Director, Centre for Indigenous Relations, Knowledge, and Learning (CIRKL) Part-Time Faculty, Indigenous Studies Courses

Amanda White has progressively taken a larger role in leading Indigenous initiatives at Mohawk College, a key strategic priority as the College has made a deep commitment to advancing Truth and Reconciliation and to embedding Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing in all aspects of Mohawk College, including academic programs.

In her role as Acting Director of CIRKL, she has supported the establishment of the Centre for Indigenous Relations, Knowledge and Learning (CIRKL), and related ongoing initiatives including partnerships, Indigenous Knowledge Learning Outcomes, professional development, and policy creation and updates.

Since 2021, Amanda has worked part-time as a faculty member for the Indigenous Courses. She was also involved in conversations establishing a competitive lacrosse program as the 10th varsity sport at the college, and has offered professional development sessions internally and externally on subjects like Land Acknowledgements and Terminology.

In her previous role as Manager of Indigenous Student Services, she managed Mohawk College’s Pathfinder Indigenous Youth Program, a three-week land-based program. It encourages Indigenous students to learn about and become engaged in postsecondary education while at the same time learning about their Indigenous heritage through learning from local elders, knowledge keepers, and facilitators. Students earn dual credits for both a Mohawk College transcript and a high school transcript. Through various evolutions, the program has engaged more than 200 students. In the summer of 2019, Pathfinder went national when it took a group of nine students to Vancouver to learn about Indigenous culture with the Squamish First Nation.

Amanda led a contingent of Pathfinder participants and Mohawk College staff to the World Indigenous People Conference on Education (WIPCE) in Adelaide, Australia in September 2022 to present on the program. She has also spoke about the program at the Hawaii International Conference of Education in 2018 and 2020, the Chiefs of Ontario – Special Education Forum in April 2019, and the third Truth and Reconciliation Conference hosted by Mohawk College in February 2019.

In 2012, Amanda and two colleagues received a Mohawk College President’s Award for the Pathfinder program.

Amanda has also served on the Mohawk College Board of Governors as an administrative representative and joined the Alumni Advisory Council in late 2023. She serves on a number of committees, including EDI Steering Committee, Academic EDI Division Committee Co-Chair, Policy Committee, Climate Action Plan Steering Group, the Six Nations Polytechnic steering committee, and is a voting member on the Indigenous Education Council at Mohawk College. Amanda also sits on external committees including the HWDSB Indigenous Education Council, the HWDCSB Indigenous Education Council, and the program advisory committee for Urban Indigenous Homeward Bound (UIHB), which helps Indigenous single mothers achieve their education and career goals. Amanda has also been a mentor over the last academic year in the Empower Program through the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS).

Amanda is First Nations, Ojibwe with family from Wiikwemkoong, Manitoulin Island and was born and raised in Hamilton.

In 2022, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from Queen’s University.