Walking Together

Jason Albert is the Program Chair, Graduate Program Coordinator, and Associate Professor of Indigenous Social Work at First Nations University of Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan. / Dorothy Badry is a professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, and is deeply committed to supporting concerns related to Indigenous child welfare in Canada and to promoting Indigenous scholarship and partnerships in advancing best practice for children and families. / Don Fuchs is Professor and Dean Emeritus, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba. He has conducted groundbreaking research and published extensively in the areas of child welfare and children in care with disabilities. / Peter Choate is a professor of Social Work at Mount Royal University. He is an expert witness in the area of parenting capacity, including risk, domestic violence, and addictions. He has been qualified on over 150 occasions in the Provincial Court of Alberta and the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary and Medicine Hat. Peter’s areas of research include: assessment of parents within child protection systems, practice errors in child protection linked to serious injury and death, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, stigma and implications for front line practice and implementation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action within the practice of social work. He was a member of the Minister’s Child Intervention Panel (Alberta) joining three other experts on this all-party committee of the Legislature. His teaching focuses on assessment issues in social work, including families, as well as child and adolescent mental health. He has published extensively in the field of assessment and child protection. He has spoken nationally and internationally in this area to social workers, lawyers, the judiciary and other mental hearth practitioners. He has also been a member of expert panels reviewing child protection errors with the Child and Youth Advocate in Alberta. / Marlyn Bennett, PhD is a member of the Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation in Manitoba and commences a new position at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work on July 1, 2022. She holds expertise in Aboriginal Child Welfare, with a special interest in qualitative and Photovoice research including narrative - digital storytelling among First Nations youth who have transitioned out of care toward adulthood. Marlyn has received many awards in recognition of her achievements in policy and research and she has published extensively on matters related to First Nations Child Welfare. She is an advisory member of the First Nations Canadian Incidence Study (CIS) Advisory Committee and has served on the Manitoba College of Social Workers Board of Directors as a public representative. She is a mother to one daughter and resides in Winnipeg with her life partner, Mike. / H. Monty Montgomery is cis-gender male of Irish-Canadian and Mi’kmaq ancestry whose academic career includes appointments in the field of Social Work in Saskatchewan (University of Regina) and British Colombia (University of Victoria, University of British Columbia). His extensive professional experience spans child welfare practice and social welfare policy development for Indigenous and provincial governments and the planning, development and administration of First Nations Social Development, Post-Secondary Education, and Child Welfare programs.