MONDAY: Conversation on First Nations Policy in Canada

[Andrea Curtis]

Hey all!  

First: No one signed up for snacks this coming Monday.  Will a couple folk please bring something along to share?

Also.. There is a rally at Victory Square (Hastings/Cambie) starting at 5pm if you'd all like to meet up there first!  No Consent, No Pipelines.

Our guests on Monday will be Ginger Gosnell-Myers and Cheryl Matthew.  See Ginger's 10 minute segment on CBC's The 8th Fire here.

Ginger Gosnell-Myers Of Nisga’a and Kwakwak;awakw heritage is passionate about advancing Aboriginal rights and knowledge, while breaking down barriers between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Ginger is an Action Canada 2004 Fellow, former Commissioner to the Assembly of First Nations Renewal Commission, sits on the Editorial Board for the First Peoples Child and Family Review, and is an Associate of the Centre for Dialogue with Simon Fraser University.  Throughout 2008-2011 Ginger worked on the Environics Urban Aboriginal Peoples Study as both Project Manager and Public Engagement Director. The UAPS is Canada’s largest research study on Aboriginal people living in urban environments, and has become the leading research on urban Aboriginal people’s values, aspirations, experiences, and identity. In 2010 the UAPS received the Public Policy Impact Award by the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, and the IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Award for not for profit organizations.  Ginger has worked with numerous organizations across Canada including, The Assembly of First Nations, The Centre for Native Policy and Research, The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, The McCreary Centre Society, and the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. She was the Western Assistant to former Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Development Andy Scott, advising the Minister on issues pertaining to BC and Alberta.  She has facilitated and spoken at several provincial, national and international events, including the International Indigenous Women & Wellness Conference, the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, and the United Nations Permanent Forum of Indigenous Peoples. Ginger is featured in the inspirational book: Notes from Canada’s Young Activists: A Generation Stands up for Change (2007). She is currently the Director of the Government Non Profit Initiative with the Vancouver Foundation, is a Capstone defence away from completing her Masters of Public Policy degree at Simon Fraser University, and continues to be active within Vancouver’s Aboriginal community, and the BC First Nations political community.

Cheryl Matthew is Secwepemc from the Simpcw First Nation in British Columbia. She lives in Ottawa with her husband and two beautiful girls. She is always busy with the family, school, work, yoga, getting outside, video, and blogging. Cheryl’s extended family Jerry Jack the Hereditary Chief of the Mowachaht gifted her with the name Nee-Pa-Too-Tl, which means pillar of the family or strength of the family (the centre beam in a long house).

She is passionate about ensuring the involvement of Aboriginal people in decision-making, policy and research in Canada. She works with government on Aboriginal issues in Ottawa. Prior to that she was the founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Native Policy and Research in Vancouver, BC. She has 15 years of experience working in the Aboriginal community in both on and off reserve contexts with organizations such as the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, Urban Native Youth Association, BC Assembly of First Nations, and the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council. She started a consulting company in 1999 for research, policy analysis, facilitation and project management.


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Andrea Curtis
Regional Coordinator, Next Up BC
c) 778 549 7874