At her first lecture with professor Robert Innes, Kelsy Chan remembers him talking about how the discipline of Indigenous studies was about bettering the lives of Indigenous people.
Chan was one of just three students in class that day, along with Tia Kennedy and Kendal Garlow; together, they comprise the very first cohort of the Master of Indigenous Studies program.
Now, a year and a half later, Chan is preparing to attend fall convocation as the program’s first graduate (Kennedy and Garlow will finish at the end of December).
The message that Innes shared, back at the start of their program, has stuck with Chan and become one of her key takeaways in the last year. She belongs to the Eagle Clan of the House of Chief Wigvitba Wakas of the Heiltsuk Nation in Bella Bella, British Columbia. “Even through the chaos of grad school, our work is on a deeper level,” Chan said. “It’s not just what I like and what I don’t like. We’re doing it for our family, our ancestors, people back home. There’s so much weight with that – which I also think helped me carry my interests and my passion throughout the entire year.”
It’s been a big year. In addition to graduate classes, presenting at conferences, and community-engaged learning, Chan completed a Major Research Paper, titled ‘Haida Nation ‘Rising’: The Pathways to Title, Rights, and Sovereignty’. She turned in her final draft in August.
Chan presenting her work at the Storytellers Conference in April 2025.
Indigenous governance and sovereignty
Chan has been interested in Indigenous governance, law, and jurisdiction for a long time. As an undergrad at McMaster, she started in the Political Science program before adding a second major in Indigenous Studies.
After graduating in 2023, she wasn’t sure where her research was going to go. She took courses for a year at University of Toronto Mississauga, and then found out McMaster was creating an Indigenous Studies master’s program.
“These programs are so important because they understand your perspective,” Chan said. “They respect you as a scholar – Western academia has often not respected Indigenous ways of knowing.”
These programs not only understand who you are and your history, they teach you the tools to flourish within that, Chan said. That includes Indigenous methodologies, how to create protocols, and how to do in-depth research in communities.
“To have those voices, those perspectives, to not second guess who you are is a huge thing,” Chan said. “Finding a program that not only met my needs, but understood me and the work I’m doing was critical in what I wanted to accomplish.”
On the topic of Indigenous governance and sovereignty, Chan started her work by focusing on the Haida Nation’s Rising Tide Agreement, which had been signed in April 2024 between the Haida Nation and the British Columbia provincial government. The agreement affirms that the Haida Nation has always had Aboriginal rights to their ancestral territory, and builds a way forward for collaboration on their lands.
“It was almost perfect timing for my research,” Chan said. “This was the first agreement like this to show this breakthrough of those voices.” Her research started on highlighting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and how it had been used as a human rights tool and could be used to advance other nation to nation relations in the future.
“Though I’m not a part of the Haida Nation, my nation of the Heiltsuk, we have very close ties and advocacy for environmental work and what our political futures look ahead,” Chan said.
In May 2025, Chan went back to Bella Bella for her own community’s ratification of their constitution, the Heiltsuk Constitution. They had a potlatch that was co-hosted by the Haida Nation, and she spoke with leaders and elders. It was a powerful reminder of the impact of this work.
Kelsy Chan (second from the right) with her family.
“When I came home, I had basically a whole transformation of what this work means,” she said. Sill looking into the Rising Tide Agreement, she realized that most scholarly research and mainstream media emphasized the positivity of UNDRIP – but didn’t mention the years of community-led work that paved the way.
“It doesn’t highlight necessarily the years of advocacy and legal readiness and all those court cases that the Haida Nation themselves have documented,” she said. “That’s where my MRP [Major Research Paper] work shifted.”
She read newspaper archives dating back from over a hundred years, and court cases showcasing the legal readiness of the Haida Nation. This included their previous negotiations over marine title and ocean boundaries with other nations, dozens of agreements throughout the years, and alternative pathways they explored to Indigenous jurisdiction outside of the traditional Canadian court system.
“They have carried these generational teachings and this advocacy work from 1913,” Chan said.
Altogether, her paper is a documentation of the Haida Nation’s political strength – and how co-management and co-discussion can lead to agreement.
Her MRP highlights not just the significance of the agreement, but also how the government still has an obligation to work with the Haida on marine title, Chan said. “This journey is not done.”
The community you have at McMaster
Before starting her master’s, Chan spoke with mentors who told her to be prepared, because grad school can be “a very lonely journey.”
Instead, at the end of the program, one word keeps coming to mind to describe her experience: Community.
“I feel like having cohort members and professors and other students, honestly, both in undergrad and graduate levels… we were able to support and work off of each other.”
Kelsy Chan and professor Rick Monture.
Chan said professors supported them beyond coursework – helping them craft CVs, access grants and resources, and teaching them how to highlight one’s work and get into conferences – ensuring success after their time at McMaster. Chan’s supervisor, Chelsea Gabel, was one of her biggest supporters. “I couldn’t have done this without her,” Chan said.
The Indigenous Studies Department also has 11 Indigenous faculty members – the largest at any Indigenous Studies Department in a Canadian university.
That level of guidance is one of the highlights of the program for Chan. “Academia is so big and you can feel so lost in it,” she said. It’s essential to have “those mentors to guide you and reaffirm that your work is much needed.”
When she was at McMaster, and preparing for her next chapter, professor Adrienne Xavier gifted Chan a portrait of three Indigenous women, along with journals for writing and reflection.
“She said to me… ‘here’s your strength going forward,’” Chan recalls. “’The lessons and the community you have here at McMaster.”
Building confidence in upcoming Indigenous scholars
In the spring, Chan, Kennedy and Garlow shared their experiences and advice with the new cohort of the Master of Indigenous Studies program. “I had a moment with Tia and Kendall… where it was like, wow, we’ve actually developed so much throughout the year in ways that we didn’t even realize.”
Seeing the new cohort, which includes Indigenous people and Indigenous allies, sparked a little nostalgia and a lot of hope for Chan.
“This is exactly what the program was built for, to build confidence in upcoming Indigenous scholars,” Chan said.
‘A moment for everyone’
When Chan crosses the stage on Nov. 19, she’ll have family cheering her on, and so many faculty and peers who have also reached out, wanting to celebrate this achievement.
While her name is on the degree, Chan said, she didn’t get here alone. “It literally takes a village,” she said. “It’s a moment for everyone who’s been a part of this journey, not just myself.”
She’s excited, but also nervous, to be the first graduate of the program. It’s difficult to put into words how it feels, because her work is still going, and because “I’m not even representative of what this program has been for the past 30 plus years.”
“I’m just excited, and hopeful that this is just one more step in how Indigenous scholarship at the graduate level can be brought forward.”
A new journey begins
In September, Chan started a PhD in Policy Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University.
For her PhD work, Chan wants to focus on her own community, and in the Heiltsuk constitution that she saw back in May.
“My hope is to eventually work with my community to see ways in which these laws from our constitution are now being implemented as a way to govern ourselves outside of the Indian Act, to stand away from colonial policies and to a way for well-being.”
Though she’s still in the early stages, and nothing is set in stone, she hopes to highlight her community’s strength and advocacy work, documenting it all for future generations.
Chan looks up at a mural of ancestors in Bella Bella.
She emphasizes that her work is just a sliver of what’s been done by them so far. “The lessons that I’ve learned and the work that they’ve done, it’s just me, hopefully, expanding it,” she said.
“I think dedicating my work back to my community is huge because they’ve been my power in this… they’ve allowed me to pursue this education, have the strength and the support.”