Biography

Celia Haig-Brown is a Euro-Canadian ethnographer committed to respectful and reciprocal research and practice. Her first book (1988) focused on interviews with former students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. An updated version, Tsqelmucwílc: The Kamloops Indian Residential School, Resistance and a Reckoning, with Indigenous collaborators, was launched September 30, 2022 at Tk’emlups te Secwepemc. She co-directed two documentaries with relatives of the KIRS students. Her third film Listen to the Land addresses the complexities of the Naskapi Nation’s commitment to land and caribou in the reality of open pit mining (http://www.listeningtotheland.org/). In production is a new film Rodeo Women: Behind the Scenes (https://rodeowomencanada.org/). Next projects include creative non-fiction work during a special writer-in-residence appointment. She is happily retired from her full-time position at York as of January 1, 2024. She continues to work with a number of doctoral students in programs across campus.

Scholarly Interests

 Relations with land and rivers guide Haig-Brown’s practice. Building on her commitment to critical ethnography, her research and publications have led her to video-ethnography. In 2025, she is immersed in post-production of her fourth film, a feature length documentary tentatively titled Rodeo Women: Behind the Scenes. She is concurrently drafting an autoethnographic work based in this SSHRC-funded research as part of her writer-in-residence Legacy Project with the Museum at Campbell River.

Faculty & School/Dept

• Faculty of Education - Bachelor of Education - Graduate Studies

• Faculty of Graduate Studies, Women's Studies - - Global feminist issues, ethnicity and race

Selected Publications

• Sean Hillier, Celia Haig-Brown and David Phipps (2022). Decolonizing Research Administration: Institutional Practices in Action. Journal of Research Administration (53(2)), in press.
• Celia Haig-Brown, Garry Gottfriedson, Randy Fred and Survivors of KIRS (2022). Tsqelmucwílc: Kamloops Indian Residential School -- Resistance and a Reckoning. Vancouver, BC, Canada: Arsenal Pulp Press
• Celia Haig-Brown and Ruth Green (2022). Talking it Through: Talking Through It: a dialogue on Indigenizing Education. In Styres and Kempf (Eds.), The Politics of Decolonizing Reconciliation in Education. Edmonton, AB, Canada: University of Alberta Press
• Celia Haig-Brown and Te Kawehau Hoskins (2019). Indigenous Teacher Education in Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press
• Celia Haig-Brown (2018). Working to Reconcile: Truth, Action and Indigenous Education in Canada. In Tania das Gupta & Carl James (Eds.), Race and Racialization: Essential Readings (2nd Ed. ed.pp. 318-337). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Scholars Press
• Celia Haig-Brown (2016). Always Remembering: Indian Residential Schools in Canada. In Kristen Burnett and Geoffrey Read (Eds.), Aborginal History: A Reader, 2nd Ed. (2nd ed.pp. 221-233). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press
• Celia Haig-Brown (2010). Indigenous Thought, Appropriation and Non-Aboriginal People. Canadian Journal of Education, 33 (4), 925-950.
• Haig-Brown, C. And D. Nock (Eds.). (2006). With Good Intentions: Euro-Canadian and Aboriginal Relations in Colonial Canada. (Haig-Brown, C. And D. Nock, Eds.) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: University of British Columbia Press

Selected Presentations

• C Haig-Brown, G. Gottfriedson, R. Fred. (2022, September). Tsqelmucwílc: KIRS-- Resistance and a Reckoning. Presented at: T'Kemlups te Secwépemc
• Celia Haig-Brown (2021, July). Resistance, Relentlessness and Residential Schools. Presented at: Scholars Hub
• Celia Haig-Brown (2018, December). Inspiring EDI: Riffing off the CRC Process. Presented at: SSHRC Leaders Meeting, Ottawa, ON
• Celia Haig-Brown (2018, November). Research Metrics: The Role of Law Libraries and Librarians. . Presented at: Law Librarians on the Leading Edge. Osgoode Hall Law School
• Celia Haig-Brown (2018, May). No Reconciliation without More Truth. Presented at: CSSE Regina, Saskatchewan
• Melissa Blimkie and Celia Haig-Brown (October 2013). The Question of Audience. Presented at: Knowledge Mobilization Symposium, York University
• Celia Haig-Brown and Kaaren Dannenmann (May 2012). Lessons from the Land: Relentlessness, Patience and Decolonizing Practices. Presented at: CSSE, Waterloo, ON
• Celia Haig-Brown (April 2012). "Spontaneous Laughter and Good Marks": From Policy Framework to Working Model. Presented at: American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC

Other Research Outputs

Invited Contribution to the Witness Blanket. For Witness: Pieces of History. www.witnessblanket.ca

Refereed Films

Listen to the Land. Director: Celia Haig-Brown. Premiere Kawawachikamach, Quebec. January 2018.

Cowboys, Indians and Education: Regenerating Secwepemc Culture. With Helen Haig-Brown. World Premiere. Biindigaate Indigenous Film Festival. Thunder Bay, ON. September 27-30, 2012.

Pelq’ilc: Coming Home. World Premiere. With Helen Haig-Brown. Film and discussion prepared for the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education. Melbourne, Australia, December 7-11, 2008. Selected for the Smithsonian's Native American Film Festival, New York, 2011.

All are distributed through V-tape in Toronto.

Research Projects

Rodeo Women: Behind the Scenes

Listening to the Land: the Naskapi Nation Invests in Open Pit Mining

Awards

• Ted T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service in Canadian Curriculum Studies, Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, CSSE Awards - 2009
• Sabbatical Fellowship for “Comparative Practices and Policies in University-Aboriginal Community Partnerships: New Zealand and Canada.”, York University - 2004
• The Tetsuo Aoki Award, 13th Annual Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice - 1992
• Honorary Graduate of the Native Indian Teacher Education Program, University of British Columbia - 1981
• Outstanding Contribution Education's 100 -- Year of Alumni, University of British Columbia - 2015
• Teaching Award, Faculty of Graduate Studies - 2016
• Christopher Innes Interdisciplinary Studies Champion, Interdisciplinary Studies - 2016
• Deans Research Impact Award, York University - 2019
• Fellow of the RSC, Royal Society of Canada - 2022

Service/Community Activities

• PSAS University of Manitoba: Review team and co-author of report reviewing the university's unit Ph.D. Studies for Aboriginal Scholars.
• Trent University: External reviewer for Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies. With Niigaan Sinclair (UManitoba) and Rob Innes (McMaster).
• University of Auckland: Review Team for the School of Te Puna Wananga. Worked with Co-Chairs Emeritus Professor Ranginui Walker (Maori Studies) and Professor Raewyn Dalziel (Vice-Chancellor's Office), Professors Tracey McIntosh (Sociology), Angus MacFarlane (Maori Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury) and Mr. Uenuku Fairhall (Principal, Te Kura O Te Koutu)