Georgina Lightning — trailblazing Indigenous actor, filmmaker — dead at 63

Georgina Lightning had a decades-long career in film and television. Born in Samson Cree Nation, an hour south of Edmonton, her many roles included playing Sophia on the CBC TV show Trickster. A trickster? Are you sure? Sure as rain. Starring alongside her daughter Crystal, that role garnered Lightning a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. I've been seeing things. I'm having crazy dreams. She was known for her 2008's Older Than America, considered one of the first major films made in North America by an Indigenous woman. She really smashed any barrier or obstacle that was in her way. And as a First Nations woman, you know, made her space and place at the top caliber of the film industry. Lightning also appeared on Blackstone, an all-Indigenous series set on a fictional reserve. Tracy. Playing a character she said tapped into the struggles of First Nations people. This is a portrayal of real, you know, Indian country. We both played alcoholics on that show and just not, you know, but it was so important to her and I to both be really true to the stories of these human beings and not to caricature them or to stereotype who they were. Michelle Thrush says Lightning was most at home with her family by her side. Before she was an actor or a director or a producer, she was a mom and that, I mean, was first and foremost for anything in Georgie's life. Lightning's latest project, a documentary on the sport of Indian relay race. She loves, loves horses, the Indian relay and what it's doing for our communities, for our young people. Friends of the family confirmed to CBC News that she died at a race in Enoch Cree Nation, just outside of Edmonton, but no one is offering details. Lightning was 63 years old. Stephanie Cram, CBC News, Edmonton.