The Indigenous Studies Series highlights contemporary and historical topics relevant to Indigenous studies, research, and teaching. Through this series Indigenous scholars present their recent research, books, and other important initiatives. The goal of the series is to engage members of the York community and beyond regarding Indigenous Studies initiatives to gain a better understanding of contemporary and historical events effecting Indigenous communities and all of us living on Turtle Island.
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Rematriating Justice: Honouring the Lives of Our Indigenous Sisters
Date: November 6, 2025
Presenter: Dr. Jennifer Brant
The control and eradication of Indigenous womanhood in Canada is rooted within a number of colonial policies that intervene with Indigenous women's rights to birth and mother their own children. A history of racist and sexist views against Indigenous women, continue to shape maternal health experiences today, evident in recent forced and coerced sterilizations; a concern that must also be understood within the context of racialized, sexualized, and gender-based violences against Indigenous women. Matrilineal societies honoured the agency of women and ensured safety through kinship, and they were deemed a threat to the settler colonial land theft project. This presentation will introduce Matriarchal Worlding, an Indigenous feminist orientation for ‘rematriating justice’ and upholding the power and place of Indigenous women and girls.
Dr. Jennifer Brant, first and foremost a mother of two boys, belongs to the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk Nation) with family ties to Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Jennifer is the founding director of the Indigenous Literatures Lab and an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto where she teaches courses on Indigenous maternal theory, Indigenous literatures and methodologies. Jennifer is also the co-editor of Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada (2016) and Rematriating Justice: Honouring Our Missing Sisters (2024).
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