Mandee is a hide tanner, workshop facilitator, and a PhD student in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta (UoA) where her work focuses on hide tanning theory, Indigenous governance, and land-based programming. She is a Research Fellow at the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge at the UoA. She is a co-founder of Dene Nahjo, a Dene innovation collective that fosters Indigenous leadership skills and values through resurgence-based initiatives. As a SWB Advisory Council member, Mandee helps guide the curriculum development and delivery of the project by sharing her expertise and insights on land-based program delivery. Mandee is Maskîkow (Swampy Cree), originally from Mántéwisipihk (Churchill, MB), and a member of York Factory First Nation. She has resided in Sòmba K’è, Denendeh (Yellowknife, NT) for most of her life.

Tammy Steinwand-Deschambeault is a Tłı̨chǫ Citizen from Behchokǫ̀, NT. Tammy graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Education. Tammy taught in Behchokǫ̀ for years before moving to the Culture and Language Coordinator position at Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency. Tammy helped create an immersion program in Behchokǫ̀ that is still running today. Tammy assisted the GNWT with curriculum development of Northern Studies and the Our Languages Curriculum. Tammy is the chair for the NWT Official Languages Board. Presently Tammy is the Department of Culture and Lands Protection Director for the Tłı̨chǫ Government. She holds a master’s degree through the University of Victoria on Indigenous Language Revitalization. As a SWB Advisory Council member, Tammy guides the curriculum development by sharing her expertise and insights on land-based programs, curriculum development, and Tłı̨chǫ way of life.

Tanya is a young Dene woman who was born and raised in Inuvik. She has strong ties to Fort McPherson and Fort Good Hope where her families reside. She is an intergenerational youth in which her parents attended residential school in Inuvik. Tanya is a Team Lead on the Mental Wellness and Addiction Recovery Group, and is a regular member on the Mental Health Act Review Board. Currently, she is a Speech Language Pathology Assistant at the Inuvik Regional Hospital. In the past, she was the Program Assistant with the Resolution Health Support Program at Gwich'in Tribal Council. Within this position, she accomplished hosting her own Youth Conference focused on Mental Wellness, academic promotion and education on residential schools. She assisted in on-the-land projects by providing families with application support. Although Tanya did not yet complete post secondary, she hopes to one day return and finish her Social Work program. Just recently she achieved 4 years of sobriety from alcohol and although it was not an easy path, she has overcome many trials and situations life presented to her.

Brenda Dragon is of Dënësųłinë́/French ancestry growing up in a hunting and trapping family in Fort Smith where she currently resides with her husband. Her background with On the land programming goes back to the 90's when she volunteered as a parent helping to develop the first curricula for Indigenous education with the Yellowknife Public Schools. She went on to deliver on the land camps and various programs for the District for several years. Brenda went to university for Tourism Management at the age of 48, and worked for several more years in the field of Indigenous tourism for the GNWT. She was instrumental in the strategic planning with the supporting belief that Indigenous tourism offers the opportunity for both economic benefit and for the preservation of cultural and traditional skills in Northern ways of life. She currently sits on a national committee for the development of Literacy resources for an education curriculum for Indigenous Youth Mental Health. Brenda is the President and Founder of her own business, Aurora Heat, Inc., a social enterprise producing wild fur products since 2015.