Alexandra “Ali” Nychuck

 Alexandra Nychuck is a Michif woman and a citizen of the Metis Nation currently working towards her Masters in Development Practice-Indigenous Development degree (MDP), at the University of Winnipeg. For her part in the project, Ali’s research seeks to interview various Indigenous Doulas collectives across Canada to identify barriers and strengths of various service delivery models. The data collected from Ali’s work will inform the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre’s pilot Urban Doula program.

Ada Chukwudozie

Ada Chukwudozie (MA Human Rights, LLB (Hons), BL) is a Nigerian woman of Igbo descent, and a MDP graduate student at the University of Winnipeg. Ada is a qualified lawyer (non-practicing) with an MA in Human Rights from University College London, and is the Senior Research Assistant in the Vancouver Downtown Community Court Project. She is also currently serving as the social media output coordinator for the Kishaadigeh project.  Ada is passionate about issues of social justice, gender equality and human rights and is an advocate for community-driven research that drives policy.

Kiera Kowalski

Kiera Kowalski is Metis woman and a graduate student in the MDP program at the University of Winnipeg. Kiera is working in partnership with the Wii Chiiwaakanak Learning centre at the University, under the supervision of Dr. Jaime Cidro, to develop a set of culturally relevant survey questions that aim to contribute to understanding how the availability of cultural programming housed within institutions like universities, influences Indigenous students’ educational attainment, health status, and overall sense of self-esteem and identity.

Sarah DeLaronde

Sarah DeLaronde is an Indigenous summer scholar, a program hosted by the University of Winnipeg’s graduate studies and part of the incoming 2020/2021 MDP cohort at the University. Sarah joined the Kishaadigeh project this summer and as part of her role, has spent the summer connecting with community partners and assisting with their research priorities such as drafting a scoping review on Indigenous maternal health in Manitoba using parameters set by the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat. Sarah’s research interests include all aspects of Indigenous spirituality, birth sovereignty, and life cycles.

Janelle Poiron

Janelle Poiron is an Indigenous woman and a part of the incoming 2020/2021 MDP cohort at the University of Winnipeg. Janelle is an essential part of the Kishaadigeh project, assisting with its partners in development of curriculum and program delivery which supports the data sovereign needs of the Manitoba region. Working closely with Dr. Cidro and Kishaadigeh’s Indigenous partners, the goal of Janelle’s work is to help determine community Indigenous epidemiologist needs and priorities.

Tara Myran

Tara Myran is an Indigenous woman and a graduate student at the University of Winnipeg's MDP program. Tara’s research is on the Urban Indigenous Doulas project and she will be working under the supervision of Dr. Cidro over the next two years. The primary purpose of her research is to examine how the doula program could be effectively administered to provide support to expectant mothers, as well as emotional and technical support to the doulas. Tara’s research aims to contribute to the health of Manitoba First Nations, Métis, and Inuit community through Kishaadigeh partnership engagement.

KC Adams

KC Adams is a social practice artist, mentor, and educator; her career span 23 years, creating work that explores technologies and their connection to Indigenous epistemologies and identity. KC is pursuing a MA in Cultural Studies: Curatorial Practices at the University of Winnipeg. Her goal is to pursue Manitoba Indigenous communal pottery methods by using participatory research. She wants to bridge the knowledge gap for community members to take control of their histories and stories.

Shalaka Jadhav

Shalaka spent their childhood between cities in India and in Dubai, before moving to a neighbourhood spitting distance from Ontario’s largest mall. They now join from the Block 2 of the Haldimand Tract with a long time curiosity about art-based methods, and their role in enabling unusual connections and collective futures. In their day job, Shalaka designs and facilitates curriculum and workshops that support young people in moving towards just, climate-resilient futures.  Trained as an urban planner, Shalaka is following the advice of an aptitude test to pursue Curatorial Practices at the University of Winnipeg.  As Shalaka explores and builds on their curatorial ethic, they see it to be guided by a walking methodology, carrying forward the work of their ancestors in tending for the land, and woven together by conversations over cups of tea.

Wendy Alakpodia

Wendy is currently pursuing an MA in Cultural Studies specialized in Curatorial Practices at the University of Winnipeg. Her goal is to embrace high value asset for articulating connections among artists, ideas, objects, archives, institutions, new media technologies, and audiences while working alongside curators, designers, and artists to develop the highbrow and practical skills needed to pursue a range of professional paths in curating and contemporary art.

Jasmine Sihra

Jasmine Sihra is a Punjabi settler/second-generation immigrant, born and raised in Tkaronto/Toronto. An emerging scholar and curator, she researches the intersection of artistic practices, climate change, critical curating, decolonizing methodologies, and sustainability. Supported by a SSHRC CGS-M, she is completing her Master of Arts in Art History at Concordia University under the guidance of Dr. Heather Igloliorte, examining the relationship between Inuit artists and Pacifica artists and their responses to climate change within their respective communities. Jasmine has fundraised, curated, and contributed to many different projects throughout her academic career. Most recently, she worked with Dr. Igloliorte as a special projects coordinator for INUA, the inaugural exhibition at Qaumajuq (Inuit Art Centre) in Winnipeg.

Franchesca Hebert-Spence

Franchesca Hebert-Spence, Anishinaabe, PhD student, Carleton University.

Hebert-Spence’s first engagements with art were as a maker, creating an emphasis on guest/host relationships and the responsibilities that arise from a non-hierarchical relationality within her curatorial praxis. She is Anishinaabe and her grandmother Marion Ida Spence was from Sagkeeng First Nation, on Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba. Kinship and its responsibilities direct the engagement she maintains within her community as well as her understand of how institutions move and breath. The foundation of this practice stems from Ishkabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabateg, Brandon University Visual and Aboriginal Arts program. She has begun as a PhD student in Cultural Mediations at Carleton University and holds the Morrisseau Project Fellowship under Dr. Carmen Robertson. She is an Independent Curator and previously served as an Adjunct Curator, Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Alberta, and a Curatorial Assistant within the Indigenous Art Department at the National Gallery of Canada.

Ojo Agi

Ojo Agi is a Nigerian-Canadian artist and researcher working at the intersections of Black feminism, postcolonial theory, and art history. Her work critically explores the discursive and material effects of mobility on identity and belonging in the contemporary African diaspora, and the ways in which these experiences emerge in artistic praxes. She has curated with Feminist Art Collective and the Art Gallery of Ontario, and is a member of the latter's Global Africa and the Diaspora curatorial committee. Ojo holds a BHSc in Health Sciences with a minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Ottawa and an MA in Women and Gender Studies from the University of Toronto. She is currently completing a PhD in Art History at Concordia University, supported by the Joseph-Armand Bombardier SSHRC award and a Concordia Doctoral Fellowship.

Julia Lafreniere

Julia Lafreniere (pronouns: she/they) is an advocate for bridging cultural gaps and creating institutional understanding within colonial spaces. She carries the teachings of love, kindness and understanding that have been passed to her from knowledge keepers within the Indigenous community. Julia’s family is from the Metis community of Camperville located on Treaty 4 territory. She is a second-generation residential day school survivor and grew up both on Treaty 1 territory and Swampy Cree territory on Treaty 5. Currently, Julia is the Head of Indigenous Initiatives at the Winnipeg Art Gallery where she has been professionally since 2019. Julia holds an Advanced Bachelor of Arts degree in Native Studies from the University of Manitoba and is currently completing a Masters in Developmental Practice degree at the University of Winnipeg. Her research interests include water and land protection, and exploring various methods of incorporating Indigenous knowledge into colonial institutions. Julia has extensive community involvement, having served in a volunteer capacity on local boards, student groups and within ceremonial spaces.

Shaneela Boodoo

Shaneela Boodoo is a graduate of the University of Manitoba with a BFA (Honours) in Design. She is a second-generation immigrant, born and based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and identifies as Indo-Caribbean. As an emerging artist, designer, and curator, Boodoo's work uses design, installation, collage and photography to communicate carefully constructed narratives which use reconstructed memories to explore facets of information. These memories come from aspects of personal relationships that deal with larger intersecting themes of colonialism, displacement and womanhood. Boodoo has also worked to establish and brand many BIPOC collectives in the city, such as RIND, Patterns Collective and Chroma Collective. She has curated shows such as Adornment and Analogous that have centered the experiences of BIPOC in institutional spaces, such as the School of Art Gallery.

Audree Espada

Audree Espada is a graduate student and researcher of Filipino and Puerto Rican descent. She was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, and currently resides in Winnipeg/Treaty One Territory, Manitoba. Audree has worked as a professional archaeologist and museum professional for several years in California, Colorado, and New Mexico before arriving in Winnipeg. She brings a cross-disciplinary and collaborative approach to curation as she seeks to feature voices and knowledge from the BIPOC community that have been largely ignored, silenced, or exploited.

Amanda McLeod

Amanda McLeod is Anishinaabeikwe from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba. She completed an honours degree in Conservation Studies at the City & Guilds of London Art School in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts in History of Art & Native Studies from the University of Alberta. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Winnipeg and a part-time curator with the institution's Anthropology Museum. Amanda is a freelance curator working with the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Indigenous Tuberculosis Photo Project, University of Toronto, and the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre. Most recently, she was contracted by the Manitoba Museum (TMM) where she was responsible for the development and delivery of the Indigenous content for TMM’s massive multi-year gallery renewal; this included an in-depth and candid telling of the history of Canada’s Indian Residential School System. Through extensive engagement, collaboration and mutual respect at all stages, Amanda worked to provide a platform for the Indigenous community to be primary narrators of their own stories, knowledge, and histories being shared to the City of Winnipeg and TMM projects. She remains committed to dismantling colonial misinterpretations long held by institutions for centuries, contributing to a new paradigm of research and content development. In this way, Amanda is a strong advocate for the involvement, consultation, collaboration, and respect of Indigenous source communities in both conservation and curatorial practices in museums and other institutions.