Intermediate Leading Teams: Governance for Indigenous Councils and Boards - Fall 2023

Margaret Froh is Métis from the Qu’Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan.

Froh has a law degree from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and is currently the policy, law and compliance officer for the Chippewas of Rama First Nation in Ontario. As part of General Counsel’s Office, Froh provides legal services and is responsible to suport the First Nation leadership, staff, and committees in governance, law making, and policy development matters.

Prior to her current position, Froh served as the Aboriginal issues coordinator for the Law Society of Upper Canada, the governing body for lawyers in Ontario, and has practiced workers’ rights related law in Toronto.

Froh has taught as adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and has presented at conferences and guest lectured at various law schools on Indigenous legal matters. She has served on numerous boards of directors for Aboriginal organizations and business. Froh is a former president and current member of the Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto board of directors. She has also served as vice-president and secretary on the board of the Indigenous Bar Association, a professional national non-profit association of Indigenous lawyers in Canada. Froh is currently an alternate director for the St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino of the Rockies near Cranbrook, BC. — an innovative joint venture between three geographically and culturally diverse First Nations from across Canada (the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, the Samson Cree Nation, and the Ktunaxa Nation Council).

Tracey O’Donnell is a member of Red Rock Indian Band. She has practiced law in Ontario for over 20 years. Her practice is focused entirely on providing legal services to First Nations, their members and their organizations – both on- and off-reserve. Currently, Tracey is in private practice with an office at Nipissing First Nation. Tracey has experience in providing services in a range of areas including corporate/commercial law, employment law, civil litigation, as well as self-government negotiations, land claims negotiations and litigation. Tracey has worked with First Nations across Canada to support community and capacity development including facilitating the drafting of First Nation constitutions, visioning and strategic planning, drafting First Nation laws, developing community consultation and communications plans and resolving resource and revenue sharing disagreements. In May 2005, Tracey argued on behalf of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, and the Disabled Women’s Network of Canada: at the Supreme Court of Canada in the first Indian residential school case that reached the Supreme Court of Canada – Blackwater v. Plint. Tracey was an elected Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada from 2003 to 2007 – the first aboriginal woman elected since the Law Society was founded in 1797. Tracey has volunteered on a variety of community-based committees and Boards of Directors and with CESO. Tracey earned her Honours B.A. in Political Science from Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario in 1990, and her L.L.B./J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Ontario in 1993. Tracey is married to Tom Robertson and together they are the proud parents of three children – Katie born in 2000, Emma born in 2003 and Noah born in 2007.

Mitch Case is an avid beadworker who practices a traditional Métis floral beadwork style. Mitch began beading in 2012, when he learned to bead in order to prepare gifts for his elders when he became Midewiwin (Great Lakes Indigenous spiritual society.)

In the years since, Mitch has become a very well respected beadworker, known across the Métis Nation. Mitch is known for his traditional floral style that has been described as “Old School” “keeping the Métis floral tradition alive” and “firmly rooted in a Métis way of seeing the world.”

Mitch spearheaded the #beadworkrevolution, an online movement of Métis youth reclaiming and revitalizing their Métis beadwork traditions, with hundreds of participants including dozens of first-time bead-workers. Mitch created the Métis Nation of Ontario Youth Council bead kits, which are sold as a fundraiser to raise money for Métis youth cultural initiatives. Over 3000 bead kits have been sold across Canada, raising tens of thousands of dollars for Métis youth initiatives.

Mitch joined the Indigenous Leadership faculty team at Banff Centre in 2019. 

Native to the Kainai of Southern Alberta, Camille Pablo Russell, aa’spahk’ko’mii’kwan “Shooting in the Air” is an award winning international speaker, author, respected Blackfoot ceremonialist and cultural consultant. 

Pablo grew up with his grandparents and was nourished in traditional ceremonial life. Nearly 40yrs after joining the sundance as a young man, he continues to leads The Path of the Buffalo Sundance every summer. Sharing stories is vital to transfer teachings, for belonging and cultural preservation. Pablo has pledged his life in service to following these Old Ways, spreading deep and simple truths that cut through the modern haze for people all over the world.