Senator Patti Laboucane-Benson
Senator Patti LaBoucane-Benson is a Métis from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta. Her 30-year career has been dedicated to serving her community in Alberta, across Canada and around the world—as the director of a Boys and Girls Club in St. Paul in 1990, through 23 years of service at Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA), and Conference Director and Lead Facilitator of the Nelson Mandela Dialogues in Canada, an international gathering of freedom fighters that took place on Enoch Cree Nation in 2017.
Patti’s research for her PhD in Human Ecology (University of Alberta) focused on how Indigenous families and communities experience their own resilience in response to multiple forms of trauma. Her lifelong work has become an extended conversation about healing from historic trauma.
Patti’s perspectives on this conversation are rooted in her transformative experiences of the Cree ceremony. The Elders’ teachings of kindness, respect, humility, and honesty have informed her life as well as her research into best practices for Indigenous offender healing, domestic violence, and historic trauma-informed service delivery. Her most recent research bridges neuroscience and Indigenous knowledge of child development, as well as finding common ground between Western and Indigenous water science.
As a recognized catalyst for change, Dr. LaBoucane-Benson was appointed to Alberta Ministerial Panel for Child Intervention (2017-18) that resulted in Bill 18: Child Protection and Accountability Act. The primary focus of the panel was reducing the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in care in Alberta.
Patti brought her PhD research to life through a work of creative non-fiction, an award-winning graphic novel—The Outside Circle (House of Anansi, 2015)—that tells the story of an inner-city Aboriginal family who transcend poverty, gang affiliation, and hopelessness. Her teaching materials are used in classrooms across Canada and in training sessions for professionals.
Dr. LaBoucane-Benson continues to share her knowledge of healing from historic trauma with educators, healthcare professionals, lawyers and policy makers, as well as Indigenous communities. She believes that healing and reconciliation dialogue is the way forward in Canada, with focus on surfacing the common ground between Western and Indigenous people. The best, most useful policy and legislation will reflect this shared space that unites us as a society.
Appointed to the Senate in October 2018, Senator Patti LaBoucane-Benson lives fully in the space that helps define Canada. She is an avid gardener and her husband Allen is a traditional Nehiyaw (Cree) hunter; they believe that food security includes the respectful harvest of food from the land. They live near Stony Plain, Alberta, with their son Gabriel, on an acreage that has hosted ceremony, workshops, and dozens of transformational conversations with Elders, elected officials, and leaders from around the world.
Matricia Brown
Recently Matricia has spent her summers educating and entertaining guests at the Jasper Park Lodge, through the APT Tour groups, Rocky Mountaineer, Pursuit and Jasper Parks. This involved over 500 performances for her and her group. Covering a different Indigenous cultural theme and interweaving knowledge with her drumming and singing, they shared songs they have composed as well as several songs gifted from other women and drum groups.
Matricia is a singer, songwriter, musician, drummer and an artist. Matricia teaches drum making, leather binding and many more traditional arts and craft workshops. She also has her own jewelry line where she infuses First Nations aspects of her culture into modern jewelry designs. She makes many moccasins, traditional fur mittens and much more.
Matricia has had the privilege of sharing her culture over the last 20 years to schools throughout the Yellowhead Region. She has been a guest lecturer at every school in Edson and has presented at Dream-speakers Film Festival (Edmonton) 2008, and at Kiyanaw-Klondike (Edmonton) 2009, and NCTCA 2010. She has won the Aboriginal Women's Day award from the Edson Friendship Centre where she has served as an active Board Member and volunteer since 2004, been recognized as a finalist for Cultural Ambassador from the Indigenous Tourism Association of Alberta, a finalist for best Indigenous Experience in Canada by the Tourism Association of Canada and awarded the 2020 Esquao award for Indigenous Women in Leadership from the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. She is also a member of the drumming group "Warrior Women'' and has performed throughout Alberta teaching youth her songs and culture.
Dr. Sean Lessard
Dr. Sean Lessard is Woodland Cree and is from Montreal Lake Cree Nation in Northern Saskatchewan Treaty 6 territory. Sean is a former youth worker, teacher and high school guidance counsellor. He is known for his award winning work alongside Indigenous youth and communities in the development of innovative educational programming and in particular Indigenous youth empowerment. Dr. Sean Lessard currently is an Associate Professor Secondary Education at the University of Alberta, in Indigenous Education and Teacher Education. He continues to write and research on the experiences of Indigenous youth and families in and outside of school places.
Dr. Dwayne Donald
Dr. Dwayne Donald is a descendent of the amiskwaciwiyiniwak and the Papaschase Cree and is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. His work focuses on ways in which Indigenous wisdom traditions can expand and enhance our understandings of curriculum and pedagogy.
Edmonton Métis Traditional Dancers
For the last 20 years the Edmonton Mètis Cultural dancers have been offering workshops on Mètis History, Mètis Identity, Mètis Culture through Dance, Music and Storytelling.They have experience doing workshops at Youth Conferences, Cultural Days, Community Dance Workshops, Elementary, Junior and Senior High Schools, Elder Gatherings and many more events.