Apooyak’ii/Dr. Tiffany Hind Bull-Prete
Apooyak’ii/Dr. Tiffany Hind Bull-Prete is a member of the Kainai (Blood Tribe) of the Siksikasitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy), located in the Treaty 7 area. She holds a Canadian Research Chair, Tier II in Indigenous resiliency, and is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge. Her program of work is comprised of implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action on the Blood Reserve. Dr. Hind Bull-Prete’s research highlights the links between contemporary transportation inequities and settler colonialism, as outlined in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Final Report, Reclaiming Power and Place (RPP). Her work emphasizes the need to improve mobility for Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples in rural and remote communities to address systemic inequalities and foster community resilience.
Dr. Hind Bull-Prete earned her bachelors of elementary education specializing in math and science, and completed her master of education and doctor of philosophy in education at the University of Alberta. She held both a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship, and was an inaugural recipient of the University of Calgary's Provost's postdoctoral award for Indigenous and Black scholars at the University of Calgary. The University of Alberta recently awarded Dr. Hind Bull-Prete the Alumni Horizon Award (2022) which recognized her research initiatives arising from her Truth and Reconciliation research, and its community implications as an outstanding professional achievement. The award acknowledged that, “Those who hear her speak never forget it — she tackles difficult subjects with eloquence and humanity. Tiffany is a difference-maker.” Dr. Hind Bull-Prete recently curated the exhibition "Stolen Kainai Children: Stories of Survival." This exhibit portrays the experiences of Kainai children during the residential school era, shedding light on the educational policies of that time and the remarkable resilience of the Blood Tribe.
Dr. Hind Bull-Prete’s background is in educational policy studies, specializing in Indigenous Peoples education. Her area of expertise includes: Indigenous secondary retention rates within the public school system, Blackfoot historical research, impacts of colonization, intergenerational trauma, transportation inequities for rural and remote Indigenous communities, and Indigenous research methodologies. In her spare time, she is a Native American bead work enthusiast, and published a research paradigm grounded in an Indigenous worldview that is guided by Native American beadwork.
Designed to silence: How colonial schooling targeted the Blackfoot language
This keynote examines how colonial schooling on the Blood Reserve was deliberately structured to interrupt and displace the Blackfoot language. Across day schools, industrial schools, boarding schools, residential schools, and later integration policies, education functioned as an instrument of assimilation. Speaking Blackfoot was punished. English was enforced as the language of advancement. Separation from family and community disrupted intergenerational transmission. Drawing on archival research and community history, this presentation shows that language suppression was not incidental but designed. Although each schooling model operated differently, all shared a common objective: to produce children who no longer spoke their language. By exposing the architecture of suppression rather than isolated incidents, we gain clarity about the historical roots of contemporary language barriers. That clarity matters as Blackfoot language revitalization continues across generations.