Krys Maki
Profile
Krys Maki is an Assistant Professor at the Élisabeth-Bruyère School of Social Innovation. Their areas of research include feminist movements, collective organizing around gender-based violence, poverty and social inequality, and critical surveillance studies. Prior to joining the School of Social Innovation at Saint Paul University they completed a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa on labour organizing and movement building within women’s shelters. In 2021, they published their first book Ineligible: Single Mothers Under Welfare Surveillance with Fernwood Publishing. Outside of academia, Krys worked as the Director of Research and Policy at Women’s Shelters Canada, a national non-profit network of violence against women shelters (2017-2022). Their scholar activism is deeply informed by their work as a long-time organizer and activist with labour, anti-poverty, and feminist movements.
Dr. Maki’s current research explores labour and worker well-being in gender-based violence organizations and how workers and leaders are transforming their labour and the sector. They are a member of the Gender Based Violence Worker Wellness National Advisory Committee with the Ending Violence Association of Canada developing a national labour workforce strategy.
They are supervising a Mitacs Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellow, “Evaluating the impact of federal funding practices on the communities served by nonprofits” (2024-2026). Working in collaboration with Imagine Canada, the Postdoctoral Fellow will lead the research study and develop several case studies of charities and non-profits that receive funding from different federal programs.
PhD Sociology, Queen’s University
MA Sociology, Queen’s University
BA Honours Sociology and Gender Studies, Trent University
- Labour
- Worker well-being
- Intersectional Feminism
- Critical Theory
- Gender Based Violence
- Epistemology and Methodology
Books
2021 Maki, K. Ineligible: Single Mothers Under Welfare Surveillance. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
2025 Klostermann, J., Bunting, S., Maki, K., and Przednowek, A. (2025). Care containers: the multilayered politics of boundless work in Canada’s victim services sector. Studies in Political Economy / Recherches En Économie Politique, 106(1), 40–57.
2025 Maki, K. Towards a Reciprocal Solidarity: Violence Against Women Shelters, Labour, and Unions. Journal of Community Practice. (forthcoming)
2023 Maki, K. Breaking the Cycle of Abuse and Closing the Housing Gap: A Mixed Methods Community-Based Study on Second Stage Shelters. Canadian Journal of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research. 14(2), 1–23.
2021 Yakubovich, A. and Maki, K. “reventing gender-based homelessness in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: the need to account for violence against women. Violence Against Women.
2011 Maki, K. Neoliberal Deviants and Surveillance: Welfare Recipients Under the Watchful Eye of Ontario Works. Journal of Surveillance and Society, 9(1): 47-63
Book Chapters
2025 Maki, K. Centering Intersectionality and Equity. Roadmaps for Social Change. Edited by Élisabeth-Bruyère School of Social Innovation, Bristol University Press.
2022 Krull, C, and Maki, K. Investing in Families and Children: Family Policies in Canada. Canadian Families Today: New Perspectives edited by Patrizia Albanese, Oxford University Press.
2020 Maki, K. Automating Social Inequality. Infrastructures of Citizenship: Digital Life in the Global City edited by Deborah Cowen, Alexis Mitchell, Brett Story and Emily Paradis, UBC Press.
Book Reviews
2017 Maki, K. The Healing Journey: Intimate Partner Abuse and Its Implications in the Labour Market. Studies in Social Justice, 11(2): 394-399.
2009 Maki, K. Out There in Here: Masculinity, Violence and Prisoning. Journal Prisoners on Prisons, 18 (1/2): 190- 191.
Research and Technical Reports (non-reviewed)
2024 Hoogendam, R. and K. Maki. Feminist Brain Drain: Labour Issues and Worker Wellness in the VAW Shelter Sector. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2022 Hoogendam, R. and K. Maki. Shelter Voices Special Issue: Labour Issues and the Impact they have on VAW Shelter Staff. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2022 Hoogendam, R. and K. Maki. Environmental Scan: Pan-Canadian Child Welfare Policies and Practices. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2022 Roebuck, B., Ferns, A., Scott, H., Maki, K., Tapley, J., Tague, C., McGlinchey, D., Vedard, T., Boileau, A., Thompson, K., Ahmad, and A., Rodriguex. COVID-19, Victim Services, and Well-being. Department of Justice, Canada.
2021 Dale, A., Maki, K., and R. Nitia. Expert Engagement to Address and Prevent Gender-Based Violence Final Report. A Report to Guide the Implementation of a National Action Plan on Violence Against Women and Gender-Based Violence. Ottawa ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2020 Canadian Women’s Foundation, Women’s Shelters Canada, Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, Anita Olsen Harper (NACAFV), and Jihan Abbas (DAWN Canada). Resetting Normal: Systemic Gender-Based Violence and the Pandemic. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Women’s Foundation.
2020 Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic. United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Call for submissions: COVID-19 and the increase of domestic violence against women.
2020 Maki, K. Shelter Voices Special Issue: The Impact of COVID-19 on VAW Shelters and Transition Houses. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2020 Maki, K. Breaking the Cycle of Abuse and Closing the Housing Gap: Second Stage Shelters in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2019 Maki, K. Transitioning to a Life Free from Violence: Developing a National Profile of Second Stage Shelters. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2019 Maki, K. More than a Bed: Developing a National Profile of VAW Shelters and Transition Houses. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2018 Maki, K. Mapping VAW Shelters and Transition Houses: Initial Findings of a National Survey. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
2017 Maki, K. Housing, Homelessness, and Violence Against Women: A Discussion Paper. Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.
Other publications:
2025 Maki, K. Building collective care and collective power: Lessons learned from anti-violence workers. The Philanthropist Journal.
2022 Maki, K. Workers Supporting Survivors of Gender-Based Violence are Demanding Change. The Conversation.