Dr. Michael DeGagné

Mike DeGagné is the Executive Director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, a national Aboriginal organization dedicated to addressing the legacy of Canada's Indian Residential School System. He has worked in the field of addiction and mental health for the past 25 years, first as a community worker on-reserve in northern Ontario and later with the Addiction Research Foundation (ARF), the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), and the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP). With the federal government, he has been an Executive manager in Aboriginal affairs, and a land claims negotiator. Mike lectures nationally and internationally on issues of Aboriginal health, Residential Schools, reconciliation, and governance. He serves on a number of Boards including Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), is currently the Vice-President of the Child Welfare League of Canada, and past Chairman of Ottawa’s Queensway Carleton Hospital. His PhD focuses on Aboriginal post secondary education.