Dr. Nathalie Kermoal, PhD

Area of Study / Keywords

Métis History; Métis Urban Studies; Indigenous Women’s connection to land; History of Indigenous Political Activism; Daily Lives/Material Culture; Reconciliation Francophones/Indigenous peoples

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About

As someone of Breton heritage, I understand language endangerment and cultural minoritization firsthand, as my identity lacks formal recognition under France’s universalist state framework. Living and working as a scholar in Indigenous Studies at the University of Alberta for the past 25 years, I navigate the intersections of regional/cultural minority identity, LGBTQ2S+ perspective, and institutional leadership. Recognizing how power dynamics and systemic marginalization influence educational spaces, I approach my interactions with people through a lens of humility, active listening, intersectional empathy, and relational accountability. My positionality motivates me to create welcoming, inclusive working/learning environments that respectfully uplift and sustain diverse worldviews—particularly Indigenous lived experiences, queer perspectives, and minoritized spaces.

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Research

As a full professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and Director of the Rupertsland Centre for Métis Research (RCMR), my research program centres on Métis history, urban Indigeneity, Indigenous rights, and Métis women’s relational connections to land and governance.

Under my leadership since 2016, RCMR has transformed into a recognized hub for Métis-driven scholarship. RCMR addresses critical issues, including Métis child and family services jurisdiction (Act C-92), scrip history, food sovereignty, housing, and health trajectories.

My scholarly contributions include landmark publications such as Daniels v. Canada: In and Beyond the Courts (co-edited, UMP 2021) and Living on the Land: Indigenous Women’s Understanding of Place (co-edited, AU Press 2016). My urban historical research re-inscribes Indigenous presences in Western Canadian cities (more specifically Edmonton) and analyzes complex Franco-Albertan/Indigenous historical intersections.

A recipient of the 2024 CAUT Sarah Shorten Award, 2023 UAlberta Community Scholar Award, and 2021 SSHRC Impact Award (with the Dialog Network), I have secured millions in funding throughout my career. My approach to research prioritizes relational accountability, ethical community-engaged partnerships, Indigenous data sovereignty, and training the next generation of undergraduate and graduate researchers in decolonial research practices.

I take graduate students (MA and PhD) in the following areas: Métis History; Métis Urban Studies; Indigenous Women’s connection to land; Indigenous Political Activism; Daily Lives/Material Culture; Reconciliation Francophones/Indigenous Peoples; Post-Secondary Indigenization/Decolonization; Relational Futures: Indigenous Epistemologies and the Architecture of Artificial Intelligence. Feel free to contact me: nkermoal@ualberta.ca

Suzy Basile, Nathalie Kermoal, Ioana Comat, Hugo Asselin

International Indigenous Policy Journal. 2026 March; 16 (3):1-16 10.18584/iipj.2026.16.3.22291

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Nathalie Kermoal and Srilata Ravi

Francophonies d'Amérique. 2025 November; 60

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Basile, S., Kermoal, N., Comat, I., & Asselin, H.

AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. 2025 January;

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Nathalie Kermoal

Urban History Review/Revue d'histoire urbaine. 2022 February; 49 (2):149-171 10.3138/uhr-2021-00

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Nathalie Kermoal and Chris Andersen

University of Manitoba Press. 2021 April;

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Nathalie Kermoal

RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian Art Review. 2016 September; 41 (1):42-46 10.7202/1037553ar

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Nathalie Kermoal and Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez

2016 January;

• Canadian Studies Centre Innsbruck 2022
• Métis Land Rights and Scrip Conference, 2019: Saint-Paul des Métis: An Alternative to Scrip
• Recherches Autochtones au Québec, Femmes autochtones : pour un retour à l’équilibre, vol. 51, no. 2-3 (Suzy Basile, dir.)