Karen is an educator, a lifelong learner and an advocate for inclusive education and employment opportunities. She has a heart with a passion for encouraging and seeing people succeed and has spent the past 30 years working with Indigenous communities and organizations in various capacities including education, band management and consulting services in her home province of New Brunswick as well as in Ontario.

Karen holds a diploma in Paralegal Studies, a degree in Education, is a Certified Life Coach and is presently completing her Master of Education at the University of New Brunswick. She is also trained in Negotiations and Mediation, Crisis Management and Diversity and Inclusion practices. Karen has worked with New Brunswick Indigenous communities and mainstream industry to create and facilitate the Indigenous employment and training, including the Archaeologist Training program with Energy East/TransCanada Pipeline. She has also worked with government at a provincial and federal level to affect inclusive work and procurement opportunities for Indigenous business and individuals.

Val is Mi’kmaq with family originating in NS and currently resides in Cayuga ON. Educated as a dental assistant her passion to mentor and provide guidance began early as she began her career as an instructor in Surgical Dental Assisting at the Toronto School of Business. Her creativity and desire to create something of her own she successfully developed her own business “A Curtain Call” project managing and delivering interior décor/design services in renovation, paint, custom draperies, and upholstery.

Using her skills as instructor and entrepreneur she pursued additional employment (did I mention she is constantly working?) in the trades, joining the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee for Hamilton-Niagara regions and Technical Trades Academy, where she administered pre-apprenticeship programs focused on diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups including women, youth, indigenous youth, at risk youth, newcomers to Canada and under-employed individuals. Again her passion for mentoring and providing guidance took hold and she became a Certified Instructor for the Workers Health and Safety Centre teaching Occupational Health and Safety in Ontario.

Most recent Val has been with the Aboriginal Apprenticeship Board since 2018 as a Community Engagement Coordinator. Representing the organization’s national expansion in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, her primary focus was establishing a network of stakeholders to improve opportunity for Indigenous people and their communities to access education, training, and employment in the skilled trades through apprenticeship.

Valerie is now Workforce Warriors Senior Advisor for Labour Relations and Mentorship. She looks forward to bringing her knowledge and her passion to network and mentor, meeting people and building bridges to opportunities.

Favorite quote:

“There are no problems. Simply stated, we have undiscovered solutions and opportunities.”

Tim is 2 Spirit and comes from the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation, ON. Tim considers himself a true WorkForce Warrior moving to Toronto at age 18 he has 10 years’ experience in hospitality and restaurant management, 8 years with the Bank of Montreal, 10 years implementing outsourced call centre solutions on behalf of national corporations, 2 years as Senior Operations Manager for a non-profit, and 2 years in warehouse/logistics.

Tim is excited to be using his experience to work with Indigenous communities and individuals to be confident in their successes and to share their successes as mentors with others.

Tanna is a very proud Wolastoqiyik (people of the beautiful and bountiful river) from the Nekutkuk Maliseet Nation (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. She graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 2006 in Sociology/Criminology, and followed with a 15-year career with Employment Skills and Development Canada/Service Canada. During this time she held local, regional, and national union positions for over 10 years. Tanna had worked for the past 6 and half years as the Senior Band Administrator for her community and has held the position of CEO of Band Owned Entreprises for five years; she is first female to hold these positions in her community and is very proud of that.

Tanna can be found helping communities advance to a more sustainable future for all generations to come. Tanna has been passionate about advancing indigenous rights for over 20 years and devotes much of her free time to assisting and advancing various committees and organizations for more Indigenous inclusion and participation. Tanna is on the Board of Directors of Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE) for the past 3 years. Tanna is also passionate about protecting Indigenous women and their families’ rights and has sat on the Gignoo Transition House Inc. for over 8 years.

Tanna brings a wealth of traditional, local community, and government knowledge to our team as the Project Advisor/Officer.

Susan O’Quinn has been innovating in counselling and social-emotional development, in a variety of clinical roles across Canada, for over 25 years. She has been providing online wellness counselling online since 2006, despite being told it couldn’t be done. She persevered and has been doing online counselling for 15 years- helping people resolve difficulties and reach their optimal potential.

Susan is a proud indigenous leader and subject matter expert in her field. Her expertise and guidance in the collective wellness of our Warriors is central to Workforce Warriors’ holistic leadership program development.​ In her words “We can all use a little tune-up towards improved wellness… we are all suffering from some degree of pain or anguish, stress or worry, that is getting in the way of our progress… we can open up opportunities, but if we are not emotionally well enough to receive, and act upon, those opportunities, there is limited chance of our success if we are not well enough or feel strong enough to succeed…”