Team

Serge Dupuis

Contributing Historian

Author of six books, and a wide variety of articles and reports, Serge Dupuis was selected as “inspiring path” by the Journées de la relève en recherche de l’ACFAS (2021). He has also won the following awards:

• Canada Council for the Arts Scholarly Book Award (2024) for  Une histoire du Moulin-à-Fleur de Sudbury: quartier ouvrier, territoire canadien-français, published by Ottawa University Press (2025)
• The Richard-Arès Prize for Best Essay published in Quebec (2018) for Le Canada français devant la Francophonie mondiale : l’expérience du mouvement Richelieu dans la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle, published by Éditions du Septentrion (2017)
• Canada Council for the Arts Scholarly Book Award (2016) for Le Canada français devant la Francophonie mondiale (2017)

Serge has taught at universities across Ontario and Quebec from 2011 to 2017, then went on to concentrate entirely on the research, writing, and popularization of history throughout diverse forms of media since 2018.

Born in Sudbury (Ontario), Serge Dupuis is a professional historian working in Quebec; he is an associate member at the Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d’expression française en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN) at the University of Laval.

Serge Dupuis has a bachelor’s degree (Laurentienne, 2007), a master’s degree (Ottawa, 2009) and a doctorat (Waterloo, 2013), then completed a postdoctoral fellowship (Laval, 2016); he received grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for his three graduate studies.

Helene-Jane Groarke

Historical Contributor

Helene-Jane Groarke completed her interdisciplinary Master’s of Arts at Concordia University where she studied the performance of Irish immigrant identity during the St. Patrick’s Day parades in Toronto and Montreal in the 1800s. Her expertise is in identity politics and analysing how minority groups experience events previously studied through the angle of the majority population. Helene’s research bridges the gap that sometimes exists in Canadian academia between French and English research as she herself grew up bilingual and understood the importance of exploring various experiences to understand socio-political issues from the past and the present.

Patrick-Aurel Fournier

Historical Contributor

Patrick-Aurel Fournier holds degrees in both History and Criminal Justice from Nipissing University and is currently working towards his Bachelors of Education and completing his Masters Degree in History with his research titled: “Poppy Ville: The Commemorative Transformation of Welberg, Netherlands, 1945-2021”. Pat has always had a deep passion for history, more specifically in the reasons why and methods behind commemorations. In 2019, Pat was selected as 1 of 7 Canadian guides to work at the Juno Beach Center in Normandy, France; during the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Born and raised in Northern Ontario and currently living in North Bay, ON; he hopes to one day begin teaching in the area and help foster the love and curiosity for history as was sparked in him by past educators. Pat is extremely excited to be able to help DMC in sharing our country’s history and hopes to spark curiosity and passion within his readers.

Valérie Dier

Historical Contributor

Valérie Dier is a professional engineer, holding a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University. She grew up mostly in suburbs around Montréal and Toronto, receiving virtually all of her pre-university education in francophone schools. Enrolling her own children in a francophone school in Alberta gave her spoken and written French a much-needed reboot after years of infrequent use. She listens to music, reads, speaks, and writes en français as much as possible outside work, while enjoying all the Canadian content she can find in both official languages.

Her involvement in the school community, along with her decline and recovery of her mother tongue, has propelled her to better understand the historical context to francophone education. She regularly reads about current and historical events that have shaped and continue to impact the vitality of the francophone population outside her natal province of Québec.

Valérie also enjoys science communication, baking, cooking, and gardening. When she travels within Canada, she enjoys learning how earlier francophone populations named the region and how their presence impacted social and economic activity. And she’s always looking for the perfect poutine.

Jamie Bradburn

Contributing Historian

Jamie Bradburn is a Toronto-based writer/researcher/historian who specializes in the stories that have shaped his city and province. His work has been published by TVO, the Toronto Star, Spacing, Historica Canada, and Torontoist.

Howard Akler

Historical Contributor

Howard Akler a writer and the author of two novels, The City Man and Splitsville, and Men of Action, a memoir.

Sahra Ali

Education Contributor

Sahra Ali is a nomadic writer, education consultant, and tech developer working at the intersection of humanities, technology, and social justice. With experience in academia, publishing, and public interest technology, she develops innovative learning resources and equity-driven solutions. Ali splits her time between Alaska and abroad, bringing a global perspective to her work in education and storytelling.

Brendon Allen

Education Contributor

Brendon Allen (he/him) is an educator, theatre practitioner and papa living in Tkaronto. His work focuses on the powerful ways in which young people gather to play-find and way-find their learning. He is currently a curriculum leader and faculty member at Upper Canada College and is involved with exciting theatre projects in the realms of verbatim theatre with 4th Line Theatre and revitalizing a well-known musical with Why Not Theatre. His writings have been published with Provocations Journal, The Queens Review, Scirocco Drama and Theatrics Canada. His plays have been staged in Canada, Tanzania, Thailand, New Zealand and in the wide open world of radio and podcasting. His most recent workshops have been featured at The National Drama Teachers Conference, The Council of Drama and Dance Educators of Ontario, and The Children, Youth and Performance Conference.

Brett Conway

Education Collaborator

Brett Conway is currently a pre-service teacher at Concordia University of Edmonton. He has a M.A.s in English Literature and Asian Studies from the University of Ottawa and Sejong University, South Korea. He has taught at post-secondary schools in South Korea, Ontario, and Albera. He has published on a variety of topics including trauma, gender identity, and post-modernism.

Donita Duplisea

Education Collaborator

Donita Duplisea is a passionate educator with a diverse educational background. She is committed to fostering acceptance and understanding of genocide through education.  Her extensive experience includes various educational roles, where she has actively promoted access to learning history through equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice. Additionally, she has developed online resources to further support these goals. Donita holds a BA, BEd, and MEd, and she currently works as the Academic Director at Holy Trinity School in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Patrick-Aurel Fournier

Historical Contributor

Patrick-Aurel Fournier holds degrees in both History and Criminal Justice from Nipissing University and is currently working towards his Bachelors of Education and completing his Masters Degree in History with his research titled: “Poppy Ville: The Commemorative Transformation of Welberg, Netherlands, 1945-2021”. Pat has always had a deep passion for history, more specifically in the reasons why and methods behind commemorations. In 2019, Pat was selected as 1 of 7 Canadian guides to work at the Juno Beach Center in Normandy, France; during the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Born and raised in Northern Ontario and currently living in North Bay, ON; he hopes to one day begin teaching in the area and help foster the love and curiosity for history as was sparked in him by past educators. Pat is extremely excited to be able to help DMC in sharing our country’s history and hopes to spark curiosity and passion within his readers.

Doriane Ossene

Education Collaborator

Doriane’s background includes education in France and learning a lot about Canada through her studies at York University in International Studies and Canadian studies, which she will be graduating from in 2023. She is passionate about stories people don’t know about and loves making them known. Her dream is to work in a field that supports underrepresented communities, in Canada and around the world.