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 Ojiig Corbiere, Bne doodem (Ruffed Grouse clan), is an Anishinaabe from M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. He was educated on the reserve and then obtained his BSc from the University of Toronto. He then entered York University for his MA of Environmental Studies. During his master's studies he focused on Anishinaabe narrative and Anishinaabe language revitalization. For five years 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 also served as the Anishinaabemowin revitalization program coordinator at Lakeview School, M'Chigeeng First Nation, where he and his co-workers developed a culturally based second language program that focused on using Anishinaabe stories to teach language. In 2019 he successfully defended his PhD thesis and is currently an assistant professor in the History Department at York University. In June 2021 Dr. Alan Corbiere was appointed a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History of North America.

Dr. Joshua Manitowabi has earned a BA at McMaster University, MA at McMaster University, and PhD ABD at Brock University, where he is an assistant professor of Indigenous history. His research has centered on Indigenous histories and Indigenous education. Josh’s master’s thesis, It Sometimes Speaks To Us: Decolonizing Education by Utilizing Our Elders’ Knowledge, explored the experiences and recommendations of elders in introducing Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into the curricula of Anishinaabe schools. His doctoral dissertation, Anishinaabek Knowledge and Power on Manitoulin Island, is an ethnohistoric study of Odawa agency and perspectives regarding 18th and 19th century treaties made with the British Crown.Josh is a Potawatomi, Bear clan, member of the Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation. He is the recipient of several awards. Among them are the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Award, Bluma Appel Award Scholarship, and the Harvey Longboat Major Scholarship. He is a past member of the Aboriginal Research Advisory Circle, and the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity, and Decolonization at Brock University. Josh’s scholarship interests are directed toward providing historical evidence for attaining equity in treaty interpretation and in economics, education, and healthcare.

Dr. Rick Monture is a member of the Mohawk nation, Turtle Clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. He is also 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. He is a Community Scholar with Six Nations Polytechnic and a former member of the Steering Committee that established the Deyohahage / Indigenous Knowledge Centre, based at Six Nations. Rick is an active community volunteer and is a board member with the Grand River Post-Secondary Education Office, as well as a founding member of the Old Council House Restoration Committee that is now undertaking to restore and preserve the Six Nations Council House that was built by the Grand River Confederacy Chiefs in 1863. His book We Share our Matters: Two Centuries of Writing and Resistance at Six Nations of the Grand River, was published by the University of Manitoba Press in 2014 and is an examination of the Grand River Haudenosaunee’s assertions of sovereignty and social justice through letters, political activism, literature, and film. Rick lives at Six Nations with his family.

Dr. Kiera Kaia’tano:ron Brant-Birioukov, who was born and raised in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, is a recognized expert in Indigenous educational research and methodologies. She specializes in curriculum development, educational philosophy, and community engagement, with a strong emphasis on cultural competency and fostering positive Indigenous relations. Her work aligns with the principles established in the Treaty of Niagara and is instrumental in shaping Indigenous programming that promotes a deeper understanding of these vital areas, much like the initiatives encouraged by the Niagara Academy.

Karihwakeron Tim Thompson, from the Mohawk Nation at Wáhta Mohawk Territory, has held numerous roles dedicated to enhancing cultural competency and strengthening Indigenous relations. His positions include serving as the 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 the First Nations Technical Institute, also known as the Niagara Academy. Throughout his career, he has upheld the principles outlined in the Treaty of Niagara, which underscore the significance of these vital relationships and Indigenous programming.

Gaya'dowehs Lu Ann Hill-MacDonald, a member of the Mohawk Bear Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River, has made significant strides in the realm of First Nations education at local, regional, national, and international levels. Her work particularly emphasizes cultural competency and enhancing Indigenous relations. Notably, she received an Order in Council appointment as the only Indigenous woman in Ontario chosen to support the development of the regulatory College of Early Childhood Educators, an initiative that aligns with the principles of the Treaty of Niagara and aims to bolster Indigenous programming through education.

Leah Hogan, a proud Bear Clan woman from the Oneida Nation of the Thames, serves as the Director of Indigenous Education at Niagara College, located in the One Dish, One Spoon Territory. As an emerging Haudenosaunee scholar and PhD student at OISE, University of Toronto, her research focuses on enhancing cultural competency and fostering Indigenous relations through innovative Indigenous programming, relational learning, storytelling, and land-based education. These initiatives connect deeply to themes rooted in the Treaty of Niagara and the restoration of Indigenous identity.

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 fostered cultural competency and enriched Indigenous programming for a new generation of students. He educates them about Treaty relationships, including the significance of the Treaty of Niagara, as well as aspects of Canadian politics, the constitutional monarchy, and civics, all of which are pivotal to understanding Indigenous relations.

Dr. Meagan Hamilton, an environmental professional and social scientist of both Mohawk and European ancestry, is dedicated to enhancing cultural competency and fostering positive Indigenous relations. Currently serving as a Special Projects Officer at the University of Toronto, she focuses on integrating Indigenous programming and education, drawing insights from historical agreements such as the Treaty of Niagara, which play a crucial role in her work at the Niagara Academy.

Dr. Daniel Coleman, honored as a Distinguished University Professor in 2023, is a professor and Canadian Research Chair in Diversity in Canadian Literary Culture at McMaster University. His teaching and research in Canadian literature examine the literary and cultural production of privilege categories such as whiteness, masculinity, and Britishness, while also engaging with the literatures of immigration and diaspora. In his work, he highlights the significance of cultural competency in improving Indigenous relations and incorporates discussions on historical contexts, including the Treaty of Niagara, to inform his approach to Indigenous programming.

Before coming to Toronto Metropolitan University in 2008, Dr. Carl Benn worked in the museum field for 34 years, where he fulfilled senior curatorial, research, and managerial duties, restored heritage properties, curated exhibits, and produced other public resources. He has published extensively, and his books include Historic Fort York (1993), the Iroquois in the War of 1812 (1998), Mohawks on the Nile (2009), Native Memoirs from the War of 1812 (2014), A Mohawk Memoir from the War of 1812 (2019), and The War of 1812 (second edition 2024). His current book projects are a history of the Royal Ontario Museum before 1948 and a study of museums in Western society.

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. She 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.

Robert I. MacDonald was on the Archaeological Services Inc. since 1982 and held the position of managing partner. He earned Honours BSc and MA degrees from Trent University and a PhD from McGill University, all in anthropology, and is accredited by the Register of Professional Archaeologists. 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. Since 2004, Dr. MacDonald has held appointments as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Waterloo and as a research fellow of the Trent University Archaeological Research Centre. Since 2010, he has been appointed as an adjunct faculty member of the Anthropology Graduate Program at Trent University. In 2013 he was elected to the Executive Board of the Ontario Archaeological Society (OAS), a Provincial Heritage Organization, serving a two-year term as president in 2014 and 2015. Dr. MacDonald has written and produced over forty scholarly publications and presentations.

Richard D. Merritt received most of his formal education in London, Ontario where he graduated from Western University School of Medicine. Upon completing Fellowship training in Ophthalmology at the University of Toronto he moved to Niagara and practiced ophthalmology in Niagara Falls for forty years but is now contentedly retired. 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. He is perhaps most proud of the Landscape of Nations Memorial, the public artwork and education initiative on Queenston Heights that recognizes the significant sacrifices and critical contributions of Six Nations and Native Allies during the War of 1812. His publications include The Capital Years: Niagara-on-the-Lake 1792–1796, of which he was a contributing Editor, and On Common Ground: The Ongoing Story of The Commons in Niagara-on-the Lake, among others.

Dr. Ron Williamson is an archaeologist with over fifty years of field and research experience. In 1980, he founded Archaeological Services Inc., which has become the largest cultural heritage consulting firm in Canada. He has administered and directed hundreds of archaeological assessments, excavations and heritage planning studies, and he was the Director of the multi-year Master Plan of Archaeological Resources for the City of Toronto. He is also a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto and Western University. He has published extensively on the Indigenous and colonial history of northeastern North America. He is immediate Past President of the Museum of Ontario Archaeology at Western University, and former Vice-President of the Shared Path Consultation Initiative. He served on the board of Heritage Toronto from 2001 to 2007. In 2016, he was conferred the Smith-Wintemberg award, the Canadian Archaeological Association’s most prestigious award for outstanding contributions to Canadian Archaeology, and in 2019, he was given Heritage Toronto’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2024, he was given the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario/OHT, Thomas Symons Award for Commitment to Conservation.

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. Previously, Travis was with the Niagara Parks Commission in Niagara since 2001, leaving as the Site Manager at Old Fort Erie National Historic Site, a War of 1812 National Historic Site. He continues to be involved with incorporating Indigenous culture and history into events within the municipality of Hamilton and Niagara Region. Travis also played professional lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League (2005-2012); he played six years with the Minnesota Swarm (now Georgia Swarm)culminating in an NLL Champions Cup with the Rochester Knighthawks in 2012. He was also aplayer with the Haudenosaunee Nationals (formerly Iroquois Nationals) World Lacrosse team in both Box and Field lacrosse.

David Beyer is a Toronto-based, multi-disciplinary designer, artist, illustrator, and creative director. As a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation (ocêko-sîpiy), a Treaty 5 community in Manitoba’s interlake region, David emphasizes cultural competency in his work. He has collaborated with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous companies and institutions across North America, fostering meaningful Indigenous relations while promoting the values established in the Treaty of Niagara.

Julia Murray is an educator, school leader, and educational consultant with more than two decades of experience in teaching, curriculum development, and leadership. She currently serves as Head of School at Royal Oak Community School in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where she champions inquiry-based, community-connected, and place-responsive learning. Julia holds degrees in Biology, Psychology, Child Study and Education, and Early Childhood Education, and has taught and mentored educators through her work with the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto, Brock University, and OISE. As an Indigenous education consultant with the Landscape of Nations 360° initiative, she has worked alongside Indigenous partners to help educators and communities deepen their understanding of Indigenous histories, perspectives, and relationships to land. Julia is passionate about helping children develop meaningful connections to place, culture, heritage, and community, believing that these foundations nurture curiosity, empathy, and the open-hearted learning necessary to engage thoughtfully with Indigenous histories, contributions, and ways of knowing. Julia is an Associate with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations.