Lianne C. Leddy (Anishinaabekwe) is a member of the Serpent River First Nation and is an Associate Professor in the Indigenous Studies program as well as the Tri-University Graduate Program in History at Wilfrid Laurier University. Leddy’s research focuses on Indigenous-settler relations, particularly those framed by gender and environmental issues. She has also published works on Indigenous methodologies and decolonizing research practices.
Leddy is the author of the upcoming book, Serpent River Resurgence: Confronting Uranium Mining at Elliot Lake (University of Toronto Press, 2022), which tells the story of how the Serpent River Anishinaabek confronted the persistent forces of settler colonialism and the effects of uranium mining at Elliot Lake, Ontario. The book looks closely at Indigenous-settler relations, environmental and health consequences of the uranium industry, and the importance of traditional uses of land and what happens when they are compromised. While ancestrally from Serpent River First Nation, Leddy was born and raised in the nearby community of Elliot Lake, Ontario, dubbed the “Uranium Capital of the World” in the 1950s. The daughter of an Anishinaabekwe and a miner, Leddy is a part of these two communities, interconnected by a history of environmental contamination of the nearby land and waters as a result of Cold War uranium mining.
Leddy also writes a regular column in the feminist magazine, Herizons, and is a member of the Kika’ige Historical Society, which seeks to Indigenize Canadian history through performance art (for more, see: https://shekonneechie.ca/2018/06/21/kikaige-historical-society/). Leddy now lives on the Haldimand Tract in Waterloo with her partner and daughter.
Contact Information:
• 519-756-3524 ext. 3524
Select Publications
Leddy, Lianne C. “Historical Sources and the Beothuk: Questioning Settler Interpretations.” In Tracing Ochre: Changing Perspectives on the Beothuk, edited by Fiona Polack, 199-219. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018.
Leddy, Lianne C. “Dibaajimowinan as Method: Environmental history, Indigenous scholarship, and Balancing Sources.” In Methodological Challenges in Nature-Culture and Environmental History Research, ed. Jocelyn Thorpe, Stephanie Rutherford, and Anders L. Sandberg, 93-104. New York: Routledge, 2017.
Leddy, Lianne C. “Intersections of Indigenous and Environmental History in Canada.” Canadian Historical Review 98, no. 1 (2017): 83-95.
Leddy, Lianne C. ““Mostly Just as a Social Gathering”: Anishinaabe Kwewag and the Indian Homemakers’ Club, 1945-1960.” In Aboriginal History: A Reader, ed. Kristin Burnett and Geoff Read, 352-363. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2016.