Zoey Roy, Spoken Word Artist

Zoey Roy is a celebrated Nehithaw-Dene Halfbreed Métis poet and community-based educator based in Ottawa, Ontario where she raises her son, Tayo, with her partner, Omar. With her roots from Northern Saskatchewan, Zoey is a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, has lived in rural, remote, and urban communities all over Canada and calls Saskatoon, Saskatchewan home.

Zoey holds a Bachelor of Education from SUNTEP (Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program) where she specialized in elementary drama and English and a Master of Public Policy from Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy where she looked at the discretionary power of probation officers in Indigenous youth recidivism rates. Both programs are housed at the University of Saskatchewan. She is now pursuing a PhD in Education at York University where she is researching how collective songwriting reveals the medicinal properties of urban Indigenous communities.

Zoey has been a practicing spoken word poet and community-based educator for nearly 20 years. She is inspired by the tenets of hip hop. This is what she used to create a foundation for herself. Zoey went from being homeless, criminalized, and disenfranchised, to accessing, advocating for, and designing programs and services that lead to young people becoming more seen and heard. Zoey uses her poetry to vocalize the complexities of structural poverty and how it manifests in one’s life and illustrate what freedom looks like for her.

Zoey has received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Indspire Award, the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Saskatoon, the Saskatchewan Arts Board Award for Teaching and Learning, and is the University of Saskatchewan’s One to Watch.

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