Miyokisikaw, good day! My name is Emily Hearn (they/them/she/her/he/him),
and I am an ayakwew (Two Spirit) Red River Métis. I was born in Treaty One
territory and the Heart of the Métis Homeland in Manitoba, and I was raised in
Treaty 3 territory of Northwestern Ontario. With gratitude, I acknowledge my
ancestors as well as the Cree, Ojibwe, and Haudenosaunee teachers who have
generously guided me on my journey. I am a registered MSW social worker with a
background in mental health care, direct service provision, leadership, and education.
I aim to uphold my responsibilities as a Two Spirit helper by providing
education to community members, uplifting Two Spirit voices, and sharing some
of the powerful history of our people.
Wabusk Skweow Kahetapit Neegn Nipeek Ohscheh, which translates to "Polar Bear Woman/White Bear Woman Who is Looking Ahead from the Water," is a Lenaapeew/Anishinaabe woman from the Bear Clan. She is a member of the Elunaapeewii Lahkeewiit First Nations, Delaware Nation of the Thames, or Moraviantown. She is a proud mother of two sons and a grandmother to five grandchildren.
With over 24 years of collective experience, she works to uplift traditional cultural teachings, ceremonies, and practices as a Wholistic Indigenous practitioner, educator, wisdom-seeker, advocator and helper. She utilizes decolonizing Indigenous practices to support the resurgence of Indigenous ways of seeing, feeling, knowing, and being. Her approach is rooted in ancestral wisdom, emphasizing intergenerational knowledge, storytelling, personal experiences, and land-based education.
Mary Anne is Ojibwe(she/her) Anishinaabe of the Bear clan from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and Sagamok First Nations. She currently reside as a visitor and PhD Candidate at Trent University on Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg territory. She holds a Bachelor of First Nations and Aboriginal Counseling Degree, Brandon University, a Master of Social Work Indigenous Field of Study Degree, Wilfrid Laurier University and two diplomas from Algonquin College in Creative Arts and Secretarial Science.
Mary Anne carries traditional teachings, ceremonies, protocols, and life teachings from Anishinaabe Elders and Midewiwin knowledge keepers. Her community helper work is supported by her life experiences as a survivor of the residential school and the sixties scoop systems. These experiences led her to understand grief and loss, and helped her community grief practice to evolve.
In 2017, her placement at Hospice of Kitchener Waterloo led her to create an Indigenous Bereavement group in response to community needs assessment, to offer spiritual-led support to Indigenous palliative care patients and to help hospice staff in co-facilitating a teen grief circle. Her work is grounded in life experience and Anishinaabe teachings from Elders and knowledge keepers. In that period of time, she opened local events with prayers and teachings, offered counselling support for students at the Aboriginal Student Centre at Wilfrid Laurier and to troubled women at the then Guelph Healing and Wellness Centre.
Mary Anne is consistently called on to offer teachings to university students on the importance of water and connection to, reciprocity, respect and responsibility for the land. All of this work is grounded in Anishinaabe teachings that include the Medicine Wheel, grandfather teachings, self-care, stages of life, and Indigenous worldviews. Those workshops were initially designed to support Social Service Worker students in better understanding themselves as helpers.
Tatum Albert is a Cree/Michif/Polish woman from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Her family originates from the Beardy’s & Okemasis’ first nation and Red River-- St Frances Xavier settlement. n. As a Cree Michif iskwew, Tatum works as oskapos iskwew at kâniyâsihk Culture Camps in land-based and language revitalization.
Tatum graduated with a Bachelor of Indigenous Social Work in 2001. She received a Bachelor of Education with honors from the University of Saskatchewan-SUNTEP/ITEP program in 2018 and a Master’s in Social Work in 2020 from the University of Regina. Tatum has worked in the social work field in various capacities with children and families in social work/Indigenous social work in preventative services and educational settings as a community development and counselor, and First Nations Metis Consultant focusing on Trauma Informed Practice.
Tatum is currently an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University.
Tatum has taught Indigenous Studies, English, Social Studies, and Art Education in Secondary schools. She is currently an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University and a sessional lecturer at First Nations University of Canada and WHEAT Art Institute.
Tatum incorporates Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing into curriculum and classrooms through the land, social justice, and expressive art practices in secondary subjects and Indigenous social work practice. As Tatum has been a social worker for 25 years, she has experience with systems, policy, and procedures in the social work world. Tatum provides training and consulting in increased mental well-being, suicide prevention, needs assessments, behavioral support services, counseling support services, and training and increase Indigenous graduation rates.