Settler Research in Indigenous Country | Vicki Chartrand

Join us for the first winter term seminar of the 2025-2026 CrimSL Speaker Series on Wednesday, January 14, 2026!

Dr. Vicki Chartrand, Full Professor, Sociology Department, Bishop’s University; Adjunct Professor, Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa; and founding Director, Centre for Community-Engaged Justices, will present "Settler Research in Indigenous Country." 

This is a free event, however, registration is required.

Prior to the seminar, join us for a light lunch from noon to 12:30 pm in the Centre Lounge. Please indicate your lunch RSVP for catering purposes when you register.

Abstract

Drawing on the Unearthing Justices project — a collaborative research initiative that shares and showcases Indigenous-led initiatives for the MMIWG2S communities — Dr. Chartrand will discuss the possibilities for community-engaged research in Indigenous Country. By foregrounding a practice of witnessing that is relational, embodied, and land-based, she proposes that community engagement can serve as an intervention into conventional settler research. Acknowledging the ongoing tensions of settler presence, Dr. Chartrand argues that settler research cannot stand outside colonial systems; instead, it must be reshaped through accountable collaborations that support Indigenous intellectual sovereignty and community-defined justice. Rather than offer a prescriptive method or “recipe”, this talk invites us to stay with the complexities, contradictions, and responsibilities of research in community.

About Professor Vicki Chartrand

Dr. Chartrand is a Mama and Full Professor in the Sociology Department at Bishop’s University, Québec, the traditional territory of the Abenaki people and Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa, Criminology Department. She is the founding Director of the Centre for Community-Engaged Justices, a research centre for collaborative community-based approaches to justice. Her research includes mapping carceral and colonial intersections, unearthing community grassroots justices, and advancing community-engaged scholarship and mentoring. She has over two decades of experience working with women and children, Indigenous communities, and people in prison.

Accessibility

Please note that our Centre Lounge and CG 265 seminar room are on the second floor of the Canadiana Gallery building, with stair access only as there is no elevator. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your participation in this session, please email crimsl.communications@utoronto.ca and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.

Notice of photography and videography

Photography, audio and video recording may occur throughout this event. Therefore, by attending, you hereby authorize the University of Toronto to take your photograph, video and/or record your voice and grant the university all rights to these sounds, still or moving images in any medium for educational, promotional, marketing, advertising or other such purposes that support the mission of the university. If you do not consent to this, please speak with a university representative upon your arrival.