Jean Becker is Inuk, a member of Nunatsiavut (Labrador) and is the Senior Director of Indigenous Initiatives at the University of Waterloo. As Senior Director of Indigenous Initiatives, she provides leadership to the university on systemic changes that are connected to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. Prior to January 2020, she was the Senior Advisor for Indigenous Initiatives at Wilfrid Laurier University where she advanced programs, supports, and opportunities for Indigenous students. Jean Becker is an Elder and will provide guidance and mentorship to members of the research team.

Simon Brascoupé, Anishinabeg/Haudenausanee Bear Clan is a member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, Maniwaki (Quebec) and an Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University (Sociology and Anthropology) and Trent University (Indigenous Studies). Simon Brascoupé is a former Chair of the CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health Advisory Board and holds the CFNHM professional designation (Certified First Nations Health Manager). His research interests include Indigenous Knowledge, healing and wellness, Indigenous art and culture, cultural safety, and financial wellness. Simon Brascoupé will provide an important source of mentorship to this team.

Marcia Friesen PEng., PhD., MEd. is a professional engineer, professor, and Dean in the Price Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba. She holds an NSERC Chair in Design Engineering with an explicit focus on integrating Indigenous Knowledge, perspectives, and design principles into the engineering curriculum. She collaborates across the departments of the Price Faculty of Engineering, other Faculties, the engineering practice community, and Indigenous communities. As a Co-Applicant, Dr. Friesen will contribute to the mentorship of new researchers and trainees while providing guidance on the design and development of case study. In addition, Dr Friesen will provide guidance on the overall research project.

Ningwakwe (Priscilla) George is an Anishinaabe Kwe from the Saugeen First Nation (SFN). She has six years of experience coordinating Aboriginal literacy programs at the provincial level, fourteen years teaching in the institutional educational system, and over thirty years promoting literacy as the foundation for personal and community empowerment and development at the local, regional, provincial, national and international levels. She has authored position papers and literature reviews on Indigenous adult literacy for provincial and national organizations, as well as UNESCO. Ningwakwe is the Visiting Elder at the Saugeen District Secondary School, and the Chair of the National Indigenous Executive for an Essential Skills project through the Further Education Society of Alberta. She is the Field Coordinator for the Saugeen Mental Wellness Strategy, a partnership agreement between Saugeen and the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health.

Malcolm King PhD, FCAHS is a member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation (Ontario), a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and
a Professor in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan. Currently the Scientific Director of the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research; he continues to teach and research in Indigenous health, with a particular focus on wellness and engagement. Dr. King will provide this team with a critical source of mentorship as well as his expertise as former Scientific Director (2009-2016) of the CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health, where he led the development of a national health research agenda aimed at improving wellness and achieving health equity for Indigenous peoples.

Janet Smylie MD, MPH is the Director of the Well Living House Action Research Centre for Indigenous Infant, Child, and Family Health and Wellbeing, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Advancing Generative Health Services for Indigenous Populations in Canada, and Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.   Dr. Smylie’s research focuses on addressing Indigenous health inequities in partnership with Indigenous communities. She is particularly focused on ensuring all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples are counted into health policy and planning wherever they live in ways that make sense to them; addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health services; and advancing community-rooted innovations in health services for Indigenous populations. She maintains a part-time clinical practice at Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto and has practiced and taught family medicine in a variety of Indigenous communities both urban and rural. A Métis woman, Dr. Smylie acknowledges her family, traditional teachers, and ceremonial lodge.  

Cora Weber Pillwax, a Métis scholar from Calling Lake (Alberta) is a Professor at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Educations’ department of Educational Policy Studies. Dr. Weber Pillwax brings expertise in Indigenous Peoples Education, Indigenous research methodologies, Interdisciplinary of Aboriginal education, health and education, health research (‘parallel pathways’ of traditional Indigenous health care and traditional Canadian health care in the context of community wellness), Indigenous languages, and Métis history and rights in Canada. She is well published and a revered senior researcher. She has led research funded by the Canada Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council, Community University Research Alliance, and with Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Indigenous Peoples Health. Her connections to communities and students are extensive. 

Josie C. Auger PhD. Receiving a Ph.D. in Public Health Sciences in 2010 brought diverse opportunities. In 2020 Dr. Josie C. Auger was promoted to Associate Professor at Athabasca University. Currently, she leads “Two-Stepping: Determining the dynamics of online access, and understanding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous AU learners and their families”. Using Indigenous Research Methodology in 2019-2020, she explored the following question of inquiry: As Indigenous peoples, can we have healthy sovereignty if we have not self-determined our sexual experiences? My People’s Blood: Indigenous Sexual Health Recovery (2014) is part of the evoked set of research addressing trauma and sexuality. Prior to her return to academia in 2018, she completed a four-year term as an elected leader for Bigstone Cree Nation. 

Anita Benoit PhD, Mi’kmaq member of Esgenoopetitj First Nation (New Brunswick) and French Acadian from Brantville, is an Early Career Researcher and Assistant Professor and the holder of an OHTN CIHR New Investigator Award at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include Indigenous women’s health and wellness, Indigenous research methodologies, HIV pathogenesis, health services and intervention research, and social epidemiology. Dr. Benoit works with national organizations that focus on Indigenous people living with and affected by HIV. Dr. Benoit brings to this project her expertise conducting community-based research that is Indigenous-led.

Lisa Bourque Bearskin PhD, member of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Treaty 6 Territory, is an Early Career Researcher and Associate Professor at Thompson River University, School of Nursing. Dr. Bourque Bearskin was recently appointed with the CIHR Indigenous Nursing Research Chair. She currently holds grants funded by the CIHR Institute for Indigenous Peoples, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and Thompson Rivers University where she initiates community-led research by Indigenous communities. As the Co-Principal Investigator, she will work with this multidisciplinary team to facilitate the design, delivery and implementation of the research project.

Janet Jull PhD, Settler of Euro-Canadian descent, is an Early Career Researcher and Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen’s University. As an occupational therapist, Dr. Jull was concerned by the ways in which health systems failed to meet the needs of the people it was meant to benefit. Consequently, she has worked in close partnership with a number of urban Indigenous, Inuit, Métis and First Nations communities in research studies aimed at enhancing their opportunities for participation in their health decisions through the development of shared decision making tools and approaches, and knowledge translation is an integral part of all our work.

Raglan Maddox PhD, Modewa Clan (Papua New Guinea), is a Fellow at The Australian National University in the National Centre for Epidemiology and Public Health. As Study Director for Tackling Indigenous Smoking, Dr. Maddox works with 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services across Australia to evaluate the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program. He will bring knowledge and experience in developing population based Indigenous heath info-systems using community driven processes to the project. This research generates primary data platforms to better understand and improve Indigenous health and wellbeing, including mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health. Such health information systems work with Indigenous communities and service providers to obtain information to better understand, inform and evaluate programs and policies.

Melody Morton Ninomiya PhD, settler of Japanese and Swiss-German Mennonite descent, holds a Canada Research Chair (T2) in Community-Driven Knowledge Mobilization and Pathways to Wellness and is an Assistant Professor in the Health Science Department at Wilfrid Laurier University. She co-leads a variety of First Nations community-driven health and wellness research projects and is involved in many national and regional working groups and advisory teams on Indigenous-focus projects related to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Indigenous evaluation frameworks and principles. As co-Principal Investigator on this project with Dr. Bourque-Bearskin (co-PI), she works under the guidance from the Advisory Team, and serves as mentor to trainees involved in this project.

Nicole Burns is a Settler to Turtle Island and has been engaged in community-led capacity building for the last several years. Nicole graduated with a master's degree from Wilfrid Laurier's Community Psychology program and is currently a Research Assistant and Project Coordinator for the Interdisciplinary & Indigenous Pathways to Wellness research group in the Health Science Department of WLU. Nicole specializes in program evaluation and has conducted formative and process evaluations with communities and government members across diverse sectors.

Jaiden Herkimer is a member of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation and resides within the bounds of the Between the Lakes Treaty (No. 3). In addition to the IndWisdom project, she is currently a Research Assistant at Indspire in the Research Knowledge Nest program. She completed a BA in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience at the University of Guelph. Jaiden was also Research Assistant and honours thesis student with the University of Guelph Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, where she studied the psychological and behavioural effects of COVID-19 on Asian- and European-Canadians. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in social and community psychology research, with a specific focus on Indigenous peoples and wellbeing. 

Tina Lanceleve is a “jill of all trades” if you will. She has twenty plus years’ experience of working in education, entrepreneurship, a mother of three sons and grandmother of one heck of a high-spirited grandson (who is way cooler than his dad!) She is a former small business owner; something which was born out of necessity not necessarily passion. A mother of three sons who was torn between staying at home yet doing “something” with her life. But what makes Tina successful isn't surviving motherhood or entrepreneurship, but how well she can form connections with people and helping whenever possible. As a strong advocate for lifelong learning, Tina pursued her bachelor’s degree in education and began teaching grade two. Business kept whispering in the background, so she became an Indigenous Business Facilitator – still teaching – but teaching entrepreneurship! In her spare time, Tina is quite adventurous and loves to head to the land. Whether its hiking local trails, fishing, or sightseeing, she feels most at home on the land. Change is always welcomed and having lived on the east coast, the prairies and now the west coast, there is always something new to see, to explore, to live…

Nikki Rose Hunter-Porter ren skwekwst te St’ucwtews re st7e7kwen.

My name is Nikki Rose Hunter-Porter and I am Secwepemc First Nations from St’uxwtews, Bonaparte Band, within the interior of BC. I am currently in my Master of Nursing program at Thompson Rivers University (TRU). 

Noé Préfontaine Taanishi, boonzhoor. Noé Préfontaine dishinihkaashoon, aen deu-zisprii Michif niiya. 

Noé is a Two-Spirit Métis person from the Red River Valley and two-needle beader, currently working towards a master's degree in social work at McGill University. Their thesis work explores the quality of Indigenous Peoples' participation in research in order to establish anti-colonial, culturally-safe research ethics. Noé is also engaged with/within community around 2SQTBIPOC issues, especially those arising within social work education. 

Samantha Roan Aniin, nindiginikaaz Benesubekwe. Bizhew nindodem. Tan'si, nitisiyhkason Samantha Roan. I am an Oji-Cree woman from Big Grassy River, Treaty 3 living in Treaty 6 territory with blood ties to Treaty 8, as well.  I am a hockey mom of 2 and a partner to a supportive spouse. I am currently in the 2nd year of my Master's in Public Health specializing in Health Policy & Management at the University of Alberta. I am the 2020-2021 Co-President of the University of Alberta's Indigenous Graduate Students Association. I am the student representative on the School of Public Health's EDI- Indigenous committee. I am Co-Chair of the School of Public Health Student Association's Indigenous Working Group. I have my undergraduate degree in Native Studies courtesy of the University of Alberta's Faculty of Native Studies, both embedded certificates Aboriginal Governance & Partnership and the Aboriginal Sport & Recreation.

Diane Simon is Mi'kmaw and a registered member of the Fort Folly First Nation.  She is a trained midwife and recent graduate with a Master of Public Health specializing in Health Policy. Her areas of interest include community health, women's health, sexual and reproductive health, the environment, harm reduction and prisoner justice/abolition. She remains actively engaged in community led initiatives and activism. She is an avid runner, enjoys quilting, knitting and being crafty and is also a busy mom of three boys.