Candace Brunette-Debassige
Candace Brunette-Debassige is a Mushkego Cree iskwew of Petabeck First Nation in Treaty 9 with Cree and French lineage. Raised in small town northern Ontario, Candace is a professor at Western University, located on the lands of the Anishnabek, Haudenosaunee, and Lenapewak Peoples. In 2021, Candace was awarded a teaching fellowship in Indigenous education at Western to focus on bridging diverse peoples and ways of knowing, and to advance reconciliatory change. Beyond her passion for teaching, Candace has extensive leadership experience driving institutional policy change at the K-12 and postsecondary levels. She has served as Acting Vice Provost /Associate Vice President (Indigenous Initiative), Special Advisor to the Provost (Indigenous), and Director of Indigenous Services at Western where, after the release in 2015 of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, she actively led the development of Western’s first Indigenous Strategic Plan. Candace is the author of Tricky Grounds, a 2023 book focusing on Indigenous women’s powerful leadership roles in advancing reconciliation and Indigenization movements in postsecondary settings. Tricky Grounds is based on her doctoral dissertation, which was awarded the 2021 George L. Geis dissertation of the year award by the Canadian Society for Studies in Higher Education. Candace is also the proud recipient of a 2019 Peace Award for Truth and Reconciliation from Atlôhsa Family Services, and a 2021 international Peace and Reconciliation Award from the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
