Celeste Pedri-Spade

Appointed in 2022 as McGill’s first Associate Provost (Indigenous Initiatives), Professor Celeste Pedri-Spade oversees McGill’s ongoing response to the 52 Calls to Action articulated by the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education. She likewise works closely with academic leaders across McGill to further define the direction of McGill’s commitment to Indigenous scholars and scholarship, and to greater representation and inclusion of Indigenous peoples within the University community. She plays a critical role in furthering efforts to ensure the success of Indigenous students at McGill, and in building meaningful and active partnerships with Indigenous communities in Quebec and across Canada.

An Ojibwe scholar and artist, Pedri-Spade is from the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation in northwestern Ontario. She completed her PhD in visual anthropology at the University of Victoria and her MA in Culture and Communication at Royal Roads University.

Celeste Pedri-Spade is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts. Her research interests include Indigenous art and decolonization; settler colonialism and Indigeneity; Indigenous visual/material culture; Anishinabemowin regeneration; and creative Indigenous research methodologies.