(L-R) Sheryl Lightfoot, Sara Ferwati and Jeanne Mayrand-Thibert (photos courtesy of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation)
Sheryl Lightfoot, Sara Ferwati and Jeanne Mayrand-Thibert honoured by Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Published: May 6, 2026
Three members of the University of Toronto community – Professor Sheryl Lightfoot and PhD candidates Sara Ferwati and Jeanne Mayrand-Thibert – have been named among the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation's 2026 cohort of fellows and scholars.
The annual program supports outstanding researchers, PhD students and professionals who are advancing excellence in the humanities and social sciences through their commitment to critical reflection and engaged action in society.
Lightfoot, who is Anishinaabe from the Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe, enrolled at the Keweenaw Bay Community in northern Michigan, a professor in the department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in U of T's Faculty of Arts & Science, and a globally renowned scholar of Indigenous rights, global politics and public policy, was named a 2026 Trudeau Fellow.
"I am deeply honoured to join the Trudeau Foundation community at what is, I believe, a defining moment for Indigenous rights globally," said Lightfoot, pointing to mounting global pressures on Indigenous rights frameworks and questions around how Canada's formal commitment to Indigenous Peoples' rights will translate into action. "This fellowship provides the intellectual space and community of practice to pursue that question rigorously and to ensure that Canadian scholarship remains meaningfully engaged with the global Indigenous rights agenda at this critical juncture."
Ferwati, a PhD candidate in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a mental health epidemiologist, was named a 2026 Trudeau Scholar. Her doctoral research examines how suicide and mental health monitoring can be improved in northern and circumpolar regions, particularly in Nunavut, where she works alongside Inuit partners, clinicians, and decision-makers.
Mayrand-Thibert, a PhD candidate in the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law, was also named a 2026 Trudeau Scholar. Her research focuses on criminal law and gender-based violence, examining the ability of criminal law to address this type of violence as well as the potential of community-based responses outside the criminal justice system.
