Board of Directors

Mae Maracle is a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River.

She is a graduate of McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She also has a Bachelor of Education from Hamilton Teachers College.

She has worked for the Federal Government as a consultant at the Employment Equity Commission and as a consultant with the Human Rights Commission of Canada.

She is retired from the City of Toronto after 27 years of service. She worked as an educator on workplace harassment, a human Rights investigator and as a consultant in Equity, Diversity, and Human Rights. In that position, she worked with City divisions in building relationships with the Aboriginal community.

She has served on the board of the Assaulted Women’s Helpline, the board of the Native Canadian Centre of Canada and is still on the board of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre.

Richard Cummings’ service and leadership are rooted in the values of social justice, family and community.  He is grateful for the meaningful opportunity to serve as a Director of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto.

Richard retired in 2016 as Executive Director of Jewish Family and Child Service of Greater Toronto, an organization that supports the healthy development of individuals, children, families and communities.  His career was dedicated to building excellence and achieving measurable and meaningful impact, through services addressing child welfare, woman abuse, mental health and poverty.

Richard received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Toronto in 1985. He has worked as a teacher, clinician and researcher as well as Executive Director. Prior to his ten years as the professional lead at Jewish Family and Child, He worked at Integra Foundation, a Toronto based Children’s Mental Health Centre, from 1988 to 2005; twelve years as Executive Director.

Richard has extensive governance and volunteer experience, serving on Boards, supporting fund-raising and consulting strategically. Richard spent fifteen years as a member and then President of the Board of Directors of Jewish Family and Child Service of Greater Toronto.  In addition to NCFST, Richard currently supports a number of social, cultural and health initiatives.
Richard is married to his greatest love, his formidable wife Dr. Joanne Cummings, and spends his favourite times with Joanne, their three wonderful children and beautiful grandchildren.

Heather Levecque is Mi’kmaq from Nova Scotia, and has been in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) since October 2005. Prior to joining the OPS, she served in leadership roles in national and provincial Indigenous organizations, focussing on policy, organizational and community development.
Since joining the public service, she has held leadership roles responsible for Indigenous consultation matters, municipal-Crown relations, HR & management information systems and, most recently, serves as the Director of the Indigenous Relations and Ministry Partnerships Branch in the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs Ontario.

My name is Kaitlind Peters and I am a member of Aamjiwnnag First Nation in Sarnia, Ontario. I am currently a doctoral student in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. From a young age, I have had a strong passion for Indigenous Education and a dedication to social justice in working for the improvement of Indigenous communities.  Over the years, I have taught in on-reserve schools and in the public and private school sectors. I have also participated in numerous community-responsive research projects within Indigenous communities. These experiences have led me to pursue a career in academia focused on a devotion to Indigenous and reconciliatory education. Currently, I am working with a team of researchers on a SHRCH funded partnership between the University of Toronto and the Toronto District School Board. The aim of this research is to develop strategies for increasing achievement levels among urban Indigenous students in TDSB schools. My hope is to share my knowledge with the board as well as gain new knowledge in pursuing my commitment to creating a prosperous future for Indigenous youth.

Bryan Winters is a Nunatsiavut beneficiary from Happy Valley – Goose Bay, Labrador. His professional career highlights include being an Electronics Maintenance Technician on the North Warning System and the Program Coordinator of the Igloo Tag Trademark Program at the Inuit Art Foundation. He is the Executive Director of the Toronto Inuit Association and studies Indigenous Public Administration and Governance through First Nations Technical Institute in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and Ryerson University in Toronto.

Coming soon. . .

Professor; Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work; Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare; Ph.D., University of Toronto

For the past 20 years, Dr. Barbara Fallon has worked to bridge the knowledge gap by collecting reliable national and provincial child welfare data across Canada and mining it with innovative statistical techniques to help policymakers determine what works and what is needed to best help children based on evidence, not perceptions.

Throughout her career, Dr. Fallon has received over $15 million in research grants and contracts as a Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator. These research grants, including provincial-wide studies such as the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse & Neglect as well as several knowledge mobilization grants, have allowed her to capitalize on the analytic potential of child welfare’s administrative data. She is a Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare.

Dr. Fallon has an exceptional publication record with 125 peer-reviewed publications and 150 peer-reviewed conference presentations. She has disseminated her research to over 500 stakeholders (child welfare agencies, government bodies, and other related organizations).

Over the past three years, Dr. Fallon has given plenary presentations about the importance and utility of using child welfare administrative data to inform and shape effective policy and practices in Germany, Kenya, and Japan.

Alain studied law at the Institut des Etudes Politiques de Paris, the University of Geneva, as well as McGill University. While at McGill he was a National Program Scholar, a member of the Babamadiziwin Program, and won the Osgoode Society Prize, in addition to being a director of the Aboriginal Law Students Association and running a legal clinic for the homeless and marginally housed.

Alain holds certificates of expertise from Canadian and international institutes in combating financial crime, compliance, exempt markets, and Islamic finance.

Prior to working at Nahwegahbow Corbiere, Alain worked for a large corporate and regulatory litigation firm in Paris, France, an Ontario-based First Nation, as well as a boutique Toronto-based law firm specialized in criminal and regulatory litigation.

Alain is a member of Rama First Nation and is comfortable assisting clients in French and English.

Stephen is President and CEO of his own independent consultancy specializing in corporate sustainability and Indigenous-corporate relations. Prior to 2018, Stephen was corporate Vice President of Aboriginal & Northern Affairs, for SNC-Lavalin Inc., Canada’s largest engineering and construction firm. He was with SNC-Lavalin for over 30 years.  Throughout his 30 plus years at SNC-Lavalin, Stephen contributed to Indigenous relations, partnerships, inclusion and the advancement of infrastructure and responsible/sustainable resource and power development throughout Canada and internationally.  In recent years, in addition to his broad corporate responsibilities for Indigenous Relations, he has helped develop and execute employment and procurement strategies that promote Indigenous inclusion on a variety of major projects.
In addition to being Board member for NCFST, Stephen is also currently Board Co-Chair of the national not-for-profit Indigenous Works (previously Aboriginal Human Resource Council) and Board Chair for the Mothers Matter Centre/Aboriginal HIPPY (previously HIPPY Canada).  Stephen is also a past Board member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.
Stephen is a professional (environmental) planner by training with an M.Sc. from the University of Guelph, preceded by a BA (Liberal Arts) in Biology from Middlebury College in Vermont, USA.  He is a long time and proud resident of the City of Toronto where he and his wife of 28 years raised two grown children.

Erica Riley is an Onkwehonwe/Annishnabe kwe, ista, and educator. She grew up in Abitipi Canyon and North Bay. She attended Nipissing University where she graduated with an honours degree in English literature and a Bachelor degree in Education.
She has worked for the Toronto District School Board for the past two decades. During this time she has been a classroom teacher, a centrally assigned Aboriginal Student Success Teacher, and Aboriginal Instructional Leader for the school Board.
She uses the classroom as a continuous opportunity for reconciliation with the non-indigenous community.

Lise Chabot is a long-time Toronto resident who hails from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, Quebec.  As an Algonquin woman, she has spent the bulk of her professional career advancing the priorities, goals and aspirations of Indigenous people, working in both the Indigenous and Ontario public sectors.  Lise is passionately committed to equity issues and ensuring that Indigenous voices and experiences are included, heard and understood in public policy spaces and conversations.  Lise has held positions with the Assembly of First Nations, the Indian Commission of Ontario, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation and, more recently, with the Ontario government at Indigenous Affairs Ontario.  In her current role with Ontario, she is the Manager of the Ministry Partnerships Unit in the Indigenous Relationships Branch.

Coming soon. . .