Danielle Lussier

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.

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, and the Ottawa Law Review, amongst others.

For her transformational leadership and work towards building healthy, inclusive, and reimagined learning spaces, and in acknowledgement of her extensive community involvement which includes service as co-chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group of the Law Society of Ontario, she was invested in the Order of Ottawa in November of 2021.