Artistes passés
Louise Profeit-Leblanc
Louise is an internationally renown, traditional Storyteller from the Nacho Nyak Dun First Nation of Mayo, in northeastern Yukon. For well over 35 years she has been committed to the cultural and artistic heritage of Indigenous artists of Canada.
Prior to her move to Ottawa, where she served as the Aboriginal Arts Coordinator for the Canada Council for the Arts, she was employed by the Heritage Branch of the Yukon Government. It was during that tenure that she was introduced to the expansive, rich, art practices of traditional stories of Yukon First Nations people, which she fondly refers to as Yukon “orature.”
This ultimately inspired her with the founding of the Yukon International Storytelling Festival and several years of involvement with the Society of Yukon Artists of Native Ancestry, both which were germane to the evolution of public presentation for many Yukon First Nation cultural practices.
Despite her former full time employment at Canada Council, Louise continued to respond to requests from Aboriginal communities, gatherings, festivals and inner city school programs, to share traditional stories, teach the art of storytelling and provide many examples for teachers to use in their classes.
After many years as a storyteller Louise now realizes that stories have the power to teach, to educate, but most of all the power to heal; to bring listeners to a higher level of spiritual awareness, resulting in an increase in our own understanding and awareness as human beings and how we should aspire to treat one another on this precious planet we all share.
Louise believes that each person on earth has their own story and if each one of us had the opportunity to share and hear each other’s story, the world would become a much more peaceful place to live in. In the words of one of her Elders and mentor, Angela Sidney, “We should “live our life like a story!” This is a role she feels honoured to uphold in her own life as a storyteller.
She realizes also that reconciliation will not be possible in Canada, without all of our stories being heard. Stories are the bridge to understanding and forgiveness and by building friendships through story, we can become more aware of how to eradicate many of the injustices which caused these separations in the first place. Searching for our own truth will get us there.
Louise has had the privilege to be invited as a guest storyteller to many international venues including Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, Wales, Germany, Belize, Greenland, Norway, Chile, Cost Rica and Hawaii and many other communities across Canada and the USA.
Although she is now retired, she finds herself working full time as a storyteller, poet, short story writer, textile artist and Indigenous Arts Consultant.
