UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
USask Indigenous Studies welcomes new department head

This fall, Lee started as an associate professor and head of the Department of Indigenous Studies at the College of Arts and Science.

Dr. Damien Lee (PhD) has returned to the University of Saskatchewan (USask) as head of the Department of Indigenous Studies at the College of Arts and Science. (Photo: Kristen McEwen)

"The University of Saskatchewan Department of Indigenous Studies is really among a handful of Indigenous Studies departments in Canada (it) is really valuable to the discipline and to Indigenous communities," Lee said.

The department's research and contributions to the field of Indigenous studies was one of the factors behind why Lee wanted to return to USask since previously teaching classes on campus in 2016.

"Indigenous studies is a small discipline comparatively to other disciplines, and I think it's important to hold it tight, so it doesn't drift away. We do have to care for it."

Lee is a member of Fort William First Nation, located on the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario. When Lee was six months old, he was adopted by his father, a band member of Fort William First Nation, in accordance with Anishinaabe law. Lee grew up on-reserve and continues to be a sugar busher there, collecting sap to make maple syrup each year in the spring.

Lee completed his bachelor's degree in Indigenous Studies at Trent University in 2010 and earned his master's degree in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria in 2011.

He completed his PhD in Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba in 2017. He was an assistant professor at USask at that time, but then moved back to Ontario to work with the Yellowhead Institute an Indigenous-led policy think tank based at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), formerly Ryerson University.

While at TMU, Lee was an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and held the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biskaabiiyang and Indigenous Political Resurgence for the from 2020 to 2025.

"The reason I went to (TMU), was to work with the Yellowhead Institute," Lee said. "That's a cutting-edge critical Indigenous policy research institute based at TMU. That was exciting."

At USask, Lee will be focusing his research on studying Indigenous kinship orders, or citizenship laws, through the lens of family making traditions marriage, adoption or birth. He is also planning on studying Anishinaabe or Ojibwe political theories.

"I want to use that framework to think about governance in a different way," he said. "Governance gets really centralized into a band office, or parliament, or something. That's quite common.

"But Indigenous political systems, governance systems the power is decentralized," he added. "I'm looking for ways to think about decentralization that has proven itself over time to support societies."

Dr. Damien Lee (PhD) was an assistant professor at USask when he completed his PhD in Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba in 2017. (Photo: Kristen McEwen)

Lee compared some Indigenous governance systems to hunting caches. Hunting caches provide life-sustaining materials in the ground whether that's berries, food, weapons or tools. Governance systems can be thought of the same way, he said.

"If that works well to promote survival and living well in a territory, in a land how can we think about governance in the same way, so it's not centralized? What does it mean to have a decentralized form of governance?"

When the department head position opened in Indigenous Studies at USask, Lee didn't want to pass on the opportunity.

"The Department of Indigenous Studies at USask is really established," Lee said. "It's more than 40 years old. In the discipline of Indigenous Studies, there are some really important works that (have) come out of here and continue to come out of this department.

"It's exciting for me to be part of a team that is contributing to the discipline not only scholarship, but also leadership."

As leader of the department, Lee is learning the administrative structure at USask in order to properly support his colleagues.

"That's kind of what I see my role as leadership coupled with support," he said.

Lee is anticipating strategic planning for the department for the next five and 10 years. He recognizes that faculty in the department are at different stages in their careers, which means different kinds and levels of support.

"To be able to find flexible ways to be agile and to help my colleagues reach their visions both their personal visions for the research, but also the visions they have for how their research might benefit their own communities that to me is really exciting."