Intermediate Wise Practices in Indigenous Leadership - May 2025

Born and raised on the Piikani Indian Reserve in Southern Alberta, Dila is the mother of six boys and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As a young native woman, she left the reserve and moved to Washington State where she raised her sons as a single parent. Upon returning to the Piikani Nation in the 1970’s she has been a student of both western education and traditional native culture and spirituality. Dila is committed to the sharing and dissemination of the teachings derived from the native people's relationships to the land and themselves. Her knowledge and wisdom is shared in personal settings through discussion where she relates life experiences to modern issues that face Native People and their communities. Issues of addictions, family, and native spirituality are the cornerstones of her presentation that promotes an individual’s life’s learning and wellness. Furthermore, through discussion and humour, her presentations are an excellent and beneficial medium for the further human development of Native People and the promotion of cross-cultural awareness of Non-Native People.

Dila has worked in upper-management for a number of native organizations as a social services director, addictions counsellor, and elders facilitator for Corrections Canada. Her recent employment accomplishments include being an elder advisor for a number of native run human support services in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. Her presentations incorporate traditional native ceremonialism and beliefs as a vehicle to understand issues that impact and affect modern Native society.
 

Zahgausgai “Sun Ray”, Mukwa “Bear Clan”, is an Ojibwa and a 3rd Degree member of the Three Fires Midewiwin Society. John’s home community is Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound, Ontario. John’s childhood was rich in stories of his people; his Midewiwin Education began in 1982 and is ongoing. He has made it a life passion to study the “Mlikaans” Teachings which are about the whole development of the human before, during and after life. John is a Storyteller, Big Drum Carrier, Ceremonialist, Singer and Dancer. His greatest joy is watching Ojibwa youth learn and practice the culture. John generously shares his knowledge throughout Ontario. He currently works as an Elder and Knowledger Keeper at Dnaagdawenmag Binnoojiiyag Child & Family Services and is woven across many organizations. Nationally he is a founder of Feather Carriers: Leadership for Life Promotion and has carried many different roles in his life from being a young Chief for his community bringing the culture forward, to moving out into different teams, from the Early Psychosis Intervention Team at Canadian Mental Health Association as a Healer to an Elder/Healer at the Mental Health Centre in Penetanguishene and Fenbrook Medium Institution. He lectures and shares teachings in various orgnaizations and learning institutions. John travels internationally and is a well-respected teacher and elder in the Anishinaabe Nation.

Walking with vision and all of life in mind, Erin shares her Otipemisiwak-Métis heritage and passion for life – from Indigenous science through to living systems transformation.  

Erin is faculty for Banff Centre, currently supporting Indigenous Leadership and Management Development and Reconciliation and Right Relations programs. For the last six years Erin has held the role of an Indigenous Awareness Trainer for the Ontario Provincial Police co-facilitating five-day transformational learning programs and outreach. She leads the co-creation of multi-sectorial/organizational, community-youth driven life promotion initiatives with northern remote Nations.

A landscape of Erin’s recent collaborations include co-facilitating with mentor Michael Jones in hosting generative spaces and dialogue sessions for leaders on Wasan Island – Breuninger Foundation, Tamarack Institute, The Good Work Institute at Bard College, and the Garrison Institute. She has also co-facilitated with change leaders at Mind Camp and for six years has co-led Mariposa Folk Festival’s award winning greening programs, collaborating with Ryerson University. Erin has worked locally and globally, with every type of organizing structure – cultivating patterns of openness, connection, and reciprocity for collective impact. 

Erin carries a BA in Law and Environmental Studies, a MA in Global Leadership from Royal Roads University, with Post Graduate studies in Eco-psychology – land based nature reconnection programs.  Her capstone documentary, The Star Blanket Project, invited a shared inquiry into the call for Awakening the Spirit of Place in Transcending Paradigms and she was the first team to ever receive RRU Founders Award for leadership and personal development. Erin was selected to attend Getting to Maybe: A Social Innovation Residency and is currently walking in a traditional year long, Feather Carriers, Life Promotion program.  

Erin is at home and naturally walks between and bridges different worlds, braiding pathways towards what is possible, and the essence of what is being called to life.

Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux served as Vice Provost for Indigenous Initiatives at Lakehead University for three years. Effective September 2016 she was appointed the 1st Indigenous Chair for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada for Lakehead University and continues to develop pathways forward to reconciliation across Canada. 

Cynthia was inducted as a “Honourary Witness” by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2014, and is Chair of the Governing Circle for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba. 

She is a member and resident of the Chippewa of Georgina Island First Nation in Ontario and has dedicated her life to building bridges of understanding. She sees endless merit in bringing people from diverse cultures, ages, and backgrounds together to engage in practical dialogue and applied research initiatives. 

Daryl Kootenay is a young Indigenous leader, artist, entrepreneur, facilitator, educator, and mentor to many Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in his community and surrounding communities of Stoney Nakoda Nation. Daryl is a father to 3 beautiful children Nakoda, Marazu, & Haske, and recently married to his now wife, Ariel.

Daryl is known for his international experience and work throughout Africa, Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, England, France, Spain, Italy, America and Canada, and continues to work with young leaders across the globe on various projects relating to humanitarianism. His focus on Indigenous global issues sits along his work on local issues his community, and surrounding Indigenous and non-Indigenous nations and communities, are facing in the Southern Alberta region (also known as Treaty 7 Territory).

Daryl is a Stoney Nakoda Nation member through his mother’s heritage and is also from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico from his father’s heritage. Mr. Kootenay is a talented traditional artist and dancer, travelling across Turtle Island competing at many powwows and utilizing his regalia as teaching tools and methods. 

Mr. Kootenay continues to utilize his traditional knowledge, art, dance and international experience to promote and educate people of all ages, with his experience in:

• Culture and identity
• Leadership development and wise practices
• Organizational leadership
• Project management
• Strategic planning
• Healthy relationships, partnerships and alliance-building
• Mental illness and overcoming stigma
• Individualism and volunteering
• Facilitating and public speaking 
   

Daryl is the Co-executive Director of the Howl Experience, Owner of Bald Eagle Ltd., a Focal Point for the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus to the UN, Co-founder of the Nakoda Youth Council and a Co-convener of the Mni Ki Wakan Decade of Water Summit. Mr. Kootenay was recognized for his local, national and international work by the Governor General of Canada and was awarded Canada's Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers at the Rideau Hall, Ottawa.