Celeste Pedri-Spade - Associate Provost, Indigenous Initiatives
Appointed in 2022 as McGill’s first Associate Provost (Indigenous Initiatives), Celeste Pedri-Spade oversees McGill’s ongoing response to the 52 Calls to Action articulated by the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education. She likewise works closely with academic leaders across McGill to further define the direction of McGill’s commitment to Indigenous scholars and scholarship, and to greater representation and inclusion of Indigenous peoples within the University community. She plays a critical role in furthering efforts to ensure the success of Indigenous students at McGill, and in building meaningful and active partnerships with Indigenous communities in Quebec and across Canada.
An Ojibwe scholar and artist, Pedri-Spade is from the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation in northwestern Ontario. She completed her PhD in visual anthropology at the University of Victoria and her MA in Culture and Communication at Royal Roads University.
Celeste Pedri-Spade is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts. Her research interests include Indigenous art and decolonization; settler colonialism and Indigeneity; Indigenous visual/material culture; Anishinabemowin regeneration; and creative Indigenous research methodologies.
Ann Deer - Associate Director, Indigenous Initiatives
Ann (she/her) is a Kanyen'keha:ka (People of the Flint; Mohawk; Wolf Clan) professional, educator, and member of the Akwesasne First Nation. Her passion and work are related to community building and exploring the world through an Indigenous lens to facilitate truth and reconciliation. This involves a deep understanding of power, privilege, racism, and bias from an Indigenous perspective, and the tools to be a changemaker.
Ann previously worked at Queen’s University, where she served in the capacity of Indigenous Recruitment & Initiatives Coordinator at the Smith School of Business. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Native Studies and Canadian Studies from Trent University and a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from St. Lawrence University.
She is a community builder who combines education, life experience, and research based on the Two Row Wampum Treaty teachings to live side by side as brothers and sisters. Ann is looking forward to helping McGill fulfill its commitments to truth and reconciliation and furthering our relationships with Indigenous communities.
Geraldine King - Senior Advisor, Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy
Geraldine King (she/her/elle/kwe) is Anishinaabe and a member-citizen of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation) located in the Robinson Superior Treaty area of Northwestern Ontario. Geraldine is currently a PhD candidate in the cultural studies program at Queen’s University and completed her MA in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria. Prior to joining McGill, Geraldine was a Lecturer in the School of Canadian and Indigenous Studies at Carleton University where she helped advance Indigenous land-based education grounded in Indigenous communities. Geraldine’s doctoral work focusses on Anishinaabe erotics, ethics of intimacy, kinship studies and theories of Anishinaabe phenomenology.
As the Senior Advisor, Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy. Prof. King will provide strategic advice to individual faculty and academic leaders across the university with the goal of supporting meaningful and respectful relations with Indigenous communities, peoples, knowledges, and epistemologies. Prof. King will also hold an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) in the Faculty of Education where she will focus on developing and delivering land-based education.
Janine Metallic - Academic Lead for the Indigenous Graduate Student Success Pilot Project (AL-IGSS)
Dr. Janine Elizabeth Metallic is a Mi’gmaw from the Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation (Listuguj, Quebec). Janine is an Assistant Professor in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Her research interests center around Indigenous educational studies and language revitalization. For several years, Janine worked as a Mi'gmaw language consultant in McGill's Department of Linguistics. Janine is currently interested in building Indigenous research capacity by supporting and training Indigenous graduate students and developing research projects related to community-based education and language research.
In January 2023, the Office of Indigenous Initiatives welcomed Prof. Metallic to a new role at McGill as the Academic Lead for the Indigenous Graduate Student Success Pilot Project. In her new role, Prof. Metallic will lead a pilot project aimed at better supporting Indigenous graduate students. As part of the project, she will provide strategic advice to academic leaders, develop workshops catered to Indigenous graduate student needs, and create opportunities for increased engagement in campus life and supports.
Olivia Bornyi - Project and Research Assistant, Indigenous Initiatives
Olivia Bornyi (she/her) is pursuing a Joint Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Development Studies at McGill University, entering her fourth and final year. She joined the Indigenous Initiatives unit in the summer of 2022. Olivia is working to consistently update the ongoing status of McGill's 52 Calls to Action, coordinating Indigenous Awareness Weeks, and assisting with implementing innovative communication strategies in the office. Outside of work, she actively engages with the McGill community and is eager to learn about global perspectives on development.
Rosemary Cooke - Administration & Finance Officer, Indigenous Initiatives
Rosemary Cooke is a McGill retiree who has returned to help the Indigenous Initiatives Unit with administrative and financial management on a temporary basis. She worked at McGill for 27 years in an administrative capacity with different units/faculties, including Graduate Studies, VP Research, and the Office of Technology Transfer. Rosemary retired in January 2020, after eight years, as the Director of Administration for the Faculty of Dentistry. She was a member of Senate for six years and has sat on various University committees. Her background is in finance and law.
Thomasina Phillips - Associate Director, Indigenous Student Success
Thomasina Phillips is Kanien'kehá:ka, a member of the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawà:ke, where she was born and raised. She has been working and residing in Tio'tia:ke (Montreal) for the past several years. She began her journey at McGill as a graduate of the Master of Social Work program in the School of Social Work and is licensed by the Ordre des travaillers sociaux et des therapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Quebec to practice. After working in a domestic violence rehabilitative setting with couples and individuals, she took the position of Indigenous Case Manager at the Wellness Hub, formally McGill Counselling Services. In her role as a mental health worker, she works with student services leadership, clinicians, and students to deliver appropriate care to McGill’s Indigenous student population, and promote the healthy development of students by fostering and building networks and relationships within and external to McGill’s support services. She offers one on one services to Indigenous and non-Indigenous students as well as occasional group supports. She holds an award from the School of Social Work for excellence in clinical practice.
Thomasina keeps ties to her family circle and larger community in Kahnawà:ke. She has spent many years developing and practicing traditional skills such as raised-style Iroquois beadwork, moccasin making, parfleche, leatherwork, and fan making. She has been designing and making contemporary pow-wow style regalia for the past 5 years. She began dancing jingle with her young daughter as part of her personal wellness journey and as a means of honoring her value of helping others through the healing power of dance.
Matthew Coutu-Moya, Administrative Supervisor, First Peoples' House
Matthew Coutu-Moya is Michif-Chilean from Summerland, British Columbia. His mother was born and raised in the prairies of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Her family has ties to Michif communities of St-Boniface, Petite Pointe du Chênes (Lorette) and St-Laurent in Manitoba as well as St-Paul-des-Métis (St-Paul) in Alberta. His father is from Santiago, Chile and came to Canada as a refugee after the Pinochet coup. Prior to living in Montréal, Matthew worked for three years with immigrants and refugees at Kamloops Immigrant Services. This work would motivate him to return to school. In 2017, Matthew moved to Montréal to study at McGill’s School of Social Work.
Since graduating in 2020, he has been working with Indigenous Access McGill, a program which supports Indigenous students at the School of Social Work. Matthew is excited and grateful to join the team at First Peoples’ House as he hopes to continue giving back to the programs which supported him during his own studies as well as fostering a home away from home for Indigenous students at McGill.
Marlowe Dubois - Indigenous Student Advisor, First Peoples' House
Marlowe Dubois is Cree First Nation, born and raised in Saskatchewan, and is a band member of Ochapowace First Nation. He enrolled at McGill in the faculty of education in 2016, graduating with a Bachelor of Education in 2021. He has a background in both provincial and Indigenous education systems through work as a teacher, creating familiarity with what students require to succeed and what specific roadblocks Indigenous students will face in the university system.