Yvonne Poitras Pratt

Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt is a Métis scholar whose family ancestry traces to the historic Red River Settlement and, more recently, to the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement in northeastern Alberta. Dr. Pratt was recruited to the Werklund School of Education in 2013 as an Assistant Professor after serving as Associate Director, Métis Education at the Rupertsland Institute, a Métis Centre of Excellence. Yvonne teaches at the graduate and undergraduate level, and has taught the mandatory Indigenous education course (EDUC 530) to pre-service teachers since 2013. She was the recipient of the 2018 Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA) Distinguished Academic Early Career Award, the Werklund Teaching Excellence Award in 2016, and the Students Union Teaching Excellence Award in 2017. Dr. Poitras Pratt also led the creation and development of the “Indigenous education: A Call to Action” graduate program in 2016 where she continues to explore the potential of reconciliatory pedagogy through her scholarship. She remains active in the Metis community through her involvement in the Alberta Metis Education Council and as an executive on the Rupertsland Centre for Metis Research.

Dr. Poitras Pratt’s research concentrates on the multiple ways in which transformative learning can be invoked within classrooms and at the community level through experiential learning and creative imaginings. In her 2019 Routledge Press publication, Digital Storytelling in Indigenous Education: A Decolonizing Journey for a Métis Community, Yvonne ethnographically explores the process and potential of digital storytelling to revitalize oral traditions and foster intergenerational learning within Métis communities. Her scholarship builds on the use of media, and other aesthetic expressions, as catalysts for transformative learning within difficult learning environments. Dr. Poitras Pratt publishes in the area of reconciliatory pedagogy, critical service-learning, Indigenous education, anti-racism and social justice studies, with a special interest in the integration of arts in a variety of learning environments.

Research Projects:

• Tea, bannock, and a narrative tradition (Werklund Community Engagement grant to explore the use of Metis digital stories within the Alberta K-12 curriculum)
• Teaching Scholars (2016-19) Program: Building stronger connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, schools, and communities through praxis-based learning opportunities (PI, with Dr. Patricia Danyluk)
• Moving toward critical service-learning as a signature pedagogy in Aboriginal communities: Why good intentions are not enough (PI, with Dr. Patricia Danyluk)
• Exploring power and privilege within responses to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit education: Improving our teaching practice through ‘difficult learning’ (PI, with Dr. Aubrey Hanson)

Doctor of Philosophy, Communications Studies (2011)
University of Calgary

Masters of Arts, Communications Studies (2005)
University of Calgary

Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Canadian (Native) Studies, minor Education
University of Calgary

Dr. Poitras Pratt offers her expertise within Indigenous education to a variety of stakeholders, including educational leaders and community organizations; importantly, a large component of her efforts are dedicated to supporting the Métis Nation of Alberta in achieving their educational aspirations.

• Alberta Métis Education Council – council and founding member
• Rupertsland Centre for Métis Research – community member
• College of Alberta School Superintendents – affiliate member

Poitras Pratt, Y. (2020). Educating with digital storytelling: A decolonizing journey for an Indigenous community. Routledge Press.

Poitras Pratt, Y., & Danyluk, P. (2019). Exploring reconciliatory pedagogy and its possibilities. Canadian Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Poitras Pratt, Y., & Lalonde, S. (2019). The Alberta Métis Education Council: Realizing self-determination in education. In S. Carr-Stewart (Ed.), Knowing the Past, Facing the Future: Indigenous Education in Canada, (pp. xx-xx). Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.

Poitras Pratt, Y., Danyluk, P., Beech, S., Charlebois, S., Evans, C., Fehr, A., Nielsen, A., & Sanregret, A. (2019). Pathfinders: Realizing reconciliation through lessons learned. Papers on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching: Proceedings of the University of Calgary Conference on Learning and Teaching, 3, 95-102.

Poitras Pratt, Y., Louie, D. W., Hanson, A. J., & Ottmann, J. (2018). “Indigenous Education and Decolonization.” In G. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. DOI: http://education.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-240

Poitras Pratt, Y., & Lalonde, S. (2018). Arts as transformative learning enroute to reconciliation. In M.A. Peters (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Singapore: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_645-1

Poitras Pratt, Y., & Danyluk, P. (2018). Transforming teachers and practices through First Nations, Métis and Inuit community learning experiences. In D. Lund & K. Grain (Eds.), Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice (pp. 171-190). Boston, MA: Wiley Press.

Louie, D., Poitras Pratt, Y., Hanson, A., & Ottmann, J. (2017). Applying Indigenizing principles of decolonizing methodologies in university classrooms. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 47(3), 16-33. Available online at: http://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/issue/view/182767

Poitras Pratt, Y., & Danyluk, P. (2017). Learning what schooling left out: Making an Indigenous case for critical service-learning and critical pedagogy within teacher education. Canadian Journal of Education, 40 (1). Available online at: http://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/2349/2379

Poitras Pratt, Y., Lalonde, S., Hanson, A. & Danyluk, P. (2017). Responding to the TRC Calls to Action: Indigenizing a graduate program. In P. Preciado Babb, L. Yeworiew, & S. Sabbaghan (Eds.). Selected Proceedings of the IDEAS Conference: Leading Educational Change Conference 2017, pp. 103-111. Calgary, Canada: Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary.

Kawalalik, C., Groen, J., Poitras Pratt, Y. & Danyluk, P. (2017). Navigating a Pathway for Individual and Collective Well-Being: Academics Speak Out. Journal of Educational Thought, 50 (2 & 3), 138-155.

Poitras Pratt, Y., & Lalonde, S. (2016). Designing and sharing relational space through decolonizing media. Proceedings of the IDEAS: Designing for Innovation Conference 2016, University of Calgary, Institutional Repository PRISM 2016. Available online at: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/51225

Poitras Pratt, Y., & Danyluk, P. (2016). Moving toward critical service-learning as a signature pedagogy in Aboriginal communities: Why good intentions are not enough. Proceedings of the IDEAS: Designing for Innovation Conference 2016, University of Calgary, Institutional Repository PRISM 2016. Available online at: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/51224

Poitras Pratt, Y. & Daniels, D.L. (2014). Métis remembrances of education: Bridging history with memory. Proceedings of the IDEAS: Rising to the Challenge Conference 2014, University of Calgary, Institutional Repository DSpace 2014. Available online at: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/50137

Poitras Pratt, Y. (2011). Profile of Olive Patricia Dickason. In C.J. Voyageur, D.R. Newhouse, & D. Beavon (Eds.), Hidden in Plain Sight: Contributions of Aboriginal People to Canadian Identity and Culture (Vol. 2) (pp. 157-159). Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Poitras Pratt, Y. (2010). Merging new media with old traditions. Native Studies Review, 19(1), 1-27.

Poitras Pratt, Y. (2010). Taking a stance: Aboriginal media research as an act of empowerment. In S.B. Hafsteinsson & M. Bredin (Eds.), Indigenous Screen Cultures in Canada (pp. 163-182). Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba Press

• 2018 Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA) Distinguished Academic Early Career Award 
• Students Union Teaching Excellence Award (2017)
• Werklund Teaching Excellence Award (2016)
• Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canada Graduate Scholarship (2005-2008)
• Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Masters Scholarship (2003)

• Werklund School of Education Research interview/blog (2017, May). Digital storytelling in Métis communities: a feature story with Yvonne Poitras Pratt
• The Gauntlet (2016, November). Education faculty to host event focused on reconciliation (Education Students’ Association with Yvonne Poitras Pratt).
• Indigenous education: A call to action program trailer. (2017). Created and produced by Y. Poitras Pratt and P. Danyluk. Available at: https://vimeo.com/217073871/84d8599fd7

• Courses