MICHELLE SWANSON

Michelle Swanson’s heritage originates from the Red River Settlement, HBC Reserve, and the fur trade. Later, her great-great grandfather and his brother (both having Cree mothers) were the first Chiefs of their respective nations in Saskatchewan and signed Treaty 6:

• James Smith First Nation

• Muskoday First Nation (formerly John Smith First Nation)

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Later, her great-grandmother, Charlotte Smith, was born in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta and eventually moved to an area near Lower Fort Garry just north of Winnipeg. Charlotte hid her Cree heritage, and nothing was passed onto her children or grandchildren. Her father became very aware in his teen years and recognized that his extended family looked “native”, researched his lineage and proudly became one of the first members of the Manitoba Metis Federation by submitting our Metis Scrip. Michelle’s father spent the later part of his career and retirement giving back to many Indigenous organizations in Winnipeg. While Michelle grew up in Winnipeg, she later moved to Calgary with her sons and all became proud Metis citizens, the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region 3.

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Michelle’s career spans the private, public, and non-profit sectors and provides consultation services to businesses in change management, project management, facilitation, building high performing teams, strategic alignment, and service centric solutions. She has worked for the Manitoba Telephone System, SMART Technologies, Toshiba, Ricoh, SAIT Polytechnic, and Alberta Health Services. Currently, Michelle is a Change Management consultant in IT and business transformation projects. Clients include TransAlta, University of Calgary, City of Calgary, and Cenovus Energy.

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Michelle has a degree in Sociology/Anthropology, is certified in Prosci change management, and is a Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP) with just over 1,000 people worldwide with this designation. She brings a unique perspective to helping people deal with and understand change effectively.