Meet Our Accountability Circle...
Clarence Cachagee
Founder
Clarence is from Waterloo Region and has an undeniable spirit for change. With a primary focus on working with the Spirit within, he is a helper, visionary and author who is known for investing his whole self into his community. Clarence originates from Chapleau Cree First Nation and calls Cambridge his home. He has faced his fair share of struggles and chooses to serve and support those living on the margins of society.
Clarence continues to engage with his community through land-based teaching and healing as an Indigenous Community Educator, public speaking and facilitating groups to encourage healing. Clarence says, “It is said that Mother Earth has all the medicines for every disease there is. Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island are land-based people. They have received teachings from the animals. Their creation stories are about Mother Earth, and it’s said that you can go anywhere on Turtle Island and find the medicine you need. Understanding land-based philosophies help us become better connected and feed our spirits”.
Clarence is the first full-time staff person and the visionary behind Crow Shield Lodge which is a place for reconciliation, land-based teaching and healing.
Nicole Robinson
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Nicole identifies as having mixed Haudenosaunee and European ancestry. She is a member of the Oneida Nation of the Thames in Southern Ontario and lived most of her life in Ontario’s ‘Near North’. Nicole moved to the Waterloo Region in 2006 to pursue graduate studies and has worked at the Waterloo Region District School Board as the Equity and Inclusion Officer – Indigenous Focus since 2008. Nicole’s passion for raising Indigenous awareness in classrooms is what drives her work in this role. Much care is given to building bridges between WRDSB staff/students and the Indigenous communities within the region in order to create classrooms that can become agents of change that we hope to see as we move forward toward reconciliation.
Bob Nally
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Bob Nally (B.A .Sc , M.A.Sc ,P.Eng) is a Cleantech, Greentech and IT/Hi Tech Entrepreneur, Investor, Social Justice Advocate and Peacemaker. For more than 30 years, Bob Nally has dedicated his time and talents to working on Environmental (Earth Justice) and Social Justice issues and solutions including: cleaning up toxic waste (water and soil based); air pollution cleanup and reduction; energy use reduction; natural (nontoxic) herbicides & fertilizers; electric vehicles (industrial); Human Rights; peacemaking; affordable housing; First Nations support, learning and friendship; refugee support; and poverty reduction.
Dave Skene
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Dave Skene is Métis and a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario. Dave is the Co-Executive Director of White Owl Native Ancestry Association, a community-based Indigenous agency that has been in existence since 1975. We endeavour to enhance the lives of Indigenous People in the Wellington, Dufferin, and Kitchener-Waterloo regions. Dave has worked as a grass-roots education innovator for over 30 years and has led numerous teams of Canadian youth on international volunteer and education projects. He has taught justice and community development from an Indigenous perspective across Canada and Internationally. Dave’s current focus is on issues of Urban Indigenous food and land sovereignty, Indigenous agricultural practices, and land-based education.
