People
Sheryl Lightfoot, Principal Investigator
Sheryl Lightfoot is a Professor with the Department of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. As one of the world’s experts in global Indigenous politics, Sheryl’s research specializes in complex questions of Indigenous peoples’ rights and how those rights are being claimed and negotiated in various political spaces… more
Anishinaabe
Jennifer Preston, Practitioner Lead
Claire Charters
Claire Charters is a Professor at the University of Auckland Law School. Claire’s research is in Indigenous peoples’ rights in international and constitutional law, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, tikanga Māori and the state legal system, the relationship between human rights and Indigenous peoples' rights and on the legitimacy of Indigenous peoples' rights under international law… more
Ngati Whakaue, Tuwharetoa, Nga Puhi and Tainui
Carwyn Jones
David B. MacDonald
David B. MacDonald is a mixed-race political science professor at the University of Guelph from Treaty 4 lands in Regina, Saskatchewan, with Trinidad Indian and Scottish ancestry. David’s work focuses on Comparative Indigenous Politics in Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the United States… more
Ellen Gabriel
Katsi’tsakwas, Kanien’kehá:ka Nation (Mohawk)Ellen Gabriel is Indigenous Human Rights Activist and Visual Artist. Since 1990 she has advocated for the collective and individual human rights of Indigenous peoples and has worked diligently to sensitize the public, academics, policing authorities and politicians on the history, culture and identity of Indigenous peoples… more
Jeremy Patzer
Métis and Saulteaux/AninishinaabeJeremy Patzer’s research interests lie in Indigenous rights, the forms of legal-political resolution and repair employed by settler states in the wake of colonial dispossession, as well as the sociology of law and contemporary theory. While not an exhaustive list, my research encompasses inherent Aboriginal rights, the infringement of and the failure to protect Indigenous rights, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples… more
Kenneth Deer
Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk)Kenneth Deer is an Indigenous rights advocate from Kahnawà:ke, Quebec. He is the longtime founder and publisher of The Eastern Door newspaper and a leading Indigenous representative at the United Nations, where he played a significant role in the development of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Deer is widely recognized for his contributions to Indigenous media, education, and international advocacy… more
Les Malezar
Gubbi Gubbi, Butchulla, GamiliroiLes Malezar has expert knowledge regarding Indigenous Peoples of the world and the relevant human rights standards adopted at the international level and in Australia. He was appointed as a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the term of 2017 to 2019. He has devoted his entire career fighting for rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Les Malezer continues to seek change for legal recognition of First Peoples’ status and rights in Australia… more
Paul Joffe
Paul Joffe is a member of the Québec and Ontario bars. He specializes in human rights concerning Indigenous peoples at the international and domestic level. Since the early 1980s, he has been actively involved in standard-setting processes including those relating to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the Organization of American States; and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 in Geneva… more
With a background in law, Carwyn Jones has been working on issues relating to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori legal issues generally, and Indigenous law. He worked at the Law School at Victoria for 15 years, and before that at the Waitangi Tribunal and the Māori Land Court including the Office of Treaty Settlements… more
Ngāti Kahungunu and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki
Fumiya Nagai
Jennifer Preston’s career has placed her at the forefront of the Canadian Friends Service Committee’s work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples for nearly 30 years. Her undergraduate work was a double honours in Anthropology and Dramatic Arts. At the University of Guelph she did her Master’s thesis on Tomson Highway… more
Elsa Stamatopoulou
Elsa Stamatopoulou joined Columbia University in 2011 after a 31-year service at the United Nations (in Vienna, Geneva and New York) with some 22 years dedicated to human rights, in addition to 8 years exclusively devoted to Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Indigenous issues were part of her portfolio since 1983 and she became the first Chief of the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2003… more
Karine Gentelet
Les intérêts de recherche et de publication de Karine Gentelet portent sur la reconnaissance des droits des Premiers Peuples, l’usage de la technologie numérique et l’intelligence artificielle au service de la justice sociale, l’éthique de la recherche en contexte autochtone et de la responsabilité sociale des chercheurs… plus
Hup Wil Lax Kirby Muldoe
Tsimsian and GitxsanHup Wil Lax Kirby Muldoe is SkeenaWild’s Director of Community Relations and Partnerships. Hup Wil Lax A has lived in Gitxsan Territory for almost his entire life. Hup Wil Lax A enjoys spending time on the water and land in the Skeena watershed and Pacific Ocean. His work focuses on building and maintaining relationships with individuals, organizations, communities, and Indigenous Nations across the Skeena Watershed and beyond… more
Maria Bargh
Te Arawa and Ngāti AwaHer research interests focus on Māori politics including constitutional change and Māori representation, voting in local and general elections, and Māori resource management economy including renewable energy, freshwater, mining and biodiversity. She has also written about hidden and diverse economies such as Māori in the private military industry… more
Rauna Kuokkanen
SámiRauna Kuokkanen is Research Professor of Arctic Indigenous Politics at the University of Lapland (Finland) and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on comparative Indigenous politics and law, Indigenous feminism and gender, Arctic governance, and settler colonialism in the Nordic countries… more
Fumiya Nagai is a PhD student in Philosophy in Anthropology under the faculty of Arts. Fyumiya’s research focuses on the implementation of Indigenous people’s right to land, specifically exploring the challenges and possibilities of recognizing and implementing Aboriginal titles in Canada. The primary aim of the research is to contribute to reconciliation, decolonization, and the well-being of Indigenous communities… more
Katri Somby
SámiKatri Somby is a Sámi historian, journalist, and scholar known for her research on Sámi political and social movements. She completed a doctoral dissertation titled “Sámi entering and shaping a globalised World – Nordic Indigenous political, activist and intersectional movements 1968–1990,” which explores the strategies and development of the Sámi movement in Nordic countries and its influence on Indigenous rights internationally… more
Laurie Buffalo
Maskwacis CreeLaurie Buffalo is a health leader from Samson Cree Nation, one of four Nations among the Maskwacis Nation in Treaty 6, and guided the research project. Laurie grew up in Maskwacis, attended school and played sports in Samson from kindergarten to highschool. She is now a Council Member of Samson Cree Nation… more
Matthew Norris
Nehithaw, Lac La RongeMatthew Norris is a PhD student at UBC studying the implementation of the UNDRIP and other international Indigenous rights frameworks and the president of the Urban Native Youth Association. Matthew has been previously an Indigenous Peoples’ Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and is currently the Associate Director at the BC Assembly of First Nations… more
Sashia Leung
Wet’suwet’en, WitsetSashia is the Director of International Relations and Communications since June 2021, and she joined the Treaty Commission in September 2012. In her role, she manages the public information and education mandate of the Treaty Commission and leads the international work to support the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples through the negotiations of treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements… more