Centre Staff

Giselle Dias, MSW, PhD

Director
Lecturer, Master of Social Work: Indigenous Field of Study*

 Dr. Giselle Dias, (Niigaanii Zhaawshko Giizhigokwe) is a mixed race, Métis scholar, activist, and educator with roots in the Red River Métis community (Hodgson and Fidler). Her ancestors are from India, the Seychelles, and Europe, specifically France, England, Scotland, and Ireland. She is currently living on the Haldimand Tract, the traditional lands of the Neutral, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee Peoples. Dr. Dias identifies as an Indigenous queer, and disabled community organizer, writer, and educator.

 Her work spans over three decades, focusing on penal abolition, prisoners' rights, and transformative justice. She has worked in several community-driven organizations such as the Prisoners' Arts Foundation (PAF), Rittenhouse: A New Vision, Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Network (PASAN) and the CounterFIT harm reduction program at South Riverdale Community Health Center. Through her activism, she has organized with the Prisoners’ Justice Action Committee (PJAC), Prisoners’ Justice Day Committee (PJD) and the Prisoners’ Justice Film Festival (PJFF) in Toronto and London, Ontario.

 Academically, Dr. Dias has earned a BA in Women’s and Gender Studies from Carleton University, a Master’s in Sociology from York University, and a MSW in the Indigenous Field of Study from Wilfrid Laurier University. In 2024, She completed her PhD in Social Work, exploring "Indigenous Wholistic Abolition: Visioning Indigenous Queer, Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Futures". Dr. Dias is also the Director of the Centre for Indigegogy.

 Her re-search focuses on Indigenous wholistic abolitionism, Indigegogy and Circle processes. Dr. Dias’s work integrates Indigenous wholism, Indigenous feminist theory, and Land-based practices to advance decolonizing efforts within academic and activist spaces. Her work continues to bridge academic scholarship with community activism, advocating for Indigenous rights, decolonization, and inclusive community justice frameworks.

Kathy Absolon, MSW, PhD

Founder, Inaugural Director, Knowledge Keeper
Professor, Master of Social Work: Indigenous Field of Study*

Kathy Absolon is an Anishinaabe kwe from Flying Post First Nation. Her academic journey has been a pathway of unlearning, healing, re-learning and finding who she is as an Indigenous woman and her place in the academy. Kathy's Anishinaabe name is Minogiizhigo kwe which translates to mean Shining Day Woman, the one who brings goodness and beauty to the day. ​

In 2008, she received her PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. "Kaandossiwn, this is how we come to know: Indigenous research methodologies in the academy" was her dissertation title with a focus on Indigenous research. Since then Kathy has been teaching Indigenous re-search methodologies and asserting Indigenous ways of coming into knowledge. The Decolonizing Journeys project is in partnerships with a digital story lab and educators who have completed the Decolonizing education certificate, herself included. For Kathy, education has been a process of building dual knowledge bundles: one as an Anishinaabe kwe and her teachings and the other is a critical knowledge bundle fuelled by mainstream education. Kathy carries dual knowledge bundles that are informed by the land, spirit, decolonizing, indigenizing and anti-colonialism. 

In 2007 she came to the Indigenous Field of Study in the Faculty of Social Work (now Indigenous Field of Study) at Laurier with a blending of teaching, practice, and community work. Since she has been at Laurier, Kathy has taught in the Indigenous Field of Study Indigenous re-search, wholistic healing practices, culture camp, kinship and community, and Traditional Indigenous knowledge in wholistic practices. She has provided ongoing leadership to the Program during her tenure. In Kathy's role as Director of the Centre for Indigegogy, she focuses on generating decolonial, Indigenous centred and wholistic training for ongoing professional training for educators and practitioners across an array of settings. 

 Katie McLellan, MSW

Manager

Katie McLellan is a Mohawk-Metis Woman and grew up between Windsor and Barrie, Ontario. Her ancestors made their journey from Kahnasatake many years ago to what is now known as Penetanguishene, her family has remained in the area for generations. Katie gratefully acknowledges the contribution her Syrian and Scottish ancestors have made to her identity. She is a graduate of the MSW Indigenous Field of Study Program and has called Kitchener-Waterloo home for nearly three years. Katie honours the spirit of her Matriarch, Wendy, in the work she does every day with the Centre, Laurier and her community. She feels privileged to be on this journey with the Centre for Indigegogy and learn from all the incredible minds that cultivate knowledge at the Centre.

‘You have found your place, and that is with your community.’ -Wendy”

 Emily Hearn, BSW, RSW

Administrative Assistant

Emily (they/them/she/her) is an Indigequeer social worker with a passion for educating and supporting Indigenous helpers in their work. Having grown up in a remote bush town in Northwestern Ontario, Emily holds a special place in their heart for the land. They are Red River Métis of Cree and French descent, and a registered citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation. They currently live in Hamilton, Ontario, with their spouse Kory and their 3 cats: Jiji, Kiki, and Calcifer. 

Raven Sutherland

Communications and Marketing Assistant

Raven Sutherland (she/her) is Plains Cree and Saulteaux and a member of Lake St. Martin First Nation in Manitoba. She was born and raised in KW. Raven has focused most of her professional career on helping and elevating Indigenous startups and organizations with her expertise in marketing and social media. She grew up jingle dancing in the community and recently completed her certificate in Indigenous Language Revitalization (nehiyawewin Y-Dialect) in Alberta. Two fun facts about Raven are that she is a digital artist and has a one-year-old mini dachshund named Tamagotchi.

Research Associates

  Jessica Hutchison, MA, PhD

Jessica Hutchison (she/her) is a white settler, abolition feminist, and activist-scholar who is deeply committed to dismantling racist and colonial systems that perpetuate harm and violence. She is currently a new professor in Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University whose work is informed by her long-standing prisoners’ rights advocacy, and solidarity with those most impacted by systems of oppression and domination. Jessica teaches in social work and critical criminology; is a Research Associate with the Centre for Indigegogy; and an active member of a grassroots collective in Waterloo Region advocating for the redistribution of police funding towards community-based and equity-centred initiatives.

Jessica was awarded her PhD on August 10th, 2023 and nominated for the award for excellence.