I am a Metis/Cree undergraduate student in my final year of a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Philosophy and a Minor in Visual Arts. My interests in curatorial work, epistemology, and the history of First Nations Rights for First Nations Women come from an extensive supportive family as well as the support from academic and artistic communities.
A cousin once said to me as we reflected on the amazing nature of my grandmother and her sisters : “You come from a strong line of women”. Such a statement captures the motivation behind much of my work. I am extremely grateful for the amount of work that women in my family and community have done for their descendants and learners, and the ways in which these women have both created and shared their histories. Through them, I have been introduced to ways of learning, creating, and sharing that has broadened my conception of what a knowledge community can and should do. The generosity in the words, stories, and skills of local artists has shaped my thinking to consider diverse ways of knowing.
In 2012, my great-auntie Kathleen, her good friend Nellie Carlson and Linda Goyette published the book Disinherited Generations: Our Struggle to Reclaim Treaty Rights for First Nations Women and their Descendants. This book, which recounts an oral autobiography and kitchen conversations, is of immense importance for me given the history it contains and the approach it takes. I hope that through Knowledge Makers my epistemological research will grow in a way that is accountable to Indigenous communities.