The Work of Neighbours: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations

​In a 60-minute panel discussion and Q&A session, Patricia Makokis, Dwayne Donald and Roger Epp will discuss steps all Canadians can take to build positive relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, particularly in rural Alberta. Moderated by Augustana academic Clark Banack, the panelists will discuss takeaways from Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada — an ongoing project from the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities exploring practical tools for combating intolerance and making communities more inclusive.​

Please note, this event will not be recorded and will not be available for viewing once the event is over.

Contact us at alumni@ualberta.ca.

Check out the full Alumni Week(end) events listing here.

Moderator:

Dr. Clark Banack is the Acting Director of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities at the University of Alberta, and an Adjunct Professor of Political Studies.  He is the lead on the Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada research project, and the author of God’s Province: Evangelical Christianity, Political Thought, and Conservatism in Alberta (McGill-Queen’s University Press), as well as several academic articles and book chapters related to Alberta politics, rural issues, religion and politics, education policy, and populism in Canada. 

Panelists:

Dr. Roger Epp is a Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. A native of rural Saskatchewan, and a former newspaper journalist, he earned a BA (Honours) at the University of Alberta and both MA and PhD at Queen's University. He was founding Dean of the University's Augustana Campus from 2004 - 2011, and has held the positions of Deputy Provost and Vice-Provost (Academic). He was the first Director of UAlberta North. He is committed to creative and conscientious teaching, to scholarly work that finds public readers, and to connecting the University to communities that matter. In his research, he explores what it means to live in the prairie West, in Treaty Six territory, with a sense of memory and care. His books include We Are All Treaty People: Prairie Essays (2008).

Dr. Patricia Makokis resides on the Saddle Lake Cree Nation with her family. She is retired, and continues online tutoring for the University of Alberta and Athabasca University, allowing her the continued love of reading, supporting student writing, and encouraging students on the lifelong educational journey. She works with potential allies (and co-conspirators) in moving towards a more "humane" world for all Peoples: red, yellow, black, and white family members.  The current sad findings of "unmarked graves" provides hope that many across the lands will be open to learning about the genocidal history and move from their heads to their hearts.  She remains community focused, always remembering she serves the People!

Dr. Dwayne Donald is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, a position he has held since 2007. Born and raised in Edmonton, he is a descendent of the Papaschase Cree. His Blackfoot name is Aipioomahkaa (Long Distance Runner). Dwayne is committed to research that attends to place and story as these are remembered and enacted by Plains Cree and Blackfoot peoples today. He is particularly interested in promoting a particular kind of ecological imagination that would encourage Canadians to rethink, reframe, and reimagine the places that they call home and, by extension, reimagine their relationships with Aboriginal peoples.