About Gena (She/Her)

I am a fat, queer, first-generation academic. I am half Métis (non-treaty status*) and half of European ancestry. I grew up in rural Manitoba. I did my BA (Honours Psychology) at the University of Winnipeg and then moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2019.

In 2021 I finished my Master’s in Applied Forensic Psychology at Saint Mary’s University under the supervision of Dr. Veronica Stinson. You can read about my thesis on victim impact statements here.

In the fall of 2021, I moved to Windsor, Ontario and started my Ph.D. in Applied Psychology at the University of Windsor. My research supervisor is Dr. Charlene Senn.

I also have a cat named Sushi (pictured) who is the biggest supporter of my research. I love Dungeons and Dragons, jigsaw puzzles, and horror movies. I am a terrible driver, and my favourite food is thai green curry.

*My home, Powerview-Pine Falls, Manitoba, sits on stolen land that belongs to the Anicinabe peoples of Fort Alexander, Manitoba, namely the Ojibwe, Oji-Cree, and Cree Nations. I am from Treaty 1 Territory in the Red River Valley in Manitoba, homeland of the Métis. Like many Métis children, I have a complicated relationship with my cultural identity. To look at me is to know that I am White – I enter a room and hold the space and privilege of a White person; and indeed, I am half White, many of my ancestors were settlers in North America, and I do not hold a status card affiliated with the Manitoba Métis Federation. Yet, to know me is to understand a deeply complicated personal history and connection to culture, tradition, memories, and leaders who challenge colonial systems of oppression (see Andersen, 2011). To know me is also to understand that I am deeply and profoundly committed to unpacking and calling attention to the structural violence that occurs in colonial institutions in Canada.

Treaty status is political, especially for people like myself, who walk this world with all the privilege and status associated with being White. My decision to remain unaffiliated with the Manitoba Métis Federation, my decision not to pursue a status card, and my decision to nonetheless self-identify as culturally Métis, are deeply complex personal choices that I will happily discuss over coffee.