A woman with long dark hair, wearing colourful beaded earrings and a matching necklace.
Tammy G. Wolfe, a member of Norway House Cree Nation, is a UM PhD candidate, beadwork artist, educator and host of the Truth Before Reconciliation podcast.
Estimated Read Time:
3 minutes
Indigenous

Every bead carries a story

UM PhD candidate Tammy G. Wolfe explores how beadwork can carry stories and support healing for families of MMIWG2S+.

Estimated Read Time:
3 minutes
Tammy G. Wolfe, a member of Norway House Cree Nation, is a UM PhD candidate, beadwork artist, educator and host of the Truth Before Reconciliation podcast.
By

Sue Wang

Among Tammy G. Wolfe’s beadwork is a small honey pot—a tribute to her mother, who was murdered in Winnipeg more than 20 years ago.

“My mom used to call everybody ‘honey,’” Wolfe says.

For her doctoral research at University of Manitoba (UM), Wolfe brought together families affected by the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S+) through beadwork sharing circles in Manitoba and British Columbia. 

A beaded honey jar with several small bees in progress on white felt, beside blue felt and strands of white beads.
A smiling baby, held upright by her smiling mother.
Left: Wolfe’s beaded honey pot, created in memory of her mother. Right: Wolfe as a baby with her mother. Photos supplied by Tammy G. Wolfe.
Beyond a single day

Since 2017, Manitoba has recognized October 4 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness Day. Across Canada, October 4 is also observed as Sisters in Spirit Day and a National Day of Action.

For Wolfe, a member of Norway House Cree Nation, the day is deeply personal. She says her mother’s case remains unsolved and was not adequately investigated. The loss changed the direction of her education and research.

Before beginning her PhD at UM, Wolfe completed a master’s degree in Indigenous Governance at the University of Winnipeg.

“My master’s research wasn’t about the degree for me,” she says. “What I really wanted to do was tell my mom’s story.”

That research centred the experiences of families of MMIWG2S, particularly their interactions with policing. It also led Wolfe to ask how healing could continue after families shared their truths.

The answer brought her back to beadwork.

A person stitches red beads in circular patterns onto a piece of red fabric.
An intricate red beaded collar surrounded by red feathers and displayed on a black dress form.
A woman holds a partially completed red beadwork piece while sitting with other participants at a table.
Details from Wolfe’s Remembering Our Loved Ones, a red dress created in honour of her mother and to raise awareness of MMIWG2S+.
How beadwork becomes medicine

Beadwork has long been part of Wolfe’s life, shaping her art, her teaching and her doctoral research—a project she calls Beadwork is Medicine.

In this context, “medicine” refers to what reconnects people with themselves, their cultures, the land, their identities and their relationships.

“For me, beadwork is a comfort,” she says. “You’re not really mentally thinking about anything else but what you’re focusing on.”

Guided by Indigenous cultural teachings and protocols, the research circles were supported by an Elder or Knowledge Keeper and included opening songs and other cultural practices. When facilitating a circle herself, Wolfe often begins with a smudge. She prepares the materials but allows the gathering to unfold organically rather than following a rigid agenda.

This approach leaves room for both conversation and silence. A comment can bring forward a memory, while a colour, pattern or bead may carry meaning known only to the maker and their family. Wolfe’s research looks not only at the finished pieces, but also at the relationships that take shape through making.

“There’s a relationship and a comfort that allows storytelling to flow,” Wolfe says.

Her research considers how identity, culture, relationships, belonging and community can help beadwork support holistic healing.

“I hope this work actually does what I would like it to do,” she says, “which is to help people heal.”

There’s a relationship and a comfort that allows storytelling to flow. I hope this work actually does what I would like it to do—which is to help people heal.

Tammy G. Wolfe

Three views of a red ribbon skirt and feathered beaded collar on a dress form, alongside beadwork in progress.
A poster of the Truth before Reconciliation podcast.
A symmetrical floral beadwork design with colourful flowers, green stems and white roots on dark red fabric.
From left: Wolfe’s Remembering Our Loved Ones red dress; her Truth Before Reconciliation podcast; and beadwork created during her time as Indigenous Scholar-in-Residence at the Manitoba Museum from 2022 to 2023.
From research to action at UM

Wolfe entered UM’s PhD program in 2022 and is completing the final revisions to her dissertation. She credits her supervisor, Dr. Merissa Daborn , and her doctoral committee with helping her strengthen the project and deepen her exploration of beadwork as a practice of holistic and collective healing.

Her work also reaches beyond academia. Since 2019, she has hosted Truth Before Reconciliation , a podcast exploring Indigenous histories, colonial policies and their ongoing effects.

That commitment to public education carries into the classroom at UM. This term, Wolfe is teaching in the Department of Political Studies; next term, she will teach in the Department of Indigenous Studies.

“We are living history,” she tells her students. “In the future, we're going to look back on now and think about what we've done.”

“We remember our loved ones all year,” she says. “Not just on that day, not just on their birthday, not just on special occasions—every day.”

She hopes the UM community will learn about MMIWG2S+, listen to families with empathy and consider what change they can advance through their studies and work.

“I don't just want you to go to an event on October 4,” Wolfe says. “I want you to take action every day.”

I don’t just want you to go to an event on October 4. I want you to take action every day.

Tammy G. Wolfe

MMIWG2S+ Advocacy & Two-Spirit Representation

Learn more and get involved
 

On October 2 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the UM Centre for Human Rights Research will host Adrienne Huard and Anna Huard for MMIWG2S+ Advocacy & Two-Spirit Representation in Room 200, Education Building. The event is free and open to all.

Support is available 24/7 through the national MMIWG Crisis Line at 1-844-413-6649.

Two red feathers with black and gold tips hanging from a black metal ring against a white background.

Boilerplate: reconciliation

At UM, we are working together to advance reconciliation for transformative change, which is among the commitments you’ll find in MomentUM: Leading change together, the University of Manitoba’s 2024–2029 strategic plan.