Wendy Morton is a poet and highly effective facilitator known for her remarkable impact in making poetry publicly accessible. As well, her forays into poetic projects with Indigenous communities are contributing to healing and inter-generational bridges within those communities.

A creative force with a limitless imagination, Ms. Morton used her noteworthy powers of persuasion to convince WestJet to name her Poet of the Skies; and then Daimler Chrysler named her Poet of the Road. She is the visionary and founder behind a national movement entitled Random Acts of Poetry, in which poets across Canada read poems to strangers, and give them books. The movement spread across Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. It was used in middle schools, adult literacy programs and English as a Second Language classes.

Her poem “If I had a name like Rosie Fernandez” is on the label of Southbrook Vineyards Cabernet Merlot, Poetica series.

In 2009, she began working with Indigenous students throughout B.C., teaching them to be poets, and how to use the form to explore the stories of their Elders and turn them into poems. . Called The Elder Project, the resulting 18 chapbooks written by the students showcase the resilience of Indigenous Elders in school districts across B.C. and at Torngat Mountains National Park in Northern Labrador, where she worked with Inuit students and their Elders.

The Elder Project gained notice by the B.C. English Language Teachers and the University of British Columbia/British Columbia Principal’s & Vice-Principals’ Association. This year, as part of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action and at the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education, The Elder Project Series was a featured presentation on the world stage.

She has been recognized with: the Inaugural Spirit Bear Award, founded by Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier to recognize contributions to poetry of the West Coast; The Golden Beret award by the Calgary Spoken Work Society for contribution both to the spoken word genre and to the growth and development of the poetic community; Honorary Citizenship award from the City of Victoria; Colleen Thibaudeau Outstanding Contribution Award from The League of Canadian Poets; and the Meritorious Service Medal, from the Governor General of Canada, for her projects which have brought honour to Canada.