Cathy Elliott, 60, on Oct. 15. Elliott, a member of the Sipekne’katik First Nation in Nova Scotia, performed from coast to coast for 35 years, much of her work highlighting the experiences and culture of First Nations communities. The playwright, actor and composer held roles and worked on productions across the country, including The Talking Stick, an all-Indigenous musical commissioned by the Charlottetown Festival that Elliott wrote and directed. Its finale was performed for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to PEI in 2011, and a concert version performed at the 2011 Halifax Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Gathering. Elliott’s screenplay for the DAREarts documentary Fill My Hollow Bones was narrated by Graham Green. Elliott appeared on the NAC Indigenous Theatre stage last season in Children of God, a musical about the children of an Oji-Cree family taken to a Northern Ontario residential school. The National Arts Centre in Ottawa flew its flags at half-staff for three days to honour Elliott.
