Reclaiming our history through archives: Black and Indigenous perspectives

Ellen Dobrowolski (she/her/elle) is a PhD student in the Department of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University. She is a member of the Métis Nation BC and her family network spreads across the Métis homeland. Ellen's doctoral project, "Missionary and Métisse: Unsettling Conceptions of the Ethnic and Religious Identities of Sara Riel", draws on her background in both First Nations and Indigenous Studies and Religious Studies to investigate the life and work of Sara Riel, the first Métis Grey Nun missionary. Ellen's research celebrates Indigenous histories and historical figures, and seeks to highlight Indigenous research methods and methodologies which center and privilege Indigenous experiences of religion, and Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Leon Llewellyn is a multi-disciplinary artist and retired visual arts teacher, whose career was spent working for the English Montreal School Board.

Llewellyn has, since 1969, been involved with many Montreal Black community organizations including the Negro Community Centre, the Black Theatre Workshop, and the Côte-des-Neiges Black Community Association. Llewellyn has provided original artwork and photographs for black community journals and newspapers such as UHURU and Focus Umoja. In 2018, Llewellyn donated his photographs, drawings, as well as archival textural material to Concordia University’s Special Collections Library which created “the Leon Llewellyn fonds” to provide public access to his rare collection. These days, as one of the founding members of the Black Art Histories Montreal (BAHM), Llewellyn is working with a group of researchers, curators, and artists whose mission is to recognize, recuperate and disseminate the work of Montreal black visual artists who were active before the mid-1990s.

Alexandra Mills (she/her) is the Head, Special Collections and Archives, at Concordia University Library in Tiohtiá:ke / Montreal, Quebec, where she has worked in several capacities as an archivist and librarian since 2014. Alexandra holds an MLIS from the School of Information Studies at McGill University with a concentration in archival studies, and an MA in art history from Concordia University. She is presently serving as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Association of Canadian Archivist. A long-term volunteer of the Association, she has served on several committees, including the Education Committee, Professional Development Committee, Governance Committee, and Membership Committee. Her research is in the areas of archival acquisition, building community centered collections, and pedagogical approaches to teaching with archival materials.