Research Team

Dr. Dwayne Donald was born and raised in Edmonton and is a descendent of amiskwaciwiyiniwak (Beaver Hills people), also known as the Papaschase Cree. His Blackfoot name is Aipioomahkaa (Long Distance Runner).

Dwayne is the son of Allen and Darlene, husband to Georgina, father to Kesho, and uncle to Taryn, Taylor, Kennedy, Kristofer, Sarah, Marshall, Breanne and Lauren.

Dwayne works as a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. He is Canada Research Chair in Reimagining Teacher Education with Indigenous Wisdom Traditions, and his work focuses on ways in which Indigenous wisdom traditions can expand and enhance understandings of curriculum and pedagogy.

Lesley Tait is a member of the Michel First Nation in Treaty 6 territory. She has been working and living as a guest in Treaty 7 territory for 20 years, where she is currently an educator and a Ph.D. student at the University of Calgary. She was part of the team of educators, Knowledge Keepers, Elders, community members and families who opened the Niitsitapi Learning Centre, designed to respond to the TRC Calls to Action. Prior to that, Lesly worked with the CBE Indigenous Education Team in the role of Specialist. This unique leadership role focused on how, as a large organization, we might go about cultivating a balance between Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing, and existing CBE knowledge systems in all CBE schools and for all CBE students. In this role, she supported educators in uncovering their own relationship with knowledge systems and including Indigenous teachings within their classrooms.

Lesley also teaches Indigenous Education courses at the Werklund School of Education to think through and enact best practice as they related to both the demythologizing and re-mythologizing nature of lifting Indigenous ways of knowing within classrooms. Her current Ph.D. research examines the animacy of place as the beginning of all learning, this research investigates urgent questions about how nehiyaw (Cree) understandings of wahkotowin and wîcêhtowin can support both anti-racist education and the balanced inclusion of Indigenous knowledges within curriculum for the benefit of all students.

Etienna Moostoos-Lafferty was born and raised in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and her family originates from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory.

As a certified teacher, Etienna has experience teaching and leading in First Nations community schools and provincial educational systems. Etienna has helped to develop and implement workshops aimed at promoting reconciliation through teacher education. Etienna has created resources that help teachers better understand topics such as Residential Schools, Myths and Stereotypes of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy, and Treaty Relationships.

She holds a Master's degree in Secondary Education from the University of Alberta, where she produced a thesis entitled "Pihtikwe: Exploring Withness in Teacher Preparedness and Professional Development." Currently pursuing her PhD, Etienna is currently exploring topics of Treaty Relationships, Ethical Relationality, Indigenous Knowledges, and Place and Land-Based Education. Etienna also works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Services and Early Learning at MacEwan University.

Lisa is a Canadian of northern European descent. She was born and continues to live and work on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Anishinabe people. Her husband, Mads, is a professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and is from Denmark. Together, they raise four humans who are now young adults and teenagers.

Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Education at the University of Ottawa, where is currently a part-time professor in the Faculty of Education and truly enjoys working with teacher candidates and graduate students as they learn together. Her SSHRC-funded doctoral research looked at how teachers might unlearn colonialism. Specifically, Lisa asked how teachers unlearn colonialism, moving from a space of “learning about” Indigenous people to a place of “learning with and from” them. Prior to her Ph.D., Lisa completed her Master of Education, and her thesis looked at the movement for education for reconciliation across Quebec before and during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.

Lisa is a passionate teacher and (un)learner who has taught at Pierre Elliott Trudeau School in Gatineau, QC, since 2006. She has been a mentor-coach at the WQSB since 2009 and is honoured to have coached over twenty teachers in this time. Lisa loves to bike, walk, and be in nature, and she is one of the co-founders of “ReimagineCanada(day)-the bike or virtual tour around Ottawa.

Naim Cardinal was born and raised in Fort Vermilion, AB and is a member of the Tallcree First Nation located in northern Alberta in Treaty 8 territory. Naim moved from a rural area located approximately 850km northwest of Edmonton and with a population of roughly 800 people to pursue a post-secondary education in Edmonton, AB. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University College in 2006 and completed an after-degree in Secondary Education in 2015. In 2019, he completed his Master’s Degree in Secondary Education at the University of Alberta.

Naim currently lives in Kelowna with his wife Melanie, where they are raising three amazing little humans together. Naim works at University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus as an Educational Facilitator.

When he’s not working or spending time with his family, he is an avid collector of hockey cards, which he has been collecting since 1989. He currently has a rookie card for every Indigenous hockey player who played a game in the NHL and had a card made. Recently, he collaborated with Upper Deck to recognize eight Indigenous hockey players who not been previously featured on an official trading card. Naim provided the biography and statistics for each card.

Megan Tipler is a Métis educator from amiskwaciy (Edmonton), currently serving as the Associate Vice-President, Indigenous, at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Initially a K-12 classroom teacher, she transitioned to working alongside post-secondary students in 2021. At the University of Alberta, she supported Indigenous pre-service teachers in the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program and later joined the Provost’s Office as an Indigenous Strategies Manager. Alongside her professional responsibilities, Megan is pursuing a PhD, focusing on the impact of Cree and Métis 'academic aunties' in education, drawing from her own experiences as an Indigenous student, teacher, and aunty.

Aidan Oswald is an undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor of Education at the University of Alberta. He is majoring in English Language Arts with a minor in Social Studies.

As a recipient of the Faculty of Education's Fall 2024 Undergraduate Research Award, Aidan is contributing his skills and knowledge to Reimagining Teacher Education With Indigenous Wisdom Traditions. His work will primarily focus on supporting the project's efforts to share stories of unlearning colonialism through the Walking Stories vodcast.

Beyond his studies, Aidan is an avid reader who likes spending time outdoors. He is also a climbing coach, a runner, and during the winter months, he enjoys cross-country skiing and skating.