Speakers/Bios

Amy Bombay

Amy is an Ojibway (Rainy River First Nation) researcher who completed her PhD (2012) at Carleton University in Psychology and Neurosciences, a two-year CIHR postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research. In July 2014, Amy joined Dalhousie University as an Assistant Professor, being split between the Department of Psychiatry and the School of Nursing. She has led and been involved in various quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods projects investigating factors related to well-being and mental health among Indigenous adults and youth living on and off reserve. Her primary areas of inquiry have focused on exploring the relationships between historical trauma, contemporary stressor exposure, and mental health among Indigenous peoples in Canada. One of her main programs of research has explored the different pathways by which Indian Residential School trauma is transmitted across generations, which has garnered extensive media interest and has been influencing policy and practice related to Indigenous health.

Aimée Craft

Aimée Craft is an Indigenous lawyer and a professor of law at the University of Manitoba. She was recently appointed at the Director of Research at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Her expertise is in Anishinaabe and Canadian Aboriginal law. In her decade of legal practice at the Public Interest Law Centre, Professor Craft has worked with many Indigenous peoples on land, resources, consultation, human rights and governance issues. Her award-winning 2013 book, Breathing Life Into the Stone Fort Treaty, focuses on understanding and interpreting treaties from an Anishinaabe inaakonigewin (legal) perspective.

Professor Craft is past chair of the Aboriginal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association and member of the Speaker's Bureau of the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba. In 2011, she received the Indigenous Peoples and Governance Graduate Research Scholarship.

Dr. Claire Crooks

Dr. Crooks is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education at Western University and the Director of the Centre for School Mental Health. She is one of the lead developers and researchers of the Fourth R, the relationship-based program aimed at preventing violence and related risk behaviors among adolescents. She is particularly interested in adaptation and implementation issues related to evidence-based practices. Her work in this area includes development and evaluation of strategies that meet the unique needs of Aboriginal youth, and she is the lead author of Engaging Aboriginal Youth: A toolkit for service providers (2010, Trafford). She is the Principal

Investigator of a $4 million grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada to look at adaptation and implementation of the evidence-based Fourth R in five provinces and territories. She also holds a multi-year grant from Health Canada to evaluate the implementation and impact of the Fourth R Healthy Relationships Plus program in across 5 provinces and territories. Dr. Crooks trains judges, lawyers, and other court professionals as a Faculty member for the U.S. National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and also for the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence. In February 2005 she testified before the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights on the extent to which Canada is meeting its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. She is co-author of more than 50 articles, chapters, and books on topics including school-based programming with Aboriginal youth, children’s exposure to domestic violence, child custody and access, adolescent dating violence and risk behavior, and trauma. She is co-author of the book, Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Why teens experiment and strategies to keep them safe (2006; Wolfe, Jaffe, & Crooks, Yale University Press). She is on the editorial board of the Violence Against Women journal.

Dr. Reg Crowshoe

Reg Crowshoe is a Blackfoot Cultural and Spiritual Advisor, and is the former Chief of the Piikani Nation. Reg and his late father, Joe Crowshoe, travelled extensively around the world bringing awareness and education about Blackfoot history, traditions and spirituality. In 1997, Reg developed the Blackfoot Framework for Decision-Making and Mediation Process called Akak'stiman, and presents it widely to Corporations, Government, Aboriginal organizations and the Non-Profit sector. Akak'stiman is a Blackfoot World View on dual paradigms; Western Thinking and Blackfoot Thinking, and how these paradigms can be integrated to best serve Aboriginal people. Reg sits on many Committees and Boards in Calgary, and commits his time to other provincial and national organizations. As the Board for Calgary 2012 concluded in March 2013, he ensured the Legacy Project for Calgary 2012 was the Making of Treaty 7 Project; a project that tells the important local history of Treaty 7. Beginning in 2011, he played an instrumental role as the Cultural and Spiritual Advisory for

Leonard G. Flett C.M.

Len is a Cree Status member of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation (Big Trout Lake, Ontario). Originally from Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, he has an extensive 42 year background in the retail management industry with the Hudson's Bay Company and The North West Company. Throughout his career he worked at many levels of operational management including personnel management and recruitment. He retired from The North West Company on September 23, 2005.

Len most recently held the position of Vice-President, Store Development and Public Affairs, for The North West Company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was responsible for the expansion of the company through negotiating entry into new markets and re-negotiating existing agreements in present markets. Although Len worked across all segments of society, his focus remained with Aboriginal communities which hosted the core of The North West Company's buisness. In addition, he provided community relations assistance at all management levels and represented the company's interest with various governments. Len was responsible for the management of the physical capital assets of the company (Over $200 Million) through the Facilities Management group and Real Estate division and for the operations of the Diversified Business group, Inuit Art Marketing Service and Fur Marketing Services. He was also responsible for the Public Affairs functions of the company.

Len has been recognized by the Aboriginal community in general with the bestowal of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the category of Business and Commerce in 2002. In 2004, Len was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in the category of Industry and Commerce in recognition of his work with Aboriginal entities. In his position with The North West Company he has successfully negotiated 50 agreements with Aboriginal entities which created over 800 new jobs and initiated $100 Million in capital investments on First Nation reserves across the country. In 2008, Len was honoured by the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce with their inaugural Life Time Achievement Award in Aboriginal Business. In 2012, Len was inducted as a Member of the Order if Manitoba in recognition of his creation of economic and employment opportunities for First Nations people and also for his volunteer work with Aboriginal entities. In 2012, he was a recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. Len remains an active volunteer director of Indspire, an Aboriginal charitable foundation dedicated to raising funds for bursaries and scholarships. In early 2016, Len was invited to sit on a voluntary committee position of PEAC (Premier's Economic Advisory Council) Food Strategy Task Group examining affordability and accessibility of good food in Manitoba. He has sat on and chaired numerous volunteer boards over his career. He is a past director for the corporate board of the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, past Chair of Median Credit Union and also a past director of Acres Manitoba (now Hatch) which specialized in Hydro developments and flood control. Len is a published author of his memoirs titled From the Barren Lands which was successfully launched in November of 2015 by Great Plains Publications. Now retired, Len enjoys golf, fishing,

Tara Hanson

Tara worked in business, health, and mental health before joining the Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research in 2008. As Executive Director of Business and Partnership Strategies she leads provincial research, evaluation and knowledge mobilization initiatives. She collaborates on projects with academic, government and community stakeholders. Much of her work focuses on social issues including mental health and addictions, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and housing and homelessness. She also supports the priorities of the Centre’s Aboriginal Advisory Committee, including the evolving Aboriginal Research Strategy.

Tara has a BA, Master of Arts in Communications and Technology (U of A), and a Knowledge Translation Professional Certificate from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine. She also studied social innovation through an inaugural program offered by the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society and the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience.

Bonnie Healy

Bonnie is a Registered Nurse from the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe) and former Regional Coordinator for the RHS Survey. She is currently the Alberta First Nations Information Governance Centre's (AFNIGC) Operations Manager.

Bonnie has worked in Nursing for the past 28years throughout North America including New Mexico UNMH ER, Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, First Nations Inuit Health Branch and First Nations Communities in Alberta.

Bonnie's experience and expertise in First Nations Information Systems gives her a clear understanding and a strong passion for using data as a tool for change and giving voice to Alberta First Nations Leadership's right to self-determination, control and jurisdiction in reliable research and accurate statistics, based on the Alberta Chief's directive to uphold the First Nations principles of Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP) of First Nations data, information and traditional knowledge. Mrs. Healy's work with Leadership and First Nations communities provides the ability to liaise/facilitate relationships between Health systems and First Nations to support the recognition of First Nations' jurisdiction and governance pertaining to the activities of the collection and use of First Nations information and data throughout the duration of the research/data collection initiative.

Kerrie Moore

Kerrie Moore MSW, RSW, Cree/Métis is originally from Saskatchewan. Kerrie is in Private Practice, specializes in trauma and grief, and has extensive experience and training in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Kerrie has worked for over 20 years as a consultant, educator and clinical practitioner in the fields of Justice, Child Welfare, Health Canada, Education, Veterans Affairs and Community Development. Kerrie is a facilitator providing workshops for the University of Calgary, agencies who work with Aboriginal people and with the Calgary Homeless Foundation. She is an integrative psychotherapist and incorporates both Traditional and Bio-Medical methodology in her practice. Kerrie is acknowledged and accepted as a Spiritual Advisor and Knowledge Keeper. Kerrie is a recipient of the Alumna of the Year Award 2008, from the University of Calgary, Women's Resource Center.

Josie Nepinak

Josie Nepinak is the Executive Director of Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society, the only aboriginal urban women’s shelter in Alberta, and has a strong 25 year background steeped in complex, social issues working with Aboriginal organizations and advocating for aboriginal women and families affected by family violence. She has a degree in Women's Studies with a graduate studies in Management. Josie is Anishinabe from the treaty four area and believes in a balanced approach, with teachings of Aboriginal wisdom and healing in combination with contemporary western methodologies in promoting the health and well-being of First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals, families and communities. Josie brings focus, clarity, creativity and inspiration to ensure Awo Taan Healing Lodge Society achieves results.

Cst Cindy Provost

Constable Cindy Provost (far left) is a veteran officer of 18 years with the Calgary Police Service. She works as the Aboriginal Liaison Officer under the Community & Youth Services Section, a position she has enjoyed for over 10 years. Her goal every day is to follow in her Great Grandfathers and Great Uncles World War I footsteps learning to serve and to sacrifice and work towards instilling peace and harmony for our grandchildren.

Cindy’s work with the Calgary Police Service involves traditional ways and building compassion to draw connections between Canadian Indigenous and Metis communities and the broader mainstream community. Her personal experiences and testimonies support the hope and understanding for educators, community partners and her Service members to build and re-establish relationships with Indigenous families. Cindy’s Blackfoot name is Naatosaki “Sun Woman” a name she received in 2012 to help carry her in her life and in her work. She is originally from Piikani Nation and often travels to visit family and friends back home. As a single parent raising her two beautiful daughters Cindy’s greatest achievement is supporting her daughters in their educational journey.

Camille Pablo Russell

Camille Pablo Russell (right) was born on the Blood Reserve and was partly raised by his grandparents where he learn the stories and language. He was exposed to the stories and customs of his grandfathers friends whom called him a friend. He would also go visiting with his great grandfather who was 108 and visit his friends. He learned the history and customs from these old people and was quiet comfortable with them. At the age of 19 he joined the Piercing Sundance and Danced for 11yrs usually they only dance for 4 yrs. He then became a leader and supported his teacher in the sundance. He learned from 3 Grandmothers and 1 Sundance chief about herbs which was 18yrs of learning. He also learn from his teacher the Medicine Wheel teaching which took 13yrs. He has worked and upgraded his education at the Red Crow Colleges helping develope the Blackfoot studies, at the College he won the Aboriginal achievement award for retaining his language which was submitted by the College. He also worked as a researcher for his tribe specializing in Pre contact with his knowledge from his elders. He then went on a vision quest where he receive the buffalo song and was told to teach the children to be like a buffalo. He moved to Calgary and worked at the Glenbow Museum for 6yrs and the community of Calgary Where he received the David Crowchild award. He went on another vision quest and was told to go to Europe to teach them about the buffalo, He was there for 23yrs. He came back 3yrs ago and currently works at the Elbow River healing lodge as a traditional Wellness councillor by day and night he is the elder for the Calgary Remand Center. He continues to go to Europe twice a year to help the people in Europe and supports agencies in Calgary when asked to.

Guest Speakers