Advisory Committee

Darcy Cullen, Assistant Director, Acquisitions, at the University of British Columbia Press, is a publishing professional with twenty years' experience in Indigenous studies. She is an ardent supporter of inclusive modes of publishing that take into account digital and collaborative scholarship and she is the founder of RavenSpace, a strategic initiative and international partnership for the publication of community-university collaborative, media-rich works. She has written in The Journal of Scholarly Publishing and for the white paper "Public Humanities and the Publishing Life Cycle," and is the volume editor of Editors, Scholars, and the Social Text (University of Toronto Press, 2012).

Courteney is a multidisciplinary artist, and her work focuses on representations of her traditional territory and language in digital media through live visual performances, videography, animation, and computer programming. Through her art, she has found ways to speak about complex issues and historical references employing her knowledge of the nehiyawewin language and North American histories that predate English. You can find some of her work at ag47.bandcamp.com. Courteney's work, artistic and academic, is rooted in the ethics she has learned from her culture and her teachers. She is an undergraduate research assistant with Jeffrey Ansloos and David Gaertner on a project called Indigenous Research Ethics for Social Media Data. She has an interest in Indigenous autonomy and the intersections of technology and surveillance.

Sarah Dupont is the Head Librarian of the Xwi7xwa Library at The University of British Columbia (UBC). In addition to administrative, collections, and strategic work on Indigenous initiatives, she was the Indigitization Program Manager Librarian from 2012-2020. Sarah previously served as the UBC iSchool's First Nations Curriculum Concentration coordinator and co-taught Information Practice and Protocol in Support of Indigenous Initiatives there. She is the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries' (COPPUL) Chair of the Indigenous Knowledge Standing Committee and the British Columbia Library Association's First Nations Interest Group Convenor. Sarah has Métis-settler heritage and uses she/her pronouns.

Meighan is an artist, maker, and designer, of Kwakwaka'wakw, Metis, and European descent. She has a Bachelor of Visual Arts from UBC, and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Manitoba, where she also recently completed her Masters of Architecture. Her research explores the role that storytelling plays in Indigenous spaces of the city, and her art is the vessel for learning more about her own identity. Past works include co-creating the interactive installations "PEG" and "SPOKE", as well as being a co-curator of the Winnipeg Design Festival in 2018.

Maize Longboat is Kanien'keha:ka from Six Nations of the Grand River and was raised on the unceded territory of the Skwxwu7mesh Nation near Vancouver, BC. He is the Skins Workshops Associate Director with Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF). He holds an MA in Media Studies from Concordia University and a BA in First Nations Studies and History from the University of British Columbia. His MA research examined Indigenous videogame development through the production of his game Terra Nova, an award-winning cooperative platformer with an interactive narrative.

Leona Sparrow is the director of Treaty, Lands and Resources for the Musqueam Indian Band, on whose traditional territories UBC's Vancouver campus is located. This comparatively small but historically influential band has been prominent in shaping Aboriginal relations in Canada, as well as current practices in First Nations communities. Ms Sparrow has held leadership roles within the band for many years, and is an active participant in First Nations affairs in Canada. During this time, as the designated liaison between the Musqueam and UBC, she has provided valuable advice to the university as it seeks to improve and expand its relations with the Musqueam and other First Nations peoples. Without her skilled involvement, many significant developments and initiatives on this front would have been difficult if not impossible to achieve.

Bernard C. Perley is Maliseet from Tobique First Nation, New Brunswick. He holds Bachelor of Fine Arts (studio arts) and Master of Architecture (architectural design) degrees from the University of Texas, Austin. His PhD is in Social Anthropology from Harvard. His academic training is interdisciplinary and aims to transcend disciplinary boundaries to serve his commitment to Indigenous community-based research and advocacy. Bernard is an activist/advocate Indigenous anthropologist.

His professional contributions to the American Anthropological Association include: Core Member/Member of the Task Group on Language and Social Justice (since 2010), Minority seat representative on the AAA Executive Board (2013-2017), Ombudsperson (since 2018), and President-Elect of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology (2019). His language research and advocacy continue to be expressed through publications and professional conferences as well as community-based projects such as collaborative art installation pieces, keynote presentations, and language revitalization workshops.

Adina Williams is from the Squamish Nation, and she also descends from the 'Namgis (Kwakwaka'wakw) peoples from Alert Bay, B.C. She grew up in Xwemelch'stn (Capilano Reserve) in what is now more commonly known as West Vancouver. Adina completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at UBC in 2019 in First Nations and Indigenous Studies and Anthropology. Since September 2019, Adina has been working as the Community Liaison at the Indigenous Research Support Initiative (IRSI) at UBC. She has previously worked as a student researcher at the First Nations House of Learning, Indigenous Initiatives at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), and the Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden at the UBC Farm.

DesJason Woolman is the Archives and Research Manager for xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, where he has worked since 2008. In 2009 Jason received his Master of Archival Studies degree with a concentration in First Nations Studies from the University of British Columbia's School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies. Jason works closely with the community-at-large as well as with individual community members to digitize records, provide resources for research and legal cases, and to provide important context for protecting Musqueam’s Title and Rights. His research interests include orality and material culture as traditional forms of record keeping, the role of cultural sensitivity in archives, and language preservation.cription goes here

Dr. Henry Yu is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at UBC and the Principal of St. John’s College, UBC. As a history professor, Dr. Yu’s research and teaching has been built around collaborations with local community organizations, civic institutions such as museums, and multiple levels of government. He is passionate about helping British Columbians unlearn the cultural and historical legacies of colonialism and to be inspired by the often hidden and untold stories of those who struggled against racism and made Canadian society more inclusive and just. Between 2009-2012, he was the Co-Chair of the City of Vancouver’s project Dialogues between First Nations, Urban Aboriginal, and Immigrant Communities. In 2015, Dr. Yu was appointed as the Co-Chair for the Province of British Columbia’s Legacy Initiatives Advisory Council implementing legacy projects following the province’s apology in May 2014 for BC’s historic anti-Chinese legislation. He also served on the Advisory Group for the City of Vancouver’s apology consultation process for Historical Discrimination Against People of Chinese Descent (HDC) from 2016-2017 that resulted in the City of Vancouver’s formal apology for its historical discrimination against its Chinese Canadian residents on April 22, 2018. Prof. Yu received his BA in Honours History from UBC and an MA and PhD in History from Princeton University. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the Province of BC’s Multicultural Award in 2015 in recognition of his research and community leadership.