Leadership
Elder Evelyn Good Striker
B. Ed., M. Ed.
Elder Evelyn Good Striker, is a Lakota Dakota from Standing Buffalo First Nation, SK. and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Evelyn is Dr. Leason's CIHR, Elder CRC Co-Chair. Through her role, Elder Evelyn will enrich the research by serving as an advisor. Her expertise is Indigenous epistemologies (sharing traditional knowledge and Indigenous wisdom) and methodologies (storytelling and ceremony).
Dr. Jennifer Leason
Ph. D.
Dr. Jennifer Leason is a member of the Pine Creek Indian band, Manitoba. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary and a CIHR, Tier II CRC in Indigenous Maternal Child Wellness. She brings expertise in Indigenous health, mixed/Indigenous methods, project management, Indigenous leadership, research and policy.
Nominated Principal Applicant
Dr. Savage Bear
Ph. D.
Dr. Savage Bear is a Nehiyawiskwew (Cree woman) and member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation in northern Saskatchewan. savage is the Director of McMasters Indigenous Research Institute. Her current research includes social justice, prison abolition, body sovereignty, sexuality and gender, contemporary Indigenous art, and Indigenous literature.
Dr. Fiona Kouyoumdjian
Ph. D.
Dr. Fiona Kouyoumdjian leads a program of research focused on the health of people who experience imprisonment and works as a Family Physician in a provincial jail in Ontario. She has contributed previously to public health initiatives in Ontario First Nations and to research projects with Indigenous organizations including NWAC.
Dr. Martha Paynter
R.N., PhD
Martha Paynter is a Registered Nurse and holds a PhD in Nursing at Dalhousie University, and the chair of Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice, a registered non-profit in Nova Scotia. She leads a program of community- based research on sexual and reproductive health for people experiencing criminalization and authored the 2021 CAEFS' report Reproductive Injustice in Canadian Prisons for Womxn.
Dr. Nicole Catherine
Ph. D.
Dr. Nicole Catherine is an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Children’s Health Policy Centre in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. She holds the Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Child Health Equity and Policy. Her research focuses on prevention of early childhood adversities, better inclusion of underserved children, and advancing child health equity and policy.
Dr. Robert Henry
Ph. D.
Dr. Robert Henry is Métis from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan in the Department of Indigenous Studies. Robert's research areas include Indigenous street gangs and gang theories, Indigenous masculinities, Indigenous and critical research methodologies, youth mental health, and visual research methods.
Dr. Jessica Liauw
MD MHSC FRCSC
Dr. Jessica Liauw is a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of British Columbia.
Robin F. Hansen
Robin F. Hansen teaches international law, conflict of laws, trusts and international economic law at the University of Saskatchewan. Her current work is focused on system-level denial of the due process rights of newborn children born to incarcerated women. She examines why implicit judgment, before the birth of a child, initiates the denial of newborn children of their mothers, notwithstanding the fact that this represents a serious health deprivation.
Dr. Jessica Jurgutis
PhD
Dr. Jessica Jurgutis is an Assistant Professor at Lakehead University, cross-appointed in the departments of Gender & Women's Studies, Indigenous Learning and the Social Justice program. Jessica's research examines the relationship between settler colonialism, imprisonment and Indigenous resistance to Canadian governance through an abolitionist and anti-colonial feminist lens. She has been involved in several community- and prison-based health projects, and is currently undertaking new research focused on anti-colonial and anti-carceral feminist resistance within feminist anti-violence activism in Thunder Bay.
Collaborators
Loretta Baidoo
Loretta Baidoo is a Research Assistant with CAEFS, primarily working as a liaison between CAEFS and this project. She is presently completing a Master of Arts degree in Women and Gender Studies at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax and has been conducting research using multiple lenses centered on feminist, decolonized, strength-based and community led approaches. She is excited to learn more on this research journey of Indigenous knowledge creation and sharing.
Emilie Coyle
Emilie Coyle is a lawyer and the Executive Director of CAEFS. Emilie practices family, criminal, and immigration law.
Caitlin Kruger
BA
Caitlin Kruger is a recent graduate of the Honours Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and minor in Philosophy from the University of Calgary. Caitlin is interested in collaborating with and learning from these inspiring women. She is also keen to learn more about the research process, incorporating Indigenous epistemologies, ontologies, and axiologies.
Ana Stopa
BA
Ana Stopa is a Research Assistant in Dr. Leason’s laboratory, with her primary role being the coordination of this project. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts (Specialized Psychology) degree from Lakehead University and has worked in the field of Indigenous Mental Health as both a researcher and a clinician.
Dr. Christine Wang
Ph. D.
Dr. Christine Wang is a pediatric resident at McMaster University. Her research interests following the cradle to prison pipeline stems from clinical experiences working in the NICU with child protective agencies, along with community experiences journeying with incarcerated survivors of sex trafficking as Fight4Freedom's street outreach coordinator.
Advisory Team
Heidi HeavyShield (Aksistowaki)
MSW, RSW
Heidi is a Niitsitapiaki of the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe), Blackfoot Confederacy in Treaty 7. Heidi is a clinical social worker in the Alberta provincial correctional system as Indigenous Programs Coordinator. Working from a social justice and Indigenous human rights framework, she integrates Indigenous healing methodologies and ceremonies. She is particularly active in the areas of incarceration of Indigenous people, restorative justice, missing and murdered Indigenous womxn and girls, as well as generational impacts of residential schools and colonial policies. Heidi is an instructor with University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work. She seeks to honor her mother and grandmothers and her traditional Lone Fighters and Many Children Clans through her work.
Sheri Pranteau
Sheri Pranteau is a First Nations Indigenous woman with lived experience. She is a mother, as well as a public speaker, and front-line worker for the Indigenous homeless community in and around Montréal. Sheri is also acting as the “Advocacy Liaison” for the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.