معرفی
Shiri Pasternak is an Associate Professor in Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University and former Research Director of the Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led think tank. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Toronto and has held academic positions at Trent University and Ryerson University. Her research focuses on Indigenous jurisdiction, Crown-First Nations relations, settler colonialism, and police abolition. Pasternak’s work bridges academia and activism, with publications in Antipode, Settler Colonial Studies, and Environment and Planning D.
Education: PhD in Geography (University of Toronto), MA in Cultural Social Political Thought (University of Victoria), BA (hons) in Criminology (Concordia University).
Research Interests: Interdisciplinary approaches to Indigenous sovereignty, resource economies, and colonial fiscal policies. Key themes include legal geography, critical legal studies, and the intersection of capitalism and colonialism. Recent work examines injunctions, RCMP operations, and infrastructure projects impacting Indigenous lands.
Awards: Winner of the 2017 Canadian Studies Network Book Prize for Grounded Authority; 2018 WSPA Clay Morgan Award; and multiple article prizes. Her book Disarm, Defund, Dismantle: Police Abolition in Canada (2022) co-edited with Kevin Walby and Abby Stadnyk, critiques carceral systems in Canada.
Grants/Policy Work: Co-authored Yellowhead Institute reports on land rights (e.g., Land Back, 2019) and fiscal policies. Advises communities on specific claims, resource conflicts, and anti-colonial strategies. Active in movements for Indigenous rights, housing justice, and police abolition.
Labs/Teams: Co-founded Yellowhead Institute; collaborates with Indigenous nations on jurisdictional projects and infrastructure alternatives to extractivism.
