Constance Jean Fife (1961 – 2017)

Connie Fife was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, the daughter of Joy Rusic originally from Kinistino, Saskatchewan. Connie was a Cree Metis poet who started publishing her work in the 1980s. .¹⁾ She published three books of poetry and edited several anthologies. From 1990 to 1992 she was a writer-in-residence at the En'owkin School of Writing in Penticton, British Columbia. In 2000, she was awarded the special one-time Prince and Princess Edward Prize in Aboriginal Literature from the Canadian Council for the Arts.²⁾

Connie was a survivor of the 1960s “Scoop” and was raised by an Anglican minister John and Joyce Fife in Saskatchewan, Fiji and England. Connie returned to Canada as a young woman and became involved in indigenous rights, lesbian rights, and literary projects. Over the years, she participated in indigenous literary gatherings in most major Canadian cities. Her son, Russell, was born in 1981. Connie lived her last years at Haines Junction and was able to reconnect with her original family. Up to 2001, her work was based on the life stories of others. That year she began an unfinished collection, Returned, about the many sides of the Scoop era.³⁾