Team Atleo (Keynote Speakers)
Together, Shawn and Heather Atleo are partners in life and work, and have engaged in a full co-leadership approach since 2014 in a variety of intersecting streams, including education, business, and politics, while always connecting in mental and emotional health and wellbeing. This co-leadership approach is a direct expression of co-creation, indigenous traditional governance systems, and gender equ(al)ity.
They provide compassionate leadership coaching and training, and program development through the Atleo Centre for Compassionate Leadership. This work is founded on indigenous philosophy and worldviews as well as mainstream advancements in areas such as child development, non-violent communication, empathy and the neuroscience of mental and emotional development. They offer introductory to advanced workshops and coaching in the areas of compassion, conflict resolution, and nonviolent leadership.
They also work to advance First Nations reconciliation. They served for 10 years as Co-Chairs with the Tsilhqot’in National Government Chiefs’ Council in the implementation of their 2014 Supreme Court Aboriginal Title Case win. They provided facilitative leadership alongside the Chiefs, assisting in the negotiation of agreements with the Federal and Provincial governments, and co-chaired a resolution to a long-term mining dispute.
Heather Atleo (Yaʔaḥčumat̓aʔxa) is of mixed ancestry and is an experienced leader in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation, senior strategic analysis, and facilitation. Her work spans First Nations leadership, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, federal and provincial governments (including Premier, Prime Minister, and Ministerial levels), and industry CEOs. She brings deep expertise in transformative leadership and change management, systems transformation, strategic partnerships, engagement, communications, and policy analysis and development. For nearly 30 years, Heather has worked at the executive level within complex political and governance environments, supporting First Nations and First Nations leaders locally, regionally, provincially, and nationally, including the successful negotiation of large-scale agreements. Heather is also deeply committed to health and wellness leadership and mental health advocacy, bringing decades of experience to advancing compassionate, systems-level approaches to individual and collective well-being.
Shawn ‘Ah-up-wa-eek’ Atleo brings over 30 years of leadership experience as Hereditary Chief from the Ahousaht First Nation (Nuu-chah-nulth) and as the former twice-elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. First elected National Chief in 2009 and re-elected in 2012, Shawn served as the lead advocate representing over 633 First Nations across Canada and internationally. Prior to this, he served back-to-back terms as Regional Chief for the 203 First Nations in British Columbia (2003-2006, 2006-2009), where he helped found the BC First Nations Leadership Council, strengthening collective leadership and coordination across senior First Nations organizations.
Shawn and Heather have five children still at home and live and homeschool in Squamish, British Columbia.
Elder Roberta Price
For close to four decades, Elder Roberta Price has actively shared her leadership, wisdom and teachings at UBC and throughout the Lower Mainland to assist both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members to achieve improved outcomes in healthcare. A member of the Coast Salish Snuneymuxw and Cowichan Nations, she has been instrumental in helping to create shared spaces for both Indigenous and Western approaches to healing and health. Her ongoing involvement and leadership in research projects have been key to the continued work of decolonizing healthcare and creating cultural safety and equity for Indigenous patients. Recently, she has been appointed Adjunct Professor in the Post Graduate Program, Department of Family Practice (UBC) and serves as the Indigenous Co-Lead for the Family Medicine Residency Program.
Elder Roberta Price is a co-principal investigator for Critical Research in Health and Health Care Inequities and the Transformative Justice and Health Research Cluster at the University of British Columbia’s School of Nursing. She is part of a team of UBC researchers who are distributing hundreds of art and journaling kits to Indigenous men in prisons and halfway houses in a bid to alleviate the dual mental health tolls of incarceration and the pandemic.
Elder Roberta Price received an honorary degree from UBC in 2021 in recognition for her substantial contribution to society and an honorary membership award from the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
“I will always be grateful for my ancestors and anyone who has mentored me. Without them, I would not have the wisdom to give.”
Elder Jean Wasegijig
Elder Jean is Anishinaabe, Odawa and Ojibwe First Nation, from
the Wikwemikoong Reserve in northern Ontario. Elder Jean is of the Bear Clan and her traditional name is “Good Medicine Woman,” a name that was given to her at a Sundance Ceremony in Montana. Elder Jean participates in ceremonies and cultural traditions. She is a mother and grandmother. Elder Jean graduated with an Associate of Applied Arts degree at Douglas College and attended Simon Fraser University for one year, before pursuing Substance Abuse Counselling training at the University of the Fraser Valley.
Elder Jean worked with Aboriginal female offenders in Saskatchewan for four years and Aboriginal male offenders in BC for twenty years, as a program facilitator and counsellor, and worked closely with Elders. From her Ojibwe grandmother and the Elders generosity, she obtained priceless traditional teachings and utilized them as she delivered cultural interventions that responded to the specific needs of Aboriginal offenders. After her retirement from Correctional Services Canada in 2014, Elder Jean worked at Tsow-Tun Le Lum Treatment Centre on Vancouver Island as a Drug & Alcohol Counsellor, Trauma, and Grief Counsellor, and Resident Elder.
Elder Jean is involved with Elder services for Spirit of the Children, working with families preparing for family court. In addition, she works with the Salvation Army Harbour Light as an Addictions Counsellor with offenders on parole. She teaches the Indigenous Perspective course which is part of the counselling program at Vancouver Community College, and is also one of the Resident Elders. As well, Elder Jean is one of the Elders working with the UBC Family Practice Residency Program and also with the UBC Wellness Centre. In the community she facilitates cultural workshops, medicine wheel teachings and Indigenous history. Among all of these things, Elder Jean is also a writer, a poet featured in an anthology, and artist, with her work exhibited in the Fraser Valley.
Elder Cheryl
Cheryl Schweizer le soozi
Agelh-un ink’ez Dakelh ink’ez German/Swiss usli
Tl’azt’en whut en-un ink’ez lusilyoo
Lheidli snachayla noh yun k’ut whusti ink’ez tube musi tatsibun nusya.
Lhk’atane suzeh ink’ez whunizyai ‘on’at ta schaike.
Sd 57 Indigenous Education Dakelh ba unst’en ‘inle’, andit yoh us’ten UBC CPD Ipl project since 2020. Elder Director, Board of Prince George Native Friendship Centre, Kookum Elder, Community Living British Columbia, Elder Advisory Committee and much more.
Welcome
My name is Cheryl Schweizer, I am Dakelh from the Carrier Nation of Tl’azt’en of the Frog Clan. I have six children and thirteen grandchildren. I am proud to live and work and play on the ancestral lands of the Lheidli T’enneh people, my relatives.
Elder Bryce Mercredi
Bryce Mercredi was the first child of eight born to Métis parents Peggy and Xavier
Mercredi in Fort Smith, NWT. His parents were both born and raised in Fort Chipewyan, where they, and later Bryce, attended residential school, for about two months, as a day student. Bryce comes from many generations of Métis who worked for the fur trade with the Hudson’s Bay Company and his grandfather also as postmaster in Fort Chipewyan on the North shore of Lake Athabasca. Bryce's great-great grandfather travelled with Alexander Mackenzie to the Arctic Coast and to the West Coast of British Columbia.
The Mercredi family eventually moved to Yellowknife where the children were raised. Once acquiring a Mine Technician Diploma, at the Haileybury School of Mines, Bryce worked in Northern BC, Indonesian New Guinea, the Yukon and finally Port Hardy where his three children were born. The family moved to Comox in 1985 where he and his wife still reside. Mooshum Bryce is the proud grandfather of six.
Bryce has been involved in providing a voice for the Métis people for over 25 years, including forming the Métis community North Island Métis where he served as director and vice president. Since its formation in 2004, Bryce remained president of the local Métis association, MIKI’SIW Métis Association for 13 years where he now serves as an Elder on the Board. Through the years the MIKI'SIW has grown in numbers and has had an impact on our Indigenous community through their charitable work and creation of weekly family oriented cultural workshops. The MIKI'SIW has been an active participant in various cultural events in partnership with community organizations and has given identity to our local Métis residents.
Bryce has been a part of the Indigenous Education Council for over 20 years, and shares his knowledge of Métis history and culture as a cultural presenter for Comox Valley Schools. He was presented with the Order of the Sash which is a distinct award provided by the Métis Nation of British Columbia to honour important work by an individual. He also received the King George Coronation Medal for his work.
He is an Elder in Residence in School District 71 and is called ‘Mooshum’ by the students. He has also been honoured as an Elder with the Ministry of Health, Indigenous Health and Reconciliation, MNBC, MNBC Youth, and Comox Valley Primary Care Network. He is an active member of the Ni’noxsola, Elders in Residence program in School District 71 of which he is a founding member of the Advisory.