Our Associates

Aarluk, ARDOS and Consilium enhance service to clients through their network of associates, a team of client-oriented professional consultants with a reputation for success.

Fern Assinewe is a consultant with 20 years of experience in the areas of education, health and social services, including over 10 years of management experience with First Nation organizations. She was responsible for the integration of previously separate health and social programs and services in Mississauga First Nation, supervised the delivery of Native child welfare support services to First Nation communities as Team Coordinator with Nog-da-win-da-min Family & Community Services, and managed the delivery of a range of primary health care services to seven First Nations and one urban site as the Health Director at Mamaweswen, 6he North Shore Tribal Council. She has also acted as a Research Assistant with the University of Ottawa and a Course Instructor with Laurentian University. Fern holds a Masters Degree in Social Work through Laurentian University, and is completing her Bachelor in Education at Queens University.

Fern has strong facilitation skills and an excellent understanding of current health and social issues and conditions facing Aboriginal populations. Examples of her work as a consultant include facilitation of strategic planning sessions, development of program logic models, review and analysis of reports, preparation of briefing notes on various issues, organization of various meetings and workshops, proposal writing and facilitation of work plan development workshops. Fern lives in Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation in Northern Ontario.

Patricia Black has over 14 years experience working with government, non-profit, Aboriginal and community development organizations in a variety of management, communications, planning and consulting roles. She co-founded a popular national environmental magazine, was Executive Director of the Elora Centre for Environmental Excellence (one of the first Ontario Green Community Initiatives), and General Manager of Western Arctic Business Development Services, a Community Futures organization located in Inuvik, Northwest Territories.

Patti's projects have taken her to northern Ontario , Quebec , Nunavut and the Northwest Territories facilitating workshops, delivering training sessions, conducting research and developing community economic development plans. She played a key role in the Flying Together Community Economic Development Planning project for 11 communities in the James Bay Mushkegowuk region, and coordinated the highly-successful "Redefining Relationships" land claims implementation conference in November 2003. Patti is an associate member of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants.

David Boult, a writer, researcher, planner and policy analyst, has worked extensively with Aboriginal businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations across Canada. David has a wide range of experience in social, economic and community development. Recent work includes research design, research, interviewing and writing for: a National Inuit Housing Consultation and Research Project; Economic Development Plans for Arctic Bay and Sanikiluaq; an Operational Review of the National Association of Friendship Centres; a Review of the First Nations and Inuit Youth Business Assistance Program; and an Inuit Early Childhood Development Discussion Paper. David provides a wide range of communication services, including communication strategic planning, speech writing, news releases, internal corporate reports, and annual reports.

Yew Lee is a trainer and consultant with over 20 years of experience, specializing in the areas of diversity and community development.

Yew has conducted organizational assessments and leadership training for executive levels of government departments, in the educational sector, and for provincial and national non-governmental organizations. He has designed and delivered community development and diversity training for police services, boards of education, and business sector clients.

Yew has also facilitated sessions on: visioning, planning, team building, problem solving, evaluation, managing change, and anti-discrimination strategies. Yew is presently involved with leadership development for minority inner-city youth, using a train-the-trainers model.

Yew was a senior manager in the NGO sector in Ottawa and Sudbury for 10 years, managing budgets of over $5M. During that time, Yew was also President of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (O.C.A.S.I.), a provincial umbrella organization. In that capacity he advocated on human rights and immigration issues at the provincial and federal levels and played a leadership role in the development of new government policies and programs.

Yew is a Board Member of Inter Pares, a Canadian social justice organization devoted to international action to confront the causes and effects of poverty, and to promote human rights and social transformation.

Since 1980, Marla Limousin has lived and worked in small communities in Canada's Arctic. For the past 24 years, her focus has been assisting communities to create better places to live. Her focus has been in working with interest groups in planning and development of the political, social and economic activities for a sound and sustainable community. Her strength in Community Development and specifically for developing community capacity, rests in the fact that she has a grass roots understanding of the goals, objectives and needs of unique northern communities. Her experience and commitment to the north, and her excellent communication and facilitation skills makes her a valuable member of our team.
Marla is a Community Planner and Landscape Architect. She began her career in Community Planning in 1980 with the GNWT. Once Planning had been decentralized to the regional offices, she moved to Rankin Inlet and for nine years, first in the capacity of Community Planner and then in the role of Senior Administrative Officer for the Municipality of Rankin Inlet and then the SAO for the Hamlet of Kugaaruk. She was involved in Planning Issues at a Regional scale and then at a Community scale.

Blair Stevenson is an educational and training consultant and teacher trainer with extensive work experience in the field of indigenous education, language use and community development. Since 1989, Blair has worked as an educatorand researcher throughout the circumpolar world, including time as a high school teacher in Kugluktuk, Nunavut and most recently returning from northern Finland where he has been working on a doctorate of education focusing on circumpolar comparative studies in indigenous teacher training.

Since joining Consilium in 2001 as an associate, Blair has contributed as a researcher and writer to projects such as the Nunavut Language Centre and Heritage Centre Feasibility Studies commissioned by the Nunavut Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth; and evaluations of Canadian Heritage's Aboriginal Language Initiative and HRSDC's Aboriginal Human Resources Development Strategy. Blair has also worked as a university and college level instructor in the area of teacher training and adult education.

Clive Tesar arrived in the field of communications consulting via a solid background in award-winning journalism for CBC radio and television. He has worked at the highest level in the field, including reporting for CBC national radio news on Parliament Hill, and working as an editor on national radio newscasts.

Mr. Tesar has developed and implemented media and communications strategies for a wide variety of clients over the past six years, with a particular emphasis on the environment and health.

Mr. Tesar has been delivering media training for the past five years, having designed a proprietary training course. That course has been delivered to both governments and non-governmental organizations, in Canada and internationally, to uniformly glowing reviews. Clients include the Departments of Health and Indian Affairs, Canada's national Inuit organization, the Canadian Medical Association, the International POPs Elimination Network, the Sustainability Network, and the National Gallery. Mr. Tesar has also designed and delivered a course on communicating risk, which he has delivered several times to clients who have a responsibility to communicate scientific and specialized information to various audiences. The risk communications course gives participants solid practical advice on how to communicate better, including modules on messaging, performance, non-verbal communication, and dealing with difficult audiences.

Ed Weick has had over forty years of research and policy advisory experience in government, industry and as a consultant, much of it supporting economic, social and political development in northern Canada. As a federal civil servant, he worked on transportation related issues such as access to tidewater for Yukon resources, the costs and benefits of paving the Alaska Highway, tug and barge transportation along the Mackenzie River, alternative means of accessing Arctic resources, northern airports and air transport, and the construction and operation of the Great Slave Lake Railway. As Chief Economist for the Northern Affairs program, he directed the work of some twenty-two professionals and support staff.

In the early 1970s, he was assigned to investigate possibilities for community-based development in northern Canada. As part of this assignment, he reviewed and reported on development programs in other northern regions, such as the Scandinavian north and Greenland. In the mid-1970s, he served as Socio-economic Advisor to the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, working closely with Mr. Justice Thomas Berger and Commission Council. After the completion of the Inquiry’s work, he returned to the Northern Affairs program, working mainly on pipeline related issues.

From 1979 to 1982, Mr. Weick worked with Dome Petroleum and led the preparation of socio-economic volume of the Dome-Esso-Gulf Beaufort Sea environmental impact statement. He returned to the Northern Affairs Program as a senior economist and policy advisor in 1982, and left the federal public service in 1987. Since then, he has undertaken a variety of consulting projects. He advised the Council of Yukon Indians on their land claims for four years and has also worked for other Aboriginal organizations, including Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Makivik Corporation. He prepared background studies for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and worked on a variety of issues relevant to Aboriginal peoples and communities: the impacts of uranium mining on health in northern Saskatchewan; decentralization of the Government of Nunavut; the impact of low level flight training on the Innu of northern Quebec and Labrador; the impact of social security reform, environmental management under Aboriginal self-government, and harvester income security programs.