Executive Steering Committee

Cree Nation

Donna Ashamock has been an Eeyou/Inninew (Cree) community organizer for over twenty years and contributed to the development of Indigenous governance with a self-defined Indigenous community—MoCreebec—in Moosonee and Moose Factory in northeastern Ontario. Donna is a member of the Cree Nation and affiliated with Fort Albany First Nation. Grounded in Cree-centred processes and worldview, she collaborated with fellow MoCreebec citizens to organize innovative community initiatives to support their collective governance and political economy, such as the Cree Village Ecolodge, Community Education and Empowerment Project, and the MoCreebec Constitution. She is auntie and stepmom, and an advocate for family, community and land protection. Along with her late partner, Randy Kapashesit, they actively raised their family by modelling Cree principles in life and homeschooling.

As a practitioner and community educator, Donna facilitated numerous employability and leadership programs for young Indigenous leaders through Northern College and MoCreebec non-profit programs. She has worked with non-profit organizations in community development and education, and is currently a contract facilitator and writer. She is co-chair of MiningWatch Canada and a trustee of Groundswell Community Justice Fund. Her goal is to continue to build upon knowledge and capacity among inter-Indigenous networks in Treaty 9 and international Indigenous and ally networks.