Mount Royal University names AVP Indigenization and Decolonization
Dr. Linda ManyGuns, PhD, will provide her extensive knowledge, experience and education to Mount Royal’s indigenization efforts.
Dr. Linda ManyGuns, PhD, will become the associate vice-president of indigenization and decolonization at Mount Royal starting on May 1.
In this new position, ManyGuns will be the senior Indigenous leader at the University, providing vision, strategy, leadership and direction to advance indigenization and decolonization commitments.
“I am delighted to welcome Dr. ManyGuns to Mount Royal and am excited about the passion and capacity she will bring to this exciting new role,” says Mike Quinn, PhD, associate vice-president, academic, at MRU.
ManyGuns will provide her extensive knowledge, experience and education to Mount Royal’s indigenization efforts. A Blackfoot woman, she was born on the Tsuut'ina Nation and registered at Siksika. She is an elder for the Buffalo Women’s Society and part of the Beaver Bundle Society. Traditional knowledge informs her respect for all life and all thoughts.
ManyGuns has a Bachelor of Arts from St. Thomas University, a master's from Carleton University, a law degree from University of Ottawa and a doctorate from Trent University. Her academic papers and projects are always on Indigenous subjects and informed by traditional knowledge.
For 11 years, ManyGuns was a professor in the University of Lethbridge's Department of Indigenous Studies. She understands the importance of Indigenous students succeeding in their education, and while serving as chair updated the 45-year-old curriculum.
As a restaurant server, high-steel construction worker and chef, ManyGuns experienced discrimination and lateral violence but refuses to let it define her.
Transformation “should be gentle, and any process should reflect and integrate all thoughts in a consensus model,” ManyGuns says.
April 23, 2021