SHAWNA LYNN FORESTER Obituary (1982 - 2025)

Born Nov 22, 1982, SHAWNA LYNN FORESTER attended Sisler High School in Winnipeg, MB. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Shawna Lynn Forester.

Graduation Year	Class of 2000
Date of Birth	Nov 22, 1982
Date of Passing	Feb 14, 2025
About	SHAWNA LYNN FORESTER SMITH After a long and courageous battle, and with her family by her side, our beloved Shawna Lynn Forester Smith passed away on February 14, 2025, at the age of 42. Shawna leaves behind and is deeply missed by her husband Brent Smith and his parents Chris and Bonnie, her mother Donna, father Reg and sister Melissa Forester. She is also survived by birth mother Lynne Fraser and sisters Cindy and Abby Fraser-Shadbolt and Carla Collier of Thunder Bay, and her many sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins in the Chartrand-Chief and Peden families of Swan River. Shawna was born in Dauphin on November 22, 1982, and lived her life in Winnipeg. She grew up in Tyndall Park, graduating from Sisler High School. She considered and pursued a degree in nursing, an early sign of her passion for health care advocacy and reform, before enrolling in the Creative Communications program at Red River College Polytechnic in 2013, where she met her future husband Brent and many life-long friends. She went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Winnipeg in 2007 and, even while facing several health setbacks including defending her thesis from a hospital room, her Masters of Arts in Health Leadership from Royal Roads in 2014. While in college, Shawna worked in marketing and public relations for an independent record label and spent several years in public relations and change management for the WRHA before her health declined to the point she had to go on permanent disability. But as she always said, that’s when her real work began. Shawna was a tireless advocate for health care reform, and fought for positive change and for the rights, safety and dignity of patients and long-term residents like herself for over 15 years. She put her talent, experience, and deep understanding of the health care system to work as a constant voice for the unheard through her writing, art, membership in support groups, mentoring indigenous post-secondary students and corresponding with indigenous federal prisoners. After entering the Chronic Care program, she stood up for her fellow residents and the staff at Riverview Health Centre, successfully getting decisions to transfer all residents to another facility and cut nursing jobs reversed. During COVID-19 lockdowns, she made social media dispatches and gave interviews to call attention to the effects on those in chronic and personal care facilities. More recently she started an online petition calling for improvements to ER staffing, wait times and bottlenecks. Over the years, Shawna personally helped hundreds, if not more, people navigate the system. Shawna was a gifted and prolific writer. She received her first publishing credit at age eight and never looked back. As part of her health care advocacy, she wrote blogs, letters to the editor and gave interviews, providing insight into her life and experiences as a chronically ill and disabled person navigating the health care system while still living life to the fullest. Shawna was, among many enviable traits, incredibly brave and persistent and would go out on a limb to make things happen. After enough people told her that her writing should be in the paper, she made a pitch to the Winnipeg Free Press and in February 2024, earned herself a biweekly column devoted to her experiences as a patient living with chronic illness and disability. Every week for the last year of her life, she received emails, letters, calls, gifts and visits from readers impacted by her words and spirit. At the time of her passing, her column is nominated for a National Newspaper Award. She was also recognized in January 2025 with a King Charles the Third Coronation Medal from the Governor General of Canada for the significant contributions she made to Manitobans and Canadians over her 15+ years of advocacy. Shawna was not only a writer but a talented artist working in mixed-media and traditional beadwork. She spent countless hours drawing, painting, and crafting handmade cards, postcards, letters and more to brighten the days of her loved ones. It’s impossible to know just how many people have a Shawna original on their wall, mantel or fridge because she never stopped creating. Shawna was courageous, caring, wickedly funny and sarcastic, genuine, with a smile that lit up the whole world. Just some of the things she loved include Hawaii, peacocks, McCafe coffee with two milk, orange Tic Tacs, popsicles, fettucine alfredo, veggie spring rolls, silly stuffies, medical dramas, indie rock, discovering new art supplies and techniques, her Reform Jewish faith and Ojibwe heritage, and most of all, her family and friends who made life worth living and gave her the strength to keep fighting right to the end. Funeral services will be held on Monday, February 24, 11:00 a.m. at Temple Shalom Winnipeg, 1077 Grant Avenue. Burial and reception will follow at Chapel Lawn Funeral Home and Cemetary, 4000 Portage Avenue. Shawna’s family would like to thank the staff of Lodge 7 at Deer Lodge Centre and Unit 2W at Riverview Health Centre before that, for their care and support of Shawna in her final years. Thanks as well to the ICU team at Grace Hospital and all the health care workers who went above and beyond for Shawna all these years. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Deer Lodge Centre Foundation, 2109 Portage Avenue, Wpg, MB R3J 0L3 www.deerlodgecentrefoundation.com/donate or any charitable organization that you feel Shawna would’ve supported. Chapel Lawn Funeral Home 204-885-9715 Tribute Link: www.chapellawn.ca As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Feb 22, 2025