Art Metropole

Omar Ferwati is a Senior Researcher at Forensic Architecture (FA), using spatial analysis to investigate environmental and human rights violations. He co-led FA’s 2024 report on genocide in Gaza and more recently FA’s research on the environmental legacy of German genocide in Namibia. He is currently working, in partnership with Neskantaga First Nation and Infrastructure Beyond Extractivism, to develop new spatial and visual evidence in support of Neskantaga’s jurisdiction. Omar is pursuing a PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London, examining the relation between state infrastructure, land rights, and ecocide in Canada and Syria.

Coleen Moonias is serving her second term as a Councillor for Neskantaga First Nation. She holds a postsecondary degree in Indigenous Language Education and previously taught her traditional language through the Neskantaga Education Authority. Her work is grounded in the protection of Neskantaga’s language, culture, families, lands, and future generations. Coleen has spoken at rallies across Ontario, advocating for health and social justice in Neskantaga and drawing attention to the ongoing harms caused by government neglect, colonial policy, and extractive development. Her advocacy places particular emphasis on the rights of women and children, and on the need to protect the conditions that allow Neskantaga families and future generations to thrive.

Wayne Moonias is a former Chief of Neskantaga First Nation and the community’s current Lands and Resources Director. He has spent his life advocating for Neskantaga, defending the community’s lands and waters, and supporting the assertion of Anishinaabe jurisdiction in the face of mining, infrastructure development, and government neglect. Wayne has played a leading role in training Anishinaabe youth in land defence work and in guiding community-based responses to proposed development in the Ring of Fire region. He has also been a long-standing advocate in the struggle to end the federal government’s failure to provide safe drinking water to Neskantaga, which has lived under a boil water advisory for more than 31 years.

Nessie Nankivell is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto and researcher with Infrastructure Beyond Extractivisim. Her work focuses on the Ring of Fire mining region in Northern Ontario and the legal geographies of extractive frontiers. She is a research partner with Neskantaga First Nation and advisor to their Lands and Resources department. Together, they are co-developing community-led mapping tools that can be used to protect Indigenous jurisdiction and evidentiate ecological violence within the impact assessment process. Nessie’s research and mapping has been published by Transition Security Project, Amnesty International, The BREAK-DOWN, and The Breach.