Advisory Circle

Keith Leclaire, is Mohawk from the Kahnawake First Nation. He is the Advisory Circle Chair of PATHWAYS and he who brings more than 40 years of knowledge and experience to our Indigenous health collaborations. He has worked in director positions for the majority of his career, most recently as Director of Health for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. Community engagement and leadership continue to play key roles in Keith’s career. 

At the national level, he has worked with the Assembly of First Nations and Indigenous Services Canada. Keith is also dedicated to working with local and national Indigenous organizations by serving as a member of various boards. His current involvement includes acting as a key member of the Board of Directors for the Onen’to:kon Healing Lodge, the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation, and the Indigenous Certification Board of Canada. 

In 2019, his work was acknowledged by the First Nations Health Managers Association and the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement when he received the Excellence in Health Leadership Award.

Vanessa Ambtman-Smith is of mixed Nêhiyaw-Métis ancestry, and is a mother, daughter, sister, auntie and wife who makes her home on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Leni-Lunaape peoples in what is now known as London, Ontario. She is a fourth year PhD Candidate at Western University, and an independent Indigenous health advocate and scholar pursing health equity through purposeful research, engagement and activism.

As a former Indigenous health leader and system planner, she reimagines health systems and structures to enable Indigenous access to culturally safe care. Using a blend of old and new knowledges, she is an innovator who believes in combining Indigenous knowledge and healing modalities as a form of healthcare reconciliation. Vanessa is both a Pierre Elliott Trudeau scholar and a Vanier Canadian Graduate Scholar.

Sonia Isaac-Mann is from Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation and currently serves as the Vice President, Community Health and Wellness, Programs and Services at the First Nation Health Authority in BC. Sonia has been working in First Nations health for over 25 years and brings a community-oriented approach to the delivery of services and program supports to BC First Nations. 

A critical function of her current role is to provide professional advice to BC First Nations, First Nation Health Service Organizations, Health Directors and Regional Directors. Sonia holds a Master of Science degree in Medical Sciences – Public Health Sciences with a focus on Population Health from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Alberta. She also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Bishop’s University.

Sonia also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University and is the Principle Investigator on several research projects including:

• Addressing First Nations' health and wellness priorities

• Cultural Safety in Patient-Centred Measurement Methodologies (PREMs)

• Indigenizing harm reduction in response to the opioid crisis: A scoping review and community based research projects with First Nations in BC

• Standing Together: Strength, Resilience, and Indigenous leadership as the Pathway to Pandemic Responses

• Telling the Story: Gathering First Nations perspectives of COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment

Amanda Meawasige is an Anishinaabe from the Migisi Sahgaigan First Nation of the Treaty #3 territory in Ontario. Amanda is Director of Community Engagement and Inter-Governmental Relations for the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba. Miss Meawasige attended the Bachelor of Arts Program at the University of Manitoba and has attained the First Nation Health Manager's Association designation.

Amanda has been advocating for the advancement of positive health outcomes for First Nations in a professional capacity for 15 years, holding senior positions regionally and nationally for the Assembly of First Nations. Amanda believes it is imperative that First Nation people be included as equal participants with respect to dialogue, planning and implementation of health system response and strategies.

Alex McComber is Kanien’kehá:ka bear clan from Kahnawake Territory near Montreal, Quebec. Alex was a teacher and principal at the Kahnawake Survival School from 1978-1994. He has worked with the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project since 1994 in many capacities including project director, community intervention facilitator, training coordinator, and Community Advisory Board member & community researcher. Alex is also a health promotion consultant, a strategic planning facilitator and is co-investigator on several health promotion research projects.

Alex is an Assistant Professor, Participatory Research at McGill (PRAM), Family Medicine, McGill University; an Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Physical Studies, Queens University; and is on the Teaching Staff at First Nations Technical Institute, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario.