Board of Directors
Richard Kistabish, Chairperson
Elizebeth Palfrey, Secretary/Treasurer
Dr. Marlyn Cook
Mike DeGagné
Dan George
Murray Ironchild
Graham E. Sanders
Cindy Swanson
Please scroll down to read all Board biographies:
Richard Kistabish, Chairperson
Mr. Kistabish is an Algonquin from the Abitibiwinni First Nation, Quebec, who speaks English, French and Algonquin fluently. He is the former president of Social Services Minokin and has been involved in the field of health and social services at the regional and provincial levels for many years. He served as administrator and manager of the health committee, at Kitcisakik First Nation. He was Chief of Abitibiwinni First Nation, and Grand Chief of the Algonquin Council of Quebec for two terms. His publications include Mental Health and Aboriginal People of Quebec, the Green Book Position Paper of the Algonquin Nation on Environmental Issues, and the National Inquiry into First Nation Child Care. He is the Vice-Chair of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the President of Legacy of Hope Foundation. Mr. Kistabish has served on the Board of Directors of the Legacy of Hope Foundation since 2002.
Elizebeth Palfrey, Secretary/Treasurer
Ms. Palfrey is a Métis grandmother born in BC and currently residing in Manitoba. For the past three decades she has lived and worked in Nunavut. With a long history of community development initiatives in both the public and private sector, she has had extensive experience as a Managing Partner and board member of several privately owned businesses. Ms. Palfrey served as Chair of the Keewatin Regional Health Board for eight years, working diligently with other board members to foster increased health accessibility for residents of their communities. She was a member of the NWT Health Care Association and a board member of the Churchill Hospital Board and the Winnipeg Regional Health Board. She has contributed to many other local and regional community groups and boards as a volunteer. She has served as Director of the Business Loan Fund and member of the Minister’s Advisory Council on Business and Economic Issues. She was President of the Tourism Industry Association for several years and was an active participant in fostering increased business development and employment opportunities as a board member with the regional Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Palfrey continues to volunteer in community service with a special interest and focus on Aboriginal youth initiatives.
Ms. Palfrey has served on the Board of Directors of the Legacy of Hope Foundation since 2002.
Dr Maryln Cook
Dr. Cook is a member of the Grand Rapids First Nation in Manitoba. A graduate of the University of Manitoba (M.D.), she currently practices Family Medicine in the James Bay area where she is Chief of Staff and Director of the Traditional Healing Program. Among her previous positions are Co-Chair, First Nations Task Force on Child and Family Services (in Winnipeg, MB), Consultant to the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (Winnipeg, MB), Province of Manitoba Medical Examiner, University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine’s Traditional Teachings Program – Debriefing Tutorials, and Assistant Director, Clinical Operations, at the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada (Winnipeg, MB). Marlyn Cook has sat on numerous Committees and Boards including the Swampy Cree AIDS Steering Committee, the Manitoba Chapter of the College of Family Physicians of Canada Board, the Mino-Ayaawin Advisory Committee of the Native Women’s Transition Centre, the Thompson General Hospital Perinatal Mortality Committee, and the Balancing Choices and Opportunities in Sciences and Technology for Aboriginal People National Steering Committee. She was also the Chair of the Facility Planning Committee and a Board Member at the Sioux Lookout Mino-Ya-Win Health Centre. Dr. Cook is a Member of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch Drug Utilization Evaluation Committee, the National Pharmaceutical Therapeutics Committee (FNIHB), and the advisory Council of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.
Dr. Cook has served on the Board of Directors of the Legacy of Hope Foundation since 2005 and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation since 2003.
Mike DeGagné
Mike DeGagné is the Executive Director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, a national Aboriginal organization dedicated to addressing the legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential School System. He has worked in the field of addiction and mental health for the past 25 years, first as a community worker on-reserve in northern Ontario and later with the Addiction Research Foundation (ARF), the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), and the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP).
Mike lectures nationally and internationally on issues of Aboriginal health, Residential Schools, reconciliation, and governance. He serves on a number of Boards including Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), is currently the Chairman of the Child Welfare League of Canada, and past Chairman of Ottawa’s Queensway Carleton Hospital. His PhD focuses on Aboriginal post secondary education.
Dan George
Dan George is the President/CEO of Four Directions Management Services Ltd. (1993), a wholly owned Aboriginal economic, social and community development organization dedicated to responding to the expressed needs of individuals, organizations, communities and all levels of government in British Columbia, Canada, and abroad. FDMS has a diverse network of consultants providing expertise in strategic facilitation, conflict transformation, organizational development and communications.
He is a proud member of the
Gilseyhu Clan (Big Frog) of the Wet’suwet’en people from Hagwilget, BC.
He has been married for 25 years to his wife Teresa, and together they
have two daughters, Amanda and Brittany, one granddaughter, Kiana and
one grandson, Daniel.
Murray Ironchild
Murray is a former councillor and Chief of the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan. Currently working as a Cultural/Traditional Advisor with the All Nations' Healing Centre of the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council, Mr. Ironchild brings to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation his interest and experience in traditional medicine and Aboriginal health.
Graham E. Sanders
Mr. Sanders is the President and sole shareholder of Wolfcrest Capital Advisors Inc., and has been the investment advisor to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation since its inception in 1998. He has over forty years of experience in financial markets in Canada.
Mr. Sanders has served on the Board of Directors of the Legacy of Hope Foundation since 2003.
Cindy Swanson
Ms. Swanson is a Cree/Metis from Edmonton, AB. A teacher who has been learning alongside Aboriginal students with the Edmonton Public School Board since 2000, she joined the Board of Directors of the Legacy of Hope Foundation in 2005. Also a Director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation since 1998, she has participated in Metis and First Nations youth inititiatives and organizations (such as the Metis National Youth Advisory Council where she was appointed as a provincial memeber from October 1995 to September 1998). She is currently completing her Master's degree, inquiring narratively into the lives and educational experiences of Aboriginal youth and their families, at the University of Alberta.
