Michelle Daigle is Omushkegowuk Cree and a member of Constance Lake First Nation. She has an MA in Indigenous Governance from the University of Victoria and is currently a PhD candidate in the Geography department at the University of Washington. Her doctoral research focuses on food sovereignty for Anishinaabe people in what is now known as the Treaty #3 territory in northwestern Ontario. She is specifically interested in how Anishinaabe food practices are a pathway towards self-determination as defined by Anishinaabe people themselves.
As a 2013-2014 FLAS fellow, Michelle has been studying the Anishinaabe language (Anishinaabemowin) through an online program offered by the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. Her study of Anishinaabemowin has been invaluable to her research as she learns day-to-day communication skills and is able to converse with participants. Also, she is committed to incorporating the Anishinaabe language in her dissertation as it communicates Indigenous knowledge and philosophical views in a way that cannot be expressed in the English language. For Michelle, the language is knowledge and the FLAS been invaluable to her own personal growth as well as professional development.
The Canadian Studies Center is a recipient of a U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships program grant. The grant provides allocations of academic year and summer fellowships to assist meritorious graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and Canadian Studies. The Canadian Studies Center is extremely proud in having awarded several Fellowships in least-commonly taught Canadian Aboriginal languages including Inuktitut, Dane-zaa, Musqueam Salish, and Anishinaabemowin.