Indigenous Studies Program Presents 6 Students Awards

The Indigenous Studies Program has presented 6 students with awards in the past year

Graduate Awards

Thanks to the generosity of the Rathlyn Foundation, the Indigenous Studies Program and McGill Institute for the Study of Canada have been able to award three scholarships to graduate students. Ben Geboe who is pursuing his PhD in Social Work won the Rathlyn Doctoral Fellowship. Ben is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota and grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation and has distant relatives in the Dakota in Manitoba. His thesis focuses on interviewing Canadian Indigenous nurses and physicians working with Indigenous community members. Two fellowships were also given to master's students Meghan Eaker and Joel Grant, who are both Albertan. Meghan is a nehiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) of mixed Cree (Woodland) and European ancestry. She is completing a master's in nursing, specifically supporting the training of Inuit nurses. Joel is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering, investigating the environmental effects of micro- and nanoplastic accumulation in Canadian climates.

Undergraduate Awards

We have also given out three undergraduate awards. Carlee Kawinehta Loft won the Indigenous Community Engagement Award, an award is to recognize a dedicated and passionate undergraduate Indigenous student at McGill University who has shown distinguished leadership and involvement in an Indigenous community, organization, and/or community based-initiative. Carlee's presence was a mainstay at the First People's House while she attended McGill. She could be found volunteering at the annual pow wow and the many other events held throughout the year. Her volunteering went beyond McGill borders as she volunteered with the Wolfpack Street Patrol. She spent many hours organizing events like the Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie class walk-out, workshops created for SSMU, and the #ChangeTheName campaign as Indigenous Affairs Commissioner for SSMU and the co-president of the Indigenous Student Alliance. She noted the ways the work and support of others also allowed her to do the work she did. Carlee is Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk).

Denzel Sutherland-Wilson (Gitxsan) and Marion Daigle both won Best Paper in Indigenous Studies. This award recognizes the most thought-provoking essay written by an undergraduate student in an Indigenous Studies Program course. Sutherland-Wilson paper "Wilp Sim' Maay: House of the Huckleberry"; Marion's paper was titled "Sit Back, Relax, Enjoy the Music, And...: Listening to Indigenous Artists as Multifacted Action for Settler Audiences".

Learn more about all our award recipients here!