The administrative head quarters of MAPC is located in Truro, Nova Scotia. However, as a result our work and our structure, each of the Member Councils through their elected Chiefs and with MAPC deployed staff or experts working on specific regional projects or initiatives, provide MAPC a contact office within each of the three Maritime Provinces.
The daily administration of MAPC is the responsibility of the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, who also has the role of Secretary to the Leaders Congress, and Designated Delegate on behalf of MAPC and the Member Councils to national and international venues.
In addition for some national and international venues on specific subjects, the MAPC Designated Delegate has been requested to attend, make general commentary and report back on proceedings and results on behalf of the Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
Native Council of Nova Scotia
Chief & President Grace Conrad
Chief & President Grace Conrad is a Mi’kmaq woman, born in Annapolis, Nova Scotia. She has been involved with the Native Council of Nova Scotia (NCNS) Community of Mi’kmaq/Aboriginal Peoples since its founding in 1974.
Chief Conrad is married to Albert Conrad and has two children, Trevor and Albert Junior. Their children have blessed them with six wonderful grandchildren.
Chief Conrad has been involved in many facets of the NCNS, moving up from involvement as a youth, an elected zone executive and a Director on the Board for several years; in 1996, she was appointed to the Vice-President’s team NCNS A Future Strategy.
In 2003, she was endorsed by the NCNS Board of Directors and later Ratified by the NCNS Annual General Assembly to fill the remaining term of the vacated office of NCNS Chief & President.
In 2005, and again in 2009, she was elected by the constituency of rural/urban off-reserve Mi’kmaq/Aboriginal Peoples of Nova Scotia through universal suffrage to the position of NCNS Chief & President.
Since then, she has contributed to various Boards and Committees and has met with numerous officials to ensure that the voices of the off-reserve Mi’kmaq/Aboriginal Peoples of Nova Scotia are not forgotten.
With the stellar organizational structure of the Native Council of Nova Scotia, developed throughout our thirty six year history, the Office of Chief & President has been effective. As Chief & President, Ms. Conrad has seen the NCNS Community grow in its capacity and is determined in her role and clearly states that the NCNS continues going forward to a better future.
New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council
Chief & President Kim Nash-McKinley, B.A.
Chief & President Kim Nash-McKinley was born, raised and still resides on the traditional homelands of her ancestors in what is now known as Fredericton, New Brunswick. She is a wife and mother and her family totem is the Bear; in Maliseet “Muwin”.
Chief Nash-McKinley is a citizen of the Maliseet Nation and practices basket making which was passed on to her by her Father who is a traditional Maliseet basket maker. Chief Nash-McKinley passed the tradition on to her daughter who is carrying it forward with her and will pass it on to her children and her children’s children.
The Maliseet traditional language is important to Chief Nash-McKinley, who is on the language journey.
Currently, in the Province of New Brunswick, there are only around a hundred Maliseet speakers; the language and the elders who speak it are quickly disappearing. Chief Nash-McKinley has taken some Maliseet language courses in University hoping to become a fluent speaker someday – the once oral language is now being recorded and preserved and hopefully one day it will be revived.
Over the past eighteen years, Chief Nash-McKinley has volunteered and served in a variety of roles at the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council (NBAPC). She is proud of her heritage and to follow in the footsteps of her family, Mildred and William Nash. The Nash family was one of the founding families and was instrumental to the creation and existence of the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council. Chief Nash-McKinley was elected as the President & Chief of the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council in December 2009.
Chief Nash-McKinley is a strong believer that “we must provide for the ones who have not been born yet”. She believes in investing in our youth; that they are our legacy and our future. She believes that “we are the caretakers of the earth, we need to earn our time here and each of us has a responsibility to leave Mother Earth better than we found it.”
Native Council of Prince Edward Island
Chief & President Jamie Gallant
Elected at the age of twenty-four (24), Ms. Jamie Gallant is the youngest elected Chief & President in the Aboriginal history of Prince Edward Island, as well as in Canada through the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and its ten affiliated Provincial Territorial Organizations (PTOs).
The Native Council of Prince Edward Island (NCPEI), which was established in 1975 as an incorporated non-profit organization, is responsible for advocating on behalf of the non-status and off-reserve Aboriginal Peoples who choose to reside on their traditional ancestral homelands of Epekwitk (PEI). Jamie is currently serving her second term as Chief & President of NCPEI.
Chief Gallant has been a member of the Native Council of Prince Edward Island for most of her life, becoming actively involved at the age of sixteen. She graduated from Kensington Intermediate Senior High School with honours.
Chief Gallant has very diverse interests, effectively living in two worlds. In one life, she understands and engages in her cultural traditions, customs and practices of the Mi’kmaq Aboriginal Peoples. In the other, she upholds untraditional theories, politics and general ways of life.
Chief Gallant has led the NCPEI to an accountable and transparent form of management. Besides demanding inclusion for the off-reserve status and non-status and Métis Aboriginal Peoples of Prince Edward Island, she has a respectful working relationship with and for the Aboriginal Peoples. With her accountable method of conducting business, Chief Gallant has driven the NCPEI to secure four federal multi-year funding agreements in the areas of core operations and health, including a Diabetes Awareness and Prevention program, a National Native Drug and Alcohol program and a Status of Women program to encourage independence in women of Aboriginal ancestry throughout PEI. These are among the first funding agreements the NCPEI has been granted in its thirty-five (35) year history, surpassing a year-to-year proposal-driven process.
Chief Gallant is a strong advocate for ensuring affordable and adequate housing for the Aboriginal Peoples of Prince Edward Island. She continues to lobby to raise awareness for the problem of homelessness in Prince Edward Island, including sleeping on the streets of Charlottetown for a 24 hour period and securing federal and provincial funding to ensure new housing is provided for the off-reserve Aboriginal Peoples of PEI.
Chief Gallant also has a passion for the Aboriginal Youth of Prince Edward Island. She has successfully bridged the gap between the Aboriginal Elder and the Aboriginal Youth generations. Both parties are working together to ensure their customs, traditions, practices and self pride are preserved for future generations and leaders. Chief Gallant engages the youth in the traditional knowledge transfer from the Elders of the community.
During the NCPEI’s Annual Assembly in 2007, the late Keptin Frank Nevin of the Mi’kmaq Grand Council of Canada honoured Chief Gallant for her understanding and wisdom by presenting her with an Eagle Feather, representing the most sacred tradition of the Aboriginal Peoples.
Chief Jamie Gallant is a true Aboriginal woman. She protects, nurtures and helps the family of the Native Council of PEI move forward in its goal to heal and create a bright future. She is a woman of great knowledge, wisdom and influence and should be recognized for her determination and dedication in advocating and advancing the Aboriginal Peoples of PEI.
Roger J. Hunka
Director of Intergovernmental Affairs
Roger Hunka has over thirty-five years of administrative experience, including ten years as an adult trainer/educator. Roger has been directly involved as founder and or partner party to several non-for profit, charitable and for profit entities. The majority of these have been to accommodate and advance the social, cultural, educational, economic and political aspirations and needs of Aboriginal Peoples.
Roger has served as the National Bilateral Relations Director for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Maritime Aboriginal Peoples Council, the Director for the Maritime Aboriginal Aquatic Resources Secretariate, Producer for Mi’Kmaki the Map, Mi’kmaq Language Learning Series, Mi’Mac Business Finder, and Sedco Small Business Learning Series.
Roger has also served as Executive Director of the Native Council of Nova Scotia, President of Mi’Kmakik Development Corporation, as well as serving as director on the Boards of Several charities and not-for profit entities, and Advisor on “Indigenous Rights Development”.
Roger has extensive experience in public speaking, including presentations at local, provincial, regional, national and multilateral forums on: social/economic development, environmental worldviews, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the evolution of the generation of rights to name but a few subjects.
Roger has staunchly spoken and worked for the elimination of social, cultural, economic, political and environmental policies and abuses which demean the merit, worth, and capacity of the person, the health of Mother Earth and compromise the present and future harmony of humankind.