Sheryl Lightfoot

Sheryl Lightfoot is a professor with the Department of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. She is a former Tier II Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics as well as former Senior Advisor to the UBC President on Indigenous Affairs.

As one of the world’s experts in global Indigenous politics, Sheryl’s research specializes in complex questions of Indigenous peoples’ rights and how those rights are being claimed and negotiated in various political spaces. Her work explores both practical and theoretical aspects of implementation of Indigenous rights globally as well as in comparative domestic and regional contexts. She is the author of Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution, co-editor of Indigenous Peoples and Borders (2024) and The Handbook of Indigenous Public Policy (2024), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters.

As a member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Sheryl provides the Human Rights Council with expertise and advice on the implementation of the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Mechanism assists UN Member States in achieving the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Prof. Lightfoot holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Minnesota as well as a master’s degree from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.

Sheryl is Anishinaabe from the Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe, enrolled at the Keweenaw Bay Community in northern Michigan.