Meet the Team
Cecilia Elizabeth Best
York University
Cecilia Elizabeth Best is a racialized, queer, English-speaking Metis Scoop survivor. Their family names are Gullickson, Cook, Halcro, and Fidler. Following the Red River Resistance, their ancestors were forced west to what was then known as Rupert's Land but is known today as Treaties 4&6 (Saskatchewan). Cecilia Elizabeth holds degrees in Canadian history from The University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. Cecilia Elizabeth will defend their PhD dissertation in Canadian history at York University in 2025. Their topic of study is Indigenous child welfare policies during the post-World War II period from 1950 to 2000 based on survivor case files from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. Cecilia Elizabeth was in foster care for 8 years before they were adopted out from the territory of their ancestors to Ontario. Displacement through the child welfare system brought Cecilia to the Haldimand Tract (six miles on either side of the Grand River) in Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Neutral, and Wendat territory. Cecilia Elizabeth Best is an athlete, an artist, and a proud auntie.