Iehente Foote
Iehente Foote, Bear Clan, is a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec. She has been involved with Theatre and the arts for 11 years. Directed and co-directed a handful of productions in Kahnawake & Montreal as well as worked on multiple film projects. She is the Chair & Quebec Representative on the National Indigenous Youth Council on HIV/AIDS. She is a substitute teacher in Kahnawake and also does work in sexual health, human rights, environmental and reproductive justice.
Ellen Gabriel
Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation and Turtle Clan, Kanehsatà:ke Mohawk Territory, was well-known to the public when she was chosen by the People of the Longhouse and her community of Kanehsatà:ke to be their spokesperson during the 1990 “Oka” Crisis. Since the Occupation of Kanehsatà:ke in 1990 Ms. Gabriel has been active as an Indigenous human rights activist and has been steadily advocating for the human rights of Indigenous peoples. Most recently she has been active in the anti-pipeline movement opposing the projects of TransCanada “Energy East” and Enbridge “Line 9 and 9b”. She has worked diligently to sensitize the public, academics, policing authorities and politicians on the history, culture and identity of Indigenous peoples and is an advocate for gender equity, the revitalization of Indigenous languages, culture, traditional knowledge and Indigenous governing structures.
Ms. Gabriel has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University where she graduated in May 1990. She worked as an Illustrator/Curriculum developer for Tsi Ronteriwanónha ne Kanien’kéka/ Kanehsatà:ke Resource Center in Kanehsatà:ke and also worked as an Art Teacher for the Mohawk Immersion School for grades 1-6. Ellen has also worked on videos illustrating legends of the Iroquois people and the local community stories. She is presently an active board member of Kontinónstats – Mohawk Language Custodians and First Peoples Human Rights Coalition. In 2004, Ellen Gabriel was elected president of the Quebec Native Women’s Association a position which she held for 6 ½ years, until December 2010.
Dawn Harvard
Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard, Ph.D., was elected President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada at the 41st Annual General Assembly, July 11, 2015 in Montreal, Quebec. Dawn is a proud member of the Wikwemikong First Nation, the first Aboriginal Trudeau Scholar, and has worked to advance the rights of Aboriginal women as the President of the Ontario Native Women's Association for 11 years. Dawn was Interim President of NWAC since February 2015 and was Vice-President for almost 3 years. Dawn is a full-time mother of three girls. Following in the footsteps of her mother Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, a noted advocate for Indigenous women’s rights, since joining the Board of the Ontario Native Women Association as a youth director back in 1994, Ms. Harvard has been working toward the empowerment of Aboriginal women and their families. She was co-editor of the original volume on Indigenous Mothering entitled “Until Our Hearts Are on the Ground: Aboriginal Mothering, Oppression, Resistance and Rebirth” and has also recently released a new book, along with Kim Anderson, entitled “Mothers of the Nations.”
Paige Isaac
Paige Isaac is Mi'gmaq from Listuguj, Quebec and is the Coordinator of the First Peoples' House, which is a part of Student Services at McGill University. She earned a Bachelor's degree of Science in Biology from McGill in 2008 and has been working at McGill ever since. She is dedicated to promoting and supporting Indigenous student success and well-being in a culturally welcoming environment. She works in partnership with McGill and Indigenous communities to provide support and a “home away from home” for Indigenous students to enhance their academic success, personal growth and professional development.
Haidee Smith Lefebvre, B.A, B.Ed., M.A.
For her doctoral inquiry, Haidee looks carefully at photographs and paintings that represent girlhood from an Indigenous perspective. She asks: What can viewers learn about Indigenous girlhood? Her research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Her latest publication: Smith Lefebvre, H. & Ibrahim, A. (in press). Kinship Narratives: Beat Nation, Indigenous Peoples (Hip Hop), and Unmasking our Ignorance. In S. R. Steinberg & A. Ibrahim (Eds.), Talkin Bout Their Generation: Critically Researching Youth (chap. 6). NY: Peter Lang.
Amanda Lickers
Amanda Lickers (Turtle Clan, Onondowa'ga Haudenosaunee) is a spoken word poet, filmmaker and curator for Reclaim Turtle Island (@defendourlands). Amanda spends her time fanning the flames of the Indigenous insurrection, supporting grassroots land defense and sovereignty struggles. Currently based in Tiotiah:ke ("montreal"), occupied Kanien'keha:ka territory, she organizes against land exploitation projects that threaten the health of her territories, like line 9 and energy east. She recently released her first short film, co-produced with submedia.tv titled Kahsatstenhsera, a short on Indigenous resistance to tar sands pipelines in NE Turtle Island.
Audra Simpson
Audra Simpson is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. She is the author of Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States (Duke University Press, 2014), winner of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association’s “First Book Award” as well as the Sharon Stephens Prize from the American Ethnological Society (2015). She is co-editor (with Andrea Smith) of Theorizing Native Studies (Duke University Press, 2014). She has articles in Cultural Anthropology, American Quarterly, Junctures, Law and Contemporary Problems and Wicazo Sa Review. In 2010 she won Columbia University’s School for General Studies “Excellence in Teaching Award.” She is a Kahnawake Mohawk.
Molly Swain
Molly Swain is an otipêmsiwiskwêw from otôskwanihk in Treaty 7 territory. She is a recent graduate of McGill, where her academic work focused on the intersections of Indigenous feminisms and anti-capitalism. She is a founding member of the Indigenous Women and Two-Spirit Harm Reduction Coalition, the host of the World's Most Famous and Potentially Only Indigenous Feminist Science Fiction Podcast, Métis in Space, and the President of the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE).
Sheila Swasson
Sheila Swasson is a Mi’gmaq woman from the Listuguj First Nation, Quebec, Canada. She is one of the founding members of the National Aboriginal Circle Against Family Violence, (NACAFV) a national organization with the objective of Reducing Family Violence in our Aboriginal Communities. (www.nacafv.ca) and is currently NACAFV’s President. In 2009, Sheila was awarded the Aboriginal Women in Leadership Distinction Award in recognition of her work and commitment to addressing the issues of family violence and violence against Aboriginal women. She currently resides and works as a Manager of Community Services in her home community of Listuguj, Quebec ~ Gespe’gewa’gi Territory and continues to contribute by effecting positive changes in the lives of women, men and children in the community and across the country.
Allan Vicaire
A member of the Mi’gmaq community of Listuguj, Allan Vicaire is SEDE’s Indigenous Education Advisor. His primary role is to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, staff, and faculty at McGill. Allan champions and encourages civic engagement through the promotion of community-based learning
Chelsea Vowel
Chelsea Vowel, who blogs as âpihtawikosisân, is a Métis mother of three from the Plains Cree speaking community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. She currently lives in Montreal, Quebec. Her passions are: education, Indigenous law, and the Cree language. She holds a BEd, an LLB and teaches Indigenous youth.
Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte
Megan Kanerahtenha:wi Whyte is an artist, art educator, and art therapist-in-training from the Kahnawake Mohawk First Nation community. She is currently completing a MA at Concordia University in Art Therapy, with focus on healing multigenerational trauma and attachment through visual media. Outside of her schooling, Megan is actively involved with the Kahnawake Youth Forum, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network and the Indigenous Young Women’s National Advisory Board providing an arts-based approach to social change. Her social work in these spaces inspires Megan’s artistic development, having her art pieces reflect concepts of healthy relationships, indigenous ‘womanism’, as well as environmental, reproductive, and social justice.
Krysta Williams
Krysta Williams is the Advocacy & Outreach Coordinator for the Native Youth Sexual Health Network. Krysta is of the Delaware Nation from Moravian of the Thames First Nation. She is a traditional singer and hand drummer, connecting these teachings to reproductive justice and Indigenous Feminisms. She currently volunteers with the National Pregnancy Options Infoline, a free 24/7 link to sexual and reproductive health information and services. Krysta received an undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo but is more interested in community and land based forms of education and learning