BC Studies no. 219 Autumn 2023

Halie (Kwa̱nx̱wa’logwa) Bruce is a Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, and Scottish/Canadian mother, wife, lawyer, mediator, adjudicator, sometimes soccer coach and Sixties Scoop Survivor. She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2008. Her practice areas include Aboriginal, family, child welfare, fisheries law, Indigenous laws and governance. Halie has also devoted part of her practice to Indigenous restorative justice initiatives, including writing Gladue Reports for Indigenous people at bail, sentencing and appeal courts in BC. Halie attended Simon Fraser University before attaining a Bachelor of Laws degree from UBC. She has over thirty years of experience working with Indigenous communities, and Indigenous, provincial, and federal governments. In 2014, Halie co-founded the law firm Cedar & Sage Law, which focuses on Indigenous laws, Alternative and Traditional Indigenous Dispute Resolution mechanisms and peacemaking protocols. Halie also is a former Board member of the Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation, the BC Aboriginal Justice Council, and the Parole Board of Canada.

Laura Cranmer (‘Na̱mg̱is/Haida) As a survivor of Canadian Indian residential school system as well as the Indian Hospital system, I began my post-secondary journey with the intention to gain literary skills to make sense of the ongoing colonial impact on my family relationships. Combining my academic and my creative writing with my therapy over decades of studying, writing and healing has been a halting, two-steps forward one-step back journey to self-empowerment. My current work, an applied theatre research project based on my script, “Scenes from the Nanaimo Indian Hospital” examines a chapter in what G̱wa̱nti’la̱kw called “our long dark winter”. This community-engaged research addresses the oppression suffered by Canadian Indigenous peoples (in the Indian Hospital system) through theatre while also uplifting Indigenous languages, cultures and communities. 

Myrna Cranmer was born in Alert Bay BC 73 years ago. She returned to live with her Aunty Glo in 2017. Myrna attended and graduated from UBC in 2001; and then graduated with her Masters in 2004. She is now living in her Auntie’s house where she is writing her conversations with Gloria Cranmer Webster. 

Elliot Goodell Ugalde is a graduate student at McMaster University who previously received his BA in political science from the University of Victoria. His academic and research interests primarily lie in Indigenous studies and critical theory, particularly its application in the fields of economics and international law. Goodell Ugalde has made significant contributions to academic discourse through several notable publications. 

Wilfrid Greaves is associate professor of international relations at the University of Victoria, where his primary research examines climate change and security and Arctic geopolitics. He has written more than thirty refereed articles and book chapters, and is co-editor of Breaking Through: Understanding Sovereignty and Security in the Circumpolar Arctic (2021) and One Arctic: The Arctic Council and Circumpolar Governance (2017). He is lead for climate and security with three federally funded research networks: the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network/Réseau sur la defense et la sécurité nord-américaines et arctiques (NAADSN/RDSNAA), the Canadian Defence and Security Network/Réseau canadien de défence et de sécurité (CDSN/RCDS), and the Réseau d’analyse stratégique/Network for Strategic Analysis (RAS/NSA), and a member of the NATO Research Task Group on Climate Change and Security. 

Debra Hanuse is a retired lawyer who previously practiced in aboriginal and corporate and commercial law. In 2014, she was elected chief of the ‘Na̱mg̱is First Nation, which comprises more than 1,700 members, and whose principal community is located on Cormorant Island (Alert Bay) in British Columbia. Debra formerly served as a BC Treaty Commissioner, on the Board of Governors of Simon Fraser University, and as a Board member for Big Sisters of Canada.

William G. Lindsay, Cree-Stoney, BEd, MA, PhD (ABD) worked for a quarter century in post-secondary education. He served most recently as the senior director, Indigenous directions at Concordia University in Montreal. He has experience as a college professor, university educator, researcher and published writer, student services coordinator, associate director, director, and senior director, across the following institutions: Concordia University, Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, Douglas College, Institute of Indigenous Government, and Native Education College. William is retired as of 2022. 

Louise Mandell was one of the founding partners of Mandell Pinder, a law firm specializing in Aboriginal and Treaty Rights law. In 2011, she moved out of the day-to-day practice of law but remains connected in the esteemed capacity of partner emeritus to the firm. On behalf of her many First Nations clients, she has devoted her professional life to the advancement of their Aboriginal Title and Rights and Treaty Rights. She was brought into the area of Aboriginal law when it was in its infancy, working under the direction of the late Grand Chief George Manuel, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. Acting for UBCIC, she was legal counsel in their fight against the patriation of the Constitution. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997 and, in 2001, was awarded the Georges A. Goyer QC Memorial Award for exceptional contribution to the development of Aboriginal and Treaty Rights jurisprudence across the country. In 2013, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs recognized and honoured her by creating the Louise Mandell Legal Research Collection. In June 2012, she received an honorary doctor of laws from Simon Fraser University. And in October 2014, she was appointed as the second chancellor of Vancouver Island University.

Ian Pooley is an Okanagan historian. His articles have appeared in academic journals and Okanagan Historical Society reports. They include “When the Titans Met, Railway Rivalry in the Okanagan and Kelowna’s Rise as a Fruit-Shipping Centre,” in BC Studies no. 176 (Winter 2012/2013), and “(Re)settling the Central Okanagan, 1860–1904: Land Monopoly, Small-Scale Ranching, and Marginalized First People,” in BC Studies no. 193 (Spring 2017). He is currently working on a history of the first seventy years of fruit-growing and seasonal agricultural labour in the Okanagan. 

Patricia E. Roy is professor emeritus of history at the University of Victoria. 

Aly Tkachenko is a PhD student in international relations and Canadian politics at the University of Victoria. Her research focuses on critical security studies, climate change, oceanic security, and civil disobedience. Tkachenko is a research fellow with the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN/RDSNAA), as well as a 2024 fellowship recipient with the Climate Security Association of Canada (CSAC). Her work at UVic is supervised by Dr. Will Greaves. Tkachenko holds an MA in political science from the University of Victoria (2022) and a BA from McMaster University (2021). She has worked as a researcher and writer for the Firelight Group, and enjoys volunteering with the Cetus Research and Conservation Society. 

Bing Yan received her master’s degree in anthropology from the University of British Columbia and her bachelor’s in anthropology from Shandong University, China. Her current placement is with the Downtown Eastside SRO-Collaborative. She is interested in immigrant communities, social support, and economic anthropology.