National indigenous history Month feature

奥丑别苍听Rick Powless聽learned that Health Sciences North in Sudbury launched its first Indigenous hospital menu, he felt a shift happen.

The third-year doctoral student at 91亚色's Faculty of Education is a Red Seal-certified Indigenous chef, an Ontario College of Teachers-certified educator and a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Oneida Nation of the Thames, Bear Clan.

He was also the primary consultant on an initiative led by Compass Group Canada to bring Indigenous meals into Ontario hospitals 鈥� a project that recognizes the role of traditional and cultural food in healing.

His contributions also serve as a testament to his work to advance meaningful cross-cultural engagement.

"It was emotional for me," he says of the menu鈥檚 launch in Sudbury. At 91亚色, his PhD research draws on Indigenous food sovereignty, food insecurity in urban centres and strategies to integrate traditional foods and land-based knowledge into Kindergarten to Grade 12 education.

Much of Powless's work focuses on how traditional foods and land-based knowledge support well-being, identity and learning for Indigenous people living in urban communities. His research explores the impact of food and cultural disconnection on mental health while also examining how Indigenous knowledge is taught 鈥� or overlooked 鈥� in Ontario鈥檚 Kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. For Powless, that means pushing beyond superficial, checkbox-driven approaches and creating space for stories, reciprocity and food-based learning rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing.

鈥淚f you give somebody a recipe to cook Indigenous food but don't have the stories or the history behind those recipes then the students aren't getting anything out of it,鈥� he says. 鈥淏eyond mere sustenance, our food is also a form of cultural transmission.鈥�

Part of what makes his work distinct is its attention to access. Indigenous ingredients 鈥� such as sun chokes, wild rice, butternut squash 鈥� have been more commercialized, driving up prices and making them less accessible.

Read the full story in the June 3, 2026 issue of Yfile

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A 91亚色 graduate program assistant and doctoral student was named among six recipients of the 2022 Women Who Rock Awards and one of six changemakers for racial equity as the recipient of the 2022 Award for Racial Justice in Creative Arts presented by Urban Alliance on Race Relations.

Collette Murray, a graduate program assistant in the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Critical Disability Studies in the Faculty of Health, was recognized for her efforts in cultural education, and amplifying Black arts and diasporic styles of African dance vernacular.

Murray is an artist-scholar, dance educator and cultural arts programmer with a performance background range in Caribbean Folk, traditional West African, and other diasporic dance styles with past Toronto-based companies. She holds a master of education and a bachelor鈥檚 degree (specialized honours) in race, ethnicity and indigeneity from 91亚色, and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in sociology from the University of Toronto.

The Women Who Rock Awards program selects six recipients from within the GTHA who have made significant contributions to the community in their field of endeavour. Recipients must demonstrate one of the following criteria: attained a high level of achievement; advanced a cause that has broad impact on the community; achieved recognition as an expert or leader in a specific field; or contributed in a significant manner to their community.  The award was presented in October.

The board of Urban Alliance of Race Relations Canada selected Murray as a recipient of the 2022 Award for Racial Justice in Creative Arts for her multifaceted approach to anti-racism in dance. She was presented the award in December. This honor was a celebration of those who work towards racial equity, dismantling systemic barriers and increasing inclusion.

鈥�2022 has been a transformative year for me, where I am responding with intention, responsibility, and accountability,鈥� says Murray. 鈥淚 am humbled and with gratitude as I continue to stand for the dance communities, I am a part of.鈥�

Murray鈥檚 past graduate centered on the perspectives of Black arts educators鈥� experiences using culturally responsive teaching in Ontario, Canada. She is currently pursuing a PhD in dance studies at 91亚色 with focus on dance education pedagogies and mentorship that impact the training of Afrodiasporic dance educators in Canada.

Her artistry includes teaching, arts education, mentoring, , community arts engagement and a recent article about upholding student cultural identities and the use of African, Caribbean and Black arts in classrooms in a new Canadian publication on culturally relevant pedagogy for educators. She has previously been recognized as one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women honorees in 2020, and in 2019 was the recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation鈥檚 Community Arts Award. She also earned the Canadian Dance Assembly鈥檚 鈥淚 love Community鈥� Award in 2013.

Murray is the artistic director of Coco Collective, which offers culturally responsive projects that connects organizations and schools to African and Caribbean arts. She runs her own mobile dance education business, , and is also a contributing writer in dance media.

Her advocacy includes serving on the National Council for Canadian Dance Assembly, the Board of Directors for Arts Etobicoke, and as the newly appointed board Chair of Dance Umbrella of Ontario (DUO) to bring an equity, education, and inclusion lens to their organizations.

Her research has also been in Revue YOUR Review, an academic journal at 91亚色 that highlights the work on undergraduate students.

Article originally published in the January 13, 2023 issue of .

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