Brittany Luby (Anishinaabe-kwe, atik totem) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Guelph. Raised in the lands of Treaty 3, she is the many-greats granddaughter of Chief Kawitaskung, an Anishinaabe leader who signed the North-West Angle Treaty of 1873. Her family originates from Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation formerly known as Dalles First Nation (Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining Ojibway Nation). She specializes in Anishinaabe-settler relations in what is now known as northwestern Ontario.
Luby is the author of the Dammed: The Politics of Loss and Survival in Anishinaabe Territory (2020). Using both oral and archival history research, she explores Anishinibek responses to settler hydroelectric development in the Lake of the Woods, Ontario, area in the postwar period. The book won three awards from the Canadian Historical Association in 2021: Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize, Indigenous History Book Prize and Clio Prize for Best Book on Ontario History. For more on Damned see:
Luby is also a poet and creative writer and the author of two children’s books, Encounter (2019) and Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know (2021).
Luby’s current work studies with manomin (wild rice) and the politics of water in the Anishinaabe territory of northwestern Ontario and the project is also profoundly invested in the revitalization of the role of wild rice as a food source and within the economy. Luby is a creative teacher and highly supportive of all learners, and has made contributions at a variety of levels both inside and outside of the academy.
Contact Information:
• brittany.luby@uoguelph.ca • 519-824-4120 ext. 53210
History publications (2010-2020):
Luby, Brittany. “From Milk-Medicine to Public (Re)Education Programs: An Examination of Anishinabek Mothers’ Responses to Hydroelectric Flooding in the Treaty #3 District, 1900-1975.” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 32, no. 2 (2015): 363-89.
Luby, Brittany and Kathryn Labelle. “Cooperative Education at the Day School on Dalles 38C Indian Reserve, 1890 – 1910.” Ontario History 107, no.1 (Spring 2015): 90-112.
Luby, Brittany. “‘The Department is going back on these promises’: An Examination of Anishina[bek] and Crown Understandings of Treaty.” Canadian Journal of Native Studies 30, no. 2 (2011): 203 228.