Indigenous Education Network Leadership Team
Dr. Jennifer Brant,
IEN Faculty Co-Chair
Title/Role at U of T:
- Faculty Co-Chair of the Indigenous Education Network
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning
- Faculty Editor of Curriculum Inquiry
Research/Teaching Keywords: Indigenous literatures; Indigenous Maternal Pedagogies and Methodologies; and Ethical Spaces for Liberatory Praxis;
Why are you part of the Indigenous Education Network? She:kon Sewakwe:kon! I am part of this Indigenous Education Network because it is an integral space for Indigenous intellectual work on our campus; I see it as a space of togetherness that brings community visions forward. I have come to know it as a space of radical care, and ethical relationality. It is also a welcoming space for our families; one of my earliest memories with the IEN was bringing my youngest son to the Rock-Your-Mocs event in my first year at OISE. The IEN has also provided a nurturing space for the kind of work that gives back to our communities and this is what drives me as a faculty member. In recent years I have seen the IEN express its commitment to work that fosters Indigenous, Black, and Afro-Indigenous solidarities and I am moved by this commitment of togetherness. This is expressed in my own work toward anti-racist praxis. The IEN is a space where I can bring theory and practice together and become more involved with community organizing, social movements and the kind of work that tends to socio-political action.
Dr. Rosalind Hampton,
IEN Faculty Co-Chair
Title/Role at U of T:
- Faculty Co-Chair of the Indigenous Education Network
- Assistant Professor of Black Studies, Social Justice Education
Research/Teaching Keywords: Black Studies; Black radical thought; arts and critical-creative practice; student activism; critical pedagogies; anticolonial, anticapitalist solidarities
Why are you part of the Indigenous Education Network? Being part of the IEN provides me with opportunities for non-hierarchical collaboration with students, staff and fellow faculty within a context of generosity and care between and among Indigenous, Black-Indigenous and Black people. It is a site from which I continue to learn with and from Indigenous peoples and knowledges, and work with others to strengthen and further our collective efforts toward decolonization. Radical care is an ethical, political and pedagogical practice woven throughout the work of the IEN—in the programs and support provided to students, in our relationships with one another, and in our collaborations with colleagues and with community partners beyond the university.
Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos,
Previous IEN Faculty Co-Chair
Title/Role at U of T:
- Previous IEN Faculty Co-Chair of the Indigenous Education Network
- Assistant Professor of Indigenous Mental Health and Social Policy
- Canada Research Chair in Critical Studies in Indigenous Health and Social Action on Suicide
Research/Teaching Keywords: Critical Mental Health; Indigenous Social Policy; Suicide; Grief; Social Dimensions of Indigenous Health; Youth; 2SLGBTQ+ health; Decolonizing Research Methodologies; Ethics
Why are you part of the Indigenous Education Network? I am part of this network because I believe in that one of the best ways that we can serve Indigenous peoples is by helping nourish the relationship between our work in universities to address the needs, desires, and hopes of Indigenous communities and social movements. I also see the IEN as a unique space which stimulates the kind of radical care, anticolonial convergences, commitments, and collective actions that are needed to transform universities, and our society at-large. I am also deeply passionate about making universities safer spaces for Indigenous students, as well as other students experiencing oppression. I am a part of this network to try to develop, link to, and enhance opportunities for student support in all areas, including academic, social, emotional, cultural, political, and spiritual supports. I am also a part of this network because through participation in it, I learn from and with other comrades, Indigenous, Black, Black-Indigenous, and others who find community in our network. Together, we are navigating the present opportunities and challenges of colonial institutions like the university, and repurposing the university for something else, something better where justice and our collective liberation is at the centre.
Kayla Webber,
IEN Student Co-Chair
Title/Role at U of T:
- Student Co-Chair of the Indigenous Education Network
Alexis Daybutch,
IEN Coordinator
Title/Role at U of T:
- Coordinator of the Indigenous Education Network
Why are you part of the Indigenous Education Network?:
Lindsay DuPré,
Indigenous Education Liaison
Title/Role at U of T:
- Indigenous Education Liaison of the Indigenous Education Network
Research/Teaching Keywords: Indigenous Education and Knowledge Praxis; Anti-colonial, Anti-racist and Intersectional Pedagogies; Cultural Safety and Trauma-informed Organizational Change; Structural Determinants of Health and Mental Health; Indigenous Organizing and Community Wellness
Why are you part of the Indigenous Education Network?: As a Métis woman my relationship to learning has been heavily influenced by contexts of social justice. I have come to know education both as a helpful tool for elevating radical ways of knowing and deepening relations—and as a source of violence due to its entanglement with settler colonialism. The IEN has been an important site of Indigenous presence at OISE for over 30 years and continues to play an important role in advancing critical educational praxis. I am very proud to be part of this work and excited about the ways that the IEN Leadership Team is centring relationality and care. Our student supports and co-curricular activities are guided by trauma-informed and intersectional approaches, and we remain responsive to evolving social and political contexts. I am part of this network because I believe that staff are integral to making universities safer for Indigenous people and communities, and I do my best to share our learnings and wise practices across the Institute and University of Toronto.