Sara Pilon began working with the Co-Lab in 2023 on the oral history project “Our History is Our Foundation: Honouring Ilarion’s Ukrainian Residents,” in partnership with Ilarion Residence Retirement Home in Saskatoon. In 2024, Sara begun working on the project, “Documenting Indigenous and Settler Land Use in the Redberry Lake Biosphere Region,” which uses archival, secondary, and oral history research to explore the human and environmental histories that have shaped this landscape. Sara is finishing her honors degree in Women's and Gender Studies with a minor in History and aims to pursue graduate studies in the future. Sara has three absolutely adorable dogs and the Co-Lab team loves getting updates on what they are getting up too.
Aqsa Hussain completed her undergraduate degree in June! She was a History honours student looking at twentieth century cultural, social and decolonial history focused on intersectional communities whose identities shape the way they navigate politics through activism, resistance and resilience. In 2024, Aqsa worked on “Mapping Traditional Métis Land Use in Île-à-la-Crosse," in partnership with A La Baie Métis Local #21 and Sakitawak Development Corporation. The research project includes conducting oral interviews and using Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) to map Métis harvesting practices and traditional place names to aid in industry negotiations, education curriculum and the 250th anniversary of Île-à-la-Crosse. In 2025, Aqsa joined the "Documenting Indigenous and Settler Land Use" project with the Redberry team.
My name is Elizabeth Martens, and I am in my final year in the Arts & Science college, majoring in English with a minor in History and working towards my CERTESL through the Education college. I enjoy knitting and hanging out with my fluffy, chunky cat, Kylo! In 2024, Elizabeth worked on a project that documents, celebrates, and charts the history of the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre (SFBLC) over the past 40 years through archival research and oral history methodologies to create video documentaries capturing the experiences of past employees and volunteers sharing SFBLC history. In 2025, Elizabeth joined the Redberry team on the the "Documenting Indigenous and Settler Land Use" project.
Grace Flegel is an Arts and Science Graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Double Honours Degree majoring in Drama and History. She was a part of the Co-lab in it’s early days working on the Seager Wheeler Farms archive. She is back, and now working with the Co-lab on the “Saskatoon Soccer Legacy: History Creates Culture Project” where she has been performing archival work as well. Grace’s passions and historical interests are wide spread, but she has found a spark in helping to keep the memories of her community alive.
Between the Churchill and Sturgeon Weir Rivers, where water predominates, Kayaking opened the way for the land’s teaching to change this English/African settler into one who found my place in boreal shield country. As a University of Saskatchewan student living in Saskatoon, and the prairies unfamiliar territory, much of my landscape knowledge now comes from academic sources. Nonetheless, I have gained the assurance that book and land learning are complementary—thanks to my years of education kayaking Treaty 5’s waterways. Summer 2024’s work in the Co-Lab provided me two areas of involvement. I designed the project “Métis Lac Pelletier1881-1946: Settler Impact,” to interrogate how Lac Pelletier’s Métis community navigated prairie settlement during that period. In addition, I joined a larger project involving Saskatchewan Land Registers. I am part of an ongoing undertaking that uses this homestead resource to collect and transcribe settler data.
Arin graduated from Usask’s English department in 2025, and is currently an MA student in the English department. Arin worked out of the Co-Lab during the summer of 2025 as a research assistant for the project “‘We’re Still Here’: Amplifying Urban Indigenous Stories in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and St. John’s through Indigenous-led Partnerships,” researching Métis presence and history in and around Saskatoon. Arin’s academic interests lay in Indigenous, women’s, and queer issues.
being updated
Editor of the Folklore Magazine for the Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society, currently working out of the Co-Lab office.
Research Assistant working out of the Co-Lab office on the Remember Rebuild Saskatchewan project under Dr. Erika Dyck.
