Grants & Funding

External Grants

• 2026–2029 (Collaborator) — The Zoomorphology of Gestures: Interspecies Learning and Technical Invention in Early Human Evolution (ZOOGESTURES). €1.6 million (CAD $2,592,800).
• 2024–2029 — Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Indigenous History: Healing and Reconciliation. Decolonizing Indigenous Histories; a database of Western Hemisphere archaeology sites predating 11,200 rcybp. $500,000.
• 2024–2027 — OMAFRI (Ontario Agri-Food Research Initiative): Enhancing Northern Horticulture through Terra Preta and Indigenous Wisdom for Sustainable Soil Health in Northern Ontario. Partners: Niigaaniin Services (7 First Nations communities), Colin Templeton Food Bank Farm, David Thompson, RAIN. $125,000.
• 2019–2024 — Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Indigenous History: Healing and Reconciliation. Decolonizing Indigenous Histories. $600,000.
• 2018 — Pleistocene Archaeology Sites of the Northeast Coast and Continental Shelf (Deepwater Wind South Fork Wind Farm area): oral traditions and culturally sensitive areas of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), Mashpee Wampanoag, Narragansett, Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, and Shinnecock. $46,000.

Internal Grants

• 2024–2025 — Algoma University Research Assistant funding; Ontario Student Work Study (three full-time research assistant positions).
• 2023 — Algoma University Summer Student Work Study grant: Food Security in the North. $8,000.
• 2019 — Algoma University Summer Student Work Study grant: Rock Art Sites of Canada Database. $8,000.
• 2019 — Algoma University AURF Research Grant: Pre-Pilot Sacred Soils (Terra Preta regenerative soils). $3,000.
• 2016 — University of Massachusetts Amherst: College of Social and Behavioral Science Research Grant ($1,000) and Institute for Teaching Excellence & Faculty Development Flex Grant ($1,000).
• 2015 — University of Massachusetts Amherst: Institute for Teaching Excellence & Faculty Development Flex Grant. $1,000.
• 2014 — Selkirk College: Teaching and Learning Innovation and Applied Research Grant (indigenizing curriculum). $1,200.

Community Research Reports

• Batchawana Island Cultural and Archaeological Report (2019). Prepared for the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy, American Friends of Canadian Land Trust, and Batchawana First Nation — to support the purchase of Batchawana Island and place it in permanent protected and preserved status.
• Pleistocene Archaeology Sites of the Northeast Coast and Continental Shelf (2018). Deepwater Wind South Fork Wind Farm area of possible impact: oral traditions and culturally sensitive areas of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), Mashpee Wampanoag, Narragansett, Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, and Shinnecock.

Peer Review

Dr. Steeves serves as a peer reviewer for academic publishers, journals, and granting agencies — including American Antiquity, Science, Genealogy, Histories, Humans, Manchester University Press, Oxford University Press (Canada), Rowman & Littlefield / Lexington Books, and the National Science Foundation (Science and Technology — Native American Cultures, 2016).

Institutional & Professional Service

External & National

• SSHRC Indigenous Research and Merit Review — Grants Committee Member.
• NSERC Alliance — Public Impact Value Proposition (PIVP) Committee Member.
• Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS) — Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy (ACEDIP).
• Society for American Archaeology (SAA) — Editorial Board (2021–2026).
• Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy (Andover, MA) — Advisory Committee and Collections Oversight Committee.
• Abbe Museum (Bar Harbor, ME, in association with the Smithsonian Institution) — Archaeology Advisory Committee (2017–2020).

Algoma University — Leadership & Governance

• Chair, Faculty of Cross-Cultural Studies (FCCS), from July 2024.
• Department Chair, Sociology–Anthropology (to July 2024).
• Department Chair, Geography, Geology, and Land Stewardship (to July 2023).
• Senate; Senate Executive Committee; Academic Planning & Priorities (APPCOM); Academic Appeals (APA).
• Co-Chair, Research Ethics Board (REB); Research Advisory Committee (RAC).
• Senate IEDI Committee (Chair).

Indigenous, Truth & Reconciliation, and Community

• I-RDI Northern Ontario Indigenous Working Group — Data Sovereignty and Ethics.
• Implementing the TRC Calls to Action Working Group.
• Shingwauk Grounds Search / Unmarked Burials Committee; Shingwauk Site GPR Search Committee.
• Shingwauk Residential School Centre Heritage Committee; Shingwauk Archives Heritage Committee.
• Mukqua Waakaa’igan (cultural, teaching, learning, and archives centre) rebuilding committee.
• Circle Ceremony decolonizing process — co-lead with the Algoma University President.
• Lead — proposed School of Global Indigenous Studies; Lead — proposed Faculty of Cross-Cultural Studies.
• Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig (SKG) — Board Member (resigned August 2024).

Earlier & Professional Service

• University of Massachusetts Amherst — Interim Director, Native American and Indigenous Studies Program; Five Colleges NAIS Consortium Board.
• Founded the Indigenous Student and Indigenous Faculty mentoring group (UMass Amherst).
• Fort Peck Tribes — Internal Review Board; Fort Peck Community College — Cultural Accreditation Committee.
• Selkirk College — Indigenization Community of Practice.

Community Service & Outreach

• Terra Preta research garden — creating regenerative soils to address food insecurity in the North; produce donated to local community and non-profit organizations.
• Sing Our River Red (SORR) exhibit for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) — organized and co-hosted (Amherst College; Fort Peck Community College).
• Heritage in Australia — educational video productions on Indigenous communities, archaeology, and heritage.
• Classroom outreach, including a talk on people and mammals in the Pleistocene of North America for grade-three classes in New York City.