Director’s Panel Series on Identity, Inclusion & Human Rights

Dr. Marie Battiste is a Mi’kmaw educator from the Potlotek First Nation and from Aroostook Band of Micmacs in Maine. A Professor Emerita at the University of Saskatchewan, she has returned to Nova Scotia and is currently a Special Advisor to the Vice-President Academic at Cape Breton University on Decolonizing the Academy. She holds a bachelor of science from the University of Maine at Farmington and graduate degrees from Harvard and Stanford universities, and has been honoured with four honorary degrees (UMaine Farmington, St.Mary’s, Thompson Rivers and Ottawa). 

Widely published, she is author of Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit (Purich Press, 2013) and co-authored with J.Y. Henderson on Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Heritage: A Global Challenge (Purich Press/UBC Press, 2000). She has edited several collections; the most recent are Visioning Mi’kmaw Humanities: Indigenizing the Academy (2016), Living Treaties: Narrating Mi’kmaw Treaty Relations (2016) and The Engaged Scholar Journal for Community Engaged Research, Teaching and Learning o​n the theme of Indigenous and Trans-systemic Knowledges. She is a 2019 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellow, an honorary Officer of the Order of Canada and an elected Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada.​​

Hudson Bolduc is a Grade 11 student in the HDSB, enrolled in the I-STEM program at Aldershot School. His main areas of interest are Science and Math and he plans to study engineering at university. Hudson is Ojibwa from Fort William First Nations in Thunder Bay. His father grew up in a remote northern community in Ontario and his grandmother was a Residential School Survivor. In his spare time, Hudson tutors younger students in Math, Science and English, is an active participant with the Oakville First Robotics Club and plays in small concerts at senior centres. Hudson has travelled with Hockey Cares to Attawapiskat where he had the opportunity, through the game of hockey, to build relationships and learn more about his culture. He continues to volunteer with Hockey Cares to help promote reconciliation through a positive cultural exchange. ​​

Dr. Sheri Longboat is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. She is a teacher, researcher and advisor to graduate students within a professional planning program. Sheri is a Mohawk member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, born and raised in east Hamilton, and a first generation post-secondary graduate. She has worked with and within First Nations communities in Ontario in various capacities for over 25 years. A geographer and interdisciplinary researcher, her current work focuses on a range of areas including Indigenous rights and governance, First Nations water security and community planning and development. She is a member of the Mohawk College Board of Governors and resides in Kitchener. She holds a bachelor of environmental studies from the University of Waterloo, a master’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, bachelor of education from Brock University and PhD from Wilfrid Laurier University.​