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FACULTY OF ARTS
English, Film and Theatre
Dr. Warren Cariou
The Metis author holds the Canada Research Chair in narrative, community, and Indigenous cultures. His research project Re-Storying the Human Zoo is about the ways Indigenous people in the 19th Century were constructed in terms of natural history discourses, to such an extreme that they were sometimes displayed in zoos alongside animals. This project is about the "animalization" of Indigenous people and the ways in which this contributed to an erasure of their human rights. Dr. Cariou's 2002 book, Lake of the Prairies, is an examination of the psychology and politics of racial identification and discrimination in the Northern Saskatchewan community of Meadow Lake. Lake of the Prairies also includes an examination of human rights abuses in the Canadian military's Somalia scandal, looking closely at the story of Clayton Matchee, one of the soldiers implicated in the torture and murder of Somali youth Shidane Arone. Dr. Cariou's films Overburden and Land of Oil and Water are about the human rights of Indigenous people facing environmental, economic and cultural devastation as a result of oil sands developments in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Archives are also central to the work of Prof. Cariou, such as his project with Niigaanwewidam Sinclair to create an anthology of Aboriginal writing in Manitoba.
Department of Native Studies
Tasha Hubbard
Lecturer Tasha Hubbard is a Treaty 6 Cree filmmaker whose 2005 Gemini-award-winning documentary Two Worlds Colliding brought to light the Saskatoon police's notorious starlight rides. She was a sessional lecturer at the First Nations University of Canada from 1995-1997 and then turned to casting and documentary filmmaking. Her film projects have been screened at festivals across North America and broadcast on CBC and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Her film and academic work focuses on Indigeneity, including themes of social justice, transformation through art, and representations of the Buffalo. Her current film practice is expanding to include non-linear digital media and drama.
Dr. LaRocque is a scholar, educator, poet, social and literary critic. A veteran professor in the Department of Native Studies, and among the first to advance an Aboriginal-based critical voice and theory, she has been a leading figure in the growth and development of Native Studies as a teaching discipline and an intellectual field of study. LaRocque is author of Defeathering the Indian (1975), a groundbreaking study of stereotypes of 'the Indian' in public schools. Her prolific career counts more than sixty publications in the areas of colonization, Canadian historiography, representation, racism, Metis identity, violence against women and Aboriginal literatures. Most recently, LaRocque published When the Other is Me (2010), a powerful interdisciplinary study of the Native literary response to racist writing in the Canadian historical and literary record from 1850 to 1990 that recently won the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction.
LaRocque is one of the most recognized and respected Native Studies scholars today. She is frequently cited in a wide variety of venues including scholarly publications, creative and learned journals. Her poetry has appeared in national and international journals and anthologies. She has presented keynote lectures, papers and poetry throughout North America as well as internationally. She has been a guest of radio interviews and appeared s a consultant on Metis identity in the NFB film "Women in the Shadows". She served as a juror for the 2011 Governor-General's Literary Award for Non-fiction.
A Plains-Cree Metis originally from northeastern Alberta, LaRocque was recognized with the 2005 Aboriginal Achievement Award. She has also received several Outstanding Achievement Awards from the Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba. She has also been singled out a number of times as a "Popular Prof" in McLean's Guide to Universities & Colleges.
Dr. LaRocque remains active as a professor, researcher, writer and human rights advocate.
Dr. Fred Shore worked for the Manitoba Metis Federation as a Housing Officer and Employment Development Coordinator in the late 70's. Prior to that he was a grade and high school teacher in Ontario and Quebec. He was a Board member of the MMF in the early 80's. Since 1980 he has been a student and teacher at the university level in Saskatchewan, Brandon and Manitoba. He received his BA at Brandon University in 1982, his MA in 1983 at the University of Manitoba and his PhD in Canadian History in 1991, also at the University of Manitoba. He joined the Native Studies Department at the U of M in 1984 and has served as both Head of the Department and Chair of the Graduate Program. Fred joined the Office of University Accessibility at the University of Manitoba on July 1, 2002 where he advocated for Aboriginal students, visible minorities and persons with disabilities. He returned to Native Studies in January 2010. He is the Department's Metis expert.
Lecturer Niigaan Sinclair is completing his dissertation on Anishinaabeg narrative and narrative theory. Originally from the St. Peter's (Little Peguis) Indian Settlement, his critical and creative work has been translated into several languages and can be found in journals and periodicals throughout Turtle Island. He is the co-editor of Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water (Highwater Press) and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories (Michigan State University Press), both of which will appear in 2012. Previously he co-edited (with Renate Eigenbrod) a 2009 special issue of the Canadian Journal of Native Studies focusing on responsible, ethical, and Indigenous-centred literary criticisms of Indigenous literatures. In 2011, he was a featured contributor in The Exile Book of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama.
Dr. Wuttunee (Cree, Red Pheasant First Nation, Sask.) researches Aboriginal economy, community economic development, participatory research methodologies, governance, social responsibility and leadership where her work examines the strength of the community and the gifts Aboriginal people bring to the business table.
She is also director of Aboriginal business Education Partners that works to the success of Aboriginal students in their BComm (Honors) programs in the Asper School of Business.
Dr. Wuttunee is interested in the role of tradition, culture and gender in the decision-making process used by communities in developing and implementing their economic development strategies. Her work in the community includes board positions and committee work around issues of education, business and culture. She participated in the 2003 Commonwealth Study Conference in Australia for future leaders entitled People First in a Global Community. Her exploration of a community-based perspective of economic resilience is outlined in her recent book Living Rhythms: Lessons in Aboriginal Economic Resilience and Vision.
Dr. Wuttunee's current research projects include sitting as co-chair of the financing node for the linking, leveraging learning social responsibility project, and as advisory committee member for the Urban Aboriginal Economic Development Network and for the Assembly of First Nations end First Nations poverty committee
Women's & Gender Studies Program
Dr. Sherry Farrell Racette
Dr. Farrell Racette is a scholar, writer, artist, curator and educator with a background in art history, education, history, and Native studies. Of First Nations and Irish descent and a member of Timiskaming First Nation in Quebec, she has an active arts practice that includes painting and multimedia works, as well as illustrating children's books. In her research, Farrell Racette focuses on Metis and First Nations women's history, and in particular, reconstructing Indigenous art histories that recontextualize museum collections and reclaim women's voices and lives. Dr. Farrell Racette has had a rich and varied career in scholarship and art, including a prolific publishing history. Recent publications include the essays: “Haunted: First Nations Children in Residential School Photography?”, “Returning Fire, Pointing the Canon: Aboriginal Photography as Resistance” and (as illustrator) Call of the Fiddle, the final installment of the award-winning Fiddle Dancer series published by the Gabriel Dumont Institute.
Her art has been displayed in solo and group exhibitions and is in Canadian public collections such as the Canada Art Bank, Mackenzie Art Gallery and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Dr. Frank Deer
Dr. Deer is originally from Kahnawake, Que. In addition to his instructional duties in the B.Ed. program, he has conducted research on citizenship education for Aboriginal students in Manitoba.
Dr. Deer has received internal university funding for his study incorporating Ojibway teachings and practices into curriculum. He has also received grant funding to attend the 6th International Conference on Indigenous Education in Cairns, Australia.
Dr. Deer is editor of First Nations Perspectives: The Journal of the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre. His doctoral dissertation is titled Citizenship Development for Aboriginal High School Students in the Province of Manitoba: An Exploratory Study. In 2005, he was a research assistant for RESOLVE (Research & Education for Solutions to Violence & Abuse) Saskatchewan.
Metis psychologist Dr. McCabe's dissertation research was a qualitative study of the therapeutic conditions of Aboriginal traditional healing psychosocial interventions. His research interests include: worldwide Indigenous healing methodologies and the relationship between them and current conventional psychological approaches; and the role of community and psychosocial factors in levels of academic success and rates of academic program completion in the Native North American population.
EXTENDED EDUCATION
Diedre Desmarais
Diedre Desmarais is area director of Access and Aboriginal Focus Programs. She was previously a lecturer at the University of Regina in Indigenous Studies, Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies and an academic advisor with First Nations University of Canada. Her research interests include Canadian politics, colonialism, Indigenous identity, Indigenous and Metis rights and the politics of health in relation to Aboriginal Peoples.
ROBSON HALL, FACULTY OF LAW
Prof. Brenda Gunn
Brenda Gunn joined the Faculty of Law in July 2009. Her research and teaching focuses on the rights of Indigenous peoples in domestic and international law. She has a B.A. from the University of Manitoba and a J.D. from the University of Toronto. She completed her LL.M. in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy at the University of Arizona. She articled with Sierra Legal Defence Fund (now Ecojustice Canada). She was called to the Law Society of Upper Canada and Manitoba. Prof. Gunn has worked at a community legal clinic in Rabinal, Guatemala on a case of genocide submitted to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. She has also consulted on Aboriginal and treaty rights cases in Manitoba. She has participated in several international meetings including the UN Inter-Sessional Working Group on the Draft Declaration, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the UN Expert Seminar on Implementation of National Legislation and Jurisprudence Concerning Indigenous Peoples' Rights and the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Her current work focuses on implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She has created a handbook on the UN Declaration and facilitated four workshops across Canada.
Prof. Milward is a member of the Beardy's & Okemasis Nation in Saskatchewan. He has worked as a research consultant for Calgary Legal Guidance, a legal clinic that provides legal services for indigent people in Calgary. His areas of specialization are criminal law and Aboriginal law, with a particular focus on Aboriginal justice issues. Prof. Milward has several publications in international refereed journals that cover a range of human rights topics, including: due process rights in the criminal justice system, victim rights and safety during the criminal process, the rights of Aboriginal Peoples under Canadian law, and civil disobedience. His work has been included in the databases and collections of a number of prestigious institutions, including the Correctional Service of Canada, the J.V. Library of the Australian Institute of Criminology, and the Library of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
FACULTY OF MEDICINE
Dr. Marcia Anderson Decoteau
Dr. Marcia Anderson DeCoteau is Cree- Saulteaux, with roots going to the Norway House Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation in Manitoba. She is the Section Head of First Nations, Metis and Inuit Health in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, and the Medical Officer of Health, Health Equity at Manitoba Health. She is the President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, and is the past-Chair of the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress. She was recognized for her contributions to Indigenous peoples health with a National Aboriginal Achievement word in March 2011. Her research focuses broadly on Indigenous health and health equity.
Dr. Cook is Metis and associate dean of First Nations, Metis and Inuit health in the Faculty of Medicine She practiced as a family physician in remote northern nursing stations for several years before focusing on public health practice. She has held positions of associate director of the J.A. Hildes Northern Medical Unit; regional director of health programs for First Nations and Inuit Health; regional medical officer of health for the Nor-Man and Winnipeg Regional Health Authorities; and co-chair of the Changes for Children implementation team - a process for systemic change within the child welfare system.
Linda Diffey is of Cree ancestry and a member of the Peepeekisis First Nation, Sask. She is a Research Associate at the University of Manitoba’s Manitoba First Nations - Centre for Aboriginal Health Research, and is the coordinator of the Manitoba Network Environment for Aboriginal Health Research (NEAHR) Program and program coordinator at the Centre for Aboriginal Health Education. Linda has a Master of Science degree in Human Ecology, with a focus on media and communication. Diffey’s past experience includes instructing courses for the Faculty of Human Ecology, developing health promotion materials for Aboriginal youth at Winnipeg’s Women’s Health Clinic and curating and designing museum exhibits.
Dr. Driedger is the Canada Research Chair in environment and health-risk communication. She studies the dissemination of evidence from science to policy concerning risk issues in environment and health, using qualitative research methods. Her particular focus is on how risks are constructed, communicated and interpreted by scientific experts, policymakers, the lay public and the media. As technology is constantly changing and we become even more dependent on information and evidence, it is critical that researchers seek to understand very complex relationships and interactions between expert and lay audiences. Last year, Dr. Driedger received funding to examine factors that affect the public's trust in decision-maker action on risk to the health of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples.
Dr. Lavallee is acting director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Aboriginal Health Education. He is a member of the Saulteaux and Metis communities of Manitoba and he is a descendent of the Bear clan. Barry is currently the past president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine (University of Manitoba) and completed his post-graduate training in Family Medicine with an emphasis on rural/Aboriginal health in 1990. He completed his masters of clinical sciences in Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario in 2004. His research focuses on the experience of First Nation and Metis patients within the patient-physician therapeutic relationship. He acts as medical lead for the Diabetes Integration Project and teaches about factors influencing First Nation, Metis and Inuit health to various health faculties at the Health Sciences Campus.
FACULTY OF SOCIAL WORK
Greg Fidler
Greg Fidler is a Metis born in Dauphin, but raised in Northern Manitoba. He completed an MA through the University of Victoria, with a dissertation on Solvent Abuse Needs Assessment in a First Nation Community. Fidler is a senior instructor in the Northern Social Work program in Thompson and has been teaching for eleven years. Prior to this appointment, he was employed with Awasis Agency of Northern Manitoba a child and family service as case manager for Shamattawa. He is president with Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre and an executive member with the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres. Fidler’s research interests include homelessness, solvent abuse and community development.
Gwen Gosek is a Cree Dene woman from La Ronge First Nations in northern Saskatchewan and has been a member of the Faculty of Social Work since 1998. Instructor Gosek's areas of interest include suicide in Indigenous communities; special-needs children and youth in Aboriginal child welfare; Indigenous children and youth in out of home care; and Indigenous research methodologies. Gwen sits on the university's traditional peoples' advisory committee.
Dr. Hart’s research addresses Indigenous ways of practice; oppression, colonization and resistance; mental health and Indigenous people; and Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous research methodologies. The Cree scholar is co-director of the Manitoba First Nations Centre for Aboriginal Health Research and sits on the university’s Traditional People’s Advisory Committee.
Dr. Pompana researches issues related to colonization/decolonization experience in First Nation communities; Aboriginal approaches to social work practice; and Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous research methodologies. She is acting director of the inner-city social work program.
Lecturer Cathy Rocke's works at the Faculty of Social work with her dissertation research being completed at the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, St. Paul's College. Her study focused on the efficacy of workplace educational initiatives that seek to address racism and social inequality. Specifically, she researched an Aboriginal cultural awareness workshop at the WRHA that has been delivered to healthcare staff for the past 15 years. Key findings included the importance of sharing Aboriginal history from an Aboriginal perspective, the power of sharing circles, the use of humour to reach across cultural differences and the use of 'story' within these workplace initiatives.