Education
- BA, MA (Simon Fraser University)
- PhD (McMaster University)
Biography
As a member of the Squamish Nation most of my research focuses on my home territory and surrounding areas of the Salish Sea. I also have broader interests on the Northwest Coast, the Plateau and western Subarctic culture areas. My work focuses on bridging western science with various forms of Indigenous Knowledge. I achieve this through using geoarchaeological (lithic sources/quarries, site locations, sediments, remote sensing) and archeometric (14C dating, X-ray fluorescence) techniques of archaeology and find links to Squamish Nation/Indigenous Knowledge (oral history, toponymy, ancestry). I focus on this approach because it puts into practice the goals of Indigenous Archaeology through giving back the results of my research to the communities I work with. This makes my research relevant to academic scholars and to First Nations community members who have an interest in the past.
I also express my research interests through television media. I am the host of a currently 2 season series airing on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) titled Wild Archaeology. This television series spans across Canada and gives numerous examples of how archaeologists work in meaningful collaboration with Indigenous communities. This series won the Canadian Archaeological Association Public communications Award in 2017. I am also featured on 2 other APTN series - 1491 and Coyote Science - and on the Knowledge Network on Edziza Life from Ash and Ice. I pursue these venues of disseminating knowledge as they reach a large mass of people in the effort to dispel misconceptions of Indigenous culture and history.
Publications
Courses
Spring 2024
Future courses may be subject to change.