Danielle Lussier

Danielle Lussier
LL.L., LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D
Associate Vice-Principal, Indigenous Knowledges and Learning
E-mail:
Office of the Vice-Principal Academic

College Address

Royal Military College of Canada
PO Box 17000, Station Forces
Kingston, Ontario, CANADA
K7K 7B4

Dr. Danielle Lussier, Red River Métis and citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation, was born and raised in the homeland of the Métis Nation on Treaty 1 Territory. She is mum to three young people who are growing up as visitors on the shores of Lake Ontario. An award-winning change leader, educator, and administrator, she is a passionate advocate and community builder who believes there is room for love and humanity in post-secondary education. 

She holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Licence en Droit (Bachelor of Civil Law of Quebec), a Master of Laws with Specialization in Women’s Studies, and a PhD in Law. Called to the bar in Ontario in 2009 following a research assistantship at the Supreme Court of Canada and clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada, Dr. Lussier served as the inaugural Indigenous Learner Advocate and Director of Community and Indigenous Relations at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law from 2018-2022. She now serves as Associate Vice-Principal, Indigenous Knowledges and Learning, at the Royal Military College of Canada, and she holds a cross-appointment to the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University. She currently teaches in the department of English, Culture, and Communications and in the Indigenous Leadership Opportunity Year Program.

Dr. Lussier’s academic research focuses on reimagining relationships and encouraging ethical engagement with Indigenous Peoples, Communities, and Legal Knowledge through the development and use of Indigenous legal pedagogies. She also studies the role decolonized methodologies can play in the revitalization of Indigenous Legal Orders, pathways to reconciliation within, and decolonization of, post-secondary education, and anti-racist and feminist approaches to learning and community building. Her ground-breaking doctoral research which examined racism and sexism in professionalization processes and processes of building safer and more inclusive learning spaces included the production of a beaded honour shawl and was awarded the Pierre Laberge Thesis Prize for outstanding thesis in the humanities at the University of Ottawa. She has published in the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, the Indigenous Law Journal, the Ottawa Law Review, the Canadian Military Journal, and Textile: Cloth and Culture, amongst others.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Law, University of Ottawa
  • Master of Laws with Specialization in Women’s Studies (LL.M.), University of Ottawa
  • Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), University of Ottawa 
  • Licence en droit (LL.L.), University of Ottawa

Academic Journal Contributions

  • 2024 Absolute Refusal. Forthcoming in Pawaatamihk: Journal of Métis Thinkers, Volume 2 (2024) [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2024 Pakoshayimoohk/Hope, in steel. Forthcoming in Pawaatamihk: Journal of Métis Thinkers, Volume 2 (2024) [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2023 “Kîyokêwin (Visiting), Leadership, and Consenting to Learn in Public: Indigenizing Social Sciences and Humanities at the Royal Military College of Canada,” with Dr. James S. Denford. Critical Studies in Education, DOI: 10.1080/17508487.2023.2261472 [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2023 Still here, now. Pawaatamihk: Journal of Métis Thinkers, 1(1), 4–6. Retrieved from https://pawaatamihk.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/Pawaatamihk/article/view/9 [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2023 “Ob-La-Di, Oc-To-Pus (Life Goes On): A Modern Métis Fire Bag (2021).” Textile, DOI: 10.1080/14759756.2023.2227395. [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2023 “The Ethical Imperative: Truth, Reconciliation, and the Royal Military College Experience.” 23 (2)Canadian Military Journal 1. [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2022 “What Do You Call an Indigenous Woman with a PhD in Law? Resisting Subjugation of Indigenous Expertise in Legal Spheres.” 34(1) Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 111. [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2022 ““Other Materials” – Traitorous Love and Decolonizing the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation.” With Steven Stechly. Ottawa Law Review, Volume 53 (2021). [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2022 “A Legal Love Letter to My Children: If These Beads Could Talk.” 18(1) Indigenous Law Journal 1 [Peer Reviewed].
  • 2011 “The Specific Claims Process: Recent Legal and Policy Reforms” with Shauna Troniak. Current and Emerging Issues for the 41st Parliament.
  • 2010 “Bill C-49: An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act and the Marine Transportation Security Act” with Daphne Keevil Harold. Library of Parliament.

Book Chapters

  • 2024 “Indigenous Legal Research Methodologies – Practice and Possibilities.” With Dr. Jessie Hohmann. Forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook on International Indigenous Law, 2024. [Accepted; Peer Reviewed]
  • 2024 “Living in Balance: Beading Revitalized Traditional Food Systems.” Companion chapter to the “Living in Balance Beadwork Panel” created in support of the Bellevue House National Historic Site (Parks Canada) renewal project.
  • 2023 “The Art of Teaching: Métis Beadwork and Indigenous Legal Pedagogy,” in Shelia Cote-Meek andTaima Moeke-Pickering, eds, "Global Perspectives on Indigenous Pedagogy in Education: Learning from One Another." IGI, 2023. [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2023 “Reading the Beads: Legal Education, Métis Motherhood, and Reclaiming the Visual Record.” In Sharp Notions: Essays on the Stitching Life, Nancy Lee & Marita Dachsel, eds. Arsenal Pulp Press, August 2023. [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2023 “Legal Resurgence and Online Communities of (Beadwork) Practice.” In Can’t Compute/Let’s Compute: Moving Towards an Equitable Digital World, Suzie Dunn, Florian Martin-Bariteau, and Nasma Ahmed, eds. University of Ottawa Research Chair in Technology and Society, 2023. [Peer Reviewed]

Conference Proceeding and Posters

  • 2023 Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science Honolulu, Hawaii, 4S Paraconference. “Mobilizing Indigenous knowledge systems against environmental injustice using urban land-based learning.” With Dr. Gregg Wade.

Non-Traditional Research Output (NTRO) and Extra-Intellectual Knowledge (Selected)

  • 2023 “The Legacy of John A. MacDonald: Métis Perspectives.” Oral knowledge transmission and digital storytelling generated as part of the Bellevue House National Historic Site (Parks Canada) renewal project. The recordings will be presented as part of the permanent exhibition at the National Historic Site, and speak to questions of colonial law and policy, and the continuing intergenerational impacts of the MacDonald Era on the Métis Nation.
  • 2023 “Reading the Beads: traditional florals, modern beadworking.” This series of five pieces of beadwork were selected by a jury of local artists for inclusion in the Kingston Square Foot Show at the Tett Centre for Arts and Creativity, October 13, 2023.
  • 2023 “Living in Balance.” Beadwork panel created following a national design competition for Bellevue House National Historic Site (Parks Canada). The selection panel of Indigenous knowledge holders reviewed and chose the piece to be mobilized as part of efforts to indigenize outdoor spaces and modernize knowledge-sharing at the National Historic Site.
  • 2023 “Here, Now (2021).” In The Arch, 6th Edition (Learner-led publication at Royal Military College of Canada).
  • 2023 “Victory at Frog Plain/Battle of Seven Oaks.” Reversible fringed honour shawl beaded on black melton broadcloth. Images and written interpretation titled “Indigenizing Education: How We Name Things Matters” published in 22 Canadian Military Journal 1 [Peer Reviewed].
  • 2022 “Form A Calming Circle: A(nother) Modern Métis Fire Bag (2022).” Traditional garment beaded on purple melton incorporating modern glass beads and fingerwoven strap, and hand-tied wool tassles. Accompanying academic article/knowledge transfer currently under review.
  • 2022 “Canadian Forces Awards and Decorations of Simon Linklater, Ojibwe, CD.” Reproduction military service medals beaded with pre-Treaty 3 era glass and a metal beads on wool tradecloth, backed with home-tanned moosehide. Presented at the Senate of Canada, 15 July 2023.
  • 2022 “Claiming Space: Bison Herd” in Owning Ourselves, a publication of The Mamawi Project. The Mamawi Project is a space for Métis young people to (re)build relations, discuss the future of our Nation, and to celebrate who we are as Métis people.
  • 2021 “Ob-La-Di, Oc-To-Pus (Life Goes On): A Modern Métis Fire Bag (2021).” Traditional garment beaded on blue melton tradecloth incorporating vintage trade beads, split-stitch embroidery, home-tanned moose hide, and lavender. Companion piece to “Ob-La-Di, Oc-To-Pus (Life Goes On): A Modern Métis Fire Bag (2021).” Textile, DOI: 10.1080/14759756.2023.2227395. [Peer Reviewed]
  • 2021 “100 Years Intergenerational Collaboration.” With Hugo, Rosalie, and Opale Lussier-Meek. Collar featuring artwork by the author’s children, beaded on red melton tradecloth with home-tanned moose hide ties.
  • 2021 “Beading Her Home / Perler Chez Elle, Perler Sa Rentrée.” Convocation stole beaded for a Métis graduate from Winnipeg. Featuring a prairie lily resting near The Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. An HBC blanket points North to York Factory.
  • 2020 “Heart of Hearts.” Collar featuring a cardinal, butterfly, and a borderless heart made up of smaller hearts beaded on purple melton tradecloth with home-tanned moose hide ties.
  • 2020 “Law with Heart Honour Shawl.” Reversible shawl featuring a herd of bison and berries beaded on purple melton tradecloth, lined with wool-silk tartan. Companion piece to “A Legal Love Letter to My Children: If These Beads Could Talk” (2021) [Peer Reviewed].
  • 2020 “Ooma moon keur kanawaymisho (Here is my heart, take care).” With Tara Rose McDonald. Fourteen-inch hoop beaded on black melton tradecloth, featuring a floating vine. Held in the private collection of Supreme Court Justice Nicolas Kasirer.
  • 2020 “When It All Falls Away.” Convocation stole beaded on black melton featuring a blend of Canadian and Indigenous legal traditions, a robin, heartberries and saskatoons.
  • 2019 “First Shawl.” Honour shawl featuring a young family and various prairie flora, based on a pattern designed by Maryse Piché-Benard, JD 2019. Beaded on a black fringed melton shawl cut by Kelly Duquette, JD 2019.
  • 2019 “Aunties Are the Best Medicine.” Convocation stole of Dr. Tracey Lindberg featuring cedar, sage, and elements personal to the wearer. Beaded on black melton.

Media Coverage

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