Martha Tawiyaka

c. 1877–1979, Standing Buffalo First Nation, Saskatchewan, Canada

Martha Tawiyaka, a descendant of Chief Standing Buffalo, was a Sissetson Dakota woman, midwife, and medicine woman.

As a founding member of the Sioux Handcraft Co-operative and its “spiritual head,” Tawiyaka worked with other Elders from the community to provide traditional Dakota designs for the young women in the co-operative. Her work was presented to dignitaries and collected by several institutions, the most significant being a large tapestry made for the University of Regina that remains on display in the Dr. John Archer Library. In 1969, she was noted as one of the “Canadians You Should Know” by Maclean’s magazine.