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Who We Are

The Indigenous Peoples and Environmental (In)Justice team consists of numerous researchers and collaborators who since 2016 have contributed to a wide variety of IEJ projects. Our researchers include York University faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows, and community members. Our collaborators have also played a vital role in generating and sharing knowledge on Environmental Justice.

For more information on the work of our researchers see Projects and Publications.

Dr. Deborah McGregor (Anishinaabe), Principal Investigator, holds the Canadian Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice at York University. She is cross-appointed to Osgoode Hall Law School and the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES). She is also the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages. Dr. McGregor’s research has focused on Indigenous knowledge systems and their various applications in diverse contexts including water and environmental governance, environmental justice, forest policy, and management, and sustainable development. Her research has been published in a variety of national and international journals and she has delivered numerous public and academic presentations relating to Indigenous knowledge systems, governance, and sustainability. 

Dr. McGregor remains actively involved in a variety of Indigenous communities, serving as an advisor and continuing to engage in community-based research and initiatives. In 2021, she was the co-recipient (along with Dr. Angele Alook) of York University’s Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Clusters (CIRC) Grant for “Indigenous Climate Leadership and Self-Determined Futures.”


Dr. (Kristi) Leora Gansworth
, Anishinabekwe, is a scholar and maker who holds a PhD from York University in the field of critical geography. She is also trained in social sciences of environmental and food systems (MA, Antioch University, 2014) and a lifelong poet/artist (MFA, Writing, Goddard, 2012). Leora is a proud citizen of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, where her maternal ancestry comes from. She also grew up living with Haudenosaunee Peoples (paternal ancestry) on Tuscarora Nation territory. 

Sovereignty and healing are the foundation of research practice for Dr. Gansworth. Mino bimaadiziwin, the gift of life, was given to Anishnabeg to care for and Leora applies this responsibility in her works. She is a frequent contributor and collaborator on projects that relate to multiple forms of justice. 

Dr. Alan Corbiere is a proud Anishinaabe from M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. He is a historian, who has made remarkable contribution to the research of the Anishinaabe language, cultural practices, and material culture for many years. Dr. Corbiere completed a B.Sc from the University of Toronto, a Masters in Environmental Studies and a Ph.D in History from York University.

Previously, Dr. Corbiere was the Anishinaabemowin Revitalization Program Coordinator at Lakeview School, M’Chigeeng First Nation, where he and his team worked on a culturally based second language program that focused on using Anishinaabe stories to teach language. He has also conducted research on wampum belts with known Anishinaabe associations, and researched medals, gorgets, and other diplomatic gifts. He has recorded elders speaking in Ojibwe about their crafts and work. Additionally, Dr. Corbiere is the Executive Director at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation and is one of the co-founders of GRASAC.

Dr. Lisa Myers is a part of the Indigenous Environment (in)Justice’s core research team. Dr. Lisa Myers is an independent curator and artist with an interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Criticism and Curatorial practice from OCAD University. Dr. Myers’ recent work involves printmaking, stop-motion animation, and performance. Since 2010, she has worked with anthocyanin pigment from blueberries in printmaking and stop-motion animation. Her participatory performances involve sharing berries and other food items in social gatherings reflecting on the value found in place and displacement; straining and absorbing. Myers has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions in venues including Urban Shaman (Winnipeg), Art Gallery of Peterborough and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her writings have been published in a number of exhibition publications in addition to the journal Senses and Society, C Magazine and FUSE Magazine. She is a member of Beausoleil First Nation, and lives in Port Severn and Toronto, Ontario.

One of Dr. Myer’s research projects is titled “Finding Flowers”. As stated by Dr. Myers, this project focuses on pollinator conservation through ecology, art and pedagogy and aims to take a biocultural and interdisciplinary approach to investigate plant-pollinator biodiversity in Canada, while also expanding Indigenous art history and curatorial practices. Some of Dr. Lisa Myer’s curatorial research interests include museum conventions, contemporary indigenous art, geography and ideas of value. In her curatorial practice, Myers works with artists collaboratively to investigate the curatorial premise or thesis of an exhibition. Through this, Myers can value the reciprocation of ideas and research between the artists and curator throughout the planning of an exhibition.

Dr. Nicole Latulippe is a critical geographer and environmental studies scholar at the University of Toronto. She works on questions of right relationship with the land, waters, and peoples of place. Nicole has collaborated with Dr. McGregor and the Indigenous Environmental Justice project; allied with Nipissing First Nation on community-fish relations and related knowledge, governance and law; and partnered with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and Ngā Aho Māori Designers Network to connect Indigenous placemaking practitioners on Menecing, the Toronto Islands. Current projects explore just land and water stewardship in Toronto and pathways to transformative guest-host and treaty relationality. Nicole grew up on Anishinaabeg territory in family of mostly French descent. Before entering academia, she spent several formative years working for the Anishinabek Nation (Union of Ontario Indians) on the Ipperwash implementation process. Her research practice is informed by Indigenous and critical qualitative Western paradigms. It is grounded in community-engaged approaches and deeply influenced by many teachers, mentors, and colleagues.

Our researchers include faculty, postdocs, students, and other researchers working on IEJ projects that further the understanding of Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Justice.

Sarah Afriyie

Rachel Arsenault

Casey Bas

David Bazargan

Dali Carmichael

Tara Chandran

Jayce Chiblow

Pippa Feinstein

Leora Gansworth

Angelika Kuzma

Aamina Masood

Ethan Persaud-Quiroz

Samantha Pugliese

Mahisha Sritharan

Noah Verhoeff

Jesse Abell

Nevada Anwhatin

Melanie Bartosh

Brandon Bear-Jeanes

Max Corne-Klein

William Dandie

Meagan Dellavilla

Andrea De Shield

Meghan Fowler

Nasreen Hussain

Emilia Khalil

Lauren King

Max Klein

Adrianne Lickers

Mika Mackinnon

Peter Mangaly

Laura McClean

Lance Morrison

Nasra Moumin

Jackie Peat

Salisha Purushuttam

Abdeali Hatim Saherwala

Monica Shafik

Kim Tran