David T Fortin Architect

David Fortin’s Story

David was born in Calgary and raised throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan, spending his formative years in Lethbridge, AB, then Prince Albert, SK, which he still refers to as his “home town”. His mom Pat is a second generation Austrian-Canadian, with family roots in Southern Saskatchewan (Southey, Fort Qu’appelle) as settlers who arrived in Treaty 4 territory as immigrants from Bukovina, and she worked as a teacher in Alberta and Saskatchewan before retiring. David has close relatives from his mom’s family scattered across the prairies and in BC. He is a proud brother to Val (Fortin) Yockey and an uncle to her daughters, a devoted husband, and father of two daughters.

David is happy to share a short biography here to offer a summary of his Métis heritage and kin. His father, Terry, was born in Edmonton in 1944 to Mildred (Toots) Whitford (1929-2012) who was 14 years old at the time so, in keeping with native tradition, he was raised by his Aunt Sadie Whitford (Mildred’s older sister) and her husband, Tony Fortin. Given Mildred’s devotion to Terry’s well-being and wanting to play a meaningful role in his life, she and the rest of her Whitford family have always remained present and supportive throughout his and his family’s lives.

David’s great-grandparents were Frederick and Catherine (nee Anderson) Whitford, each with family lineages dating back to Red River, Manitoba, including some of the following who have been documented: James Peter Whitford, Magnus Spence, Joseph Desjarlais, Joseph Soldat Cardinal, Okesmaskwew Boss Woman, and Mary Demoran. His Whitford, Anderson, Hope and Halcrow families (along with others such as the Desjarlais, and Landry families) migrated across the prairies as more settlers arrived in Manitoba, settling in the Prince Albert area of Saskatchewan and northern Alberta over multiple generations. Frederick received land through scrip in Alberta in 1900. Typical to many Métis families, David’s relations were, and remain, often separated by large distances throughout the prairies and into BC where his dad’s family eventually settled (Ft. St John). It is typical for Métis peoples to be mobile for work, family and community obligations.

David’s father Terry was an educator in Catholic school boards and was honoured to be included in Dr. Cora Voyageur’s 2010 book My Heroes Have Always Been Indians for his devotion to improving education models throughout his career. He then worked as an education consultant in various contexts including working with First Nations, Catholic school boards and Métis settlements in Alberta before retiring in the early 2000s. In 2002 he was a co-author of the “First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework” for Alberta Learning, as well as serving on the Minister’s National Working Group on Education which published their report titled “Our Children: Keepers of the Sacred Knowledge” that same year.

Raised to be proud of his Métis heritage, David was a citizen of the Métis Nation Saskatchewan growing up, and became a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario when relocating to Ontario in 2013. He is an active member of the RAIC Indigenous Task Force that seeks ways to foster and promote Indigenous design in Canada. His multi-year research project into Red River Métis contributions to architectural thinking was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and has emerged as central to evolving discussions about Métis architecture, both historically and in contemporary terms. (www.metisarchitect.com) From 2018-2021 he was the first person of Indigenous heritage to direct a school of architecture (McEwen School of Architecture). He was co-curator, with Gerald McMaster, of UNCEDED: Voices of the Land, Canada’s entry to the Venice Biennale in 2018 (presented by Douglas Cardinal) and in 2018 he coordinated a project with the National Research Council of Canada, partnering with 4 First Nations architects (Eladia Smoke, Kelly Bapty, Brian Porter, and Alfred Waugh), to work alongside remote northern communities to develop their own approach to housing that serves their needs and desires. This project, titled “A Path to Healthy Housing” was completed in 2021. In 2023 he became the first person to twice co-curate Canada’s representation at the Venice Biennale with his team called Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA), a group of passionate housing activists, advocates and architects seeking ways to design housing that resist commoditication. David has served as a juror for various awards including the AZ Awards, the Governor General Awards (2018), and the Block 2 jury for the parliamentary precinct in Ottawa.

David has been a Registered Architect since 2007. David T Fortin Architect Inc. was established in 2018 in Sudbury, Ontario, and currently has a staff of 3 based out of Cambridge, Ontario where he teaches at the University of Waterloo.