Sasha Mcinnes

Sasha McInnes

March 26, 1947 – November 15, 2021

Artist, feminist, activist, entrepreneur, Sasha lit up her world with her beauty, passion and

creativity. Born in Sioux Lookout Ontario, she grew up in Lima Peru, where her father was

stationed with CP Airlines. In Peru, Sasha learned to love textiles and studied tapestry weaving

and design. She is predeceased by her mother, Mary Craig McInnes and father Robert McInnes

and is survived by son Shawn Hayman, husband (separated) Doug Hayman, sister, Lynda

McInnes and brother, Craig.

Arriving in Vancouver in 1973 with her 3 year old son Shawn, she met and married Doug

Hayman and after moving to North Bay, began her artistic career teaching fibre arts at

Canadore College, the first of several teaching assignments over the years. In 1975, she moved

to London Ontario and opened a thriving weaving studio where over the course of a decade she

designed and wove many beautiful tapestries. Although she had to stop weaving in 1990’s due

to arthritis in her hands, Sasha’s tapestries continue to grace homes and offices across the

country.

In London, Sasha also became involved with the local feminist community and became an

activist focussed on, amongst other things, improving the lives of women in the arts. She

opened one of Canada’s first women’s art galleries, Womanspirit Art Gallery and Resource

Center, which hosted shows for many local women artists. Through the Center she also

undertook research on the Canada Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Art Bank,

examining who got grants and who sat on juries by gender. The results were shocking and

signalled the changes required. This led to a job with Status of Women Canada in 1981

coordinating input from women artists to the Applebaum-Herbert Cultural Policy Review in

Canada. In the mid 80’s she conceived the National Treasure Awards, which recognized women

and women’s organizations important to the liberation of woman, such as the NFB woman run

film centre, Studio D.

Sasha was honoured to receive an Award from the City of London for her contributions to the

arts and was very grateful for all the wonderful feminist friends she worked with in that

community.

In 1986 Sasha moved with her family to Thunder Bay, when she was appointed to the Ontario

Arts Council, one of the first artists to sit on the Council, by then Premier David Peterson.

During her time on the Council, she promoted the need to reach out to Indigenous artists and

travelled to many remote communities in the northwest to interview artists and promote Arts

Council programs. Also while in Thunder Bay, she organized several successful Woman Healing

Conferences, which brought together woman healers and cultural experts from Indigenous and

non-Indigenous communities, such as Starhawk and Alanis Obomsawin, to share their

knowledge with women from across northwestern Ontario.

During this time, Sasha also wove a series of tapestries for a show entitled Weaving MaTters,

which opened at the London Art Gallery in 1992. This show focussed on women-centered

spirituality and led to a segment on the CBC Ideas series on Goddess related spirituality.

A visit to Peru rekindled Sasha’s interest in the rich textile history and colours of Peru and in

1999 she developed PuchkaPeru, which became one of the premier textile teaching and touring

organizations in Peru. She would run Puchka until her retirement in 2018. Puchka brought

together textile students from around the world to work with some of Peru’s finest textile

artists, such as Maximo Laura. These years were rich with experience and personal gratification.

Over the years, Sasha suffered with mental health issues which were never fully resolved.

There were periods of depression and emotional breakdown, which were terribly difficult for

her and for those around her. Her experiences with the mental health system were less than

salutary and in the late 90’s she was asked to address a federal parliamentary committee on

mental health about the issues she had encountered in the system.

Sasha suffered an accident in her home in 2019 which left her bed- ridden and hospitalized for

a year. Her son Shawn came back to Victoria to be with his mother and during Covid 19 and has

been her primary non-institutional carer since that time. She loved Shawn more than anything

in the world and knew that he was with her when she passed away. In 2020 Sasha was

transferred to The Summit at Quadra Village in Victoria where she left this earth quietly one

very stormy night.

The family would like to thank the staff at The Summit for their loving, attentive service though

a very difficult time.

Doug Hayman

November 2021