A central Alberta Indigenous filmmaker is dead after a rodeo accident in Enoch on Saturday. Georgina Lightning was taking photos from a designated media area when a horse veered off course and struck her, Alberta RCMP said in a statement Sunday. Paramedics treated the 63-year-old at the scene, where she was pronounced dead. The Enoch Cree First Nation said in a Facebook post that Lightning died “following an incident at this evening’s Indian Relay event at the Enoch Rodeo Grounds.” Lightning’s daughter, Crystle, also shared the news on the social media platform. “I have lost my mother, my sons’ Kohkum, my matriarch, my role model, my confidant,” said Crystle, an actor and musician who co-created the hit musical Bear Grease. Lightning, a member of Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, was best known for writing, directing, producing and starring in the 2008 feature Older Than America, inspired in part by her family’s experiences in residential and boarding schools. Her other screen credits included Johnny Greyeyes, DreamKeeper, Blackstone, Trickster, Three Pines and Alaska Daily. Among those mourning her death Sunday was model Ashley Callingbull, who is from Enoch, just west of Edmonton. “This is so heartbreaking. She has done so much for the Indigenous community, her family and has even played a role in my life,” Callingbull posted. “She built such a legacy and opened the door for so many people. My heart hurts for Crystle and the entire Lightning family.” Leland Gladue, who described himself as Lightning’s adopted brother, said Sunday she was “a spiritual, honourable, humble person who loved her grandkids with all her heart.” “She’d never talk about herself yet she was this Indian celebrity who we needed so much,” Gladue told reporters at the Enoch rodeo grounds. “It hurts the heart, but all we can do is honour her name and remember her importance to Turtle Island.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Noah Rishaug and CTV News Calgary’s Stephen Hunt
