The Writing Centre offers support to Indigenous and non-Indigenous students at any stage of the writing process. We are here to answer your writing-related queries.
Please note that a strict scent-free policy is maintained for any in-person appointments.
Brenda Blondeau
Brenda Blondeau is a Métis woman originally from Saskatchewan, currently completing her PhD in Gender and Women’s Studies at York University, with a focus on women’s personal narratives of abuse. For 11 years, she provided writing support for Indigenous students in York’s Centre for Indigenous Student Services and for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in the Writing Centre.
Since 2004, she has taught the pre-university Bridging Course for Women in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at York. She also teaches undergraduate courses in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. She incorporates a strong focus on Indigenous issues in each of her courses, and she brings this knowledge and commitment to her writing instruction.
She enjoys working with students of all ages from diverse cultural, linguistic and academic backgrounds and looks forward to reconnecting with students from previous years, while also establishing new writing relationships.
Rebecca Lazarenko
Rebecca Lazarenko (she/elle/iskwêw) is Franco-Métis and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta. One important lesson Rebecca has learned is about reciprocity and how important is to maintain a balance of give and take. As such, she is committed to making academic (and also non-academic) spaces safer and more open to Indigenous peoples and cultures.
Her doctoral research is looking at Prairie Francophone and Indigenous colonial relationships, with a concentration on Métis peoples, through a comprehensive examination of the francophone newspapers of the time. The purpose of her research is to illustrate the colonial project of the francophone communities of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba – which was to colonize the lands and peoples to ensure the implantation and supremacy of the French people, the French language, and the Roman Catholic religion to the detriment of the “sauvages” – Indigenous Peoples.
