Cultural Resource Elders

Audrey Breaker

Audrey currently makes her home in Siksika, with her husband Bob Breaker. She came to Calgary in 1971 and started her studies at the University of Calgary in 1972, where she and Bob met. Her extensive career focuses on Aboriginal Education and Development, with years of work on the Siksika Board of Education. At the moment she is devoting herself to being an education consultant. Her list of achievements and community service record is very long, with an emphasis on Aboriginal issues, child welfare and youth development. Audrey has acted as a conference coordinator, chairperson, and committee member for many organizations and events that benefit First Nations communities locally and country-wide. She has travelled all over Canada, coordinating Aboriginal workshops and presentations. Audrey was also nominated for a prestigious YWCA Women of Distinction Award in 1994. Audrey is extremely well regarded and renowned in the local community and is knowledgeable with Blackfoot Ways, which makes her an excellent resource for our Aboriginal Students.

Clarence Wolfleg Senior

Clarence’s Siksika name is “Miiksikaam,” translated as “Red Crane,” which is also his fourth great-grandfather’s name, who watched the east boundaries for many years back in the 1600s.  When he went to boarding school the name given to him was “Clarence Victor Wolfleg “Agar”". 

Clarence served close to 10 terms as councillor with the Siksika Nation with portfolios in land claims negotiations, intergovernmental affairs, policing, and child welfare.

Clarence became a member of the Horn Society 17 years ago and was partner to a leaders bundle. He is also in the Brave Dog Society and was honored to be the pipe holder for Vimy Ridge Warrior Pipe in 2013. 

He was also a seven-year veteran of peacekeeping in the mid 1960s. Upon his return from peacekeeping he became a federal police officer and served 14 years as a special constable in the RCMP and in the province of Alberta. He was also chief of police for the Siksika Nation and worked for Corrections Canada for many years in the court programs.

Presently, “Miiksikaam” is spiritual advisor to the Bow Valley College Iniikokaan Centre, Mount Royal University Iniskim Centre, Sunrise Addiction Services, Heritage Park, and Siksika Nation.

On November 2016, “Miiksikaam” was honored with an Honorary Bachelor of Anthropology in Sociology from Mount Royal University.

Pikanii/Cree/Metis

Dila Provost Houle

The Bow Valley College Indigenous Centre is proud to offer learners access to our Cultural Resource Elder, Dila Provost.  Supported by the RBC Foundation and the Imperial Oil Foundation, Dila shares cultural and spiritual ways of knowing with students and staff at Bow Valley College.

Doris Calliou

Our Elder, Doris Calliou, is from the Alexander Cree Nation, with family ties to both Metis and Cree communities in Central Alberta. Doris shares cultural and spiritual ways of knowing. Bow Valley College students are welcome to visit Doris here at the Iniikokaan Centre. If you would like a one-on-one consultation with Doris, please make an appointment with the Iniikokaan Centre.

Edmee Comstock

Edmee is the youngest of 17 children from one of the most important historical families of the Red River Settlement. Her great-grandfather was John Bruce (Jean-Baptiste Bruce), the first president of the Metis Provisional Government at the Red River Colony. Louis Riel was his secretary.

Edmee considers herself blessed to be raised in a traditional Metis family with a strong work ethic and sense of community, spirituality, and belonging. In the early 1900s, while others were hiding their culture, her father taught them to be proud of their heritage. This is a legacy she carries on today through her generous sharing of her cultural teachings, Michif language, and history through various educational outreach programs for youth and families.

Edmee’s calm, reflective, and welcoming spirit urges everyone to forgive and march on, to not hurt anyone and to always help others. Wearing her Metis sash with great pride, she is now a well respected elder and a beloved representative of the Bruce clan of the Red River Colony.

In 2012, Edmee was the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work in the community.

Elder Florence Kelly

Florence Kelly is from the Ojibwas of Onigaming reserve within the Lake of the Woods region of Northwestern Ontario. Born in 1941 at Anishinabeg Park on the outskirts of the once small town of Kenora, Ontario, she was raised to a traditional Ojibwa lifestyle: summers were spent picking berries, fishing, and harvesting wild rice, while winters were spent on the trap-line trapping animals like mink, beaver, and otter. With early childhood memories being generally happy, later childhood memories were marred by time spent at the St. Mary’s Residential School, having been forcibly taken from her parents and siblings whom she greatly loved.

Today, Florence has raised three successful sons and has four grandchildren to whom she greatly loves and devotes herself. She has lived in Calgary for more than thirty years and has been an active member of Calgary’s developing Indigenous community. Florence is a firm believer that hard work and determination can provide positive results for anyone’s life journey.