08/12/2026
Interested in learning more about the Métis Thinkers Network history?
Li Rooñ por kaa-natonikeechik (The Circle for Those Who Research), began to meet on Zoom to share ideas, discuss research, and build an academic community for Métis scholars in 2021 with one of the foci of the collective being the lack of inclusion of Métis-specific research and low Métis acceptance rates within non-Indigenous conferences (Forsythe & Delgado, 2024).
Through visiting in Li Rooñ por kaa-natonikeechik meetings, we collectively decided to create our own academic Métis space. Thirty-two Métis thinkers volunteered to create a Métis-centric conference in response, called Mawachihitotaak. The conference was successfully held virtually in 2022, took place in Winnipeg in 2024, and is scheduled to be offered in Calgary in 2026.
Over the past three years, we have conducted surveys at a series of community-engaged events—including Mawachihitotaak 2022, and Métis Methodologies 2024 — which have generated consistent and compelling data affirming the need for targeted support of Métis scholars, knowledge holders, and collaborators. Both academic and community participants have voiced a clear and repeatedly called for infrastructure that nurtures Métis-led research, mentorship, and knowledge exchange.
These findings underscore a shared desire not only to share knowledge but to have meaningful reasons and platforms for producing it, such as through grassroots initiatives like Mawachihitotaak (conference), Pawaatamihk: Journal for Métis Thinkers (journal), and Li Rooñ por kaa-natonikeechik (circle), which exemplify community-rooted scholarship in action.
As we sit at the virtual kitchen table with Métis thinkers, we walk forward with relationship and momentum.
