This article is part of a series celebrating students, staff, faculty or alumni who demonstrate a commitment to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) on campus or in ways that meaningfully connect back to the Brock community. To read other EDI Changemaker features or learn more about the series, visit The Brock News or the Office of Human Rights and Equity website.

For more than a decade, Emily Fortin (BA ’20, MA ’23) has found ways to help Brock students, first as a student herself and later as a valued team member in Brock’s Office of Human Rights and Equity (HRE) and the Hadiya’dagénhahs First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Student Centre.

Her efforts to support Indigenous students and to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people, Indigenous sovereignty and the ongoing harms of settler colonialism have helped shape important conversations on campus.

“Especially if you’re on your own lands, settler colonialism is still happening,” says Fortin. “We’re not just talking about action to right the wrongs of the past — it’s still ongoing.”

Fortin began working in HRE as a Peer-to-Peer Support Worker as an undergraduate student after coming to Brock from Saskatchewan to study Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies.

During Indigenous People’s Awareness Week, Emily Fortin (BA ’20, MA ’23) returned to Brock to lead a Bannock-making workshop.

She says a research assistantship with Associate Professor Robyn Bourgeois in the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies helped propel her to a master’s in Social Justice and Equity Studies, where she completed the thesis “The Commodification of Indigeneity as a Tool for Ongoing Settler Colonization in Canada: A Métis Case Study of the The Heritage Property Act (1979-80)” under Bourgeois’s supervision.

Fortin worked with HRE throughout her graduate studies before moving into a full-time role as a Student Adviser/Recruiter with Hadiya’dagénhahs, a team she says she was “so privileged to be a part of.”

She helped recruit Indigenous students to Brock and provided holistic support for current Indigenous students, navigating campus and community resources and helping with everything from setting up appointments to arranging for students to speak to Elders.

Cindy Biancaniello, Director of Hadiya’dagénhahs, says Fortin’s ability to share important insights and build lasting relationships with students and others around the University has had a lasting impact.

“Em brings a different perspective and brings the equity and inclusion lens to our conversations,” says Biancaniello. “Our team doesn’t make decisions without everyone’s input, and her voice has been so valuable.”

Fortin played a key role during Red Dress Week, organizing the hanging and removal of red dresses around campus, and supported work to bring in community speakers with lived experience in order to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit individuals.

She says it was important to organizers to “make space for those in the University to learn.”

Fortin worked with HRE and Hadiya’dagénhahs to revise, refine and ultimately present the workshop Reclaiming Power and Place for Indigenous Voices, offered as part of HRE’s Gender and Sexual Violence Support Certificate programming.

Though she has moved on to a new career facilitating recruitment of Indigenous job seekers, Fortin continues to play a role in the Brock community, recently hosting a Bannock On the Fire workshop during Brock’s Indigenous Peoples Awareness Week activities.

She also continues to share her thesis research, most recently at the Big Thinking Summit 2026: Inflection Point held in Edmonton last month, where she presented on Métis Dreamwork methodology.

Through her work over the years at Brock and the work she continues to do as an graduate, Fortin says her passion for addressing ongoing systems of violence has pushed her out of her comfort zone to connect with community members and strive for change.

One key change is helping others understand the relationship between advocating for Indigenous sovereignty and broader efforts to support equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization (EDID).

“We’re in such a specific space as Indigenous people,” she says. “First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples are distinct rights holders and sovereign nations but are still denied sovereignty over their lands every day.”

Associate Vice-President, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Chelsea Takalo, who has worked alongside Fortin since joining Brock in 2022, says she has brought a “steady, thoughtful presence” to EDID work at Brock.

“She consistently grounds us in the importance of Indigenous sovereignty and the understanding that reconciliation is lived through our relationships with one another,” Takalo says. “Her care and integrity helped shape trauma-informed, culturally responsive approaches across campus. While she has since moved on, her impact remains, and she leaves behind a strong foundation that continues to guide our work.”