Estelle Marie Simard is an Anishinaabe scholar, educator, and practitioner from Couchiching First Nation with over 25 years of experience in Indigenous mental health, child welfare, education, and community systems development. She currently serves as Curriculum Manager for the Tribal Training Certification Partnership at the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a former faculty member at UMD, where she taught in the BSW and MSW programs.
Estelle’s work centers on culturally restorative practice, cultural attachment theory, Indigenous research methodologies, and land-based and community-driven education. She has led provincial and national initiatives in Indigenous child welfare reform, micro-credential and certification development, education system design, and professional training across health, education, and social service sectors.
She is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction and has published on Indigenous wellbeing, reconciliatory pedagogy, and culturally restorative child welfare practice.