Wahéhshon Whitebean, DISE, Named Recipient of Rathlyn Fellowships

Wahéhshon Whitebean, PhD candidate in the Educational Studies program at the Department of Integrated Studies in Education, was named recipient of Rathlyn Fellowships. Awarded annually through the Indigenous Studies Program at McGill, Rathlyn Fellowships support Indigenous graduate students at McGill in their studies and research.

The Rathlyn Fellowship is given out each year through the Indigenous Studies Program at McGill. Roger Warren and his wife Mary Warren founded the Rathlyn Foundation in 1984 to support medical research, veterinary sciences, and educational institutions throughout Canada. Since then, the Foundation has endowed graduate and professional degree fellowships across several faculties.

Over the past six years, Whitebean’s worked at the Kahnawà:ke Education Center on language and culture reclamation initiatives. In 2020, she co-authored the first research policy and code of ethics for the Kahnawà:ke education system. Since November 2021, she served as the Research Consultant and Chair of the ethics committee.

Whitebean’s doctoral research largely encompasses the topic of the Indian Day Schools and education reform in her home community. She works closely with Elders, Indian day school survivors, and other community members to elicit multi-generational stories of Indian day schooling in Kahnawà:ke. The research, which incorporates Kanien’kéha language and Kanien’kehá:ka knowledge through multigenerational storytelling, is aligned with modes of communication and knowledge sharing that are truly Indigenous and decolonizing.