Jenny Margetts, born Jane Maria Shirt, (14 June 1936 – 18 October 1991) was an Indigenous woman who advocated for women and children. She was born to Felix and Louisa Doghead Shirt on the Saddle Lake Reserve in Alberta, Canada. Growing up in a family of ten, she attended Blue Quills Indian Residential School for nine years. Following graduation from Victoria Composite High School in Edmonton, Alberta. she decided to enter the Dominican Order. Jenny traveled with Bishop Lussier by train and arrived in Quebec City, Quebec on April 22, 1954.Dominican Missionary Adorers. Sister Gilberte Baril. Correspondence June 2020. After six months as a postulant she became a novice and chose the name Louisa in honor of her mother. Sister Louisa spent the next two years in religious formation, learning French. Shortly after taking her First Vows returned to Saddle Lake to work in a newly established mission. She told of having a dream of a man crying, and her phoning home to Saddle Lake, and being told, “Come back. You do not belong there. We need you here.” During this period, she decided the religious life was not for her, and left the Order in June 1957. She remembered taking a social justice course from a priest who told her that even one person who is concerned can make changes. Three years later she married, started a family, and became an activist for Indigenous women and children.
