I earned my Ph.D in Social Justice Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto, where my work focused on violence against indigenous women and girls. My doctoral research examined indigenous women's involvement in state-sponsored anti-violence responses in Canada since the 1980s, with attention to the dimensions of power/knowledge - the intersections of dominant systems of oppression and knowledge production - in the official reports of these political encounters.   

My foundational scholarly training is interdisciplinary, emphasizing sociology, indigenous studies, women and gender studies, critical anti-racism studies, criminology, history, and political science. This training has been particular heavy in theory and methodologies (both qualitative and quantitative), with specialization in indigenous epistemologies and methodologies.

My academic life is tied to an unwavering commitment to social justice activism and community involvement. For more than a decade , I have been part of the political activism surrounding missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada, and have worked with various indigenous activists, organizations, and communities to end this violence. I have also consulted with indigenous communities and organizations on a variety of important issues including child welfare, family violence, Canadian law and the criminal justice system, and research.

I am a non-status indigenous women of mixed nehiyawak (Cree/Lubicon) and white (Scottish/English) ancestry. As a result of the violent realities of settler colonialism, I was born and raised in Syilx and Splats'in territories of the southern interior of British Columbia. I currently reside in the traditional territory of the Six Nations of the Grand River, where my partner and children are registered members. I have endeavoured to learn the traditional teachings of my nation, and have been gifted traditional teachings through my residency and involvement in other indigenous communities across Canada. I am also a traditional indigenous hand drummer and singer and performed with the Toronto-based group the Manitou Kwe Singers for a number of years.  I have also been involved in leading drum making workshops and drumming circles.
Supervisors: Sherene Razack, Jean-Paul Restoule, and Martin Cannon
Address: Caledonia, Ontario, Canada