Dianne Meili

Dianne Meili, the great-granddaughter of well-known Cree Elder, Victoria Callihoo, was born in Calgary in 1957. After studying journalism at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, she worked as a newspaper reporter, public relations officer and was the editor of Windspeaker—Alberta’s bi-weekly Native newspaper—for two years. It was during her time at Windspeaker that she became aware of the need for a book to chronicle the thoughts and experiences of Alberta’s Native elders. She spent the following eighteen months travelling throughout Alberta interviewing elders from ten different tribes. Dianne currently lives in Peace River.