The University of Winnipeg Faculty of Education and Winnipeg School Division present Dr. Niigaan Sinclair’s lecture, What does it mean to live here? What does to mean to teach here? on March 6, 2025 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Convocation Hall.
Dr. Sinclair will present a lecture exploring the historical and contemporary context of Winnipeg and how it might inform what and how we teach and learn here. His words will be informed by his most recent and award-winning book, Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre.
“Niigaan’s ongoing research, journalism and advocacy has been a real inspiration for many of the faculty and students at Faculty of Education,” said Dr. Will Burton, lecturer, Access Education. “His most recent book in particular provides an accessible and powerful tool for examining and challenging the everyday thoughts and actions of educators in this city, utilizing stories of place to provide a pathway for drawing this into what we teach and how we teach.
“As a faculty member, I see this lecture as complementing our efforts in the Faculty of Education to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation’s 94 Calls to Action; this includes establishing Northern Manitoba practicum, working with the Treaty Relations Commission to offer Treaty Training, provision for Indigenous teacher education programs, and drawing Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing across our course offerings. We know that there is much more work to do.”
About Niigaanwewidam Sinclair
Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) and an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. He is a regular commentator on Indigenous issues on CTV, CBC, and APTN, and his written work can be found in the pages of The Exile Edition of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama, newspapers like The Guardian, and online with CBC Books: Canada Writes. Niigaan is the co-editor of the award-winning Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water (Highwater Press, 2011) and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories (Michigan State University Press, 2013), and is the Editorial Director of The Debwe Series with Portage and Main Press. He obtained his BA in Education at UWinnipeg, before completing an MA in Native- and African-American literatures at the University of Oklahoma, and a PhD in First Nations and American Literatures from the University of British Columbia. His latest book is Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre (Penguin Random House Canada).
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required, and there is currently a wait list. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
