This summer the Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives program welcomed two new Queen’s National Scholars, as part of a cluster hire of Indigenous scholars across the university.
Dr. Danielle Lussier joins us as the new QNS Chair in Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives. 
She is mum to three young people, is Red River Métis and citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation and was born and raised in the homeland of the Métis Nation on Treaty 1 Territory. An award-winning professor, researcher, and change leader, Dr. Lussier believes there is room for love, humanity, and Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being in ethical post-secondary education. She dreams of, and strives for, intellectual self-determination for Indigenous learners and scholars.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Civil Law of Quebec, a Master of Laws with Specialization in Women’s Studies, and a PhD in Law. Called to the bar in Ontario following a research assistantship at the Supreme Court of Canada and clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada, Dr. Lussier served as Indigenous Learner Advocate and Director of Community and Indigenous Relations at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law prior to relocating to Kingston, Ontario. She most recently served as the inaugural Associate Vice-Principal, Indigenous Knowledges and Learning, at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), as a Fellow of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen’s University, and as a professor cross-appointed to Queen’s Faculty of Law.
Dr. Natasha Stirrett joins us as the new QNS in Indigenous Knowledges & Perspectives, jointly appointed with the
Cultural Studies graduate program. Dr. Stirrett is an interdisciplinary scholar and researcher educated in a range of fields. Her research primarily takes a community grounded approach and employs ethnography and archival methods. She is Plains Cree and a member of Ermineskin Cree Nation, who grew up outside her community in the traditional
territory of the Haudenosaunee in the Cornwall/Akwesasne area. In addition to her research and teaching, she has been passionately involved in urban community-building and Indigenous cultural resurgence. In support of social movements and grassroots mobilization, she has been involved in several grassroots initiatives, including Mutual Aid Katarowki-Kingston, Revolution
of the Heart: A Ceremonial Action and solidarity actions and demonstrations. Before joining us at Queen’s she held an appointment as an Associate Professor at Carleton in the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice.