Aniin!
I'm Chad Kicknosway, an Anishinaabe Legal Political Sociologist and the founder of Debwe Maada'ookii Maamawi.
My work brings together more than 20 years of experience within the urban First Nations community and nearly a decade in the federal public service. My experience includes community-based work as well as work in justice, policy, research, engagement, and consultation. I have contributed to regional and national initiatives involving First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments, communities, organizations, experts, and representatives. My experience is grounded most deeply in First Nations issues, including Indian Act registration and citizenship, justice, engagement, and the relationship between First Nations and the federal government.
My academic background brings another dimension to that work. I hold honours degrees in sociology and political science, a Juris Doctor, and a Master of Laws, with areas of study including research and methodology, public policy, constitutional law, Aboriginal law, and human rights. That interdisciplinary training taught me to approach complex issues from more than one direction: to research carefully, question assumptions, understand the systems surrounding a problem, and translate complicated information into something people can actually use.
Before creating Debwe, I worked on both sides of the relationship that now informs much of my consulting practice. I have worked within First Nations and national organizations, supported people navigating the justice system, and spent years inside the federal government developing policy, conducting research, advising senior officials, and designing and delivering national engagement processes. That experience gave me a practical understanding of how government works, how decisions move through institutions, and where engagement processes can succeed or fail.
I also bring lived experience as an Anishinaabe person with longstanding connections to the urban First Nations community. My identity and connection to community did not begin with my consulting practice. They are grounded in a lifetime of family, community involvement, responsibility, and accountability. Together, those experiences shape what I bring to Debwe: professional and academic expertise grounded in First Nations experience, an understanding of government from the inside, and a commitment to using that knowledge in service of the clients who hire us.
Experience in Practice
My approach to consulting is informed by more than two decades of professional and community experience. The following examples show how I have approached complex engagement, policy, and governance work, and how those experiences continue to inform the work I do through Debwe today.
National Engagement & Consultation
Redesigning an engagement process when the original approach did not fit the people it was intended to serve.
I spent more than three years working on the federal government's response to Bill S-3 and the broader Collaborative Process on Indian Registration, Band Membership and First Nation Citizenship. My work evolved considerably over that time, from advising on engagement and helping move the department toward a more collaborative approach, to designing and supporting national engagement processes.
I was later appointed Departmental Liaison to the Minister's Special Representative and designed the approach for her national engagement. This included working directly with the Minister’s Special Representative to determine how the engagement would operate, where it would take place, who needed to be involved, and how different forms of participation could be built into the process.
When we arrived in Alberta, First Nations leadership challenged our approach. The national model did not adequately recognize treaty distinctions and was being experienced as another one-size-fits-all process. Rather than defend what we had designed, we stopped and listened. The Minister’s Special Representative and I worked with First Nations representatives to develop a treaty-specific approach. I then brought that revised approach back through federal decision-making channels for approval before we returned to Alberta.
That experience changed how I approached engagement. A process may look good on paper and still be wrong for the people in front of you. Good engagement requires enough humility to recognize that and enough flexibility to change it.
Policy Development & Implementation
Turning expert knowledge and First Nations, Inuit and Métis perspectives into policy that could work inside a federal institution.
While working at Library and Archives Canada, I led a team contributing to policies and guidance concerning First Nations, Inuit and Métis materials held within the national collection. I relied heavily on team members with archival and library expertise, as well as knowledge brought forward through an Indigenous Advisory Circle and broader discussions concerning repatriation, access, ownership, and cultural protocols.
The work required the institution to reconsider some conventional assumptions about its holdings. Not everything could simply be treated as an object owned by an institution. Some materials carried cultural or spiritual significance, and the people connected to those materials needed to be considered in decisions about access, lending, care, and traditional protocols.
I was not an archivist, nor did I pretend to be one. My role was to work with people who held that expertise, understand what they were telling us, and help translate those ideas into policy and institutional language that could be implemented.
I later helped oversee implementation of two initiatives. That experience reinforced something I continue to bring to policy work today: practice tests theory. Implementation will often reveal circumstances that could not be fully anticipated when a policy was written. Good policy needs to be clear enough to guide people and practical enough to adapt when experience reveals a gap.
Governance Review & Development
Recognizing when a documentation project revealed a larger governance issue that needed the Board's attention.
Through Debwe, I was retained by a non-profit organization to review and organize its governance information and develop practical resources for its Board. The work included developing a Board Governance Handbook and Director Onboarding Handbook intended to strengthen Board effectiveness, orientation, and organizational continuity.
As my research progressed, I began identifying governance documents, processes, and supporting resources that could not be located or verified. I kept in close contact with the Board President as the work developed, and eventually it became clear that the issue was significant enough that it should not simply be buried within the original project.
I recommended preparing a separate governance documentation gap analysis for the Board's consideration. The analysis distinguished between a practice that did not exist and one that could not be verified through the available documentation. It identified areas where clearer policies, roles, processes, and records could strengthen governance and preserve institutional knowledge.
The project reinforced the importance of allowing research to shape the work. Sometimes the evidence shows that the original assignment does not tell the whole story. When that happens, my responsibility is to explain what I have found, why it matters, and give the client the information it needs to decide what happens next.
Authenticity and Lived Experience
I bring lived experience as an Anishinaabe person with both on-reserve and off-reserve perspectives. These experiences shape how I understand and navigate the realities of First Nations communities in Canada today. At a time when Indigenous identity is increasingly being used as a professional credential, my authenticity is grounded in a lifetime of family, community connection, responsibility, and accountability. This grounding gives me a perspective that cannot be replicated by surface-level claims of indigeneity.