
Meet the Sask. knowledge keeper who counsels the vulnerable and the powerful on hope and healing
CBC
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
Judy Pelly, 69, is a trusted adviser to some of Saskatoon's most vulnerable people and most powerful institutions.
On any given day, the residential school survivor may smudge and tell her story in a sharing circle with gang members or victims of domestic violence, then jump on a Zoom call to provide cultural advice to high-ranking officials from the Saskatoon police service, city hall, the provincial health authority, or the University of Saskatchewan.
The Anishinaabe grandmother works with 30 organizations.
"I usually like to go by cultural adviser or knowledge keeper. People use elder, and I don't feel like I quite fit that yet. I'm not wise enough," she said with a chuckle.
Most would respectfully disagree.
Pelly rarely turns down a request for help and works long hours, seven days a week. She focuses much of her time on helping institutions and agencies implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 calls to action.