{"id":110720,"date":"2026-07-08T14:28:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=110720"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:33:18","slug":"changemaker-recognized-for-indigenous-student-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2026\/07\/changemaker-recognized-for-indigenous-student-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Changemaker recognized for Indigenous student support"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u00a0<\/em>The Brock News<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or the\u00a0<\/em>Office of Human Rights and Equity website<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more than a decade, Emily Fortin (BA \u201920, MA \u201923) has found ways to help Brock students, first as a student herself and later as a valued team member in Brock\u2019s Office of Human Rights and Equity (HRE) and the Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs First Nations, M\u00e9tis, and Inuit Student Centre.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially if you\u2019re on your own lands, settler colonialism is still happening,\u201d says Fortin. \u201cWe\u2019re not just talking about action to right the wrongs of the past \u2014 it\u2019s still ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s and Gender Studies.<\/p>\n

\"Emily

During Indigenous People\u2019s Awareness Week, Emily Fortin (BA \u201920, MA \u201923) returned to Brock to lead a Bannock-making workshop.<\/p><\/div>\n

She says a research assistantship with Associate Professor Robyn Bourgeois in the Centre for Women\u2019s and Gender Studies helped propel her to a master\u2019s in Social Justice and Equity Studies, where she completed the thesis \u201cThe Commodification of Indigeneity as a Tool for Ongoing Settler Colonization in Canada:\u00a0A M\u00e9tis Case Study of the\u00a0The Heritage Property Act (1979-80)\u201d under Bourgeois\u2019s supervision.<\/p>\n

Fortin worked with HRE throughout her graduate studies before moving into a full-time role as a Student Adviser\/Recruiter with Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs, a team she says she was \u201cso privileged to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Cindy Biancaniello, Director of Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs, says Fortin\u2019s ability to share important insights and build lasting relationships with students and others around the University has had a lasting impact.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEm brings a different perspective and brings the equity and inclusion lens to our conversations,\u201d says Biancaniello. \u201cOur team doesn\u2019t make decisions without everyone\u2019s input, and her voice has been so valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

She says it was important to organizers to \u201cmake space for those in the University to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortin worked with HRE and Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs to revise, refine and ultimately present the workshop Reclaiming Power and Place for Indigenous Voices<\/a>, offered as part of HRE\u2019s Gender and Sexual Violence Support Certificate programming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> during Brock\u2019s Indigenous Peoples Awareness Week activities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 M\u00e9tis Dreamwork methodology.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in such a specific space as Indigenous people,\u201d she says. \u201cFirst Nations, M\u00e9tis and Inuit peoples are distinct\u00a0rights holders and sovereign nations but are still denied sovereignty over their lands every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associate Vice-President, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Chelsea Takalo, who has worked alongside Fortin since joining Brock in 2022, says she has brought a \u201csteady, thoughtful presence\u201d to EDID work at Brock.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe consistently grounds us in the importance of Indigenous sovereignty and the understanding that reconciliation is lived through our relationships with one another,\u201d Takalo says. \u201cHer 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than a decade, Emily Fortin (BA \u201920, MA \u201923) has found ways to help Brock students, first as a student herself and later as a valued team member in Brock\u2019s Office of Human Rights and Equity (HRE) and the Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs First Nations, M\u00e9tis, and Inuit Student Centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":110725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,6833,1,38],"tags":[11638,13915,13737,11986,12040,8166,5502],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110720"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110728,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110720\/revisions\/110728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}