Board of Directors

Mary Jane Gray

Board Member

  • Mary Jane Gray has held positions at the community, regional, and national level in an active health career spanning 25 years advocating for improvements in First Nations health. She is a strong promoter of First Nations self-determination in the area of research. She considers herself a Data Warrior and upholds the First Nations Principles of Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP). She dedicates and commits herself to improving the health status of First Nations through research.

Madeleine Redfern

Co-Chair

  • Madeleine Redfern is an Inuk involved in high-tech and innovation and is actively involved in transformative technologies in telecommunications, transportation, and energy. The former mayor of Iqaluit, Madeleine is president of the Ajungi Consulting Group, chair of the Nunavut Legal Services Board, advisor to the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, a Trudeau Foundation board member (former Trudeau Foundation Mentor), co-chair with the Gordon Munk Arctic Security Program, and a board member of Maliiganik Legal Aid. She is a graduate of the Akitsiraq Law School with an LLB from the University of Victoria and the first Inuk to be given a Supreme Court of Canada clerkship.

    Madeleine is also chief operating officer at CanArctic Inuit Networks Inc., which is committed to building 4500 km of marine fibre optic cable into Canada's Arctic to significantly improve telecommunications in Inuit Nunangat and Nunavut. She is also CEO of SednaLink Marine Systems, which would transform segments of SednaLink fibre optic cable into a SMART (science monitoring and reliable telecommunications) cable to monitor marine climate changes, assist with environmental monitoring (especially near marine protected areas), and help in collecting marine intelligence.

    Madeleine has a great deal of governance and volunteer experience with Indigenous and Inuit organizations, including as secretary-treasurer of the Inuit Non-Profit Housing Corporation, president of the Tungasuvvingat Inuit Community Centre, founding board member of Ottawa Inuit Headstart, and founding member of the Wabano Aboriginal Health Centre. She was also executive director of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, which reviewed the “effects of federal government policies on Eastern Arctic Inuit” between the 1950s and 1980s. Her advocacy, professional, and governance work has shown her dedication and passion toward the development and delivery of programs assisting Aboriginal, Inuit, northerners, and Canadians that reflect community values, needs, and priorities.

Dr. Marlyn Cook

Board Member

  • Dr. Marlyn Cook is a member of the Misipawisistik Cree Nation. She graduated as a nurse in 1975. Wanting to become a stronger advocate for health care for Indigenous people, she returned to university in 1980. Dr. Cook graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, completing the Family Practice Residency Program in 1989, becoming the first First Nation woman to graduate from Medicine in Manitoba. She has worked in many First Nation communities and has served on multiple boards and committees since then. Dr. Cook believes in our Ways of Healing, focusing on all aspects of the person: spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional. Marlyn is a sun dancer, pipe carrier, and sweat lodge keeper. She is the author of Walking the Red Road for Healing: The Seventh Daughter.

Nicole Rabbit

Survivor – Board Treasurer

  • My name is Eagle Woman. My English name is Nicole Rabbit. Nicole is from the Blackfoot Nation in Alberta. Nicole is a survivor and an active advocate for the passage of Bill S250.

Christa BigCanoe

Board Secretary

  • Christa Big Canoe is an Anishinabek woman, mother, and lawyer. She is from Georgina Island First Nation. She has been the legal director of Aboriginal Legal Services since 2011. She took a 2.5-year leave of absence to be senior and then lead commission counsel to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Christa has been before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. She represents families at inquests and has been before various tribunals providing Indigenous perspective and representation. She passionately advocates for Indigenous women and children in multiple forums and legal processes.