Associate Professor Renée Monchalin

Dr. Renée Monchalin is a Scientist at Unity Health Toronto, cross appointed with the Well Living House, and MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute.

She is the Director of the Fireweed Project, a community-led project aimed at advancing knowledge around, and removing barriers to accessing abortion services and care for Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Fireweed Project is currently hiring.

Dr. Monchalin’s research explores access to culturally safe health services, primarily with urban Métis Peoples. Her research program advances Métis reproductive self-determination through two connected lines of inquiry: building a national Métis-specific evidence base on reproductive health service access, and community-led research in the Upper Great Lakes that centres Métis reproductive knowledges.

She holds a PhD in Public Health Science from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Born and raised in Fort Erie, Ontario, Renée is a registered citizen with the Métis Nation of Ontario, and is Métis-Anishinaabe from the historic Métis community of Sault Ste Marie. She also has ancestry that includes Scottish, French, Algonquin, and Huron. Growing up along the Great Lakes and surrounding waterways, Renée carries a deep connection to the lands and waters that have shaped her family, identity, and work.