University of Winnipeg Assistant Professor Laura Forsythe has been researching the erasure of Métis women in academia. While completing graduate research at UManitoba, Forsythe explained that she did not see the work of Métis women reflected on syllabi, which prompted her to look further into the experiences of Métis women in academia. Forsythe developed an intertwined Michif methodology centred around learning through listening. She identified three themes contributing to Métis women’s erasure in academia: colonial attempts at erasure, attempts at making Métis identity invisible, and power structures that attempt to silence Métis voices. Forsythe dedicated a chapter of her dissertation to providing Métis people with guidance for how to navigate the academic realm. In an effort to foster connection and to help Métis scholars share their knowledge, she has also established a journal dedicated to Métis voices and has hosted events. “It was sort of the knowledge that I received from the grandmothers and the ways in which we needed to help ourselves, that I have now put forward a path for my own scholarship and my own career that is going to be around lifting up and creating spaces for Métis people to thrive in the academy,” said Forsythe.
