One of Carolina’s three Rhodes scholars, Gabrielle Moreau aims to empower Indigenous communities impacted by climate change.
“It’s one thing to understand your ancestry and genealogy,” Moreau said. “But it’s another thing to think about what it means to be part of a nation and what self-governance looks like for the Métis today.” (Submitted photo)
Growing up in the center of Toronto, Carolina senior and 2026 Rhodes scholar Gabrielle Moreau didn’t always feel connected to her Métis ancestry.
But in elementary school, Moreau began to learn about the Métis from her paternal grandmother in Winnipeg and her efforts to research her family’s ancestry. Moreau’s grandmother traced her family’s heritage back to the Red River Métis of Manitoba in central Canada.
“Her own family did not talk about their Métis roots growing up, as it would have been a sign of inferiority to be known as a ‘half-breed,’” Moreau said. “What has motivated me to involve myself in the Métis community is a desire to understand authentically what my ancestry is and to honor the ancestors from my grandmother’s side of the family who were not able to say with pride that they were Métis.”
That discovery shaped Moreau’s identity and set her on an academic path inextricably linked to her Métis heritage.
Moreau is passionate about addressing the disproportionate impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities through elevating Indigenous environmental knowledge within climate policy.
A Robertson scholar, Moreau majors in geography in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences and environmental sciences and policy at Duke University. She served on the Métis Nation of Ontario Youth Council since 2020 and interned with the Harvard Project on Indigenous governance and development. Her research allowed Moreau to learn from Indigenous communities across the globe.
With the prestigious Rhodes scholarship, Moreau will continue her studies at the University of Oxford, where she plans to pursue a Master of Science in nature, society and environmental governance.
“When I first got the call that I got the Rhodes, I was sitting at my kitchen table in disbelief,” said Moreau, one of three Tar Heel seniors to earn the 2026 honor.
“It took a while for it to really sink in, and now that it has, I feel incredibly grateful that there’s a whole community of people that believe in me and think that this kind of work is important.”
Moreau witnessed the resilience of Indigenous communities firsthand through study abroad opportunities at Carolina and Duke. In northeast Cambodia, she heard how Bunong Indigenous peoples responded to state-initiated land grabs and economic intensification. Through Students on Ice, Moreau traveled to the Canadian Arctic and to learn how Inuit communities involved in conservation maintain their lifeways despite visible effects of climate change, including sea level rise.
“Even though these places are undergoing rapid transformations brought about by global warming and state actions, I’ve been struck by how resilient communities are,” Moreau said. “The very challenges predicted to accompany climate change — poverty, displacement, loss of connection to the land — are challenges Indigenous communities have navigated for centuries as a result of colonization. Communities continue to enact visions of the future and of how achieving a more just and honorable way of living is possible.”
Moreau studied the history of the Métis nation and visited Batoche, site of the last battle of the North-West Resistance, led by several Métis leaders including her ancestor Louis Riel. Moreau also enjoys doing Métis floral beadwork in her spare time.
Through her work on the Métis Nation of Ontario Youth Council, she connected with other Métis youth and helped organize events to learn about aspects of Métis culture and discuss “what it means to be Métis right now.”
“It’s one thing to understand your ancestry and genealogy,” Moreau said. “But it’s another thing to think about what it means to be part of a nation and what self-governance looks like for the Métis today. How might we envision collective futures in a world where climate change is bringing environmental change and threats of political marginalization, drawing on responsibilities to other Indigenous communities, to past and future generations and to the land itself?”
That Métis pride has become central to Moreau’s identity, and it’s a guiding force as she aims to empower marginalized Indigenous communities worldwide.
By Michael Lananna, University Communications and Marketing