About the IAPP

A citizen of the Metis Nation of Ontario and originally from the Sudbury area, Derek now lives in Halton Region which is respectfully located on the Treaty Lands of the Mississauga’s of the Credit First Nation. He is a father, a husband, a son, a brother, and an uncle. Despite going to school to study financial planning and accounting, Derek has always had an interest in spirituality and spends much of his spare time relearning about Indigenous culture, traditions, and teachings.

Though he worked as an accountant at a not-for-profit organization for several years, Derek was excited to join the Quality Assurance and Decolonization team at Native Child and Family Services of Toronto in March of 2022 where he now does his best to serve the needs of Toronto’s Indigenous community. Over this past year he has helped develop some privacy policies and practices and tools, but from a culturally relevant perspective. Derek looks forward to discovering other ways in which similar “artifacts” can be re-envisioned in a good way for the community’s benefit, and to sharing his learnings with others.