Riley Yesno

Riley Yesno (she/her) is a queer Anishinaabe writer, researcher, and public speaker from Eabametoong First Nation. Riley grew up primarily in Thunder Bay, ON and currently calls Toronto, ON, and St. John’s, NL, home. She has experience working at all levels of change making, has travelled the world public speaking; has been published in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Maclean’s. She is currently a Canadian Journalism Foundation Fellow, a Yellowhead Institute Research Fellow and is beginning her PhD at the University of Toronto.

Balancing the Budget at Indigenous Peoples Expense

By Riley Yesno / May 6, 2022 May 30, 2022

THE CONSENSUS ANALYSIS of Budget 2022 seems to revolve around the term “centrist.” Mainstream Canadian media has emphasized the Trudeau Liberals’ plans to lower the national deficit while highlighting investments in policy areas like housing and dental care. But centrist can also be a euphemism for big cuts. While there are investments in areas meant to …

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Historic and Underwhelming: An Indigenous Analysis of Budget 2021

By Riley Yesno / April 26, 2021 May 30, 2022

While the Federal 2021 budget has boasted of increased investment in Indigenous communities, Riley Yesno argues that it falls short of what is neccesary to transform systems of inequity and fulfill commitments to Indigenous communities.

Yellowhead Institute generates critical Indigenous policy perspectives.

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Research and Features

Based in the Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University.