/News/late-elder-was-key-in-helping-preserve-rich-kaska-culture.))