Judges

Christy Bressette Christy Bressette: Dr. Christy Rochelle Bressette is an Anishinabe parent, student, teacher, and community member of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. She was given the spirit name “Neta Noo-Ke Kwe” (Hard-Working-Woman) from her grandfather, the late Elder Dave Bressette. On June 23, 2008, Christy successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, Understanding Success in Community First Nation Education Through Anishinabe Meno-Bimaadziwin Action Research, making her the first Aboriginal student at The University of Western Ontario to earn a Ph.D. in Educational Studies. Christy is an educator within provincial public schools, First Nation schools, and within several Canadian universities. She is an active supporter of educational programs designed to empower Aboriginal youth and increase parental engagement. At present, she is the coordinator of Aboriginal Education at the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). She is also an advisor to the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative. More locally, Christy is the Chair of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation Education Committee.
Terry Fortin Terry Fortin: Terry Fortin is a Consultant at Quality Learning Solutions Inc. in Edmonton. He provides governance and administration leadership services and conference presentations to First Nation authorities, provincial organizations and school boards. Terry has worked on numerous research studies and reports. During his 35 year education career he served as Mathematics Teacher and High School Department Head in Calgary, Catholic Central High School Principal in Lethbridge, Director of Education for Prince Albert Catholic Schools, Superintendent of Schools for Edmonton Catholic Schools and Senior Consultant chairing the two year “Alberta Native Education Policy Review” that culminated in the Alberta Learning “ First Nations, Métis and Inuit Policy Framework”. Terry is an INAC National Selection Committee Member for the “First Nation Student Success Program” and previously served on the INAC Minister’s National Working Group on Education that submitted the report: “Our Children – Keepers of the Sacred Knowledge” (2002) that provided recommendations and an comprehensive review of previous First Nation Education reports, research and studies. He is a founding board member for the “Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities” and serves as an advisor to Gonzaga University School of Education - Leadership and Administration. Terry holds a Bachelor of Education (Secondary Mathematics) from the University of Alberta and a Master of Education Degree (Human Resources Administration) from The University of Calgary. He is of Métis ancestry, was born in Edmonton and adopted within the maternal family (Whitford) .
Udloriak Hanson

Udloriak Hanson: Udloriak Hanson is Special Advisor to Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national organization representing Inuit from Nunavut, Nunavik in Northern Quebec, Nunatsiavut in Labrador and the Inuvialuit region of the Northwest Territories. From 2007 to 2010 she was Senior Policy Liaison at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), the land claims organization representing Nunavut Inuit, and she remains NTI’s Chief Negotiator on devolution. From 2005 to 2007, she led the development of Nunavut’s Qaujisaqtiit Society, the territory’s first consortium of Inuit non-profit organizations. She has also served as executive assistant to the Government of Nunavut’s Minister of Sustainable Development and as NTI’s Director of Business and Economic Development, where she negotiated multi-lateral agreements between NTI, the Government of Canada and the Government of Nunavut and assisted in the development of Nunavut’s first Economic Development Strategy.
Ms. Hanson has significant experience representing Inuit interests with regard to policy development. She has facilitated workshops for the Arctic Council’s Permanent Participants, and has authored and co-authored articles on Arctic governance and Inuit, including an article on the implementation of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement in the forthcoming issue of the Arctic Review on Law and Politics.
She is a member of the Board of Directors for ArcticNet, a Laval University-based Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada, and Arctic Peoples and Security co-chair for the Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program, a four-year multi-dimensional international program to improve public policy in the Circumpolar Arctic. She previously served as a member of the steering committee of the Arctic Governance Project, an alliance of indigenous leaders, researchers and policy workers to frame the critical issues of governance in the Arctic and devise innovative responses for a sustainable future. Ms. Hanson is an Inuk born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut. She has undergraduate degrees in business administration and education and is a frequent guest speaker, nationally and internationally, on issues affecting Inuit across Canada.

Jasmine Learning

 Jasmine Learning:  Jasmine is a 25 year old student at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is from Cartwright on the coast of Southern Labrador. She is Labrador Metis and belongs to a nation referred to as NunatuKavut. She is proud of her Aboriginal heritage and she is honoured to judge this competition. .
Kelly Lendsay Kelly Lendsay: Kelly J. Lendsay is a social entrepreneur who is internationally recognized as one of Canada's foremost innovators of Aboriginal diversity. His career has been a series of catalytic flashpoints
demonstrating that with effective networks, corporate and community
goals can translate smoothly into advancing educational, employment,
and economic opportunities for Aboriginal people. As president and
CEO of this unique social enterprise, the council designs partnerships, programs and knowledge networks that transform leaders and employers into high performance organizations of inclusion. In 2007, in recognition of their 100th anniversary, the University of Saskatchewan honoured Kelly as one of the University’s 100 Alumni of Influence – a designation given to 100 exceptional graduates whose accomplishments have influenced the growth and development of the University, the province, and the world during the last century.

A proud Canadian of Métis, Cree and European ancestry, Lendsay earned his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Physiology Minor in 1981 and attained his M.B.A. in 1993 from the University of Saskatchewan. In the eighties he worked in aquatic and recreation management, international swift-water rescue and was the youngest person to serve as the national chairman of the National Lifeguard Service. In 1991 he entered the MBA Program and focused his research on strategies to increase Aboriginal business education and economic development. He was the co-recipient of the All-Around Outstanding MBA Graduate Award presented by the Canadian Institute of Management. In 1995 he was one of 225 Canadians to participate in the Governor Generals’ Canadian Leadership Tour.

Lendsay became the first director of the new Aboriginal Business Education program at the College of Commerce in 1995. There he helped initiate and nurture several Aboriginal business education programs, including Canada's first M.B.A. with a specialization in Indigenous management. As a professor and program director, he helped mentor students and redefine the future role Canadian universities may play in developing an Indigenous economy. In 1998 he became the first President of the Aboriginal Human Resource Council and has helped grow the enterprise into Canada’s most recognized leading innovators in organizational inclusion performance.

Lendsay’s consulting study, The Impact of the Changing Aboriginal Population on the Saskatchewan Economy: 1995-2045, is one of the most widely cited sources on the implications of Aboriginal demographics and the economy. In 2009 he was appointed a CIM Distinguished Lecturer by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

His vigorous speaking, writing and workshops are widely acclaimed as powerful announcements of the challenges and prospects of full Aboriginal participation in the Canadian economy. .
Nathan Matthew Terry Fortin: Nathan Matthew is a First Nations education resource person involved with First Nations program development and evaluation for twenty-five years, Nathan has facilitated a variety of workshops for First Nations organizations and educational institutions, specializing in strategic planning and goal setting, and has been involved with both band and public school evaluation projects. Nathan has directed a short course for Principals of First Nations Schools for twenty summers at U.B.C. and has taught university and adult education courses.

Nathan is the Chairman for the School District 73 First Nations Education Council and has been the British Columbia representative to the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs Committee on Education. He is an advisor to the B.C. First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association, sitting at negotiating tables to advance First Nations jurisdiction in education and other issues.

He has been administrator of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, a principal of a band- operated school, a band planner, an education and community consultant and the Chief of the Simpcw First Nation and Chairperson for the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council. Nathan has a Bachelor of Recreation Education and Masters of Education from the University of British Columbia.

Nathan enjoys travel, fly-fishing, basketball, carpentry and running marathons. Nathan lives with his wife Marie on the Simpcw First Nation reservation at Chu Chua, near Barriere, B.C. .
Noella Steinhauer Noella Steinhauer: Noella Steinhauer is an Albertan educator of Cree heritage. She is the Vice-President of Education at the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. Previously, Noella was the Director Aboriginal Teacher Education Program at the University of Alberta, Principal at Edmonton Public Schools, Senior Manager - Curriculum Branch at the Government of Alberta and a Secondary Teacher/Principal at Kihew Asiniy Education Centre.
Noella has a PhD in Education from the University of Alberta. Noella also earned a MEd, Education, BEd/AD, Social Studies/English and BA, Political Sc/ History at the University of Alberta.