Indigenous Advisory Circle

Lisa Bird-Wilson

Author and Executive Director, Gabriel Dumont Institute

Lisa Bird-Wilson is a Métis and nêhiyaw educator and writer whose work appears in literary magazines, newspapers, and anthologies across Canada. Her latest novel, Probably Ruby (2022), has been published internationally.

Lisa’s debut poetry collection, The Red Files (2016), is inspired by family and archival sources. The Red Files reflects on the legacy of the residential school system: the fragmentation of families and histories, with blows that resonate through the generations. She has one non-fiction book to her credit, An Institute of Our Own: A History of the Gabriel Dumont Institute (2011), which chronicles the struggle for Métis education rights in the 1970s and early 80s.

In the community, Lisa works collaboratively to support other Indigenous writers. She is chair and founding board member of the Saskatchewan Ânskohk Writers’ Circle, Inc., the organization hosting the Ânskohk Indigenous Literature Festival in Saskatchewan. Lisa lives in Saskatoon and is the Executive Director of the Gabriel Dumont Institute, Canada’s first Métis post-secondary education and cultural institute.

Visit the Gabriel Dumont Institute online.

Jisgang Nika Collison

Executive Director and Curator, Haida Gwaii Museum at Kay Llnagaay

Jisgang Nika Collison belongs to the Kaay'ahl Laanas clan of the Haida Nation. She is Executive Director and Curator of the Haida Gwaii Museum at Kay Llnagaay and has worked in the field of arts, culture and heritage for more than 20 years. Deeply committed to reconciliation, she is a senior negotiator for Haida repatriation initiatives, pursuing reparation and relationships with mainstream museums and other institutions on a global scale.

Nika consults, publishes and lectures internationally. She is a recipient of the Michael M. Ames Award for Innovative Museum Anthropology from the AAA Council for Museums Anthropology for her work in repatriation and Indigenous scholarship, and was named one of the top 10 Cultural Professionals for 2017 by the BC Museums Association.

Nika is a traditional singer who has led the ceremonial Haida dance group Hltaaxuulang Guud Ad K’aajuu for over 20 years. She is a life-long Nation-based scholar of all things Haida and holds a financial management diploma from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Visit the Haida Gwaii Museum online.

Jonathan Lainey

Curator, Indigenous Cultures, McCord Museum

Jonathan Lainey belongs to the Huron-Wendat Nation of Wendake, Quebec. He is the Curator, Indigenous Cultures at the McCord Museum. Previously, Jonathan was Curator, First Peoples, at the Canadian Museum of History, and Archivist, Aboriginal Archives, at Library and Archives Canada.

His research interests include the social, political and cultural history of the Indigenous peoples of Quebec and Canada, as well as material culture and its interpretation. He is known for his work on the heritage and material culture of Indigenous peoples, particularly his knowledge of wampum and the Huron-Wendat.

He is the author of over fifty publications and academic papers, including La “monnaie des Sauvages”: les colliers de wampum d’hier à aujourd’hui, an authoritative work on wampum. He has a background in Anthropology and Aboriginal Studies, and a master’s degree in History from Laval University.

Eli Nasogaluak Sr.

Artist

Eli Nasogaluak Sr. was born in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. Eli began carving at an early age, but only began selling his art a little over a decade ago. He is now one of the most highly regarded artists in the north.

Using his art to express who he is and how he perceives life, Eli challenges the viewer to feel and experience his Inuvialuit identity. A story of his career has been featured on ICS Television.

He and his brothers, Bill and Joe, took first prize at Canada’s Snow Sculpture Competition in 2000 for their spectacular carving called After Ragnarok. Eli’s primary activity is stone sculpture, as well as painting and drawing.

Read an article about Eli’s artwork.

Marie-Louise Perron

Chair, Ottawa Region Métis Council

Marie-Louise Perron was born on her grandfather’s land in Saskatchewan. She is a descendant of Red River Métis and early French newcomers.

Through different careers, from high school teacher to visual artist, author, archivist and public servant, she has maintained the storytelling tradition of her people. She has presented and published, in both English and French, for national and international audiences, on subjects including the French/Métis songs and stories of the Perron-Ladéroute-Marion-St. Arnaud families, instruction on tracing one's family history, and the value of archives to society.

Now retired, Marie-Louise pursues historical and genealogical research, offers workshops on tracing Indigenous ancestry, studies traditional violin, and participates in many styles of storytelling, including video and digital. An artist in watercolours, mixed media on canvas and photography, she has participated in multiple exhibitions. Her work can be found in private and institutional collections across Canada.

Marie-Louise has been an active member of the Métis community for many years, including on the organizing committee for the award-winning Walking With Our Sisters Memorial Installation in Ottawa.

Krista Ulujuk Zawadski

Curator of Inuit Art, Government of Nunavut

Krista Ulujuk Zawadski was raised in Igluligaarjuk (Chesterfield Inlet) and calls Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, her home. She has a master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia. Krista has focused her education and career in the heritage sector in Nunavut and in the fields of Arctic anthropology, museology and collections-based research, with an emphasis on fostering accessibility to collections for Inuit.

Krista works for the Government of Nunavut as a curator of Inuit art. She is a member of the Winnipeg Art Gallery Indigenous Advisory Circle and is co-curating the inaugural exhibition INUA, for the forthcoming Inuit Art Centre at the gallery. Krista is also studying at Carleton University in an interdisciplinary PhD Program.

Visit the Inuit Art Centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery online.