Trina Cooper-Bolam is a Banting Postdoctoral Researcher at Concordia University with a PhD in Cultural Mediations from Carleton University. Previously, Cooper-Bolam held senior positions at the Aboriginal Healing and Legacy of Hope Foundations–organizations working to transform the legacy of residential schools. Equally an academic researcher and an exhibition curator/designer, Cooper-Bolam is a key contributor to the Survivor-led Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall exhibition at Algoma University. Beginning in September 2022, Cooper-Bolam will initiate a program of collaborative transdisciplinary investigation of Shingwauk Home and Hall, recovering evidence and historical knowledge to support Survivor-driven in situ interpretation, memorialization, and Indigenous place-(re)making. As part of her Postdoctoral position, Trina is also an Affiliate of the Thinking Through the Museum Research Network, based at the Curating and Public Scholarship Lab.
jason chalmers, PhD, is a settler, transdisciplinarian, and quilting enthusiast. Jason is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at Concordia University where they are hosted by the Department of History and the School of Community & Public Affairs. Jason’s research explores how genocide commemoration interacts with settler colonialism, with particular focus on museums, monuments, and other sites of public memory. Their work has appeared in such journals as American Indian Quarterly, Socialist Studies, and Canadian Jewish Studies. As part of their Postdoctoral position, jason is also an Affiliate of the Thinking Through the Museum Research Network, based at the Curating and Public Scholarship Lab.