Cardinal-Schubert was born in 1942 in Red Deer, Alberta. She attended the Alberta College of Art + Design (now Alberta University of the Arts) in 1962 where she studied painting, printmaking, and multimedia. She focussed her work primarily on her family history and Kainaiwa ancestry. Cardinal-Schubert's paintings and installations tell of her personal experiences which she weaves with social and historical events. Visually her work depicts valiant Indigenous motifs while communicating about subjects that affect and impact her. She takes up and revisits continuously issues of colonialism and the destruction of the environment throughout her work which at times reflects a 'collective Indian experience' while at other times producing work which is also informed by trends in Western avant-garde and contemporary art.