Indigenous Relations Programs

Niagara Roundtable Conference | September 19, 2026

Upper Canada Hall at the Pillar and Post Conference Centre | NOTL

48 John St W., Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON L0S 1J0

8:00 am - Registration

8:30 am - Breakfast

9:00 am - Karl Dockstader — Opening Address: The Words That Come Before All Else

The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, or “The Words That Come Before All Else,” is an ancient cultural supplication that serves to remind and instruct its adherents of their relationship to other life forms and the natural laws that govern the forces and energies of existence. It is a value system based upon ecological knowledge that intrinsically contains principles and morals intended to guide human behavior. The Thanksgiving Address is an expression of empathic tradition — an Indigenous cultural convention that nurtures emotional and intellectual connections and understandings within human beings in order to diminish distinctions between the self and other life forms.

Karl Dockstader, Bear Clan Oneida, is active in One Dish, One Spoon territories as an advocate for Indigenous peoples. He co-hosts the hit radio program One Dish, One Mic that airs in Niagara, London, Windsor, and Hamilton. Karl has served as a Bell Media radio news rotating talk show host on 610 CKTB’s The Drive airing weekdays from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. In addition to radio work, Karl has done TV work with CTV News Channel, appeared as a regular panellist on the politics show CTV Power Play for the 2021-2022 season, and done freelance work including having earned CBC and Canada land by-lines. As a self-described “Friendship Centre baby,” Karl had the honour to serve as Executive Director of the Niagara Regional Native Centre for two years. This work followed four years of frontline community work with the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre. Karl loves grassroots initiatives, is unafraid to take bold stances on matters that affect First Nations peoples, and has used art, communication, and podcasting to support community goals achievements.

9:10 am - Tim Johnson (NAIR) and Amy Klassen (NOTL Museum) — Welcome

Background information and programmatic and operational context for the Niagara Roundtable Conference.

Tim Johnson, president of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations, was project director of the recently opened Woodland Cultural Centre’s Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School exhibit and visitor experience. He is the artistic director of The Great Niagara Escarpment Indigenous Cultural Map, project director of the Greenbelt Indigenous Botanical Survey, executive producer of the multiple award-winning documentary RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World, and co-editor of the book covering Niagara’s Indigenous history, Landscape of Nations: Beyond the Mist. As the former associate director for Museum Programs at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, Tim managed the museum’s largest organizational group across its facilities in Washington and New York. A long list of critically acclaimed exhibits, programs, and publications were produced during his tenure, creating an era that significantly advanced the institution’s museology and reputation. Active in his home community of Six Nations of the Grand River and with several prestigious education, arts, and journalism institutions for more than 40 years, Tim received the Dreamcatcher Foundation Award for Art and Culture in 2016, the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2024, the Mayor’s Medal from the Town of Lincoln in 2026, and an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Brock University in 2026.

Amy Klassen received her Honours BA in Anthropology from the University of Guelph and then completed the Post-Graduate Program in Human Resource Management at Niagara College in 2005. She has been employed with the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum since 2001, fulfilling several summer contracts until finally joining the organization full time in 2006. For nearly 20 years she was responsible for budget management, bookkeeping, public relations, communications, gift shop management, and special events, as well as other administrative duties. Amy became executive director in 2026. She is responsible for all day-to-day operations and has primary responsibility for the implementation of Board-directed strategies and policies for the activities and holdings of the Niagara Historical Society. She is a contributing author in the Niagara Historical Society’s publications 100 Years – 100 Artefacts (2007) and Making Her Mark (2021). 

9:15 am - Jock Hill | Rick Hill — Covenant Chain Reconciliation

Many nations linked their arms to form alliances and treaty obligations. The Crown was in the centre of the Council Fire dialogues that took place across this region with roots in the 17th century.

Hohahes Leroy 'Jock' Hill, is of the Cayuga Nation and Bear Clan. He is a Faithkeeper and Sub-Chief. He has been married for 39 years, has five children and nine grandchildren. Leroy Hill is a sanctioned speaker of The Great Law of Peace and Gaihwiyo. He is a speaker of three Haudenosaunee languages and one of the Wampum/Record Keepers for the Haudenosaunee. He has helped develop and remains an advisor for numerous language programs. As well, Leroy is a cultural advisor to numerous departments and organizations at Six Nations and surrounding communities. He is a Professor of Indigenous Knowledge (2013) and worked as Co-Instructor of Indigenous Studies at McMaster University. He has also assisted with an Indigenous Law Course at the University of Windsor, and assists with the “People of the Longhouse” course at Wilfred Laurier University. He currently works as Coordinator for the Haudenosaunee Resource Centre.

Rick Hill, vice president of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations, is a renowned educator of Indigenous cultures, histories, and arts whose visionary work shaped the programming of several influential educational institutions including Deyohahá:ge: the Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian where he served as assistant director for Public Programs, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum in Santa Fe where he served as director, Native American Center for the Living Arts where he served as museum director, Niagara Falls Museums as an historian and advisor, and as a master lecturer at several post-secondary institutions including McMaster University, State University of New York at Buffalo, Six Nations Polytechnic, and First Nations Technical Institute among many others. He is the co-editor and contributing author of the book Landscape of Nations: Beyond The Mist, which examines the history of Indigenous peoples within the Niagara Region. As an accomplished artist, researcher, and writer Rick has served as an Indigenous innovations specialist for Mohawk College and is currently Research Director for the First Nations Technical Institute. Rick is a citizen of the Tuscarora Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, residing at the Grand River Territory 

9:30 am - Paul Williams — Treaty Relations, Not Opportunistic Transactions: The Spread of the Principles of Haudenosaunee Law

The principles of Haudenosaunee law, and its intention of spreading a landscape of peace, were more successful in the mid-1700s than modern Euro-American history and law admit.

Kayanesenh Paul Williams, Onondaga, is a member of the Haudenosaunee External Relations Committee, the Documentation Committee, the Standing Committee on Burials and Burial Regulation, the Wildlife and Habitat Authority, and the Environmental Task Force. For more than forty years, as counsel to Indigenous nations, including the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Peskotomuhkati (Passamaquoddy) and Wolostokiyik (Maliseet), Paul has negotiated and, more reluctantly, litigated the restoration of land, hunting, and fishing rights, human remains, and sacred objects. His writing includes a textbook entitled Kaianerenkó:wa, the Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee (the Iroquois Confederacy), and a treatise on treaties. He has taught at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, McMaster University, First Nations University, and Kawenni:io High School at the Six Nations Grand River Territory. He has two daughters, of whom he is immensely proud.

10:00 am - Carl Benn, PhD — John Norton’s Relations With Colonial, Military, And Imperial Authorities, 1790s-1820s

This paper explores the relationships John Norton/Teyoninhokarawen (a military and diplomatic leader on the Grand River) had with Canadian officials, the British army, and the government in London as he struggled to protect the independence of Indigenous peoples around the lower Great Lakes between the 1790s and the 1820s.

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.

10:30 am - Nathan Tidridge — Covenant with The King: the Silver Covenant Chain in the 21st century

The Silver Covenant Chain extended by the 1764 Treaty of Niagara, and the centuries-old living diplomatic and kinship relationship it engenders, is increasing being affirmed by King Charles III and his official representatives in Canada. 

Nathan has authored numerous books, as well as chapters and articles exploring the Crown in Canada, including its relationships with Indigenous peoples, Canadian identity, and local history. Nathan currently serves as a Keeper of the Chapel Royal Tobacco Beds, a role he has held since 2016. He was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal in 2018 for his work educating Canadians about the role of the Crown and its relations with Indigenous communities. He received a Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching History in 2020. In 2025, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation gifted Nathan a wampum belt and named him a “Friend of the Nation.” He was privileged to organize, and participate as a non-Indigenous member, of the 2023 and 2025 delegations from the Mississauga Nation to the United Kingdom, both of which included historic meetings with King Charles III. Nathan has served on several boards, including as Chair of the Programs Committee for the Ontario Heritage Trust. He is currently vice president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada. He currently teaches Canadian history, government, and Treaty Studies at Waterdown District High School in Ontario. He is also a member of the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University and an Associate with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations.

11:00 am- REFRESHMENT BREAK

11:15 am - Josh Manitowabi, PhD — Manitoulin Island Diplomatic Relations and the 1836 Wampum Sagasswaidiwin

When Bond Head came to Manitowaning on August 9, 1836, War Chief Assiginack recited four wampum belts kept by the Odawa. The 1836 council was not a land surrender treaty, but an agreement between the Anishinaabek and the British Crown via wampum within the Covenant Chain relationship.

Joshua Manitowabi (BA McMaster University, MA McMaster University, PhD Brock University) is an assistant professor of Indigenous history at Brock University. His research has centered on Indigenous histories and Indigenous education. Josh’s scholarship interests are directed toward providing historical evidence for attaining equity in treaty interpretation and in economics, education, and healthcare. His interests also include using ethnohistory, critical cartography, and Indigenous mapping in a re-examination of Pontiac’s War, the 1764 Treaty of Niagara, Indigenous participation in the War of 1812, and Indigenous peoples’ political movements that organized in opposition to European colonialism during the 18th century. 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 member of the Brock University Aboriginal Research Advisory Circle, and a past member of the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity, and Decolonization at Brock University. He also serves as an Associate with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations.

11:45 - Jennifer Brant, PhD — The Matriarchal Roles of Haudenosaunee Women and Early Indigenous Relations

This presentation will focus on the Intermediary role of Haudenosaunee Women including the legacy of Koñwatsiˀtsiaiéñni also known as Mary (Molly) Brant. Honouring the Matriarchal roles of Haudenosaunee women will also prompt attendees to consider the intentional erasure of Indigenous women’s stories and the power their stories hold as we move toward ethical relations.

Dr. Jennifer Brant belongs to the Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk Nation) with family ties to Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Jennifer is the founding director of the Indigenous Literatures Lab and an Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Jennifer teaches courses on Indigenous maternal theory and Indigenous research methodologies and engages the revolutionary body of Indigenous literatures to inspire resistance, rebirth, and renewal. Jennifer is also co-editor of several anthologies including Rematriating Justice: Honouring Our Missing Sisters. Through her community work, teaching, research, and writing, Jennifer encourages effective responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's 94 Calls to Action and the 231 Calls for Justice released in Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Jennifer is an Associate with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations.

12:15 pm LUNCH

12:45 pm - Chief Margaret Sault — Indigenous Women in Leadership 

Talk highlights some of her personal experiences with leadership, both within her 46-year career as the Director of Lands, Membership, and Research with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and now as the Chief of the First Nation.

Margaret Sault was elected as Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) in December of 2025. Margaret has dedicated over four decades to serving MCFN, beginning her career in 1977 as Director of Lands, Membership, and Research, and then taking on the role of Governance Director, before retiring in May of 2023. Throughout her career, Margaret has been instrumental in the successful settlement of four land claims in collaboration with MCFN, developed numerous educational resources, and delivered countless talks on MCFN history. Her leadership has been pivotal in guiding the First Nation’s progress towards self-governance beyond the Indian Act. Margaret also previously served as an elected Councillor for one term and contributed to various committees and boards. Beyond her professional accomplishments, Margaret is deeply involved in her community. She cofounded the New Credit Cancer Support Group in 2017 and continues to actively volunteer and fundraise in the Six Nations and New Credit communities. For the past 13 years, she has been a key organizer of the annual Historical Gathering, an event that attracts hundreds of attendees to learn about the rich history of the First Nation from a diverse array of speakers. A proud member and resident of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Margaret is a devoted mother of three sons and grandmother of six, and she is known for her exceptional cooking skills.

1:00 pm - Andrew Humeniuk — Refuge and Alliance: Mohawk-Palatine Relations in Colonial New York

Examining how Mohawk communities and Palatine German settlers forged a partnership in the Schoharie Valley, navigating mutual interests in land, security, and survival while resisting the suspicion and pressure of New York’s colonial government in the early eighteenth century.
 

Andrew Humeniuk established The Brown Homestead with his wife Jennifer in 2015 to purchase his family’s ancestral home in St. Catharines and reimagine it as an educational historic site and community space. The charity is committed to exploring the shared histories of Indigenous and settler communities in a way that honours Indigenous knowledge systems, reflects a more complete and honest history, and strengthens our connection to place.

1:20 pm - Rick Monture, PhD — Joseph Brant and Diplomatic Relations in Upper Canada: a Re-examination 

This talk will discuss the legacy of Joseph Brant's diplomacy with the British Crown and how it has affected the course of Haudenosaunee history in Canada, from the 18th century to this present era of "reconciliation."

Rick Monture is a member of the Mohawk nation, Turtle clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. He is a Professor in the Department of English & Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies at McMaster University where he teaches classes on Indigenous literature, Haudenosaunee history, traditional narratives, and Bob Dylan. He is also a Community Research Fellow with Six Nations Polytechnic and the Deyohahage Indigenous Knowledge Centre based at Six Nations and is an active member of the language revitalization movement in his community. He also serves as an Associate with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations. In partnership with the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Rick holds a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Award for a project that examines the events that led to the overthrow of the traditional Haudenosaunee government, by Ottawa, to implement an elected council system in 1924. His book, We Share our Matters: Two Centuries of Writing and Resistance at Six Nations of the Grand River, was published 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.

1:45 pm - Susan Hill, PhD — Thinking Through Haudenosaunee Land Tenure and Relations in the Niagara Region

This talk will explore what we can learn from Haudenosaunee philosophies about land in context with the historic record about Onkwehonwe relationships to the Niagara Region.

Susan Hill is a Haudenosaunee citizen from the Grand River Territory (Mohawk Nation, Wolf Clan). She holds a PhD in Native Studies from Trent University and is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Indigenous Studies and in the Department of History at the University of Toronto, and also serves as an Associate with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations. She is the author of The Clay We Are Made Of: Haudenosaunee Land Tenure on the Grand River (2017, University of Manitoba Press).

2:15 pm - REFRESHMENT BREAK

2:30 pm - Dr. Richard Merritt — Intimate Relations: Blended Families of Niagara

As a place of refuge and the first capital of Upper Canada, Niagara became home to a remarkably diverse citizenry with many of the town’s most prominent families enjoying Indigenous blood relations.

Richard D. Merritt is a retired ophthalmologist with a life-long passion for Niagara’s rich history.  He has authored several books on the subject and has been recognized by various local organizations including being named a “Living Landmark” by The Niagara Foundation for his documentation and preservation of Niagara’s heritage. He served as co-chair of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s War of 1812 Bicentennial Committee and co-chair of the Working Group of the Landscape of Nations Memorial — the public artwork on Queenston Heights which recognizes the significant sacrifices and critical contributions of the Six Nations and Native Allies during the War of 1812. Richard is an Associate with the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations.

3:00 pm - John Moses — Museums and their Indigenous Relations: Beyond Repatriation

As high profile and as important as repatriation is, it is most properly understood as but one outcome along a spectrum of Indigenous relations outcomes for museums and related institutions.

John Moses is a member of the Delaware and Upper Mohawk bands from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory near Brantford, ON. A former director (retired) of repatriation and Indigenous relations at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC, he is now an independent Indigenous advisor and consultant to museums and heritage organizations. A Canadian Armed Forces veteran of the former Communicator Research Operator 291 trade, he was awarded the Special Service Medal for operations at CFS Alert. He is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his services to museums. Mr. Moses holds a diploma of applied arts in museum technology, a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies, and a master's degree in Canadian studies.

3:30 pm - Meagan Hamilton, PhD — What the Plants Remember: A Relational Exploration of Place and Haudenosaunee History at "The Wilderness"

Drawing on archival research, ecological inquiry, and Haudenosaunee perspectives, this presentation examines “The Wilderness” as a living cultural landscape shaped by relationships among plants, place, and history.

Dr. Meagan Kakwirayéntha Hamilton is Turtle Clan, Kanien'kehá (Mohawk) citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is also of Irish settler ancestry through her paternal lineage. Meagan is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Health and Ecology in the Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. Her work focuses on Indigenous research, governance, land stewardship, environmental health, ecological restoration, environmental monitoring, and Indigenous research methodologies. She collaborates closely with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC) and the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) through her role as Coordinator of the Joint Stewardship Board, a partnership between the HCCC and the City of Hamilton supporting stewardship of the Red Hill Valley. She is also an Associate of the Niagara Academy for Indigenous Relations.

4:00 pm - Julia Murray — Rooted in Place: Cultivating Relations, Belonging, and Understanding Through Indigenous Perspectives

Children's learning is most powerful when it is rooted in place. By fostering meaningful connections to local landscapes, community histories, and cultural stories, educators can help children develop a strong sense of belonging and responsibility to the world around them.

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.

4:30 pm - Closing — Karl Dockstader