In memory and gratitude for a remarkable life lived with commitment, compassion, and courage. kinanaskomânaw, Kétéskwēw (Madeleine, Dion Stout)

January 12, 2026

On behalf of our BC Indigenous Health Research Team, we extend our deepest condolences to Kétéskwēw’s husband and daughters and to her wide circle of family from Kehewin, Maskwacîs, BC, and across Turtle Island and beyond. We hold you in our prayers and in our hearts as you grieve the loss of your loved one.

 

As a founding member of the Grandmothers Council, we honor and remember Kétéskwēw (Madeleine Dion Stout) with profound gratitude for a life lived in service, courage, and compassion and spirit. With deep respect for her family, her Nation, and all those she guided, kinanaskomânaw we give thanks for the extraordinary gift of Cree intelligence and wisdom she shared with the world of nursing and beyond.

Kétéskwēw reminded us that nursing is a sacred calling rooted in relationality, responsibility, and care for one another. She challenged us to think beyond the limits of Western thought and to place First Nations, Inuit, and Métis knowledge, language, and lived experience at the centre of nursing practice. Through her teachings, stories, and scholarship, she illuminated Cree ontology and epistemology, affirming Indigenous knowledge systems as vital, living sources of understanding, health, and healing.

Her life journey reflected remarkable strength and resilience—from surviving the harms of colonial policies to achieving academic excellence and receiving numerous honors for her service. Yet it was her humility, clarity, and generosity of spirit that most deeply shaped us. She helped us see ourselves more fully, to live in the present, and to recognize health as a state of being within the cyclical nature of life, death, and renewal, where endings and beginnings are united and intertwined.

As her students, colleagues, friends, and family gather her in blankets of love, we carry forward her teachings with responsibility and care. Her legacy calls us to continue the work—to honor Indigenous knowledge, resist erasure, and shape nursing practices grounded in equity, respect, and relational knowing. Until we meet again, we walk the path she helped to clear, remembering always her teaching that “the poverty of one is the poverty of all.”

We will carry her words in our bundles, closely, carefully and with deep care and gratitude. We will be creating an online memorial, on the IHNR please watch for details and you can share your thoughts and tributes to an amazing Cree Nursing Leader.