Cindy Peltier
Associate Professor

Dr. Cindy Peltier

She/her/hers

Positions

Chair
Faculty of Education and Professional Studies - Schulich School of Education - Indigenous Education Programs
Full-time Faculty
Graduate Studies - Master of Education
Full-time Faculty
Graduate Studies - Kinesiology, MSc
Full-time Faculty
Graduate Studies - PhD in Education (Educational Sustainability)

Education

PhD, Rural and Northern Health, Laurentian University
2015
MLIS, Library and Information Science, Western University
2004
BEd, Education, Nipissing University
2000
MA, Human Development, Laurentian University
1999
HBA, Psychology, Laurentian University
1996
Areas of specialization
Indigenous Health and Wellness
Indigenous Education
Indigenous Methodologies
Creative Knowledge Translation
Traditional Healing / Traditional Medicine
Cultural Safety

Current University Committees & Engagement

  • NU Special Advisor to the President on Indigenous Matters

  • NU Indigenous Affirmation Verification Policy Working Group

  • NU Indigenous Community Engagement Plan Review Committee

  • Nipissing University Indigenous Council on Education, Working Group

  • NU Equity Action Planning Taskforce

  • NU Hiring Committees (recent) - Provost and Vice President (admin), School of Physical & Health Education (faculty)

Teaching Areas

Undergraduate Programs

  • Education Consecutive
  • Indigenous Education Programs

Graduate Studies

  • Master of Education
  • Kinesiology, MSc
  • PhD in Education (Educational Sustainability)

Graduate Supervision

Accepting Students for Supervision

School year

  • 2026/27
  • 2027/28

Guidelines or Expectations for Prospective Students

See Guidelines or Expectations for Graduate Students link attached.

Supervised Theses / Projects

  • Sackaney, J. (2023). Tapipano toohaan: The impact of organized basketball and the stories of Fort Albany’s players and their community supporters [MEd thesis].
  • Ray, R. (2023). Building Our Inner Fires: Gikinoo’amaadiwin (Gaining Knowledge) with First Nations Leadership [PhD dissertation].
  • Manitowabi, M. (2022). Innovative Approaches to Indigenous Early Childhood Education: Co-Constructing Story with Indigenous Experts through Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being [PhD dissertation]
  • Peltier, K. (2021). Understanding Sport, Physical Activity and Wholistic Health in First Nations, Inuit and Métis Youth [MScKin thesis].

Research

Research Interests

Dr. Peltier is Anishnaabe-kwe from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and Nipissing First Nation. Her research seeks to understand Anishinaabe wellness through the intersections of health, education, and Anishinaabe gikendassowin (Anishinaabe knowledge) using community-based research methodologies. This work centers on concepts such as mino-bimaadiziwin (way of a good life), wiidooktaadyang (we are helping one another), and engwaamzidaa (being careful) and is embodied in the following projects. Exploring the lived cancer experiences of the Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island) Anishinaabek and their use of Indigenous healing, she produced a film (https://vimeo.com/453846089) and a forthcoming manuscript on this work, with community audiences in mind. She is a co-investigator on the CIHR-funded Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe'iyewigamig Mino-Bimaadiziwin Project: Cancer Prevention through Traditional Healing, which shares ways Anishinaabek can benefit from our own healing methods. Another of her projects, Wiidooktaadyang (We are Helping Each Other): Understanding the Experience of Wellness in Nipissing First Nation, was designed to meet Indigenous health and education outcomes and laid the groundwork for a micro-credential co-created with Nipissing First Nation https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/indigenoushealthandwellness/. She is a co-investigator on Listening to Children’s Voices - Promoting Indigenous Mental Wellness, which focuses on scaling up a mental wellness measure (https://achwm.ca/) developed with and for Indigenous children. In a collaboration with Mnidoo Mnising Anishinaabe scholars, she is also a co-investigator on the SSHRC-funded Indigenous Research Sovereignty and Governance: Anishinaabek Perspectives on Intellectual Property Rights and Responsibilities.

Grants & Funding

  • Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe'iyewigamig Mino-Bimaadiziwin Project: Cancer Prevention through Traditional Healing, CIHR Team Grant - GACD Primary and Secondary Prevention of Cancer, 2021-2026
  • Promoting Indigenous Wellness in Anishinaabe Communities. [In partnership with Nipissing First Nation], Ontario Micro-Credentials Challenge Fund, 2021-2022
  • Listening to Children’s Voices - Promoting Indigenous Mental Wellness (I aM Well), CIHR Implementation Team Grant: Pathways to Health Equity for Aboriginal People, 2020-2025
  • Indigenous Research Sovereignty and Governance: Anishinaabek Perspectives on Intellectual Property Rights and Responsibilities, SSHRC Insight Development Grant, 2020-2023
  • Mno Nimkodadding Geegi (We Are All Connected): The Ontario Node of the Indigenous Mentorship Network Program, CIHR Indigenous Mentorship Network Program Operating Grant, 2017-2022
  • Evaluation to Action - Integrating the Voices of Aboriginal Children (ETA), Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care - Health Systems Research Fund Health Systems Research Fund Award, 2017-2020
  • Wiidooktaadyang [We are Helping Each Other]: Understanding the Experience of Wellness and Helping in Nipissing First Nation, CIHR Catalyst Grant, 2017-2019
  • An Indigenous Collaborative Care Best Practices Model (ICCBPM): Using Simulated Participant Simulations to Promote Culturally Safe Healthcare along the Cancer Journey, CIHR Catalyst Grant, 2017-2019

Open to Media Inquiries

Publications