b'CHAMPION FOR CHANGE KEEPING THEBy Nikita Weiss DayCONVERSATION GOINGAs ONWAs Executive Director, Cora McGuire-Cyrette works hard to ensure the voices of Indigenous women are heard and acknowledgedT his year, the Ontario Native Womens Association (ONWA) celebrates its 50th year in operation, making it the oldest and largest Indigenous womens organization in Canada. The women who began this journey bravely and boldly spoke out about what was going on in their communities, even when it was not necessarily safe to do so. In the words of ONWAs Executive Director Cora McGuire-Cyrette, who joined the organization in 2006, they came together to talk about violence, not only family violence, but systemic violence. McGuire-Cyrette took on her current position at the organization in 2015 to continue that very important conversation, and since doing so she has increased the volume of this discourse and strength-ened the impact of ONWAs ongoing work. She has tripled programs, increased the associations employment by 400 per cent and expanded its services to over 30,000 people across the province during the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, McGuire-Cyrette has joined a growing sisterhood of Indigenous women leaders who are making a positive difference in the lives of Indigenous women and children across the country.44Fall/Winter 2021'