Naheyawin is an agency poised and working to help businesses, non-profits and institutions reinvigorate the spirit of Treaty into their organizations and build the bridges they need to cross into terrain they have not ventured into before.
Our Team
Jacquelyn Cardinal
Jacquelyn Cardinal is a sakāwithiniwak (or Woodland Cree) entrepreneur and Indigenous technologist from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation in northern Alberta.
In her role as Managing Director at Naheyawin, a storytelling and education social enterprise based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (or Edmonton, Alberta), Jacquelyn works to integrate and mobilize diverse knowledge systems to realize the promise of our treaties. She has received an Esquao Award for Achievement in Business and a SHEInnovates Award from the UN Women's Global Innovation Coalition for Change for her ongoing entrepreneurial pursuits.
As an artist, she has received the 2019 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding New Play given to Lake of the Strangers, her first play co-written with her brother.
Hunter Cardinal
Hunter Cardinal is a sakāwithiniwak (Woodland Cree) storyteller and performer from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation in northern Alberta.
In his role as Director of Story at Naheyawin, a storytelling and education social enterprise based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (or Edmonton, Alberta), Hunter endeavours to help all those he works with to understand their place in the vast story of creation in order to realize their personal power.
In 2018, Hunter was recognized by Vue Weekly as Edmonton's Best Actor and was awarded a place in Edmonton's esteemed Top 40 Under 40. In early 2019, his first play, Lake of the Strangers, co-written with his sister and co-produced with Fringe Theatre, premiered to critical and popular acclaim.
When he isn't welcoming people into ancient worldviews and ways of being, he can be found baking artisanal bread or adapting his favourite songs to the mandolin.
Our Advisors
Lewis Cardinal
Relationship building is at the core of many of Lewis Cardinal’s endeavours, whether playing an integral part in creating the Edmonton Urban Aboriginal Accord Relationship Agreement to revitalize relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, or running across the United States to repatriate Big Bear’s sacred bundle for the Northern Plains Cree for the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Mr. Cardinal is Doctor of Sacred Letters from Saint Stephens College and is recipient of the 2012 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for public service and human rights and Alberta Centennial Medal of Recognition for Outstanding Service, among many awards. He is currently involved in the Theatre Network in Edmonton, as well as the Aboriginal Commission for Human Rights and Justice. In his free time, he is a devoted musician, writing and playing music, including the rock and roll and rhythm and blues, on his guitar.
He is honoured to be advisor to Naheyawin, sharing all the knowledge and experience he has acquired up until now to connect one generation to the next.
Douglas Cardinal
Douglas Cardinal has worked his whole life to transform the connections he observes in nature into architectural marvels. His architectural design and community planning stretches internationally, with the spirit of creativity at the centre of every project. He is the mastermind behind such works of art as Gordon Oakes Redbear Students Centre at the University of Saskatchewan, Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization and Public Works in Gatineau, Quebec.
He is recipient of many awards, including 20 Honorary Doctorates, Gold Medals of Architecture in Canada and Russia, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
As advisor to Naheyawin, Mr. Cardinal provides guidance for navigating challenges old and new that we experience in our work, as well as facilitates connections to knowledge holders across the country.
Alex Janvier
Alex Janvier has graced public spaces across Canada for decades with his distinctive artistic style, with its bright coloured, infinite lines. Among his many original works of art, his paintings and murals can be found in the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Rogers Place in Edmonton, and at the Legislative Assembly of Alberta among many. He has received many awards, including the Distinguished Artist Award (2017), Order of Canada (2007), and Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2008).
Mr. Janvier has been an active advocate for the environment and First Nations issues, and a contributing art instructor at various colleges and schools, among many pursuits.
As advisor to Naheyawin, he shares teachings from his Dene culture, artistic counsel, and spiritual grounding through ceremony.