Indigenous Advisory Circle

Lisa Bird-Wilson

Author and Chief Executive Officer, SK Arts

Lisa Bird-Wilson is a Métis and nêhiyaw writer whose work appears in literary magazines, newspapers, and anthologies across Canada. Her award-winning novel, Probably Ruby (2022), has been published internationally.

Lisa’s debut poetry collection, The Red Files (2016), is inspired by family and archival sources. The Red Files reflects on the legacy of the residential school system: the fragmentation of families and histories, with blows that resonate through the generations. She has one non-fiction book to her credit, An Institute of Our Own: A History of the Gabriel Dumont Institute (2011), which chronicles the struggle for Métis education rights in the 1970s and early 80s.

In the community, Lisa works collaboratively to support other Indigenous writers. She is former chair and founding board member of the host organization for the Ânskohk Indigenous Literature Festival in Saskatchewan. Lisa lives in Saskatoon and is the CEO of SK Arts, Canada’s first public arts funding agency (est. 1948).

Visit SK Arts online.

Karis Gruben (interim)

Artist

Karis Gruben is an Inuvialuk multidisciplinary artist from Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Inspired from a young age by her father, the late William Gruben, a renowned Tuktoyaktuk carver, Karis has since followed a fruitful artistic and professional path. She found early success demonstrating Arctic Sports on international stages as a Youth Ambassador and participating in the Students on Ice Expedition Program. She also inspired other young Inuit via her modelling career and fashion publications, which include Vogue and Tusaayaksat magazine. She currently works as a Communications Advisor at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and is a dedicated mother, artist, workshop teacher and business owner.

Jonathan Lainey

Curator, Indigenous Cultures, McCord Museum

Jonathan Lainey belongs to the Huron-Wendat Nation of Wendake, Quebec. He is the Curator, Indigenous Cultures at the McCord Museum. Previously, Jonathan was Curator, First Peoples, at the Canadian Museum of History, and Archivist, Aboriginal Archives, at Library and Archives Canada.

His research interests include the social, political and cultural history of the Indigenous peoples of Quebec and Canada, as well as material culture and its interpretation. He is known for his work on the heritage and material culture of Indigenous peoples, particularly his knowledge of wampum and the Huron-Wendat.

He is the author of over fifty publications and academic papers, including La “monnaie des Sauvages”: les colliers de wampum d’hier à aujourd’hui, an authoritative work on wampum. He has a background in Anthropology and Aboriginal Studies, and a master’s degree in History from Laval University.

Lou-ann Neel

Visual artist

Lou-ann Neel is from the Kwagiulth and Mamalilikulla tribes of the Kwakwaka’wakw people. She was born in Alert Bay and currently resides in Victoria, British Columbia. She is a practicing visual artist, creating original paintings in acrylic, textiles including traditional regalia, jewelry and digital design and, more recently, wood carving. In addition to her work as an artist, she has worked for over 30 years in policy and program development in the areas of the arts, culture, languages, community development, and repatriation. In her spare time, she advocates for the rights of First Nations artists, and serves as a mentor to several aspiring artists and arts administrators.

Marie-Louise Perron

Chair, Ottawa Region Métis Council

Marie-Louise Perron was born on her grandfather’s land in Saskatchewan. She is a descendant of Red River Métis and early French newcomers.

Through different careers, from high school teacher to visual artist, author, archivist and public servant, she has maintained the storytelling tradition of her people. She has presented and published, in both English and French, for national and international audiences, on subjects including the French/Métis songs and stories of the Perron-Ladéroute-Marion-St. Arnaud families, instruction on tracing one's family history, and the value of archives to society.

Now retired, Marie-Louise pursues historical and genealogical research, offers workshops on tracing Indigenous ancestry, studies traditional violin, and participates in many styles of storytelling, including video and digital. An artist in watercolours, mixed media on canvas and photography, she has participated in multiple exhibitions. Her work can be found in private and institutional collections across Canada.

Marie-Louise has been an active member of the Métis community for many years, including on the organizing committee for the award-winning Walking With Our Sisters Memorial Installation in Ottawa.

Krista Ulujuk Zawadski

Curator of Inuit Art, Government of Nunavut

Krista Ulujuk Zawadski was raised in Igluligaarjuk (Chesterfield Inlet) and calls Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, her home. She has a master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia. Krista has focused her education and career in the heritage sector in Nunavut and in the fields of Arctic anthropology, museology and collections-based research, with an emphasis on fostering accessibility to collections for Inuit.

Krista works for the Government of Nunavut as a curator of Inuit art. She is a member of the Winnipeg Art Gallery Indigenous Advisory Circle and is co-curating the inaugural exhibition INUA, for the forthcoming Inuit Art Centre at the gallery. Krista is also studying at Carleton University in an interdisciplinary PhD Program.

Visit the Inuit Art Centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery online.