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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Headshot of Shanti Fernando

Shanti Fernando
PhD

Associate Professor

Undergraduate Program Director

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities

Contact information

Bordessa Hall - Room 509
Downtown Oshawa
55 Bond Street East
Oshawa, ON

905.721.8668 ext. 3809

shanti.fernando@ontariotechu.ca

Research topics

  • Adult education
  • Mental Health Advocacy
  • Community development policy
  • Community organizations
  • Canadian anti-poverty policy
  • racialized minorities and advocacy research

Learn more

Researcher Profile

Research and expertise

  • Anti-poverty activism
  • Anti-racism
  • Mental health policy
  • Community group activism
  • Urban and rural development
  • Education policy
  • Equity policy
  • Immigration policy
  • Labour market integration
  • Political economy

Increasing literacies through supported education and policies of inclusion (SSHRC Insight Grant: $169,389)

  • Project will examine supported education programs for adults at psychiatric hospitals across Canada.
  • Dr. Shanti Fernando (PI); Ontario Tech Co-Investigators Dr. Alyson King; Dr. Allyson Eamer; Dr. Tyler Frederick; Dr. Laura Pinto; Collaborators: John Rodnick- Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care; Kathryn Kunkel Selkirk Mental Health Centre. 
  • five years (2016-2021)

Supported Literacy Education for Persons Living with Mental Illness: Exploring Economic and Social Implications (SSHRC Insight Development Grant: $50,926)

  • Case study of the Supported Education Program at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, in Whitby, Ontario, to understand the social, economic and political implications of low literacy skills for people living with mental illness.
  • Dr. Shanti Fernando (PI); co-investigators: Drs. Alyson E. King, Allyson Eamer, Wendy Stanyon, Ontario Tech. Collaborator: Ms. Wanda Huntington, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.
  • two years (2013-2015)