Raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, Charlton has been a sessional lecturer in the English Department at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada. She obtained a BA Arts Hons in English and Music and MA in English Literature from Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. Her PhD on Anishinaabe Literature from Northern Ontario from the University of Saskatchewan led to a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship in Indigenous Literature in Thunder Bay through the University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada.