SALA | Margolese National Design for Living Prize

Sylvia McAdam
Idle No More

Sylvia McAdam, a citizen of the nêhiyaw (Cree) Nation, is one of four founders of Idle No More, the grassroots movement for indigenous sovereignty, rights, and the respect for the treaties to protect the environmental and create economic and social equality. In late 2015, in an attempt to address the seemingly unsolvable housing crisis in First Nations’ communities, she was part of a group who launched a crowdsourcing campaign, “One House, Many Nations,” to raise funds to build homes for First Nations. The campaign’s impact has been both symbolic and real, and has brought much-needed attention and awareness to the epidemic of homelessness that affects Canadians and Indigenous peoples, and particularly women.

Sylvia holds a Juris Doctorate (LLB) from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor of Human Justice from the University of Regina. She is the author of “Nationhood interrupted: Revitalizing nêhiyaw legal systems,” a compilation of teachings, language, and customs that have traditionally been orally shared and passed down through generations. Along with Idle No More co-founders, Jessica Gordon, Sheelah McLean, and Nina Wilson, Idle No More was awarded the 2013 Carol Geller Human Rights Award. The four colleagues were also named as Foreign Policy’s 2013 Top 100 Global Thinkers. Sylvia received the 2016 Margolese National Design for Living Prize.

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