Team
Chief Jim Boucher, AOC, C
President and Co-Founder
Chief Jim Boucher is Cree and Dene and was born in Fort McKay, Alberta, a community of about 850 Dene, Cree and Métis on the bank of the Athabasca River. The middle child of seven, he is a direct descendant of Headman Adam Boucher who signed Treaty 8 on August 4, 1899.
He is the President and Chairman of the Saa Dene Group of Companies, and is also well recognized as the former long-standing elected Chief of the Fort McKay First Nation and Chairman of the Fort McKay Group of Companies, one of the most successful First Nations and Companies in Canada.
Jim has been and continues to be one of the most influential and successful Indigenous leaders internationally. Jim believes practice and preservation of one's traditional way of life can occur simultaneously alongside continuous and long-term sustainable energy development. Jim has effectively built relationships with the oil and gas industry and all levels of government. This has built Fort McKay's social and economic strength, facilitated proper consultation, and advanced the rights of his community and its people.
Chief Boucher has received more than a dozen notable awards and accolades throughout his career. Most recently, Chief Boucher was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence (2020), Energy Person of the Year by the Canadian Energy Council of Canada (2018), and was named one of “The Power 50” – The 50 Most Influential Canadian Business Leaders (2017) and received the Commendation from the Governor General for Outstanding Service (2016). Jim also received the Aboriginal Business Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (2009), and Indspire (formerly National Aboriginal Achievement) Award - Business and Commerce (2008).
Additional Accolades:
• President of the Athabasca Tribal Council (ATC)
• Grand Chief of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta
• Vice-Chairperson, Board of Governors, Keyano College
• CCAB Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award
• Indspire Award, Laureate, (formerly National Aboriginal Achievement Award), Lifetime achievement
• Aboriginal Role Model Award
• Builder of Wood Buffalo award (2017)
• Lieutenant Governor of Canada patron award, 2016
• The Power 50 - The 50 Most Influential Canadian Business Leaders (2017)
Jauvonne Kitto
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
As a member of Saa Dene executive team, her role is to set the strategic vision and manage the daily operations of the companies.
Prior to that, she was an Executive Director at Fort McKay First Nation and responsible for corporate and community governance, administration, health and human services, communications, stakeholder, public and corporate relations and as management consultant.
Ms. Kitto has over 20 years of combined executive management, economic development, regulatory matters, crisis and risk management and governance experience. Her career has spanned work in the public, private, government and non-profit sectors. Specializing in guiding organizations to operate more efficiently and profitably by focusing on the spectrum of challenges that business leaders and governments face – from long range strategic planning and is the critical day-to-day business matters.
Throughout her career Ms. Kitto has been a mentor with a particular focus on supporting working women and the betterment of Indigenous Peoples and fulfilling their rights over their lands. She is actively involved in her community and currently serves as an advisor, a board of director on several for profit and not for profit, First Nations Group of Companies; and several non-partisan organizations such as the Information Communications Technology Council (ICTC) - a national center of expertise in the digital economy; Calgary Housing Company - provides safe and affordable housing solutions for families; KidSport - All Kids Should Play, and no child should be left on the sidelines; Praxis Spinal Cord Institute; Chair, Onion Lake Cree Nation Group of Companies.; Nature Conservancy Canada (Alberta Chapter).
A member of the Forbes Business Council, Energy Council of Canada and the Business Council of Alberta and the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and First Nations Power Authority.
Reverdi Darda
Director of Relations and Engagement
Reverdi has extensive experience in community engagement, operations, policy development and strategic planning. With over 30 years of experience working in complex public systems she currently leads the Saa Dene business and Indigenous community relations activities.
Reverdi is Metis, was born in St. Albert, Alberta and continues to make the community her home today. She is a direct descendant of Damase Carriere who fought beside Louis Riel in the heroic Metis North-West Resistance of 1885 against Canadian Colonialism. Her passion to engage communities and work together for equity and inclusion of all is reflective of her family’s legacy.
Her career has included executive roles in the public, government, and non-profit sectors. Her experience and expertise in the areas of community engagement, planning, project and change management significantly impacted the outcomes of numerous projects she has been involved in. She played a key role in the signing of a historic joint venture agreement in 2018 between primary care physicians and the Alberta government that provided funding for additional professional primary care services across Alberta.
In 2011 she was honored with Alberta Health Services Presidents Excellence award for Quality. This award recognized her leadership approach in creating a culture of innovation, empowerment and continuous learning through collaboration. She easily unites individuals to achieve common business objectives, goals, and outcomes.
Reverdi has board and governance experience in several non-profit organizations and currently sits as a Director on the board of Edmonton Meals on Wheels. She is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Alberta and has a passion for lifelong learning.
Her greatest accomplishment is being a mother to her son Josh and daughter Madison. She enjoys spending her extra time mentoring other professionals across various health and business sectors.
Thalia Zuniga
Administration Assistant
Chief Charlie Weaselhead
Senior Advisor
Taatsiikiipoyii, former Blood Tribe Chief and Treaty 7 Grand Chief Charles (Charlie) Weaselhead Jr. was born on the Blood Indian Reserve in 1949. Since the early 1980's, Charles Weaselhead has worked hard to advance many health initiatives to improve the health care outcomes for the People, as Director of the treatment centres Napi Lodge and Poundmaker's Lodge; Director of the Blood Indian Hospital in the early 90's; and as Chief Executive Officer for the Blood Tribe Department of Health Inc. - a post he held until his successful election as Chief of the Blood Tribe and subsequent leadership from 2004-2016.
Charles continues to maintain an interest in working with the University of Lethbridge and the Lethbridge College in advancing the lifelong education goals of our Indigenous members.
During Charles term as Blood Tribe Chief he was appointed as the Treaty 7 Grand Chief and held the Health and Education portfolio for the Treaty 7 Chiefs. Charles served on numerous Boards and Committees including the Aboriginal Healing Foundation Board of Directors, Committee Chairman for Community Violence Prevention on the Blood Reserve, the First Nations Information Governance Centre (Ottawa), the AFN's Chiefs Committee on Health, the Alberta First Nation's Information Governance Centre's Chiefs Senate, the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre and the Alberta Health Co-Management Committee.
Charles was a signatory to the Alberta Protocol Agreement on Government-to-Government Relations (2008) and the Memorandum of Understanding on First Nations Education (2010). His priorities include: implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; long term planning initiatives to address education, health, economic, social and environmental issues; soliciting community participation and support; looking ahead to advancing the sovereignty of First Nations by protecting our inherent and treaty rights; exploration of new and innovative partnerships; and to the dire issues of housing, poverty, community violence and other social and health issues.
Currently Charles is a member of the Blood Tribe Department of Health Inc. Board of Directors, Aboriginal Liaison Red Cross, and Indigenous Knowledge Wisdom Centre Board of Director in partnership with the Treaty 6, 7 and 8, Provincial and Federal Education Departments.
Emily Whetung-MacInnes
Senior Advisor
Chief Emily Whetung grew up in Curve Lake First Nation and left long enough to pursue a higher education at Trent University and Osgoode Hall Law School. She married a Mohawk from Wahta and convinced him to build a life on the Chemong side of Curve Lake.
She practiced Real Estate Law in Peterborough for a decade while she started to work on the next generation of Whetungs, raising two lovely little boys.
Elected as Chief of Curve Lake in 2019, Chief Emily is passionate about the rights of First Nations people, ensuring her community has every opportunity to thrive and protecting the environment for all future generations, protection of Treaty Rights, finding ways to ensure economic advancements occur in sustainable manners, and building healthy relationships between First Nations and Canadians.
Eight months after taking office, Chief Emily was faced with dealing with a global pandemic. Shifting the community to online work, finding ways to support families in staying home, working on developing agricultural lands to ensure food security, and ensuring First Nations had access to vaccinations on the manufacturer’s recommended dosage schedule, Chief Emily pivoted to deal with the issues facing her community. In the summer of 2021 Chief Emily seconded the nomination of the woman who would become the first female National Chief at the Assembly of First Nations.
Having picked up on 40 years of advocating for access to clean drinking water for Curve Lake, Chief Emily as one of the representative plaintiffs settled a national class action with the Government of Canada providing for 8 billion dollars to end long term water advisories on First Nations across Canada before 2030.
Chief Emily has recently been elected to the Anishinabek Nation Leadership Council and appointed the vice-chair to the Indigenous Advisory Council for Small Modular (Nuclear) Reactor Action Plan and continues to sit on many committees and working groups with the Mississauga Nation Chiefs, the Chiefs of Ontario and the Anishinabek Nation. She continues to use her expertise and knowledge to ensure that that voices of Indigenous people are heard and respected.