Kree Cree, the defender of the rights of Indigenous peoples and the issues facing Indigenous communities across the country and based in Calgary, was awarded the highest citizenship medal in Canada, Dorin Spence of Indigenous Peoples of Canadaz.

She described the moment as surreal and said, "Is this really happening or am I dreaming? The special thing for me is that the Governor General is herself Indigenous."

Spence became one of the first licensed Indigenous nurses in Canada in the late 1950s when she began her career 40 years ago. Spence’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for the 1000 Women for Peace project in 2005 was lost.

Saddle Lake Cree in northern Alberta is also a representative of Canada and the oldest among us, considered Chair of the Board of the United Nations Group and the worker concerned with Indigenous peoples, where she drafted global standards for human rights.

Spence, at one of many parties, works with nursing students at Mount Royal University, teaching them Indigenous perspectives in treatment, education, and learning.

Tania Stojery, who accompanied Spence to Ottawa for the ceremony, said: "There is so much for grandma, she is old. She is a doctor. She – you cannot sum her up." "This award sums her up a lot; she really transcends everything when she was a young 85 years old."

Stojery, a professor of education at MRU, says her work is not over yet. Spence herself says she has no plans to slow down and will continue to devote her efforts to the causes she is passionate about.

She says it is always about building relationships through love and kindness to give the best to our environment. "We must have clean drinking water for our future generations; we must breathe pure air as a people, and these are very important things, basic human rights issues that we face as Indigenous people every day."

"We have to fight or continue to strive for our rightful place in the life cycle."

Edited by: Yusra Bamtraf