Tina Keeper

Early Life and Education

Tina Keeper is the daughter of Order of Canada recipient Joseph Irvine Keeper and Anglican priest Phyllis Keeper. She is the granddaughter of renowned athlete and war hero Joseph Benjamin Keeper. She lived the first few years of her life in Chemawawin Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba. At the age of four, she moved with her family to Winnipeg. She is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. Keeper studied theatre at the University of Winnipeg from 1989 to 1992. She completed a BA in theatre in 2007.

Acting Career

Tina Keeper’s early film credits include the National Film Board's Mistress Madeleine (1986) and Smoked Lizard Lips (1991). In 1992, Keeper joined the cast of the CBC dramatic television series North of 60, set in the fictional Indigenous community of Lynx River in the Northwest Territories. Her portrayal of RCMP constable and single mother Michelle Kenidi earned her four Gemini Award (now Canadian Screen Awards) nominations for best actress (1994, 1995 1996 and 1998). In 1997, she received a Gemini for best actress in a continuing series. In addition to her 1995 Gemini Award nomination for North of 60, Keeper was also nominated for “best performance in a children’s or youth program or series” for For Angela and hosted the Gemini Awards that year. That same year, she won the “best performance by a female” award from the Alberta Film and Television Awards.

In 1998, North of 60 was cancelled and Keeper concentrated on various film and television projects including Heater (1999) and In The Blue Ground (1999), for which she received the American Indian Film Festival Award for best actress. She also appeared in Trial by Fire (2000), Dream Storm (2001) and Skins (2002), which featured Eric Schweig, Graham Greene and Gary Farmer and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Among Keeper's works are Another Country (2003), On the Corner (2003) and Distant Drumming: A North of 60 Mystery (2005). In 2005, Keeper was nominated for a Gemini Award for Distant Drumming: A North of 60 Mystery.

Social Activism

In 1997, Tina Keeper hosted a relief concert to benefit victims of the Manitoba flood (see also Floods in Canada). She has participated in the development and implementation of various educational programs dealing with Indigenous rights and violence against women (see also Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada). Keeper has been particularly active as a member of a visioning committee for a Manitoba suicide prevention program. In 2012, Keeper was named a TRC Honorary Witness during a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada National Event.

Political Career

In January 2006, Tina Keeper successfully ran as the federal Liberal candidate in the riding of Churchill. When she was elected, Keeper was the first Indigenous woman elected as a member of parliament for Manitoba. She held this position until 2008, serving as the public health and Canadian heritage critic for the Liberal party as the official opposition. During her time in Parliament, then Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered Canada’s apology for residential schools ( see Government Apology to Former Students of Residential Schools). Keeper put pressure on the government to allow Indigenous leaders to speak on the floor of the House of Commons following the apology. Despite initial refusal, Indigenous leaders were given the opportunity to speak on the floor after the apology.

Production Career and Kistikan Pictures

In addition to her acting career, Tina Keeper has contributed to the arts industry through her roles in production. Through her production company, Keeper Production, she is part of the joint production company Kistikan Pictures with Buffalo Gal Production. Keeper has served as president of Kistikan Pictures. Her work with Kistikan Pictures has included television shows and movies, including Cashing In and Acting Good, two TV shows in which Keeper also acted. Kistikan Pictures also produced the feature-length film Through Black Spruce, an adaptation of Joseph Boyden’s novel by the same name. In addition to her production work for Through Black Spruce, she also acted in the film. Keeper was the associate producer of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation. Beyond her production work, Keeper is a director of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Honours and Awards

• Best Actress in a Continuing Series, Gemini Awards (1997)
• Order of Manitoba (2002)
• Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal (2002)
• National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now Indspire Award) (2004)
• Meritorious Service Medal (2016)
• ACTRA National Woman of the Year (2017)
• August Schellenberg Award of Excellence, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (2017)
• Honorary Doctorate (DLitt), Wilfrid Laurier University (2017)
• Earle Grey Award (2020)
• 150 Manitoba Women Trailblazers Award, Nellie McClung Foundation (2021)
• Inducted, Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame (2023)
• Member, Order of Canada (2024)