Undergraduate, MA, and Ph.D. students who are working as research assistants or are completing their degrees through the Historical GIS lab. The degree a student is pursuing is listed next to their name.
David is in his final year of undergraduate studies at the University of Saskatchewan, pursuing a degree in History. He is a research assistant on Dr. Jim Clifford’s London’s Ghost Acres Project, tracing global commodities to the United Kingdom in the early twentieth century. David plans to attend law school in the near future.
Rhianne Billard is currently in a final year of a Honours History degree at the University of Saskatchewan. Her academic interests include Indigenous Prairie History and the commemoration/public history surrounding Indigenous People. Rhianne plans to continue her education with an MA in History with the intention to pursue a career in Archival work.
Hannah Bouvier is a Métis law student in the College of Law and a trained Gladue Report writer. My academic interest focus on Métis women examining health and law. My current project focuses on Indigenous systemic factors to aid in Gladue Report writing.
Fionnuala Braun is a postgraduate research assistant working on tracing instances of real magic practitioners in medieval Europe, particularly France and the Netherlands. She also works in the Department of Public Health investigating the dynamics of institutional and interpersonal trust during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her personal research interests focus primarily on queer community building, respectability, and sexual identities in postwar France, and her proposed MA thesis focuses on these topics.
Kaitlin Eley is in her second-to-last year in the Honours History program at the University of Saskatchewan. She is a research assistant for Dr. Benjamin Hoy on his Justice Across Borders Team, where she transcribes and records late 19th and early 20th century extradition records and creates custom maps. Her research interests are in mid-to-late 19th to early 20th century Canadian Prairie History, focusing on settler-Indigenous relations and the implementation of government policy regarding Indigenous peoples. After completing her Bachelor’s degree she hopes to get her Master’s and PhD in History.
Justin is a PhD candidate in the Department of History. His research examines responses to the Energy Crisis in Saskatchewan during the 1970s and early 1980s, focusing in particular on research, advocacy, and debate around “alternative” energy resources and technologies such as uranium, renewable energy, and energy conservation.
Harris Ford is a PhD student at the University of Saskatchewan. His dissertation focuses on the decolonization of news through the Inter Press Service and UNESCO. His research interests include the Third World, globalization, and imperial relationships. Harris has worked on the Justice Across Borders project as well as various other research initiatives through the HGIS lab
Gabriella Fourie is a research assistant-working on tracing instances of real magic practitioners and healers in medieval Europe. Her degree was a Bachelor of Honours in History with an English minor. Her honours thesis was titled “The Bond Bombshell: British Nostalgia, Anglo-American Nuclear Development, and James Bond 1965-1977.”
Sam Huckerby is an undergraduate student pursuing a double honors degree in Studio Art and History at the U of S. She's passionate about connecting the public with history in ways that encourage critical thinking about the present. Her research interests focus on 19th century English clothing materials and how they connect to social and environmental history. Sam plans to pursue an M.A. and a PhD in the future.
Aqsa Hussain is an undergraduate History honours student focused on twentieth century cultural, social and decolonial history focused on intersectional communities whose identities shape the way they navigate politics through activism, resistance and resilience. She is working on “Mapping Traditional Métis Land Use in Île-à-la-Crosse," in partnership with A La Baie Métis Local #21 and Sakitawak Development Corporation. The research project includes conducting oral interviews and using HGIS to map Métis harvesting practices and traditional place names to aid in industry negotiations, education curriculum and the 250th anniversary of Île-à-la-Crosse.
Jessica (she/her and they/them) has a Master's in Medical Anthropology from USask. She has a background in qualitative social science, including research on LGBTQ2SIA+ issues, reproductive decision-making, and chronic pain. Using her skills in interviewing, qualitative data analysis, and community-engaged research, Jessica is working on the Traditional Land Use Mapping project for the Métis community of Île-à-la-Crosse.
Andrew Kelly is a third-year History Student at the University of Saskatchewan. He is interested in the emergence of America as a world superpower since the Second World War and US foreign relations. As a research assistant for Dr. Ben Hoy on his Justice Across Borders Team, Andrew tracks and records late 19th and early 20th century extradition cases, and creates maps for a wide range of projects. Andrew plans to pursue a degree in Law after the completion of his Bachelors of History.
Candice Klein is a PhD candidate in the Department of History. Her thesis research looks at incest and filial sexual violence in Saskatchewan from 1901 to 1931 using court dockets, case files, and other prison data. She has published on women’s liberation in Labour/Le Travail and Gender & History, as well as Saskatoon’s bodied past in Folklore. She is also working with Western Canada’s largest queer history archive, the Richards Collection for Gender and Sexual Diversity.
My research uses canola to determine how the political-economy of Saskatchewan agriculture changed between 1980 and 1990. I focus on how canola helped both farmers and governments remain competitive in an expanding global market.
Keiran Leggo-Henderson is excitedly beginning her MA in history. She is most interested in transitions from cooperation to conflict in Indigenous-settler relations in 19th century Alberta and Saskatchewan. Her project focuses on British grain extraction in western Canada and its impact on the social, political, and economic relationships in the area.
Brianne Leinenweber is a fourth-year International Studies Honours student at the University of Saskatchewan also pursuing a minor in Political Studies. Her interests and focus include refugee law, decolonization and imperialism, migration, and development studies. She plans to follow up on her undergraduate degree with a law degree in the near future.
Eileen is a 3rd year Metis student in the department of Indigenous Studies, she has also declared a History minor. She is passionate about preserving historical artifacts-and is excited to learn new skills from the HGIS lab. She hopes to pursue a graduate degree in either Indigenous Studies, Education, Public Policy, or Health Administration, at USASK or Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy here in Saskatoon. Eileen wants to be a pivotal part in helping Indigenous peoples in regaining their agency, as part of the reconciliation process.
Kiera Mitchell is a PhD Candidate in History researching how women were impacted by and reacted to family property law in Canada during the 1970s and 1980s. She is also a research assistant on Dr. Valerie Korinek’s SSHRC funded research project, Love + Litigation = Marriage: Canadian Same-Sex Marriage and Its International Implications.
Marissa is entering her fourth and final year of her Bachelor of Arts Honours in International Studies at the University of Saskatchewan with a minor in History. Her interests include examining societies and communities during wartime, women's rights and the law, and European history. She plans to pursue law once she finishes her undergraduate degree. She is currently a research assistant for Dr. Ben Hoy for the Justice Across Borders project.
Eve is entering her third year of Biomedical science with a major of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology at the University of Saskatchewan. She plans to pursue an M.A. and a PhD in the future where she can focus on research related to vaccines and healthcare.
I am currently working on building a Zotero database to store the archival work our team has done. In recent months I have transcribed interviews, and spent time at the City of Saskatoon Archives. Over the summer I will be creating a story map for Elder Nora Cummings.
Hannah is finishing an undergraduate degree in History at the University of Saskatchewan
Alan Wobeser is currently in the final year of an Honors History Degree, as well as a minor in English and a certificate in Global Studies, at the University of Saskatchewan. His research interests include the creation and implementation of borders, Irish History, and Western Canadian Social History. Alan aims to pursue a Master’s degree in History going forward
