Mourning Leona Newkinga Simon, Mi’kmaq-Inuk artist and advocate

It is with tremendous sorrow that we, like everyone else, received news of the passing of Leona Newkinga Simon, an amazing young woman of Mi’kmaq and Inuit descent.

Learning the ways of her ancestors came easy to Leona, and as child she was connected to Elsipogtog First Nation where she had the wonderful blessing of having an elder teacher mother by her side. For those of us who came to know Leona, however briefly, we recognize that in her too short life she made a significant difference.

When the national inquiry hearings into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG ) came to Moncton in 2018, Leona, along with other two other vibrant individuals, presented as a member of the critical Youth Panel. There Leona shared the story of her aunt, Gladys Marie Simon, one of the thousands of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Gladys Simon had disappeared from a hospital in Campbellton, New Brunswick in 2004. In this reflection, Leona told the inquiry that she personally suffered from depression and anxiety linked to that intimate history and, during this time, she advocated for Aboriginal-led mental health facilities and services.

In the summer of 2019, Leona accompanied a University of New Brunswick Faculty of Education group during a land-based learning experience in Wabanaki territory. Her gregarious presence along with her contagious laugh was a balm for the group of graduate students learning from Elders’ lessons that were sometimes difficult, about settler colonialism and systemic violence imposed on lands and bodies.

Leona was a very talented artist. During our study tour, she patiently shared her craft of beading with students at the Metapanagieg Heritage Site and Park. Leona had begun beading around 2015 and took it seriously. Her beadwork was creative, beautiful, and meticulously done, and she told the MMIWG inquiry that she found a certain peacefulness in doing it.

Leona received many commissions for her beadwork, including for such prestigious personalities as singer Buffy Sainte-Marie and two-time Polaris prize winner Jeremy Dutcher. She had also presented one of her beaded medallions to Indigenous children’s rights advocate Cindy Blackstock at Mount Allison University in 2019, and to two Wolastoqey language warriors, Elders Imelda Perley and David Perley, that same year.

Many of us are privileged to wear her Red Shawl Medallion and, on each year on October 4, as I [Margaret] wear this significant symbol recognizing #MMIWG, I will remember Leona with gratitude and reverence, for the spirit and the effort she provided as a kind and thoughtful youth leader.

It was not only in the area of beading where Leona was gifted. When the contracted food provider fell through for the first leg of the land-based course, she joyfully took up the challenge of providing sustenance to the UNB group during our stay in Kouchibouguac National Park. Our tummies were full of her delicious preparations, and as I recall, we especially loved her Indian tacos, which, incidentally, she also sold at powwows for years, along with her mom, Andrea Simon.

In the last few years, and during the pandemic, Leona struggled as she was troubled with physical ailments and mental health issues—it was challenging for her to thrive to her full capacity during this time. Although her family stayed connected, they lost contact with her recently and put out a missing person alert on September 18. Her family never gave up hope, but they were contacted on September 24 by the Halifax RCMP after Leona’s body was recovered.

Since the news of Leona’s passing was revealed, tributes to her have flooded social media from family, friends, and people of all walks of life that she encountered and touched.

Leona’s spirit will live on in our hearts and memories—and she will be profoundly missed by all of us. The world was a better place with her in it.

Our hearts go out to her family and loved ones, and to all the lives she touched.