OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Karen is an Associate Professor, Midwifery Education Program, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McMaster University in the settlement of Hamilton, Ontario. As an Anishinaabeg midwife and Registered midwife, Karen is a global leader in comprehensive, gender-inclusive sexual and reproductive health care research for Indigenous Peoples. Karen currently holds funding for several key research projects to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on evacuation for birth, and mapping sexual and reproductive healthcare services for Indigenous Peoples.

Helen is an Anishinaabekwe from Namegosibiing (Trout Lake, Lac Seul First Nation, Treaty 3, northwest ON). She has worked in the not-for-profit sector, reporting directly to the Boards of Directors for three national organizations and has also sat as a board member herself. She is a doctorally trained historian and author of two books, Dadibaajim: Returning Home Through Narrative (2021) and Following Nimishoomis: The Trout Lake History of Dedibaayaanimanook

Sarah Keesick Olsen (2008). Ironically, it was not until after Helen started her academic

journey that she began to appreciate her Anishinaabe heritage and the preciousness of her mother’s teachings. She is deeply concerned for the preservation of Indigenous

knowledges, world views, languages, and the dadibaajim narrative practice, even

though she of dual heritage by virtue of her Norwegian father’s immigration to the

Anishinaabe homelands of her mother. Currently she is working on a third book in which she presents examples of how the Anishinaabe ancestors were able to achieve a life of affluence by means of their thought, logic, and value system. Helen lives in Winnipeg with her spouse Garth, who is of English heritage. They have a daughter, Leslie, and granddaughter, Emilia, who also reside in Winnipeg.

Carol graduated midwifery school from Toronto Metropolitan University in 1998. Carol is the new Member at Large on the Association of Ontario Midwives Board, and her particular interest is to support and advance the board’s strategic goal around restoring birth to Indigenous communities. Enthusiastic about association-level work, she is a founding member of the National Council of Indigenous Midwives (NCIM). She has served as a board member for women’s shelters, the College of Midwives of Manitoba, the Canadian Association of Midwives, and is an elder member of the core leaders of NCIM. Carol has co-chaired the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada’s  (SOGC) Aboriginal Women’s Health Committee and helped write the SOGC recommendations on returning birth to rural and remote Aboriginal communities, as well as recommendations for rural and remote maternity care. Carol is passionate about being a good midwife and a strong traditional teacher. She comes from a Family tradition of Midwifery, as her great grandmother was a midwife on Nipissing First Nation, her niece Evelyn George is a midwife who works in a First Nation in BC, and Carol is extremely proud to practice with her daughter, Rachel Dennis Kodji.

Jennifer’s Anishinaabe name is Kessis Sagay-Yas Egett Kwé: First Shining Rays of Sunlight Woman. She is a member of the Pine Creek Indian Band and her maternal Indigenous roots are from Duck Bay, Pine Creek and Camperville, Manitoba. Her paternal Ukrainian-Norwegian roots are from Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. Jennifer is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Maternal Child Wellness at the University of Calgary.

Alisa Lombard is a client-centric, multi-lingual published lawyer specializing in legal and policy matters with respect to Indigenous-Crown relations. Alisa initiated her professional legal career at the Specific Claims Tribunal in 2009, where she participated in establishing the foundations of the Tribunal, advised on 70+ specific claims and progressed to become Senior Legal Counsel. Alisa holds an LLM and her thesis research examined bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. Her thesis, Reproductive Justice and Indigenous Women: Tethering Physicians to the Charter (2023), is currently embargoed due to the confidential content. She is a member in good standing of the Ontario and Saskatchewan law societies, and carries out a national practice. Alisa is a devoted citizen of the Mi’kmaq Nation (originates from Elsipogtog First Nation in NB).

David is an ally settler and was most recently Director of the Canada Water Agency Transition Office, responsible for establishing a national agency to manage freshwater in Canada. Prior to that he was lead negotiator for all fisheries treaty and reconciliation agreements with Indigenous Nations in marine waters in Canada. His expertise lies in relationship building, and the multiple connections between Indigenous community health, fisheries, water, language and culture.