Sheryl Lightfoot (Anishinaabe, Lake Superior Band) is Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics at the University of British Columbia, where she holds appointments in Political Science, Indigenous Studies, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. She serves as the North American Member on the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) as well as Senior Advisor to the UBC President on Indigenous Affairs, where she is the lead on UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan. Her research focuses on Indigenous global politics, especially Indigenous rights and their implementation in global, national and regional contexts.

Adrienne Vedan

Adrienne Vedan is Syilx and Secwepemc and a member of the Okanagan Indian Band.  She is the Sr. Advisor to the Deputy Vice Chancellor and Principal on Indigenous Affairs and Director of Indigenous Programs and Services at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia.  Her work includes understanding how admissions pathways and institutional structures are related to widening participation and access to higher education for Indigenous learners as well as Indigenous student experience and academic achievement.

Vicki Lynne George (Wet’suwet’en) is the Associate Director, Office of Indigenous Strategic Initiatives and was a key team member in the development of the 2020 UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan. She is also a UBC FNIS alumna and provided input and advice for the 2009 UBC Aboriginal Strategic Plan. Vicki returned to UBC in 2019 with 23 years of legal experience and she has extensive knowledge of Indigenous history, particularly in BC. Since her undergrad, she has been a frequent guest speaker at UBC, SFU, companies and organizations sharing her practicum research project on the “Constitution Express.”

Daniel Justice

I am a Colorado-born citizen of the Cherokee Nation, appointed as Professor in the Department of English and First Nations and Indigenous Studies in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies. My work in Indigenous literary studies takes up questions and issues of kinship, belonging, sexuality, personhood, and nationhood, with increasing attention to the intersections between Indigenous literatures, speculative fiction, and other-than-human peoples. My published work includes the literary studies Why Indigenous Literatures Matter and Our Fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History, the animal cultural histories Raccoon and Badger, the Indigenous epic fantasy The Way of Thorn and Thunder, and have edited and co-edited numerous works, including The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature (with James H. Cox), and the forthcoming Allotment Stories: Indigenous Land Relations Under Settler Siege (with Jean M. O’Brien). More information about my work and commitments can be found on my website, www.danielheathjustice.com.

Kerrie Charnley

Dr. Kerrie Charnley is Coast Salish from Katzie First Nation and over the past 15 years has taught courses in Indigenous Education, Literature, and Health at UBC, SFU, and the Institute for Indigenous Governance (NVIT). She is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of English and Cultural Studies in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan. Dr. Charnley’s work focuses on ways to indigenize education and the academy that include Indigenous Peoples’ voices, epistemologies, and land-based pedagogies.

Noah Chenoweth

I am a fifth year student in the faculty of arts majoring in Indigenous studies. I am part of the Upper Nicola Indian band part of the Okanagan Nation. I am currently a peer mentor for Indigenous programs and services and a student ambassador. Previously I have worked at the Okanagan Nation Alliance as an events and programming support. Indigenous education has been a passion of mine since studying at UBCO and hope to research further in grad work.