Dr. Cheryl Ward is Kwakwaka'wakw and a member of the ‘Namgis First Nation from northern Vancouver Island. She and her family have been living as guests on the territory of the Snuneymuxw people for the past twenty years.  

Deeply committed to social justice education, decolonizing anti-racism training, and the development of Indigenous cultural safety pedagogy, Cheryl has more than twenty-five years of experience developing educational interventions focused on disrupting Indigenous-specific racism. Her leadership in Canada has shaped understandings of Indigenous-specific racism and how related harms can be addressed as part of broader system transformations.

In 2008, she joined the Indigenous Health team at British Columbia’s Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) to lead the curriculum design and implementation of what would become the San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety (ICS) Training Program.  Since 2010, the San’yas program has trained more than 200,000 people across Canada.

In 2019, Cheryl completed her doctorate in education.  Her thesis, “Teaching about Race and Racism: The Indigenous Elephant in the Room”, examines anti-Indigenous racism in the context of adult learning environments. In 2021 Cheryl began consulting work throughout Canada, with the focus on interventions for organizational change and examining the structural barriers to addressing Indigenous-specific racism and meaningful systems change. Cheryl’s work includes instructional design, publishing, and teaching about facilitating Indigenous-specific racism.