Jonathan Dewar

Jonathan Dewar, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer at the First Nations Information Governance Centre. The FNIGC leads national-level research, designing and implementing surveys, including the longstanding First Nations Regional Health Survey and related research and public health initiatives, and provides information governance and OCAP education and training. He has spent most of his career directing research and knowledge translation initiatives for national Indigenous-led organizations. During that time, his work has focused on governance, strategic planning, health and well-being, data sovereignty, arts and literatures, and truth, healing and reconciliation.

Jonathan previously served as the Director General and Vice President, Collections, Research, Exhibitions and Repatriation at the Canadian Museum of History; Director of the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre and Special Advisor to the President at Algoma University; and Director of Research at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, among other leadership roles.

Jonathan received a doctorate from the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies at Carleton University and holds an appointment as Adjunct Research Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He also serves in many volunteer capacities, including as a member of the Board of Directors of the Queensway Carleton Hospital, where he is also Chair of the Governance and Nominations Committee, and as a member of the inaugural Board of Directors for the National Council for Reconciliation. He has served on many expert advisory bodies, including the Expert Advisory Group on the Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy, and serves as a member of the National Killam Program Selection Committee.

Born and raised in the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Nation (Ottawa), Jonathan is of Scottish- and French-Canadian heritage and a member of the Huron Wendat Nation.

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