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Biography

My name is April McInnes, and I am a settler PhD student of Indigenous literary studies in the Department of English at 91��Ƭ�� on Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory. I hold BAH, BEd, and MA degrees from Queen's, and I am a certified teacher with the Ontario College of Teachers. My research investigates decolonial approaches to Indigenous literatures and their implications and applications in secondary-level classrooms in the public education system.

Research Interests

Indigenous literatures; Indigenous coming-of-age narratives; decolonization; Indigenous education; pedagogy studies; reading strategies; temporalities; Canadian literature; critical disability studies

Selected Publications

Articles (Peer-reviewed)

[Forthcoming] McInnes, April. “From ‘Burden’ to Gift: Disability in Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman by Rudy Wiebe and Yvonne Johnson.”&�Բ�����;Canadian Journal of Disability Studies.

McInnes, April. “Memories, Manifestation, and Finding a Way Forward: Developing Agency through Spiralling Time in Michelle Good 91��Ƭ�� ’s Five Little Indians.”&�Բ�����;Canadian Literature, no. 260, 2025, pp. 101–21, .

Awards and Recognition

SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship (2025–2028)
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2024–2025)
Queen's University Dean's Award for Social Justice (2024–2025)
Duncan and Urlla Carmichael Fellowship (2023–2024)
Margaret Craig Education Award (2022–2023)
Queen's University Dean 91��Ƭ�� ’s Award of Excellence (2022)

Graduate Supervision

Sam McKegney

Additional Information

Conferences:

Moderator. “Challenging Archetypal Narratives and Paratext.” Queen 91��Ƭ�� ’s Undergraduate Conference on Literature, 91��Ƭ��. (1 February 2025)

“Environmental Terrorism: BP, Art, and Indigenous Resistance in Canada.” Crude Representations: BP and the Cultural Imagination of Oil, The University of Edinburgh, online. (24 January 2025)

“Disrupting the Dominant Discourse of Victorian Studies with Decolonial Temporality: Challenging Chronological Time and Deploying Ceremonial Time in Drew Hayden Taylor 91��Ƭ�� ’s The Night Wanderer: A Graphic Novel.” Re-imagining and Re-engaging with the Victorians, 91��Ƭ��, online. (18 April 2024)

Current Positions:

Virtual Logistics Coordinator, Queen's Graduate Conference in Literature, Queen's University (October 2025 – present)

Communications Coordinator, Queen's Graduate Conference in Literature, Queen's University (October 2025 – present)

Recruitment Coordinator, Graduate English Society, Queen's University (September – present)

Writing Consultant, Student Academic Success Services, Queen's University (September 2024 – present)

Research Assistant, "Anishinaabemowin Language Acquisition Project," supervised by Dr. Lindsay Morcom, Faculty of Education, Queen's University (January 2024 – present)