Brandon University (BU) Chancellor Dr. Mary Jane McCallum will give an online public talk on equity on Monday, May 16. The talk will take place on Zoom from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Chancellor McCallum is a First Nations woman of Cree heritage and has been lauded for her work as a dentist in northern and Indigenous communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada to represent Manitoba in 2017. In 2021 she became the first Indigenous person and the first woman to become Chancellor of Brandon University.

The talk will be livestreamed at BrandonU-ca.Zoom.us/j/92062014733?pwd=U1RzUktDcEc2TlFCbzFoT3JkeTFiUT09.

The event is being organized by BU’s Employment Equity Working Group.

More About Mary Jane McCallum

Chancellor McCallum is of Cree heritage and is a citizen of the Barren Lands First Nation in Brochet, Man. She attended the Guy Hill Residential School in The Pas for 11 years. She is an advocate for social justice who, over the course of her distinguished career, has provided dental care to First Nations communities across Manitoba.

She received a Dental Nursing Diploma at the Wascana Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences in 1977 and a Dental Therapy Diploma at the School of Dental Therapy in 1979, before earning a Doctor of Dental Medicine from the University of Manitoba in 1990.

From 1979 to 1997, she was involved in the dental field in various capacities, including as a dental therapist in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba communities and as an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba, running a dental clinic in Churchill and overseeing students completing their practicum. From 1996 to 2000, she worked on an interchange with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs as the Regional Dental Officer for the province.

From 1992 to 1996 and from 2003 to 2010, Dr. McCallum worked in her home community of Brochet, where she managed community health programs, including a children’s dental program, a diabetes program, and prenatal program, and volunteered for several committees, including a housing committee, a school committee, and an education committee. She also ran a monthly dinner and meeting with the Elders to discuss social issues affecting the community.

Dr. McCallum worked as an independent contractor for the federal First Nations and Inuit Health Branch providing services in northern Manitoba before returning to the University of Manitoba in April 2002 to lead the Aboriginal Dental Health Programs.

From 2004 until 2020, she continued to work to provide vital dental and health services before officially retiring from dentistry in April 2021. She remains a non-practicing member of the Manitoba Dental Association.

In addition to her professional endeavours, Chancellor McCallum leads workshops and presentations in which she shares her personal experience as a residential school survivor in an effort to raise awareness and understanding.

Chancellor McCallum and her husband have two daughters, and she also has a son.

She became a Senator in the Canadian Senate on Dec. 2, 2017, and she currently sits as a non-affiliated Senator.