Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations

Associates affiliated with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations provide knowledge and experience in support of the organization’s professional development training, programming, publishing, and general engagement. They serve to ensure that factual content as well as the leading cultural and academic practices concerning Indigenous relations, are consistently applied to the work.

Dr. Alan Corbiere, Bne doodem (Ruffed Grouse clan), is an Anishinaabe from M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. He served as the executive director at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M'Chigeeng, a position which also encompassed the roles of curator and historian. He is currently an assistant professor in the History Department at York University and was appointed a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History of North America.

Dr. Jennifer Brant is first and foremost a mother of two boys, belongs to the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk Nation) with family ties to Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Dr. Brant is the founding director of the Indigenous Literatures Lab and an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

Dr. Josh Manitowabi, Bear clan member of the Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation, has earned a BA at McMaster University, MA at McMaster University, and PhD at Brock University, where he is an assistant professor of Indigenous history. His research has centred on Indigenous histories and Indigenous education.

Dr. Rick Monture, Turtle Clan from the Mohawk nation, Six Nations of the Grand River, is a professor in the Department of English & Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies at McMaster University where he teaches classes on Haudenosaunee history and oral traditions, Indigenous literature, and American literature.

Dr. Kiera Kaia’tano:ron Brant-Birioukov, born and raised in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, is a recognized expert in Indigenous educational research and methodologies, specializing in curriculum, educational philosophy, and community engagement.

Karihwakeron Tim Thompson, from the Mohawk Nation at Wáhta Mohawk Territory, has held many roles, including Policy Director of the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, Education Coordinator for the Chiefs of Ontario, Education Director and Director of Languages for the Assembly of First Nations, and President and CAO of First Nations Technical Institute.

Gaya'dowehs Lu Ann Hill-MacDonald, Mohawk, Bear Clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River has positively influenced First Nations education at the local, regional, national, and international levels. She received an Order in Council appointment as the only Indigenous woman in Ontario selected to assist with the creation of the regulatory College of Early Childhood Educators.

Leah Hogan, a proud Bear Clan woman from the Oneida Nation of the Thames, serves as the Director of Indigenous Education at Niagara College on One Dish, One Spoon Territory. An emerging Haudenosaunee scholar and PhD student at OISE, University of Toronto, her research explores relational learning and Indigenous identity restoration through storytelling and land-based education.

Nathan Tidridge has dedicated himself to promoting the role of the Crown in Canada's history, particularly its Treaty relationships, such as the Silver Covenant Chain with First Nations. Through his work, he has taught a new generation of students about Treaty relationships, Canadian politics, the constitutional monarchy, and civics.

Dr. Meagan Hamilton is an environmental professional and social scientist who is of both Mohawk and European ancestry. She currently works as a Special Projects Officer at the University of Toronto in Indigenous Curriculum and Education.

Dr. Daniel Coleman, named Distinguished University Professor in 2023, is a professor and Canadian Research Chair in Diversity in Canadian Literary Culture at McMaster University where he teaches and carries out research in Canadian Literature, the literary and cultural production of categories of privilege such as whiteness, masculinity, and Britishness, and the literatures of immigration and diaspora.

David Beyer is a Toronto-based, multi-disciplinary designer, artist, illustrator and creative director. David is a member of Fisher River Cree Nation (ocêko-sîpiy), a Treaty 5 community in Manitoba’s interlake region. He has worked with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous companies and institutions across North America.

Julia Murray holds a Master’s degree in Child Study and Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto and an undergraduate degree in Biology and Psychology from Queen’s University. Before joining Royal Oak as the Head of School and founding member of the Board of Directors, she spent eight years as a Teacher Researcher at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Lab School at OISE.

Dr. Robert I. MacDonald has been on the staff of Archaeological Services Inc. since 1982 and now holds the position of managing partner. His areas of expertise include human paleoecology, archaeological site potential modelling, geographical information system (GIS) applications in archaeology, Iroquoian archaeology, stone tool analysis, and Indigenous engagement.

Dr. Richard D. Merritt received most of his formal education in London, Ontario where he graduated from Western University School of Medicine. Richard is a past president of the Niagara Historical Society, Friends of Fort George, and the Niagara Foundation. He chaired the committee that obtained Designation of Old Town Niagara as a National Historic District, the first in Ontario. He co-chaired the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s War of 1812 Bicentennial Committee and has served as guest curator for two exhibitions at the Niagara Historical Society’s Museum.

Travis Hill, proud citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy: Tuscarora Nation, Beaver Clan. Since 2023, Travis has been the Curator of Indigenous Culture & Heritage with the City of Hamilton. In this role, he balances his time between the Heritage Resource Management (Civic Museums) and the Indigenous Relations Team, both of which work on the implementation of Hamilton’s Urban Indigenous Strategy involving the Calls to Action within the Truth and Reconciliation Report and Civic Museums Implementation Strategy.

Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Laughing Otter Caring Woman) is a mixed-race nehiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) whose Cree family comes from Treaty Eight (Lesser Slave Lake) territory. She was born and raised in Syilx and Splats’in territories of British Columbia and is connected through her three children to the Six Nations of the Grand River. At Brock University she serves as Vice Provost for Indigenous Engagement and is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at Brock, where her scholarly work focuses on Indigenous feminisms, violence against Indigenous women and girls, and Indigenous women’s political activism and leadership. In addition to being an academic, Robyn is also as activist, author, and artist.