Who We Are

How We Started

We are young people that came together from the winter of Idle No More. We are Indigenous youth from various nations and our roots come from various territories. We saw the importance of a national Indigenous youth voice and platform. We believe that the assembly and unity of youth from across Turtle Island will not only contribute to our own success and healing of today but also that of our next seven generations.

Our Team

Marissa Mills

CEO & Co-Founder

Grant Thomas

Chair

Tony Belcourt, O.C., LL.D. (Hon.)

Board Member
Born in the historic Métis community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, Tony Belcourt has had a long and distinguished career as a Métis leader and activist. Since being elected Vice-President of the Métis Association of Alberta in 1970, Mr. Belcourt has played a key role in establishing a national voice for Canada’s Métis and Non-Status Indians. In 1971 he moved to Ottawa as the Founding President of the Native Council of Canada, an organization that in the 1980’s split into the Métis National Council and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
His efforts to build a Canada- wide organization that established a national profile for Métis, contributed to the recognition of the Métis in the Constitution Act, 1982 as one of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. He has also demonstrated his leadership on the world stage, representing the Métis Nation in high-level talks at the Organization of American States and the United Nations and including the negotiations on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
From 1974 to 1993 Mr. Belcourt operated a research firm and a film and video production company. In the 1980’s and 1990’s he also served as an advisor to the Métis National Council and the Inuit Committee on National Issues in the First Minister’s Conferences on the rights of Aboriginal peoples in the Constitution, the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord in 1992.
Most recently, he served as President of the Métis Nation of Ontario, an organization that he founded in 1993 and led to prominence until his retirement in May 2008. From the days of its founding when the MNO was blocked from funding from the Ontario Government to today, the organization has grown to be managing 10’s of millions of dollars for social, economic and education programs and services. Throughout his tenure at the MNO, Tony Belcourt was a staunch advocate for the recognition of Métis rights and his efforts led to the landmark decision in 2003 of R v. Powley in the Supreme Court of Canada, a case that
confirmed that the Métis right to hunt and fish for food and ceremonial purposes was an existing constitutional right. That decision eventually led the Government of Ontario to officially recognize the Métis Nation of Ontario in its legislature in April 2008.
Along the way, Mr. Belcourt has received much-deserved recognition for his work, being gifted with a Thunder Pipe in 2005, receiving a National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Public Service in 2006, receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Lakehead University in 2010 and in 2013 being named an Officer of the Order of Canada. He remains active as a Councillor of the Ottawa Region Métis Council, Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Education Council at the Ontario College or Art and Design University and through his work with the Canadians for a New Partnership, the aim of which is to build a new partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples of this country - a partnership based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and equality; one that will be built by restoring trust and respecting Aboriginal and Treaty rights.

Gabrielle Fayant-Lewis

CEO & Co-Founder
Gabrielle Fayant-Lewis originates from Fishing Lake Metis Settlement, AB. Gabrielle is an award winning woman for her work in the community, for youth empowerment and Indigenous rights awareness. She has worked with several Indigenous and non-profit organizations.

Caitlin Tolley

Co-Chair
Caitlin Tolley is Algonquin Anishinabe from the community of Kitigan-Zibi. She is currently in her final year of the Juris Doctor Program at the University of Ottawa. Caitlin was given the title of Runner Up to Miss Indian World at the Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow in 2016.

Brock Lewis

CEO & Co-Founder

Brittany Mathews

Board Member
Brittany Mathews is Métis/Michif with ancestry from White Horse Plains, or St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba and with her family more recently coming from St. Paul, Alberta. She grew up in the Bow Valley of Alberta, on Treaty 7 territory and moved to Ottawa to pursue an undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa. She had the honour co-leading Walking With Our Sisters in Ottawa and currently co-hosts the Michif Hour on Aboriginal CKCU 93.1

Dr. Thomas Louttit

Founding Director/Former Board Member
Thomas Louttit is Anishinabe/Moose Cree from Moose Factory, ON. He is a recognized Elder in the local Ottawa community and recent recipient of an honorary doctorate from Carleton University.