Calling Our Spirits Home: Indigenous Women in Leadership - April 2025

Alice Kaquitts is a proud member of the Stoney Nakoda Wesley First Nation. Alice is a respected elder and community leader in the Stoney Nakoda nation and is the daughter of Alice Kaquitts Sr. and Thomas Simeon, and great-granddaughter of renowned Chief Hector Crawler. 

Alice grew up in a traditional way of life where Nakoda language, culture and protocols were taught and followed. Alice’s formal education includes a diploma from Mount Royal College and a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Calgary. Alice has been working within the Stoney Nakoda Nation in senior level positions for over 20 years.  

Alice is a healthy, proud grandmother to 5 beautiful grandchildren and mother to two adult sons, and enjoys passing on her traditional knowledge and teachings to the future generations.

Marcia Turner is an award-winning consultant and TEDx speaker. She is Gitxsan from the community of Gitanyow and grew up in Gitsegukla. Marcia is from the Lax Gibuu (wolf clan) and Wilp Haijimsxw (House of Chief Haijimsxw) and carries the name Tsu’malit, a leadership responsibility. She is a mother of four grown sons and currently lives on Vancouver Island in unceded Snuneymuxw territory also known as Nanaimo. 

Marcia is the CEO/Founder of Daxgedim Haanak’ Consulting, a company specializing in systems change and decolonization to dismantle white supremacy and advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2023 she received the Indigenous Business of the Year award from the BC Achievement Foundation, and in May 2024 was invited to speak at TEDxRRU about a framework she developed – the Four Indigenous Conditions of Systems Change™. Drawing from her ancestral teachings, Marcia’s work is rooted in her Gitxsan values, teachings and practices. Marcia and her team of all-Indigenous associates address equity for Indigenous peoples, privilege Indigenous knowledge systems, and amplify the voices of Indigenous peoples. 

Marcia brings a wealth of knowledge with over thirty years of experience working collaboratively with a diverse range of First Nations communities, Indigenous organizations, public agencies, non-profit organizations, post-secondary institutions, and governments across BC and Canada. She has a Master’s Degree in Leadership from Royal Roads University, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science with a minor in Indigenous Studies from the University of Victoria. 

Erin (Gizhagatte, Ashati Sakahikan) belongs to the crystalline waters of Benessai Ochininissing, Skeleton Lake in the traditional lands of the Three Fires of the Anishinabek - Ojibway, Potawatomi and Odawa Peoples in Ontario, Canada.  Erin walks with vision, and all of life as mind, bridging worlds and reweaving pathways towards what is possible and the essence of what is being called to life. She is woven through Reconciliation Canada as the Director of Knowledge and Indigenous Leadership in fields of collective transformation; lead faculty for Indigenous Leadership at the Banff Centre [Wise Practices for Indigneous Leaders and Truth and Reconciliation through Right Relations]; assistant professor in the Global Leadership MA at Royal Roads University, convenor of Indigneous Leadership within the International Leadership Association, firekeeper for the World Ethic Forum.  Erin is involved with many efforts of planetary health from Skeleton Lake, to the artistry of community weaving with the Together Insitute, and life promotion through Feather Carriers Leadership for Life Promotion and the Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention.  Erin identifies as otipêmisiwak, Cree-Michif and Icelandic-English and works collectively as one with nations across Akiikwe, Mother Earth.   She carries many different experiences in her life bundle, including a MA Global Leadership, post-graduate certification in Ecopyschology, Getting to Maybe Systems Change Residency and Wolf Willow Positive Deviants Fellow in our everlasting circles of collective wisdom.

Karri-Lynn Paul, a seasoned Indigenous adult educator from Wôlastôqewisqehsan (Woodstock First Nation), brings a distinctive leadership approach. Beyond mere theory, her personal leadership journey is filled with stories of resilience, perseverance and turning failures into stepping stones. Holding a Master's in Adult Education and over two decades of practical experience, she's dedicated to creating transformative learning experiences and promoting positive social change. Karri-Lynn is passionate about tapping into our inner wisdom and envisioning a future rooted in Indigenous values. She believes that recognizing life's abundance, sharing our stories, and engaging in reflective practices are the foundations of powerful and enduring leadership.

Marilyn Poitras is Michif Irish from the prairies and has been a lawyer, a law professor, a writer, a film producer, a negotiator, a facilitator, a public speaker, a National Inquiry Commissioner and social systems redesigner. She is a student of Indigenous legal traditions and has worked on ancestral domain or Indigenous land as a source of law for much of her career. She teaches and learns with Elders across the country to earn an understanding of traditional law. Her expertise reaches into constitutional and aboriginal law as well as negotiation. She has researched and lectured on mental health, on design thinking and on story.

Marilyn received her law degree from the University of Saskatchewan and her masters in law from Harvard Law School. She has worked with many traditional teachers, including Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Michif and Inuit.  She works within community to create discuss and design opportunities for Indigenous participation in the Canadian politic, in rural and urban issues and on inclusion of Indigenous voice, philosophy and laws in as many places as possible.