Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith is a Red River Michif educator and filmmaker born and raised in St. James, Manitoba. She is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation. She has worked in Indigenous education for more than a decade as a teacher, advocate, researcher, mentor, curriculum and program developer at Quebec colleges and in community contexts. She is Principal Investigator for the First Peoples Post-Secondary Storytelling Exchange (fppse.net), a community-based research collaboration building more responsive post-secondary education for First Nations, Inuit and Métis students and honouring Indigenous approaches to teaching and learning. She established the Journeys First Peoples Transition program at Dawson College where she taught for over a decade.

She is a Vanier scholar and is completing her PhD in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill. Her doctoral research involves co-constructing creative teaching and learning spaces that promote healing and cultural connection. She is partnering with Kativik Ilisarniliriniq (Nunavik School Board) and Inuit youth to co-develop an Inuit arts and culture college degree program in Nunavik, northern Quebec. Research interests include arts-based, storytelling and Métis methodologies, community-based education, youth agency, decolonizing practices, and Indigenous educational sovereignty.