Reanna Merasty

Reanna Merasty (born 1995) is a Woodland Cree architect, writer and advocate from Manitoba, Canada. and is a member of Barren Lands First Nation in Manitoba. She attended the University of Manitoba, earning a Bachelor of Environmental Design in 2019 and a Master of Architecture degree in 2021.

In 2019, during her undergraduate, Reanna co-founded the Indigenous Design & Planning Students Association (IDPSA), the first Indigenous student-led organization in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, and the first of its kind in Canada.

Merasty also sits on the Climate Action Plan Steering Committee and Indigenous Task Force with the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, is a Board Member for the design advocacy organization Storefront Manitoba, a charitable organization focused on the critical discussion, exploration, and celebration of Manitoba's design culture, and a Board Member for the Indigenous music organization Sakihiwe Festival.

She and another Indigenous architect, Darian McKinney, were tasked with restoring a donated former department store in 2023.

As of 2024, Merasty works as an architectural intern at Number TEN Architectural Group in Winnipeg.

Publications Co-Editor of "Voices of the Land: Indigenous Design and Planning from the Prairies" published in 2021.

Awards In 2020, Merasty was a recipient of the Manitoba Future 40 under 40 award.

Upon graduating with her Master's of Architecture she was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi Medal for leadership and promise of professional merit in Architecture in 2021.

In 2023, Merasty was one of three Youth Recipients of the Inspire Awards for her work and advocacy for Indigenous inclusion and representation in design education,