In Memoriam
Professor Emerita Shirley Williams (Migizi Ow Kwe): Residential School Survivor, Teacher and Professor of Anishinaabemowin
A scholarly life based on the Seven Grandfather Teachings
By David Newhouse
Shirley was an extraordinary person. Her legacy persists in every speaker, learner, teacher, and child who will grow up hearing Anishinaabemowin because of her life’s work. I observed her love of teaching Anishinaabemowin in the affection shown by her students—faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students. Shirley was indefatigable and approached her life and work with joy. Her professorship gave her the opportunity to pursue her dream of seeing the language regain prominence. Her teaching, research, and service all focused on this important goal.
Shirley was a member of the Bineshiinh Doodem. Her spirit name, Migizi Ow Kwe, which means Eagle Woman in English, truly reflected her character. The eagle symbolizes the highest forms of love, wisdom, strength, and courage. It is also a messenger to the Creator and the tallest flying bird. She was born and raised in Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island and attended St. Joseph’s Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. Shirley graduated from the Native Studies Diploma Program here at Trent University. She also earned a BA in Native Studies from Trent and a diploma from the Native Language Instructors Program at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. Shirley also earned an MA in Environmental Studies from York University.
Alongside her formal Western education, Shirley was a Third Degree Midewiwin Kwe from the Minweyweywigaan Midewiwin Lodge at Roseau River First Nation in Manitoba and Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. She lived her teachings with humility, strength, and unwavering dedication, always guided by ceremony and her responsibilities as a Knowledge Keeper. Together with her niece, Professor Liz Osawamick, she led Nibi Emosaawdamajig (Those Who Walk For The Water), the Kawartha Lakes Water Walks for 16 years.
As a professor, Shirley developed essential materials for teaching Anishinaabemowin at universities and led the Lakehead program that trained language educators. Since there were no existing resources for language instruction at that time, Professor Williams created all the materials for four university courses on Anishinaabemowin. To do this, she conducted community-based research with Elders and language speakers to gather vital materials. She also authored a widely used lexicon of Anishinaabe terms to teach the language. The Department nominated her for a distinguished research award for her efforts, but the review committee viewed her work as mere cataloguing rather than research. I pointed out that a student in anthropology at a Western Canadian university earned a PhD for similar cataloguing work on a West Coast Indigenous language.
Shirley was part of the first generation of Indigenous professors (those appointed between 1971 and 1996). Indigenous Studies was in its infancy, establishing a space for Indigenous knowledges within the university. Shirley contributed to its cultural foundations, ensuring that teaching Indigenous languages and cultures was integrated into the emerging curricula. With good humour, grace, dignity, and unwavering perseverance, Shirley helped us bring what we now call Indigenous Knowledge into the academy. In 2003, Professor Williams became the first Indigenous woman in Canada to attain the rank of full professor based on traditional knowledge. This achievement marked a significant shift and signalled that Indigenous ways of knowing could be acknowledged on their own terms within the academy rather than being interpreted through European frameworks. Her success created pathways for other Indigenous scholars and for valuing expertise rooted in community, language, and culture.
Her pedagogy reflected her worldview. Guided by Anishinaabe teachings, she would remind students, “The Nishinaabe do not say, ‘This is what you must learn.’ We ask: ‘What is it you would like to learn?’” Shirley modeled an approach to education rooted in what has come to be seen as the foundational values of Indigenous pedagogies: respect, relationality, reciprocity, and hard work. She expected her students to do the work to learn the language. She was a tough taskmaster but would show incredible compassion and support to those who were making the effort. The greatest error in her view was not to try. These principles continue to influence teaching and learning at Trent.
Beyond the classroom, Shirley created (as author or co-author) essential Anishinaabemowin textbooks and resources to address a significant gap she recognized when she first started teaching. The materials she developed include monographs, audio recordings, video recordings, games, and CD-ROMs. One of her most popular items is about Ojibway Hockey. She enjoyed sharing the story of working with Elders to develop Anishinaabemowin words for hockey equipment, including skates, helmets, and jockstraps. Shirley was among the first to embrace emerging computer technology in the 1990s for teaching language. During the pandemic lockdown, she successfully transitioned her language courses to online formats. We learned that this new technology could be used to teach Indigenous languages.
Shirley was a community-engaged scholar. Her work was purposeful, grounded, and accountable to the communities she belonged to. Her influence extended across the University and beyond. She advised provincial and national organizations, contributed to culturally informed health programming, and served as an Elder and advisor in spaces where Indigenous perspectives were needed but had been absent. Shirley also acted as a translator and interpreter for the Union of Ontario Indians and worked as an Anishinaabemowin consultant for publishers and writers.
At Trent, she helped lay the groundwork for the broader acceptance of Indigenous Knowledge as legitimate, rigorous, and essential to the University’s academic life and mission. Her research, while initially not accepted as research, laid the foundation for what we now formally categorize as Indigenous research: research by, with and for Indigenous people.
Shirley retired in 2004 but remained active in Trent’s life as a Professor Emerita. Her career highlights the obstacles Indigenous scholars have faced and stands as a testament to what becomes possible when those barriers are addressed through the Seven Grandfather Teachings: Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom.
Trent
Protecting Instruction Is Protecting Trent’s Academic Mission
The Report of TUFA’s Academic Integrity and Quality of Education Sub-Committee circulated last week examines Trent University’s General Operating Budget in comparative and longitudinal perspective using national CAUBO data. The Sub-Committee’s analysis raises serious concerns about the sustainability of Trent’s academic mission and the conditions under which TUFA members and other unionized employees teach, research, and support students.
The Sub-Committee met with members of the Senior Administration on the morning of the 23rd to discuss the Report and stress our position that significant cuts cannot be made to instructional budgets without undermining the University’s mission and rendering many of our academic programs unsustainable. Instead, Trent needs to bring itself in line with comparator institutions by reducing administrative spending and ensuring that any new revenues are directed to instruction.
The report shows that Trent ranks last or near last among Ontario and Canadian universities for spending on Instruction and Non-Sponsored Research, both in expenditure per student (FTE) and as a share of the operating budget. In 2023–24, Trent’s instructional spending was approximately $17 million below the Canadian average.
This gap must be understood within the broader context of chronic provincial underfunding. Ontario universities receive significantly less public funding per student than the Canadian average, as documented by OCUFA. Even within this underfunded provincial context, Trent remains an outlier, ranking near the bottom among Ontario universities, and even within our smaller comparator group, in instructional spending.
Sustained underinvestment adversely affects class sizes, program breadth, research integration, and the quality of education students receive. Instruction is the core academic function of the university, yet, relatively speaking, it has been deprioritized.
The report also identifies a clear long-term pattern. Over the past 25 years, Instruction and Non-Sponsored Research has experienced the largest budget share loss of any functional area. Within this category, the Academic Ranks budget line has declined by nearly $8 million relative to its historical average, representing the single largest loss of any budget line.
Over the same period, Trent’s student population has grown substantially, while the size of the faculty complement has not kept pace. This widening gap between enrolment growth and faculty hiring has intensified workload pressures, reduced instructional capacity, and further strained the academic mission.
Rather than strengthening stable, credit-based teaching capacity, current allocation patterns risk normalizing short-term instructional solutions that undermine academic continuity, working conditions, and the student learning experience.
The report makes clear that Trent faces both a provincial underfunding problem and a resource allocation problem. While overall spending per student is low due to chronic underfunding by the province, internal allocation decisions have compounded the issue.
Spending on Administration and Academic Support and Student Services now exceeds comparator averages by more than $20 million combined, while instructional spending continues to lag. Over time, these administrative categories have captured the largest budget share gains, while instruction and the library have experienced the greatest losses.
One of the most striking findings concerns spending on externally contracted services, particularly within Administration and Student Services. At Trent, this category is driven largely by international student recruitment, which is contracted out rather than handled in-house. We will be determining if declining international student enrolments results in a significant decrease in this line since the 2023/24 data on which the Report was based.
The report concludes that continued erosion of instructional funding poses a direct risk to Trent’s academic integrity and long-term viability. The findings provide strong reasons to preserve and rebuild the instructional budget moving forward.
These concerns are not unique to Trent. Faculty associations across Ontario are raising alarms about the cumulative impact of underfunding and internal resource allocation on the continued viability of their University’s academic commitments. TUFA has joined calls for support from sister associations, including the Laurentian University Faculty Association (currently on strike), highlighting the need for collective action to protect instruction, working conditions, and the public mission of Ontario universities.
For TUFA members, this analysis reflects a shared reality faced by tenure-stream faculty, librarians and LTAs. Protecting instruction means protecting the people who deliver it, and TUFA will continue to advocate for budget decisions that reflect the central role of teaching, research, and academic labour at Trent.
TUFA is also contributing to a broader lobbying effort aimed at increasing the provincial government’s support and the urgent need to address the systemic underfunding and resource allocation challenges facing Ontario universities.
Call for Nominations: Eminent Service Awards 2026
Nominations are open for the 2026 Eminent Service Awards, recognizing Trent staff, faculty, and volunteers who have made outstanding contributions to the University. Eligible nominees are in their final year of service or the year following retirement or departure.
Deadline: Monday, February 23, 2026 at 4:00 p.m.
Submit nominations in confidence to [email protected] and [email protected].
Equity Committee
By Dr. Emily Bruusgaard
The TUFA Equity Committee organized a workshop for autistic and ADHD faculty, facilitated by Wendy Morgan, a neuro-affirming registered psychotherapist with extensive experience in academia. It was held on Friday, January 23rd.
Though we were a slightly smaller group because of the weather, the enthusiastic and open response from participants made it very clear this is a conversation that needs to be ongoing. Wendy identified five key areas taken from the Conference Board of Canada’s report Creating Inclusive Campuses: Neuroinclusive Policies and Practices in Post-Secondary Education, which while directed towards student success, also found that “Neurodiversity awareness training and ongoing professional development can reduce stigma and help all campus employees understand their role in making their post-secondary institution more inclusive.” We agreed with her that Trent, in particular, attracts both neurodivergent students and professors, and that to make our campus accessible we must begin by setting up professors for success.
The five themes identified were predictability and transparency; sensory awareness; communication clarity; autonomy and consent; and repair and feedback culture. One of the complicating factors of creating inclusivity is that our needs vary so much across the spectrum of autism and ADHD. As we discussed online and hybrid classes, for example, it became clear that we need more flexibility in the ability to manage or refuse online classes. Where teaching online was beneficial for some, for others in the group it was exhausting and debilitating because of screen overwhelm. We need the ability to make our workloads more individually flexible and open-ended.
Likewise, a seemingly simple topic, like the lighting in Scott House Senior Common Room, where the workshop was held, brought up a range of points. From simply having the ability to choose the colour of the lightbulbs and strip lighting in our offices and classes (we were all in agreement that white lights are overwhelming), to the inability to manage the constant sounds of heaters, air filters, and electrical grid, these daily small challenges add up over time to sensory overwhelm and burnout.
The group discussed predictability and transparency against a number of issues around sensory awareness. With a diminishing amount of administration support, and AAAs spread to multiple departments, more of the gaps in the university system are being managed by the individual professor. When there are too many tasks, or too many steps to achieve (or even get to) the task, neurodivergent TUFA members are clearly struggling to keep up with the changing demands placed on us. We need a predictable organizational structure, more consistency and transparent communication from all sectors of the university environment, and a safe space to share the tools and shortcuts that make our workloads and mental loads easier. Likewise, for TUFA members looking at taking on
leadership positions and/or considering renewal and tenure, we need more flexible participation and contribution models that allow us to use our individual skills.
It was really clear that this was the first conversation of many, and we will be doing a check-in with participants and TUFA members on this subject in the near future.