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Circle speaker biographies

Myeengun Henry

Myeengun states that he has been very fortunate to have studied Anishnabe culture with various elders and today he is a conductor of ceremony and practitioner of Aboriginal traditional medicine and the Anishnabe language. He has conducted many weddings, funerals, and naming and healing ceremonies. His practice is within traditional medicine supports healing from various illnesses such as cancers and diabetes. He has gained extensive experience at Anishnabe Health Toronto as program manager and as oshkibiiwis (healer’s helper) along with working on the street patrol program in the homelessness initiative.

He has been asked to speak at the world religions conference three times representing Aboriginal Spirituality in Waterloo and conducts many cultural workshops and speaking engagements. He has blessed the 2010 Olympic flame that crossed through Chippewas of the Thames. He likes to use the Seven Grand-father teachings and Medicine Wheel along with scientific research as a guide for decisions and pass this on to those looking for direction.

He teaches through story-telling and through presentations and conferences.

He values education in its many forms and through consultation with community leaders, spiritual people and looking at current statistics there is need to elevate opportunities to promote higher education. He conducts a youth group in Kitchener Ontario and they have built healthy relationships with youth in various Aboriginal communities. Creating identity and fully understanding the teachings of the “stages of life” our youth can achieve and excel through this extremely important time in their lives. Not one more youth suicide will be tolerated!

He has been honoured with the spoken word award for my radio show “from where we are heard” out of the University of Windsor and is currently the host of a new radio show out of Conestoga College [currently Manager of Aboriginal Services] called “Nish-Vibes”. He has been able to bring youth into these radio shows to demonstrate an excellent career. He holds an Honours diploma in Indigenous wellness and addiction prevention from Canadore College and was honoured by Canadore College as their only nominee for the prestigious Ontario Premiers Award."

His family consists of his wife of 9 years, Lori, his daughter Matilda 25, daughter Allana 17, son Aaron 8 (an Elvis impersonator), daughter Jillian 6 and Grandfather to Orion. His parents are Arnold and Freda Henry of Chippewas of the Thames.

Jean Becker

Jean Becker is of Innu, Inuit and English ancestry and a member of the Nunatsiavut Territory of Labrador. Jean has a Master’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Guelph.

Jean is currently the Senior Advisor: Aboriginal Initiatives at Wilfrid Laurier University, advising the institution on Aboriginal issues and working to implement Laurier’s commitment to the development and enhancement of post-secondary educational opportunities for Aboriginal students. Jean is responsible for overseeing the strategic directions of the university related to Aboriginal activities. She provides leadership for implementation of Laurier’s goals for further engaging Aboriginal communities. She works with a team of Aboriginal staff to create services and a welcoming space for Aboriginal students at each of Laurier’s locations and supports the implementation of indigenous knowledge within academic programs and student support services.

Howard Loft

An intergenerational residential school survivor, John Howard Loft thrives as a brother, nephew, father, uncle, cousin, grandfather, life-partner, friend, helper, traditional teacher, worker. He is a Sacred Fire Keeper, and is a wise, kind, and humble Elder. Howard most eagerly looks forward to becoming a first-time Great- grandfather this year. Having lived in Hamilton for over forty years, Howard was ready to return to "the rez". So in 1999, he built a family home, and did just that.  He resides with his spouse of twenty four years on their home band of the Six Nations of The Grand River Territory.

As a child, Howard's father had been in The Mush Hole. Although Howard escaped the same fate, he did suffer the impacts.

Howard was not brought up knowing of the richness and deep spirituality of his cultural heritage. Was not taught his Mother Tongue Language. Even up to today, Howard is not sure of his true nationhood, or clanship, does not carry a spirit ceremonial "Indian name." 

Knowing the Howard of today, it is almost impossible to believe that he comes from a background of adverse poverty, emotional abuse and neglect, involvement in the criminal justice system, broken family relationships, lack of formal education and consistent work history. Being void of an empowering cultural self-identity, rampant overt racism easily crushed any sense of self-worth he had.  The racist term, "drunken Indian" became a self-fulfilling prophecy resulting in decades of addiction and homelessness.

A inextinguishable yearning to know who and what he was, whose he was, to find a more meaningful existence, was the impetus to his miraculous escape from the deadly clutches of hopelessness, and utter despair. Within Howard, flickered a spiritual ember- a  spark - of what he has come to know as being The Creator.

Lila Bruyere MSW, BSW

My name is Lila Bruyere, I am Ojibway from the Couchiching First Nation near Fort Frances, Ontario. I have been residing in southern Ontario for approximately 14 years.

I, was a single mother to raised my three sons, Gary, Shawn and Mike and raised them on my own. It was challenging but it has it blessings. I graduated from Carleton University in 1998 with my Honors Bachelor in Social Work. Going back to school was the hardest challenge in my life because being a residential school survivor, I was told I was stupid and would never amount to anything, that message motivated me rather than keeping me from trying.

I worked in the field of addictions for approximately 12 years. I worked at the Fort Erie Native Friendship Center as their NNADAP worker and also for Aamjiwnaang First Nation for approximately 7 years. I am certified in Addictions & gambling counseling.

I graduated with my Masters in Social Work from Wilfred Laurier University in 2014- the Aboriginal Field of Study program, my son Shawn & I were the first aboriginal mother and son to attend the same university, the same program and graduate on the same day. My hobbies: I love karaoke, I love to sing at home along with my computer on You Tube. When I get into it, I also love doing Aboriginal crafts, one of my favorite craft to make is talking sticks, and I love to read a good book.

I entered Residential School when I was 6 years old and was there till I was 14 years of age. I attended St. Margaret’s Residential School in Fort Frances, Ontario.

Life for a survivor of Residential School has not been easy but I was determined to turn a nightmare into something positive and tell my story and this is what I have been doing since I graduated with my masters.

Shawn Johnston

Shawn Johnston is a Two Spirit Anishinaabe from Couchiching First Nations located on Treaty #3 Territory. He is the middle of three boys and was raised by his mother, a residential school survivor.

Growing up was challenging for Shawn as he faced much racism, homophobia, and abuse. Later, this would result in him dropping out of school and moving to the city Winnipeg. Still haunted by the past, Shawn would spend the next ten years addicted to drugs and alcohol.

After completing a six-week intense program at Native Horizons Treatment Centre, Shawn had decided it was time to start moving his life forward. He enrolled into the Social Service Worker program at Lambton College and started to work on his education. The next six years of his life took much determination and dedicated, but this lead Shawn to earning his Bachelor of Social Work degree from Western University as well his Master of Social Work – Aboriginal Field of Study from Wilfrid Laurier University.

During his educational journey, Shawn and his mother made national news by becoming the first mother and son to graduate together from Wilfrid Laurier University. Today, they share their story of hope and resilience to classrooms and conferences across Canada. They hope that their stories inspire the younger generation not to give up and continue earning their education. 

Tim Paci

Tim Paci holds a bachelor’s degree in English and history and a master’s degree in English from McMaster University; he also completed doctoral coursework and comprehensive examinations in the University of Waterloo’s Department of English Language and Literature before turning to teaching full-time. Among Tim’s primary interests are the democratic classroom and the influence of stories and language on meaning-making. These interests inform all of Tim’s teaching in speech communication and have led to his teaching children’s literature in the Department of English at St. Jerome’s University. Tim is also the co-founder and owner of the Business of Writing, a written and oral communication partnership active in University of Waterloo staff training and continuing education. Tim’s recent efforts have focused on course design across disciplines. He has recently designed and launched a speech communication course for arts and business students and co-designed and offered a similar course for accountancy students. Tim also coordinates the Department’s multi-sectional “Introduction to Public Speaking.” With Shannon Hartling, Tim is currently working on a paper on interdepartmental collaboration in undergraduate education growing from their work in teaching speech communication to accountancy students.  

Linda Warley

Linda Warley is a settler scholar who was born in England to English and German parents. With her family she immigrated to Canada in 1970. She earned degrees from the University of Guelph (BA Hons, 1988; MA 1989) and the University of Alberta (PhD 1994). She has worked at the University of Waterloo since 1995. She is Associate Professor in the Department of English Language & Literature and also currently Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Arts. She teaches contemporary Canadian and Indigenous literatures. Linda Warley’s research focuses on life writing. She has published on Indigenous memoirs, including Residential School memoirs, as well as digital and graphic forms of life writing. She has also co-authored three articles/book chapters on pedagogical issues that inform the teaching of Indigenous literature in Canadian universities. For many years she has taught graduate courses on Indigenous literature; last year she also developed and taught for the first time a second-year undergraduate course on the subject.

Augie Fleras

Augie Fleras is an adjunct professor of sociology at the University of Waterloo. He was the first graduate in honours anthropology at Waterloo in 1970, went on to become possibly the first Maori Studies PhD at Victoria University in Wellington NZ, and has subsequently taught at several universities, including University of Canterbury, Christchurch NZ. His research and publication interests are varied and numerous, but generally includes the domain of “Race, Ethnic, and Indigenous Relations” both in Canada and Aotearoa NZ; Race and Racism; The Politics of Indigeneity; Multiculturalism, Citizenship, and Immigration; Social Inequality and Social Problems; and Media Communication with particular emphasis on media representations of diversity. He has no intention of retiring from academia  – at least not until he arrives at the “freedom 85 package.”

Lev Marder

Lev Marder earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California-Irvine earlier this year and in September he joined Conestoga College in Kitchener as an associate faculty member. In his research he focuses on the roles of knowledge and ignorance in contemporary political theories, ethics, democratic theory, and conflict resolution. His research was generously supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and University of California-Irvine Research Fellowships. With this support, he has presented research at conferences in Canada, England, Portugal, Israel and the United States and he has also published work in the Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies (2015) and the journal of Philosophy and Social Criticism (2015). 

Susan Roy

My research examines the history of Indigenous-non-Indigenous relationships in Canada with attention to cultural performance, resource and urban development disputes, and political activism. I was a guest curator for the award winning, collaborative museum exhibition, c̓əsnaʔəm: the city before the city, that highlights an Indigenous urban landscape of Vancouver. My book, These Mysterious People: Shaping History and Archaeology in a Northwest Coast Community, details how the Musqueam First Nation’s legal and cultural expressions challenged public accounts of Indigenous history throughout the 20th century.

My current research includes a collaborative book project that examines the intersections of Sechelt First Nation genealogies, literacies, and colonial encounters on the Northwest Coast; a study of resource development and cultural property disputes in Ontario; and a history of Indian residential schools managed by the United Church of Canada. I also incorporate digital technologies and other forms of multi-media presentation to bring historical research to wider publics.

Lisa Monchalin 

Dr. Lisa Monchalin teaches in the Department of Criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, BC. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in 2004 and her Master’s degree in 2006, both in Criminology. In 2012, she graduated with her Doctorate in Criminology from the University of Ottawa, making her the first Indigenous woman in Canada to hold a Ph.D. in Criminology. Lisa is of Algonquin, Métis, Huron, and Scottish descent. Proud of her Indigenous heritage, and driven by personal and family experiences, she is determined to reduce the amount of crime that affects Indigenous peoples through education. 

Amos Key Jr.

  • First Nations Language Director, Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford
  • Assistant Professor, Centre for Indigenous Studies, University of Toronto
  • Founder/President and Trustee ~ Dream Catchers E learning Secondary School
  • Indigenous Knowledge Guardian ~Six Nations Polytechnic  ~
  • Founder of Gawenni:yo Immersion/Bilingual School Board at Six Nations at Grand River
  • Member, Teacher Education Advisory Council, Redemeer College, Hamilton
  • Board Member, De dwada deh synes Indigenous Health Board, Brantford & Hamilton

Taehowęhs aka Amos was born into the Onkwehonweh Civilization, and is a member of Mohawk Nation, gifted into the Turtle Clan of his Mother and conferred to the Sacred Circle of Faith Keepers of the Longhouse, at Six Nations of Grand River Territory,

He is an educator and staunch advocate for: First Peoples Human, Civil and Linguistic Rights; Social Justice; the decolonization of Indigenous Education and the emancipation of Indigenous Peoples . He promotes social change, social enterprise /social entrepreneurship in improving the quality of life of individuals and for encouraging ‘change-making’, volunteerism and ‘civic engagement’ in First People’s communities.  He is a keen observer and is confident in addressing human and civil rights issues facing First Nations Civilizations within, Ontario, and within Canadian Society at large.

His early career started in the realm of education with the London Board of Education as First Nation's Guidance Counselor and Native Studies Teacher and continues today with First Nations Bilingual Education, and advocating for the exceptional potential of ‘synchronous’ e-learning secondary school education.  In the past he has held elected appointments and engagements at the Local, Provincial and Federal levels.

He just recently was appointed to the University of Toronto’s, Centre for Indigenous Studies, to lead courses on Reconciliation and Languages in a tenure track position as, Assistant Professor.

In addition to his role in safeguarding and stabilizing the Onkwehonweh languages, he now provides leadership in refurbishing the former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School as a project of ‘reconciliation’ entitled ‘Save the Evidence ‘ to establish a tactile museum and interpretation centre that showcases this important era of Canadian History.  Amos is well on his way to create Canada’s first  ‘Canadian Museum of Conscience’ (CMC).

Trevor Holmes

As Senior Instructional Developer, Faculty Programs and Research, Dr. Trevor Holmes plans and delivers workshops and events for faculty, departments, and support units. He also supervises the Instructional Development team. Prior to joining the Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE), Trevor worked at a variety of universities teaching courses, supporting faculty and teaching assistants through educational development offices, and advising undergraduates. Trevor earned a PhD (English, York University) with the dissertation "Goth Rhizomes: Queer Difference in Minor Gothic Literature." A popular workshop facilitator at the national and international levels, Trevor is also interested in questions of identity in teaching and teaching development. For ten years, Trevor taught Cultural Studies 101: Culture in Thematic Perspective at Wilfrid Laurier University, and now teaches Women’s Studies 101: An Introduction to Women’s Studies regularly at the University of Waterloo. 

With regard to Truth and Reconciliation, Trevor is listening, learning, and acting with other teaching developers on indigenization of higher education curriculum and campuses, as part of a working group within the Educational Developers Caucus of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Kim Anderson

Kim Anderson is an Associate Professor teaching Indigenous Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Ontario. As an Indigenous (Metis) scholar, Anderson has spent her career working to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous families in Canada. Much of her research is community partnered and has involved gender and Indigeneity, urban Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous masculinities, and the convergence of Indigenous knowledge and water infrastructure engineering. Her single-authored books include A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood (2nd Edition, 2016) and Life Stages and Native Women: Memory, Teachings and Story Medicine (2011). Recent co-edited books include Indigenous Men and Masculinities: Legacies, Identities, Regeneration (with Robert Alexander Innes, University of Manitoba Press, 2015), Mothers of the Nations: Indigenous Mothering as Global Resistance, Reclaiming and Recovery (with Dawn Lavell-Harvard, 2014) and Kētsānawak eskwewak, Our Sisters: Walking with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited Peoples (with Maria Campbell and Christi Belcourt, forthcoming).

Laureen (Blu) Waters; Istchii Nikamoon- Earth Song

Cree/Métis / Micmac-Wolf Clan,  member of the Metis Nation of Ontario. Blu's family is from Big River Saskatchewan, Star Blanket Reserve and Bra’dor Lake, Eskasoni First Nation  Cape Breton Nova Scotia.

Full moon conductor. Traditional teachings. She has been a traditional counselor for most of life. She is a mother of 3 and a grandmother of 3 and a Sun dancer and a pipe carrier.  Blu is currently working at Peel Aboriginal network as a elder providing Traditional teachings and One on One Counseling, full moon ceremonies, and work shops. Blu is also currently working at Seneca College as a elder on campus providing Traditional teachings and One on One Counseling.

Blu grew up with her grandmother and learned about traditional medicines performing extractions, healings, and care of the sick and teachings. She was adopted by a white family. At 10 and grew up and lived in Parkdale. Blu spent many years in High Park, hunting geese, rabbits, ducks, muskrat, harvesting medicine plants and maintaining her connection to Mother Earth.  She has traveled to Nova Scotia to learn from Herbal medicine people and the Queen Charlotte Island in British Columbia where her brother is a Shaman. And medicine man. She studied landscaping and Horticulture for four years and has studied herbal medicine. Blu was also the national caucus Representative for the Toronto urban aboriginal strategy for 5 years working with the community of Toronto and the Government. She also is a graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology receiving her business software, micro computer architecture, and A+ certification. 

Blu’s gifts include:

  • Traditional teachings
  • Giving traditional spirit names
  • Hand drumming
  • Song writer
  • Creative writings

Conrad Sichler

Dr. Conrad Sichler did his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at the University of Manitoba.  The most important thing that he learned then and there was how wondrously complex the natural world truly is, and how little we truly understand about it at the microscopic level.  He then went on to study medicine at McGill University in Montreal, and was most inspired by Dr. Balfour Mount's practical teaching of spirituality and caring in medicine in his discipline of palliative care, and Dr. Lawrence Kirmayer's teachings of mind-body medicine and cross-cultural respect and communication.  After a year off spent working in community organizations and recording an album of original music, Dr. Sichler went to Queens University in Kingston for his family medicine residency, where he met a talented addictions medicine physician who he would study with for almost three years after graduating.  At the same time, he began his studies in energy medicine after meeting a renowned energy healer at Dr. Andrew Weil's Program in Integrative Medicine in Arizona while he was on a one-month elective.  He moved to Burlington, Ontario, to join an integrative medicine clinic, and now works in private practice under the banner of Sweet Medicine Integrative Health Centre.

At the same time as Dr. Sichler was learning medicine and focusing his practice on addictions medicine and psychotherapy, he was also meeting and studying with a number of indigenous elders and teachers.  He has completed one cycle of four Sundances in Sagkeeng First Nation, and holds a pipe given to him at the fourth dance.  He has also been a student of the Medicine Wheels for about a decade, and incorporates these teachings when and where he can in his clinical practice.

Luane (Lu) Lentz

Luane (Lu) Lentz is a member of the Sandy Lake First Nation and grew up In Kenora, ON. After high school, Lu attended Confederation College in Thunder Bay in an Aboriginal Social Work Program. Directly after graduating from this program, Lu moved to Southern Ontario in 2005 to pursue her undergraduate education at the University of Waterloo where she graduated with an honours degree in Psychology. Her passion for working with others, including involvement with the Aboriginal Student’s Association throughout her undergraduate career, encouraged her to pursue her Masters in Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University which she graduated from in 2010. That passion has allowed Lu to successfully transition back to the University of Waterloo in 2010 as the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre Coordinator where she works with students, staff and faculty and the larger community to share Indigenous culture through events and outreach.

Cheryl Maksymyk

Cheryl Maksymyk has been at the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre for two years.  She is known for her delicious baking and soups that bring people into the centre.  Cheryl graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a Masters of Social Work in the Aboriginal Field of Study. Her previous experience includes working with  young mothers, Indigenous youth, child and family services, and mental illness.  She brings a settler perspective to the conversation of territorial acknowledgement and the importance as a settler in recognizing Indigenous lands. 

Emma Smith

Emma Smith is an Aniishnaabe student, in her third year of her undergrad she studies Fine Arts and Business, at the University of Waterloo. She grew up on reserve at Walpole Island First Nations, known as Bkejwanong. As the co-President of the Aboriginal Student Association she is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and continuing her journey discovering her indigenous roots with her fellow students. Emma has facilitated workshops on performing territorial acknowledgements, to encourage reconciliation on campus. As avid lover of coffee, Emma spends all her spare change at Tim Hortons.

Ian Mosby

Dr. Ian Mosby is a settler historian of food, health and colonialism in Canada. His research uncovering a series of government sponsored nutrition experiments conducted primarily on Indigenous children attending Canada’s notorious Indian residential schools has also received widespread national and international media attention. He is currently continuing this work with a number of related projects exploring the history of human experimentation in Indigenous communities during the 1960s and 1970s as well as a project exploring the student experience at United Church residential schools with Susan Roy and Wanda Nanabush. His first book, Food Will Win the War: The Politics, Culture and Science of Food on Canada’s Home Front (UBC Press, 2014) was awarded the Canadian Historical Association’s 2015 Political History Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Canada Prize in the Humanities by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Kelly Laurila

Kelly is of Sáami Indigenous and Settler Irish heritage. Following a 23 year career in counselling, Kelly is now pursuing doctoral studies full-time at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is also a part-time instructor at Renison University College.  Kelly situates her thinking and ways of being in the world largely from an Indigenous perspective.  It makes sense to her and it fits with how she sees the world. Each person has their own way of being in the world and she recognizes the importance of honouring everyone’s personal reality.

For the past 11 years Kelly has been facilitating a local women's drum group and she has developed the group into a meaningful community- building space where relationships form and flourish. Under her leadership Mino Ode Kwewak Nagamowak (the Good Hearted Women Singers) has grown to bring together a diverse group of professional women, inner city women, grandmothers, and single mothers who share a love of culture and the healing power of the drum. A significant aspect of the drum circle is community outreach, education about Indigenous peoples’ history and what the drum brings to our lives, and building connections through song.  An effort that Kelly is engaged and committed to is Bridging Communities through Song; an effort to bring Indigenous and Settler peoples together in song and dialogue as a contribution to the Truth & Reconciliation process.

Amy Smoke

Amy Smoke is from the Six Nations of the Grand River, Mohawk Nation, Turtle Clan. She is a mature student, mother, public speaker, and active community member. She received her first degree, a BA in Social Development Studies in April and has returned to complete a second degree, a BSW, with her practicum work at the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Center. She served as president of the Aboriginal Students Association for 2 years and currently sits on the board of directors for the local Aboriginal housing organization. She is also one of the founding members of the local First Nations drum group, The Blue Sky Singers. Amy works hard to overcome the intergenerational trauma from residential schools in her family and now shares her experiences with other students. She was recently featured on CBC radio and the KW Record regarding her journey through substance abuse, homelessness and domestic violence. Her culture has been her lifeline and she is determined to pass this on to her two daughters.

Shannon Dea

Shannon Dea is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at University of Waterloo, where she also teaches Women’s Studies, and was formerly the Director of Women’s Studies. She researches and teaches about the history of philosophy (17th to 20th century), abortion issues, sex and gender, pedagogy, and various equity issues. She is the author of Beyond the Binary: Thinking About Sex and Gender (Peterborough: Broadview, 2016), and of numerous articles and book chapters with such journals and presses as British Journal For the History of Philosophy, Dialogue, Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Springer, Mouton de Gruyter, McGill-Queens and Routledge. Shannon has a long history of service --- to academic bodies, but also in the community. She is a former president of Planned Parenthood Waterloo Region (now SHORE); she has also volunteered in agencies that provide support for injection drug users, sex workers, and women prisoners and ex-offenders. Shannon regularly gives public talks and media interviews on matters related to gender and social justice.

Darren Thomas

Darren Thomas is a member of the Seneca Nation; he is a Bear Clan and currently resides at the Grand River Territory of the Haudenosaunee.  Darren currently is a doctoral candidate in community psychology at Wilfrid Laurier.  His research focuses on First Nations community development through Indigenous rights and resource governance.  Darren also has a consulting firm that works with the private and public sectors to learn how to better understand and work towards accomplishing the “94 Calls to Action” of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Darren continues to work closely with First Nations peoples and communities by helping to design and implement programs and initiatives that inspire Indigenous youth to be proud of their heritage, and take a powerful place in modern society.  

Naomi Johnson 

Naomi Johnson is Mohawk, Bear clan from Six Nations. Naomi has had several years’ experience within the arts as a visual artist, community artist, and curator.  Naomi has a BFA honours – Visual Arts - from York University and a diploma in Cultural Resource Management from the University of Victoria.  In 2013 she was hired as the Woodland Cultural Centre’s first Artistic Director. During this time she has curated several art exhibitions including the group exhibitionOrigins (2013) and the solo show Kent Monkman (2014). Other notable programs include the Tehonkieron:nions (They are Entertaining) performing arts series. Naomi gathered notable experience as a community artist serving as Lead Artist Facilitator for Arts Access, a three year community arts initiative lead by the AGO. Naomi continued her work as a community artist by serving as Artist in Residence for the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres - YMAQ (Youth Media Art Quilt) project. Prior to her hiring as Artistic Director- Naomi worked at the Woodland Cultural Centre as Artistic Associate assisting in the programming and implementation of Planet IndigenUS 2012.

Patricia Deadman

Patricia Deadman is a visual artist, independent curator and writer.  She obtained a Fine Arts Diploma, Fanshawe College (London, ON) and BFA Visual Arts from the University of Windsor. Deadman has participated in numerous artist residencies including Banff, Alberta; Paris, France; Merida, Oaxaca and Pachuca, Mexico since the early 1990’s.

Her lens-based work explores notions of shared history, land and culture through photography, sound and video installation. Her work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions since the 1980’s most recently in the traveling group exhibitions Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3, Contemporary Native North American Art from the Northeast and Southeast, Museum of Art and Design, New York, New York (2012-2015) and Reading The Talk, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa (2014-2017). Her work is collected in public and private collections throughout Canada, USA, Mexico and UK.

Deadman has curated numerous inter/national curatorial projects since the late 1990’s and is a former Curatorial Intern, The Power Plant: Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto); Aboriginal Curator-in-Residence, Museum London (ON); Curator of the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, SK); Acting Curator (Director/Curator) of the Woodstock Art Gallery and recently a guest curator at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, (Waterloo). She represented Canada as a member of the Canada Council, Aboriginal Curators Delegation to the Venice Biennale/Basel Art Fair (2009) and the Sydney Biennale/New Zealand (2010). She has curated exhibitions such as: simple bliss: The Paintings and Prints of Mary Pratt (2004); César Damiàn: Migration/Memory, Transitory Nature of Existence (Migration/Mémoire, Nature Transitoire de L’Existence (2011) and Tributaries: ‘twixt earth and heaven (2016).

She has acted as an advisor for institutions such as: Art Gallery of Ontario, Regina Arts Council, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Heritage, Harbourfront Centre, Ontario College of Art and Design University and Ontario Association of Art Galleries. Patricia Deadman currently lives in Woodstock, Ontario.

Andy Houston

Andy Houston is an artist-researcher in intermedia and site-specific performance, and an associate professor of theatre and performance at the University of Waterloo. In the last nineteen years, he has directed and dramaturged several large-scale site-specific, intermedia productions. As a scholar, he has published broadly in his field and edited a Canadian Theatre Review issue on site-specific performance, as well as a collection of writings on environmental and site-specific theatre in Canada, published by Playwrights Canada Press. For more information see: www.andyhouston.net

Santee Smith

Kahnyen’kehàka (Mohawk) Nation, Turtle Clan, Tekaronhiáhkhwa Santee Smith is a pottery designer, performer, choreographer, artistic director and producer from Six Nations of the Grand River territory. At the young age of 2 years old, Santee was creating her own dances and after an injury that left her with two broken legs, she went on to complete 6 years of formal dance training at Canada’s National Ballet School. After leaving the National Ballet School Santee went onto post-secondary education completing Physical Education and Psychology degrees from McMaster University and then received her Master of Arts in Dance from York University. It was while she was working on her Masters that she completed her first major choreographic work entitled Kaha:wi  based on her family creation story. In 2005, Santee Smith founded Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (KDT) which she would grow into an internationally renowned company sharing Indigenous artistic voice globally. Her body of work includes 12 full productions and over 9 short performance works. Santee has received many nominations and awards for her artistry, some of which include: Ontario Arts Council’s K.M. Hunter Award for Dance, Canada Council for the Art’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for most outstanding mid-career artists in dance, John Hobday Award for outstanding achievement in arts management, Hamilton Music Award for Kaha:wi the soundtrack, and a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Choreography in the Dance for Susuriwka willow bridge.

Rene Andre Meshake

Rene Andre Meshake is an Ojibwe elder 68, visual and performing artist, award-winning author, storyteller, flute player, new media artist and a Recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. He works to fuse Ojibwe and English words into his stories, poetry and spoken word performances, Rene communicates his Ojibwe spiritual heritage to the contemporary world. He was born in the railway town of Nakina in Northwestern Ontario and was raised by his Okomissan grandmother. His education includes: Anishinaabe oral tradition, language, arts and culture. Rene has a diploma in Graphic Design from Sheridan College and a certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers. Rene’s body of artwork, stories and his flute improvisations create a strong, expressive, and entertaining presentation for an ever-increasing audience.