Hillary Thatcher is the Director General of Innovation and Services at Indigenous Services Canada.  Prior to joining the federal government, Hillary spent 15 years with the Ontario Public Service in several senior roles across Energy, Indigenous Affairs, and Natural Resources.  With significant public sector experience expertise in public policy, Indigenous relations, program delivery and departmental operations, Hillary has a proven performance record of building linkages between government, industry, and Indigenous interests, resulting in optimization and development of people, process and technology.  Hillary is Métis with roots in Northern Alberta and has been an active member of the Urban Indigenous Community in Toronto through her volunteer work at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, Red Sky Performance, and DWF.

Laura Arngna’naaq is an Inuk originally from the community of Qamani’tuaq, Kivalliq region, Nunavut. Laura holds a BBA from Trent University, an MMPA from the University of Toronto and is a CPA, CA. Laura is currently Tides Canada’s Northern Program Specialist working with the charity’s northern programming. Laura is a member of the fourth cohort of the Jane Glassco Northern Fellowship and an interim board member of the Yellowknife Inuit Kattujiqatigiit. Laura was formerly the Co-President of the Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada, co- founder of Torontomiutaujugut, and the Secretary-Treasurer at Tunngasuvvingat Inuit.

Since her groundbreaking debut, 1964’s It’s My Way!, the Cree singer-songwriter has been a trailblazer and a tireless advocate, an innovative artist, and a disruptor of the status quo. Sainte-Marie has spent her whole life creating, and her artistry, humanitarian efforts, and Indigenous leadership have made her a unique force in the music industry. In 1969, she made one of the world’s first electronic vocal albums; in 1982 she became the only Indigenous person to win an Oscar; she spent five years on Sesame Street where she became the first woman to breastfeed on national television. She’s been blacklisted and silenced. She’s written pop standards sung and recorded by the likes of Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, Donovan, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. She penned “Universal Soldier,” the definitive anti-war anthem of the 20th century. She is an icon who keeps one foot firmly planted on both sides of the North American border, in the unsurrendered territories that comprise Canada and the USA.

Dr. Alika Lafontaine is an award-winning physician, speaker, alignment consultant, and the first Indigenous physician listed by the Medical Post as one of Canada’s 50 Most Powerful Doctors.  He is a recognized expert on Indigenous health systems and health policy, institutional bias, racism and reflective practice.  For three years, he led the Indigenous Health Alliance project whose mission was to establish health transformation within Indigenous health systems, led politically by Indigenous leadership representing more than 150 First Nations across three Provinces.  In 2018, $68 million of federal funding was committed towards health transformation within these Indigenous Territorial regions.

Dr. Lafontaine has been a northern representative to the Alberta Medical Association since 2011 and has held various leadership positions within the Alberta Medical Association and Canadian Medical Association.  He Chairs the Governance committee of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is a board member of HealthCareCAN and is a past president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada.  He is a council member-at-large with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chair of the Regional Advisory Committee Region 1 and is a past member of the Indigenous Health Advisory Committee.

Dr. Lafontaine also holds operational roles with Alberta Health Services and is Medical Director of the Northern Indigenous Health Program.

He lives in Grande Prairie, AB with his family and continues to practice full-time as an Anesthesiologist.