Name: Mackenzie Lespérance / Smiling Water
Position: Current PhD Candidate (Indigenous Studies, Trent University)
Research Project: TBD
Academic background: MSc Plant Agriculture (University of Guelph), BSc Plant Biology (University of Guelph)
Contact information: mlesperance [at] trentu.ca
About the researcher: Mackenzie / Smiling Water is an Indigenous Research Fellow at the rare Charitable Research Reserve, an urban land trust and environmental institute in Waterloo Region/Wellington. She is also a PhD candidate in Indigenous Studies and a Teaching Assistant for IESS-1001 ‘Foundations in Indigenous and Environmental Sciences & Studies’ at Trent University. She has a passion for learning about Mother Earth at the interface of Indigenous and Western knowledge systems. As someone who is actively returning to her roles and responsibilities as a Georgian Bay Métis woman, and also a former scientist, Mackenzie plans to approach her research journey as a dual tradition scholar.