Dr. Lisa Monchalin
BSc (Eastern Michigan), JD (UBC), MA (Eastern Michigan), PhD (Ottawa)
Lisa Monchalin is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in 2004 and her Master’s degree in 2006, both in Criminology. In 2012, she graduated with her Doctorate in Criminology from the University of Ottawa. In 2022, she graduated with her Juris Doctor from The University of British Columbia, Peter A. Allard School of Law. She was called to the Bar in 2023 and is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia.
Lisa is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario. She was born in St. Catharines, Ontario and grew up in the Niagara Region. She is Métis-Anishinaabe from the historic Métis community of Sault Ste Marie. She also has ancestry that includes Scottish, French, Algonquin, and Huron.
In fall 2018, she was a Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies. In the winter of 2017, she was a Visiting Professor at Central Washington University, a cross appointment with the Department of Law and Justice and the Department of Sociology.
She has published numerous articles on Indigenous justice, and her writing has been cited in textbooks and other scholarly literature. Lisa has been invited to speak on justice issues throughout Canada, the United States, the U.K, and Australia. This includes speaking for several organizations such as the Continuing Legal Education for The Law Society of Yukon, the Oxford Centre for the Study of Social Justice, and the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services, among others. She has also been an invited speaker at the University of Oxford three years in a row to speak about justice issues. She has also given several keynotes at conferences and other events.
Dr. Monchalin is also the author of The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada with the University of Toronto Press. This book became an Amazon bestseller in the field of penology as well as made the University of Toronto Press best-seller list in its first year of publication. Lisa toured this book internationally, which included 21 stops, such as at The University of Alberta, McGill University, University of Toronto, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and The World Congress of Criminology in New Delhi, India.
In 2018, she was invited by the Department of Justice Canada to be a Subject Matter Expert in the area of Indigenous legal traditions and Indigenous peoples interaction with the criminal justice system. In this position she consulted on the development of the Framework for the 2019 State of the Criminal Justice System Report and content for the online Dashboard.
In 2023, Dr. Monchalin became the recipient of the W.E.B. Du Bois Award from The Western Society of Criminology. This award is bestowed on a person who has made significant contributions to advancing awareness of racial and ethnic issues in criminology and criminal justice.
Lisa is a powwow jingle dress dancer, dancing locally and throughout Canada and the United States. She also dances with the Butterflies in Spirit dance group, which raises awareness of violence against Indigenous women and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls through personal stories, song, and dance.
She currently lives in Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, and Tsawwassen traditional unceded territories (Surrey, BC).
Courses taught
- CRIM 1100 Introduction to Criminology
- CRIM 1101 Introduction to the Criminal Justice System
- CRIM 1107 Canadian Legal Systems
- CRIM 2341 Canadian Criminal Justice Administration
- CRIM 4201 Community Safety and Crime Prevention
- CRIM 4240 Indigenous Peoples and Justice
- CRIM 4310 Wrongful Convictions
Areas of Interest
- Evidence-based crime prevention
- Indigenous forms of justice
Scholarly Work
- Monchalin, Lisa. (2023) Indigenous Justice and Colonial Injustice: Remembering the Past to Change the Future. In Claudio Colaguori (Eds.) Crime, Deviance, and Social Control in the 21st Century. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.
- Monchalin, Lisa, (2020) “You Are On Indigenous Land: Acknowledgment and Action in Criminology.” In Kathryn Henne and Rita Shah (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Public Criminologies, New York: Routledge: 259-270.
- Monchalin, Lisa and Marques, Olga, (2020) “Terminating Canada’s Failed System of Injustice: Unmasking Colonialism, Redefining Relationships, and Re-establishing Balance.” In Gina Starblanket, David Long, and the late Olive Patricia Dickason (Eds.) Visions of the Heart: Issues Involving Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Fifth Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press: 165-181.
- Monchalin, Lisa and Marques, Olga, (2020) “The Mass Imprisonment of Indigenous Peoples: Canada’s Continued Colonial Agenda.” In John Winterdyk and Michael Weinrath (Eds.) Adult Corrections in Canada, Whitby: de Sitter Press: 167-189.
- Marques, Olga and Monchalin, Lisa, (2020) “The Mass Incarceration of Indigenous Women in Canada: A Colonial Tactic of Control and Assimilation,” In Lily George, Adele A. Norris, Antje Deckert & Juan Tauri (Eds.) Neo-colonial Injustice and The Mass Imprisonment of Indigenous Women. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Monchalin, Lisa; Marques, Olga; Reasons, Charles; and Arora, Prince, (2019) “Homicide and Indigenous Peoples in North America: A Structural Analysis,” Aggression and Violent Behaviour, Vol 46, May-June: 212-218.
- Monchalin, Renée and Monchalin, Lisa, (2018) Closing the Health Service Gap: Métis Women and Solutions for Culturally-Safe Health Services. Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing, Vol 3 (1), July: 18-29.
- Monchalin, Lisa. (2017) “Foreword” in John Winterdyk (Eds.) Pioneers in Canadian Criminology. Oakville, ON: Rock’s Mills Press.
- Monchalin, Lisa. (2016) The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Monchalin, Lisa. (2016) “The Failed Foreign System of Criminal Justice and the Problem with Canada.” In David Long and Olive Dickason (Eds.), Visions of the Heart: Issues Involving Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press: 351-373.
- Monchalin, Lisa. (2016) “Understanding Violence Affecting Aboriginal People through an Aboriginal Lens.” In Patricia O'Reilly and Thomas Fleming (Eds.), Violence in Canada. Whitby, ON: de Sitter Press: 105-122.
- Monchalin, Renee, and Monchalin, Lisa (2016) “Hey, Can I Call You Quick? Navigating the Academic Swells as Young Indigenous Women” Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Special Issue: Indigenous Girls, Vol 9 (2): 82-87.
- Monchalin, Lisa. (2014) “Seeking Justice for Missing and Murdered Native Women” Radical Criminology. Issue 4, summer/fall: 149-154.
- Monchalin, Lisa and Marques, Olga. (2014) “‘Canada Under Attack From Within’: Problematizing ‘the Natives’, Governing Borders, and the Social Injustice of the Akwesasne Border Dispute.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal. Vol. 38 (4): 57-84.