Age 38
Matthew Wildcat comes from a long line of educators.
He’s from a family that includes his grandmother, one of the first Indigenous graduates from the University of Alberta, and his father, who served as a First Nations school superintendent for decades. Among many other things, they taught him how to carry himself as an educator.
“What I achieve is because I’m able to stand on other people’s shoulders. Being a third-generation educator, I view it as inheritances in a sort of way. You get to be a part of something where people have accumulated knowledge and they get to pass it on, intergenerationally.”
While his work has taken him across Canada, he’s proud of Edmonton’s achievements when it comes to Indigenous studies and takes pride in helping the city be a global hub for it.
“So much groundbreaking work in Indigenous education, Indigenous theory, has been conducted out of Edmonton, and for me, I never think of Edmonton as being second class. Edmonton is always in the work that I do. Not just nationally, but globally. I’m always grateful to be a part of what I hope is a cohort who make Edmonton this world-class hub for Indigenous research.”
He helps make Edmonton a hub for Indigenous education
This article appears in the November 2022 issue of Edify
