Panel on Métis Self-Government Legislation: Considerations for Ontario

Join us on Zoom for our September Speaker Series as a panel of experts discuss Métis self-government legislation (Bill C-53) and what this could mean for Ontario. Our panellists include:  

• Sara Mainville- Partner at JFK Law  
• Celeste Pedri-Spade, Associate Professor; Associate Provost (Indigenous Initiatives), McGill University 
• Jennifer Adese- Associate Professor, University of Toronto 
• Damien Lee- Associate Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University 

Register online at https://forms.gle/D1GbsPMYipnmRYNw7. A Zoom link will be emailed to you upon registration. 

About our panellists:

Sara Mainville has been a member of the Ontario bar since 2005 and she is a member of the BC bar (2022) with specific matter approvals to practice in Nunavut and Quebec. In 2014, Sara was elected as Chief of Couchiching First Nation after the sudden death of her friend and mentor, Chief Chuck McPherson. Sara uses this experience as a former Chief to help leadership work past difficult issues, within Indigenous forms of dispute resolution, and walk the community through processes to encourage discourse and grassroots solutions to long-held problems. Sara is a strong believer that self-determination requires the Indigenization of our policies, approaches, and legal frameworks. Sara is generally seen as a subject-matter expert about Crown-Indigenous relations, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaty 3, and Anishinaabe Inakonigewin. However, Sara sees herself as a life-long learner willing to meet in community, read voraciously, and listen intently to better understand Indigenous knowledge systems across Canada.

Dr. Celeste Pedri-Spade is an Anishinaabekwe and member citizen of Nezaadiikaang (Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation) located in Treaty 3 territory. In 2022, Celeste became McGill University’s first Associate Provost of Indigenous Initiatives and in this role she oversees the University’s ongoing response to the 52 Calls to Action articulated by the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education. She also holds a faculty position in the Department of Anthropology.  

Dr. Jennifer Adese (otipemisiwak/Métis) (she/her) is the Canada Research Chair in Métis Women, Politics, and Community and an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM). She is the author of Aboriginal™: The Cultural & Economic Politics of Recognition and the co-editor of Indigenous Celebrity (with Robert Alexander Innes), and A People and a Nation: New Directions in Contemporary Métis Studies (with Chris Andersen). 

Dr. Damien Lee is a member of Fort William First Nation and a citizen of the Anishinaabe nation. He was adopted into his rez as a baby and raised as Anishinaabe by his family. Damien is an Associate Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.