Andrew Mack Lecture: How Indigenous Women’s Knowledge and Power Can Transform Our Understanding of Human Security

About this event

Esteemed author and journalist Angela Sterritt shared how her experience as an Indigenous woman and investigative journalist shaped her understanding of the barriers to safety that Indigenous people navigate and are actively pushing against. She dove into the insights from her national bestselling book, Unbroken, to illuminate how Canadians can address colonial violence. Angela explored the unique ways in which Indigenous women experience insecurity and highlight their inherent strength to support, survive, and heal.

This lecture is being hosted in honour of the late Andrew Mack, an Adjunct Professor at the School for International Studies and the former Director of the Human Security Research Group (HSRG).

Angela Sterritt

Angela Sterritt is an award-winning investigative journalist and national bestselling author. She hails from the Wilp Wiik’aax (we GAWK) of the Gitanmaax (GIT-Nam-axe) community within the Gitxsan (GICK-san) Nation on her dad’s side and from Bell Island, Newfoundland, on her maternal side. Sterritt has worked as a television, radio, and digital journalist for over a decade. She is currently the host of the CBC original podcast "Land Back," which received the Radio Television Digital News Association award for best podcast in 2023.

Her book, Unbroken, a work that combines memoir and investigation into the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women, was published by Greystone Books and quickly became a national bestseller in May 2023.

In 2021, Sterritt received an Academy Award (Canadian Screen Award) for the best reporter of the year in Canada. This award recognized her coverage of an incident involving an Indigenous man and his then 12-year-old granddaughter, who were arrested while attempting to open a bank account at BMO. Additionally, Sterritt was honored with a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for the same reporting. In 2020, she was named in Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 list, which features the city’s top 50 most influential people.

As a motivational speaker, Sterritt discusses breaking stereotypes and fostering change and relationships in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. In 2020, she delivered a TED Talk focused on dismantling stereotypes about Indigenous people.