Enkhe-Tuyaa Montgomery (Anthropology)
Enkhe-Tuyaa Montgomery is a third-year PhD candidate in Anthropology and a recent recipient of the Rathlyn Fellowship, which supports Indigenous graduate research at McGill University.
Her research examines harm-reduction practices in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, centring questions of Indigeneity, belonging, and care. Montgomery critiques approach that focusses narrowly on emergency interventions and advocates for community-based, non-clinical models that address broader needs such as housing, food security, and social connection.
Working closely with community organizations including the Coalition of Peers Dismantling the Drug War and the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group, Montgomery’s research emphasizes lived experience, peer support, and reciprocity. The Rathlyn Fellowship supports her commitment to compensating community members for their time, knowledge, and labour.
Montgomery, a mixed-race Siberian Buryat woman, describes her work as grounded in responsibility to the people and communities who make research possible.
Read the full article in the McGill Reporter
Jack Theis (History)
Jack Theis is a master’s student in History and a recipient of the Rathlyn Fellowship. His research explores his Métis and Anishinaabe heritage, focusing on the Bottineau family’s migration from the Red River region to the Chippewa Valley.
Drawing on oral histories, family genealogies, and archival sources, Theis examines how his ancestors were racialized within settler-colonial contexts and how ideas of Indigeneity shifted over time. His work challenges simplified narratives and binary understandings of Métis and Anishinaabe identities, emphasizing their historically interconnected social worlds.
Through his thesis, Theis seeks to correct inaccuracies in historical records and reclaim ancestral forms of community belonging. Reconnecting with his communities in Minneapolis and Winnipeg has been central to both his research and personal journey.
Read the full article in the McGill Reporter
Dane Malenfant (Computer Science)
Dane Malenfant, a member of Métis Nation Saskatchewan, is advancing his master’s in computer science with a focus on incorporating the principles of reciprocity into AI systems. This principle, central to Plains Indigenous cultures, embodies a tradition of balanced giving and receiving that Dane aims to translate into AI behavior.
His project reimagines traditional reciprocity in the context of reinforcement learning, challenging AI to adopt these cultural teachings through novel approaches to credit assignment problems in machine learning. Dane's research not only pushes the boundaries of AI technology but also aims to integrate Indigenous knowledge, foreseeing a future where such integration enhances language learning and economic opportunities for Indigenous communities.
Read the full article in the McGill Reporter
Cheyenne Neszo (Law)
Cheyenne Neszo, a member of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation near Prince George, British Columbia, specializes in class actions related to Indigenous rights and government negligence. She is also active in a language revitalization program for her Nation's dialect.
Cheyenne completed her law degree at Thompson Rivers University, clerked at the Federal Court of Canada, and worked at the Department of Justice. Currently, she is finalizing her Master of Laws thesis at McGill University on Indigenous tax laws. Her thesis critiques current policies like the income tax exemption under the Indian Act, arguing that while they seem to empower Indigenous Nations, they undermine sovereignty.
Neszo argues that Indigenous-specific tax laws are vital for reclaiming sovereignty and achieving reconciliation, stressing that the power to tax is essential to true sovereignty.
Read the full article in the McGill Reporter
Wahéhshon Whitebean (Education)
Wahéhshon, a Wolf Clan member of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation at Kahnawà:ke, is the inaugural recipient of the Rathlyn Fellowship Award. As a mother, language advocate, and activist, she is pursuing a PhD in Educational Studies at McGill. Her work focuses on language and culture reclamation at the Kahnawà:ke Education Center, where she co-authored the education system’s first research policy and ethics code.
Her doctoral research addresses the impacts of Indian Day Schools on her community, collaborating with Elders and survivors to capture multigenerational stories. This work, which integrates Kanien’kéha language and decolonizing methodologies, aims to reframe this historical period through a strength-based, community-centered lens.
Read the full article in the McGill Reporter
Caitlin Gilpin (Education)
Caitlin Gilpin was born and raised in the Cree community of Wemindji, Quebec, on the east coast of James Bay, about 1,400 kilometres north of Montreal. She is currently pursuing a Master of Education in Educational Psychology, studying the concept of implicit theories of intelligence, based on the work of American psychologist and Stanford University professor Carol Dweck. During the three years she worked as a coordinator for a summer school for high school students in her community, Gilpin became convinced that intelligence isn’t something people are born with, but rather, that intelligence can be grown and nurtured.
“I noticed students who would find stuff hard, and would just make negative attributions and stop trying,” Gilpin said. “My theory is that people with a more malleable view of intelligence do better in school – not necessarily because they’re smarter, but because when they hit obstacles, they see them as opportunities to learn.”
Read the full article in the McGill Reporter
Christopher Reid (Education)
Christopher Reid, of the Nisga’a Nation, is completing a PhD in Educational Studies, focusing on urban Indigenous people’s experiences with land education, public schooling, and historical education. He is currently teaching a seminar that examines Indigenous critiques of schooling and colonialism.
Reid is involved in several Indigenous education–focused community projects in Montreal. His work supports initiatives that help Indigenous youth reconnect with culture, land, and heritage, and explores the benefits of land-based teachings for Indigenous young people. He also serves on the board of directors of Rising Sun Childcare Centre, Montreal’s only public daycare centre dedicated to providing culturally grounded educational programs for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children.
Read the full article in the McGill Reporter
Ben Geboe (Social Work)
Ben Geboe is doing his PhD (c.) thesis interviewing Canadian Indigenous nurses and physicians working with Indigenous community members. Findings will inform health care education programs about challenges and experiences of Indigenous health care professionals. Ben is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation and has distant relatives in the Dakota in Manitoba. He is a social worker with many years of experience working with substance using and mentally ill homeless people and Native people in New York City. He is currently attending McGill University School of Social work and splits his time between NYC and Montreal. He works as the Native student coordinator of Indigenous Access McGill (IAM) program to promote Indigenous social work student admissions. He is descended from the Wakakdiduta family (Red Lightning) and is also part Miami and Cheyenne Arapahoe on his father’s side. His mother is Norwegian descent. Ben is very active in Two Spirit community events and social justice advocacy for Indigenous sovereignty.
Meghan Eaker (School of Nursing)
Meghan Eaker is a nehiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) of mixed Cree and European ancestry. She is a member of the Woodland Cree First Nation and grew up in amiskwachiy waskahikhan (Edmonton, AB). She worked as a child psychiatric Nurse at the Montreal Children’s Hospital after completing her Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BScN) at McGill in 2016 and is currently a Master of Nursing Student. In her Nursing career she is passionate about improving health care for indigenous people. Her research focuses on developing the capacity of Indigenous nursing, specifically supporting the education of Inuit Nurses.
Joel Grant (Engineering)
Joel Grant is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and has recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering at McGill University. While at McGill, he has been an active student research assistant and the president of the Materials Engineering Undergraduate Society. Joel is the 2018/2019 academic year Vice President of the McGill Chapter of the Canadian Indigenous Science and Engineering Society (CaISES). He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in chemical engineering. His research is focused on the study of Canada, namely, investigating the environmental effects of micro- and nano plastic accumulation in Canadian climates.