Short Biography
Vicky Laforge is an Indigenous entrepreneur and photographer based
out of Nipissing First Nation. Since 2007,
she has offered her services for events, weddings, family portraits,
websites, stock images as well as artwork photography. Wedding photography has been her main work over the last six years. Focussing on the process of your day and keeping it calm and enjoyable is her focus.
Her passion for using photography as a tool for community-building is demonstrated in her commitment to mentoring youth and providing educational workshops.
As a trained social worker, Vicky has a breadth of experience in both
government and non-profit sectors. Her work as an advocate and
artist is rooted in social justice and focuses powerfully on the
experiences of Indigenous children and women in Canada. She is the
proud mother to her eleven-year-old daughter, and a former foster
parent to nineteen children.
Vicky has worked on a collaborative photography project with
Indigenous youth to raise awareness around Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and Girls in Saskatoon, while she lived there in 2019. The project
was a rendition of the REDress installation created by Metis artist, Jaime Black.
The project addressed the ongoing concern of violence against Indigenous women and girls in the regional context of Saskatchewan.
An installation and exhibit was held in honour of the Survivors, loved
ones and family members of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019. This healing project was Vicky’s effort in attempting to educate the public on how the Saskatoon youth were vulnerable to abuse and how they had been affected within their own lives by MMIWG. After personally testifying with the MMIWG process Vicky wanted her healing process to include a creative process which would make a positive difference in the difficult processes that take place once murder takes place in Canada.
Vicky has worked as a social worker focussing on her skills as an experienced trainer and facilitator. She has focussed her abilities on educating addictions workers in Canada and has completed projects in Ontario with the Ontario Indigenous Addictions workers through the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, .
Vicky has designed training manuals for national indigenous organizations, the federal and provincial governments, National and local Inuit organizations (training staff at women’s shelters in collaboration with the RCMP), harm reduction training for the Canadian Aboriginal Aids Network, created National Culturally appropriate training manuals and applicable training programs to meet the specific needs of various organizations and Indigenous communities through consultations with Indigenous parents and youth within remote Indigenous communities of northern Ontario.
VICKY LAFORGE.ca 