People

Dr. Andrew B. Campbell (DR.ABC) is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in Leadership for Racial Justice in Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of Toronto – Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). His scholarship and teaching focus on anti-racist pedagogy and diversity in educational leadership. “Dr. ABC” is well known to the OISE community for his leadership on advancing anti-discrimination work in teacher education, and recently received OISE’s 2022 award for Excellence in Initial Teacher Education. He teaches courses in anti-discrimination education, leadership and diversity, educational change, urban education, and Black educators. Dr. ABC previously taught at Queens University, the University of the West Indies, Niagara University, Seneca College, and Durham College, in addition to past experience as a classroom teacher and administrator in Jamaica and the Bahamas. He has presented at numerous conferences and has delivered many presentations as a Keynote speaker, motivational speaker and workshop facilitator. He loves people, food, fashion, travelling and bringing his community together for  a good meal. 

Link to website: https://drabc.ca/

Ellie Caslake 

Parent, Grand-parent, Romantic Partner, Educator, Story Teller, Performance Artist, Writer and Filmmaker.

I am a transgender woman – a person with a female brain born in a male body in 1950 when few people had heard of the word transgender, let alone knew what it meant.

I began living my life honestly on May 8th, 2018 at the age of 68. Although I struggle with self-acceptance, you cannot hurt me. I have learned to create my own safe space – nothing you can ask me or say to me will offend me. 

Open dialogue and active listening go a long way to develop compassion and understanding – positive role models are needed to continue achieving the gains we have made to date. 

To that goal, my role as Project Developer, Department of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences is to help provide support, education, and resources to foster a proud, resilient, and diverse 2SLGBTQ+ community.

Taanshi kiyawaaw – Lucy Fowler 

d-ishinikaashon,  Winnipeg d-oschin p dan Winnipeg ni-wiikin. En Michif niya. Lucy (she/they) is a Two-Spirit Métis woman, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and a member of the Two-Spirit Michif Local of the Manitoba Métis Federation. Her family were Sinclairs, Cummings, Prudens, some of whom took scrip in St Andrews, and she also has other family and ancestors from Red River, Oxford House, Norway House, and Sioux Valley, and settler ancestors from Ireland and the Orkney Islands. Lucy is an academic and community organizer, working as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba with a research and teaching focus on Métis youth identity, Indigenous education, queer theory, and youth cultures. She bridges that academic work with community work, dedicated mostly to the Mamawi Project and Red Rising Magazine, and creating virtual gathering spaces for Métis youth.

Nancy Hansen, PhD, is a Professor and Director of the Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Disability Studies at the University of Manitoba. Nancy obtained a PhD (Human Geography) from the University of Glasgow. and her research interests in disability studies are varied ranging including; disability in spaces of culture education, literacy social policy, employment healthcare MAiD, COVID-19, access and experiences of disabled and LGBTQ communities in post-conflict areas. She is co-editor of the Routledge History of Disability and Untold Stories: A Canadian Disability History Reader. In addition, Nancy has written numerous book chapters and contributed to various international academic journals.

Albert McLeod is a Status Indian with ancestry from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Métis community of Norway House in northern Manitoba. He has over thirty years of experience as a human rights activist and is one of the directors of the Two-Spirited People of Manitoba. Albert began his Two-Spirit advocacy in Winnipeg in 1986 and became an HIV/AIDS activist in 1987. He was the director of the Manitoba Aboriginal AIDS Task Force from 1991 to 2001. In 2018, Albert received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg. Albert lives in Winnipeg, where he works as a consultant specializing in Indigenous peoples, cultural reclamation, and cross-cultural training. 

Noreen Mian (she/her) is the Executive Director of the Rainbow Resource Centre.

Noreen believes in the power of community and has worked and volunteered in the not-for-profit sector for over ten years as the Executive Director of Volunteer Manitoba and Chair of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. She has a talent for cutting through noise to get to the heart of any matter and champions best practices in governance and organizational development. Noreen holds a MA in cultural studies (Athabasca) and a BA in Art History (McGill) and before beginning her career, spent six months living in West Africa volunteering in community development. 

Chantal Shivanna Ramraj is an Early/Middle Years teacher on Treaty 1 Territory, where she grew up. They are currently teaching grade 3/4. She is interested in Education for social justice as informed from her BA (Hons) in Political Studies and Women's and Gender Studies. She is a queer, non-binary genderqueer woman who has been teaching since graduating with her BEd in 2018.

Trevor J. Smith (he/him) is completing a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree at the University of Manitoba, majoring in psychology. He has served as the University of Manitoba Students' Union's 2SLGBTQ+ Representative for the past two years. Trevor was a member of the first cohort of the Investigaytors in Winnipeg, a community-based research capacity-building program for 2SGBQ+ men, and he is currently involved in several other 2SGBQ+ men's health initiatives in Manitoba.

Dr. Merli Tamtik is associate professor of educational administration in the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba. Her research interests are in multi-level governance, internationalization of (higher) education and education policy. She is a recipient of several federal (SSHRC) and institutional grants for her research projects. In 2019 she was the recipient UofM/UMFA Merit Award for Research Category. In 2020 Dr. Tamtik was awarded Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE) Catalyst Award with Drs. Trilokekar and Jones for their co-edited book International Education as Public Policy in Canada. She was a Board Director of Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE) for 5 years and is currently co-editing a Special Anniversary Issue of Canadian Journal of Higher Education. Her recent research projects examine Indigenous entrepreneurship and international student experiences in Manitoba.