Season Six

Dr. Kiera Ladner is Canada Research Chair in Miyo we’citowin, Indigenous Governance and Digital Sovereignties and an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba. Her work focuses on Indigenous governance, treaty constitutionalism, and the political relationships between Indigenous nations and the Canadian state. 

Working across political science, law, and Indigenous studies, Dr. Ladner’s scholarship examines how Indigenous nations continue to renew their own political traditions and governance systems despite the ongoing constraints of colonial institutions. Her work invites careful reflection on self-determination, resurgence, and the responsibilities that arise when multiple legal and political orders coexist on the same lands. 

Dr. Ladner is the founder of Mamawipawin, a collaborative research initiative that works alongside Indigenous communities to support community-driven research and governance renewal. Through this work, she emphasizes relational accountability, community knowledge, and governance practices grounded in lived experience. 

She has co-edited several influential collections, including This Is an Honour Song: Twenty Years Since the Blockades(with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson) and Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal (with Myra J. Tait).  

Through her research, teaching, and community partnerships, Dr. Ladner contributes to ongoing conversations about Indigenous resurgence and the possibilities for political relationships rooted in responsibility, reciprocity, and respectful coexistence on these lands.

Dr. Gina Starblanket is an Associate Professor in the School of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria. She is Cree/Saulteaux and a member of the Star Blanket Cree Nation in Treaty 4. Dr. Starblanket’s writings address Indigenous-settler relations, Indigenous movements towards political transformation, and Indigenous feminisms. She is co-editor of NAIS, the journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and her publications include Making Space for Indigenous Feminisms, 3rd ed. (Fernwood Press, 2024), Storying Violence: Unravelling Colonial Narratives in the Stanley Trial (ARP Press, 2020), and Visions of the Heart: Issues Involving Indigenous Peoples in Canada, 5th and 6th eds. (OUP, 2019 & 2025).

Dr. Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark is a Turtle Mountain Anishinaabekwe and Associate Professor in the School of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria, where she also directs the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE). Her work centers Indigenous law, governance, and treaty relations, with a strong foundation in Anishinaabe political thought and legal traditions.

Dr. Stark’s scholarship explores how Indigenous peoples have long maintained their own political authority and legal orders, despite ongoing efforts by settler states to limit or criminalize Indigenous sovereignty. Her research attends closely to treaty-making, consent, and gendered violence within legal systems, offering relational approaches to governance grounded in responsibility, accountability, and renewal.

A 2024 inductee into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Dr. Stark’s teaching and writing support Indigenous resurgence by reconnecting law and governance to land, relationships, and enduring Indigenous political traditions.

Dr. Aaron Mills is Anishinaabe and a member of Couchiching First Nation. He is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Indigenous Constitutionalism and Philosophy in the Faculty of Law at McGill University. His work is rooted in Indigenous legal traditions and explores how law, governance, and responsibility are lived through relationships—with one another, with the land, and across generations.

Drawing on more than fifteen years of learning with Anishinaabe elders, Dr. Mills’ work reflects a deep commitment to relational accountability and to the renewal of Indigenous constitutional traditions as living systems of law. He works closely with Indigenous communities, knowledge holders, and organizations to support Indigenous-led law revitalization and governance initiatives.
Through his teaching, writing, and public engagement, Dr. Mills invites careful reflection on how Indigenous philosophies of law challenge state-centred and individualistic frameworks. His work encourages Indigenous peoples and settlers alike to rethink law, belonging, and coexistence in ways that honour Indigenous jurisdiction, consent, and enduring relationships.

Dr. Mills has received numerous academic honours, including SSHRC, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Vanier, and Fulbright awards, recognizing his contributions to Indigenous legal resurgence and transformative dialogue in Canada.

Dr. James Tully is Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Law, Indigenous Governance and Philosophy at the University of Victoria, and one of Canada’s most respected political philosophers. His work has influenced constitutional theory, legal pluralism, civic freedom, and the understanding of Indigenous–settler relations through decades of scholarship and engagement.

After completing a BA at the University of British Columbia and a PhD at the University of Cambridge, Dr. Tully taught at McGill University and the University of Toronto before joining UVic, where he helped shape cross-disciplinary programs at the intersection of political science, law, and Indigenous governance.

Dr. Tully’s scholarship emphasizes dialogical and relational approaches to constitutionalism and democratic citizenship, inviting political communities to think and act differently about freedom, recognition, and coexistence. He has been recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Emeritus Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation, and his contributions to political thought have garnered major awards including the Killam Prize in the Humanities.

As co-editor of Resurgence and Reconciliation: Indigenous–Settler Relations and Earth Teachings, Dr. Tully’s work bridges theory and practice, calling attention to the ongoing responsibilities of citizens in building just, respectful, and relational futures.

Dr. Michael Asch is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Alberta and one of Canada’s most influential scholars on treaties, Indigenous–settler relations, and reconciliation. Over several decades, his work has shaped public and academic understanding of treaties not as historical transactions, but as living agreements that continue to ground Canada’s legitimacy on these lands.

Dr. Asch’s scholarship focuses especially on the treaty relationships negotiated around the time of Confederation and on the responsibilities settlers inherited through those agreements. Writing as a settler scholar, he is explicit about his own position and directs his work toward other settlers, asking what it means to live honourably on lands we were granted permission to share.

Widely respected for his clarity, integrity, and careful engagement with Indigenous teachings and historical records, Dr. Asch has contributed significantly to conversations about reconciliation that centre consent, shared futures, and the ethical obligations that flow from treaty relationships.

Dr. John Borrows is Anishinaabe and a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. He is the Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and one of Canada’s leading thinkers on Indigenous law, constitutionalism, and Indigenous–settler relationships.

John Borrows’ work is grounded in Anishinaabe legal traditions and teachings and explores how Indigenous laws continue to live, adapt, and guide relationships today. Through his scholarship, he challenges the idea that Canadian law can be fully understood without Indigenous law, and he invites a deeper reckoning with how legal systems shape relationships between peoples and with the Land.

Widely respected as a teacher, writer, and mentor, Borrows’ work bridges Indigenous law, constitutional law, and political theory while remaining accountable to Indigenous communities and knowledge systems. His writing emphasizes law as a living practice—carried through stories, responsibilities, and relationships rather than confined to statutes or courts.

John Borrows has authored numerous influential books and articles, including Canada’s Indigenous Constitution and Law’s Indigenous Ethics, and his contributions have shaped legal education, public policy, and conversations about reconciliation and resurgence across Canada. His work continues to offer pathways toward more just, relational, and grounded futures.