Cheryl Matthew, PhD (ABD)
Cheryl is Secwepemc from the Simpcw First Nation in the interior of British Columbia and lives in Ottawa with her spouse and two children. In 2007, she was appointed to a position with the Office of the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians of Aboriginal Affairs in Ottawa to develop the Aboriginal Policy Research Network for her directorate. Prior to that she was the Executive Director of the Centre for Native Policy and Research in Vancouver, BC. She has 15 years of experience working in the Aboriginal community in both on and off reserve contexts with organizations such as the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, the BC Assembly of First Nations, and the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council. She started a consulting company in 1999 for research, policy analysis, facilitation and project management.
Her research interests focus primarily on Aboriginal people and urbanization; culture and identity; applied anthropology; Aboriginal youth; place-making and the media and arts. She is a third year doctoral candidate in Anthropology at Carleton University. Her doctoral research will focus on the transformative role of the arts and media in place-making in constructing meaning and identity among urban Aboriginal people. She has a BA in Anthropology and Sociology (SFU) and an MA in Leadership and Training (Royal Roads). She is a 2005 Action Canada Fellow which joins fellows together in a ten-month program focusing on leadership development and public policy issues of importance to Canada. She was also selected as a British Council Transatlantic Network 2020 Fellow. The Transatlantic Network 2020 works to strengthen ties between Europe and North America through the creation of a sustainable network of young leaders.
She has served on many Boards of Directors including presently the Makonsag Aboriginal Head Start, Canadian Anthropology Association Women’s Network Co-Chair, President of Urban Native Youth Association, a Founding Member of the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council, President of the First Nations Student Association of Thompson Rivers University, Aboriginal Education Project of the BC Human Rights Commission, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – BC Office.
