A Marten Falls First Nation member, she maintains that preserving and practicing cultural traditions and ceremony keeps her connected to the community, Indigenous cultures, traditions, and protocols. She works to establish networks, strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities and governments, and build capacity between Indigenous, public, and private partners which have supported multiple initiatives that advance educational outcomes for Indigenous students. This knowledge supports land-based pedagogy instruction.
As an established education leader, Denise has worked in multiple contexts including public school boards, the Ministry of Education, Lakehead University, and First Nations private schools for the past 32 years. Within each of these contexts, she has built capacity and partnerships with multiple community stakeholders. Her work with the community has involved policy development, strategic planning, school improvement, education conferences, workshop presentations, and capacity building with educators in First Nations and public schools. She has worked on several research projects including ONCAT Actioning and Expanding Commitment to Indigenous Learners (2022).
Previously, she served as co-chair of the Ministry of Education, Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit Provincial Committee. Her educational experience has included opportunities to lead and teach across multiple educational environments including public schools K-12, First Nations schools (K-12), and the university. She has reviewed provincial curriculum and developed numerous resources for educators including resources for the Ministry of Education, Right to Play, Matawa Education and Scholastic Publishers. She has served on multiple boards at a local, regional and national level bringing her knowledge and experience to serve communities.