Members and Program Staff
Erin Horvath - Co-Executive Director
Erin Horvath is the Co-Executive Director of New Vision Unlimited as well as one of our lead programmers and workshop facilitators. She uses her formal training in Psychology (Hon BSc), Community Development (M.A), Mediation (Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution), Strategic Planning (National Charette Institute) and Challenge Course Facilitation (Canada Ropes Course Company), along with her life experience living and working within First Nations communities to create meaningful, relevant and engaging workshops. Erin is known for her ability to help organizations bring their ideas to life through creative collaborative planning as well as her ability to help teams increase their effectiveness and cohesion. She has extensive experience working with youth, families and communities at-risk in clinical, recreational and community settings with a focus on mental health, trauma, and empowerment. Her experience in theatre, dance and music makes her a fun and dynamic facilitator and allows us to integrate various forms of creative expression into our training.
Graham Thompson - Co-Executive Director
Graham Thompson is a Co-Executive Director of New Vision Unlimited as well as one of our lead programmers and workshop facilitators. He has been formally trained in Social Sciences, and received a Masters of Divinity at McMaster University. Graham is the lead ropes course instructor for New VU, certified by Adventureworks! and the Canadian Ropes Course Company. He is also a mobile climbing wall facilitator, an ORCKA instructor, and a resiliency trainer for Reaching In Reaching Out (RIRO). Graham has worked for Child and Family Services where he used his understanding of community development to create a prevention unit and develop community protocols. Recently Graham finished coordinating/facilitating a 2 year long community development project in which over 20 service providers developed a network of services, one of the largest and most successful partnerships between service providers in north western Ontario. He has traveled to over 20 countries for personal enjoyment and community development projects, and has been trained as an athletic coach and trainer in various sports. Keeping Graham busy are his 2 boys, but thankfully he has help from his wife and work partner Erin.
Dave Skene - Board Member 2011-2013
Dave Skene is a Metis of Scottish, French, Menominee and Cree decent. Dave is one of the Co-Founders of Global Youth Network an international organization working to educate and mobilize young people towards making positive change in their world. He served as the Executive Director for Global Youth Network from 1995-2010. He recently resigned from that position to work with Global Youth as their Indigenous Program Coordinator. Dave has lead numerous teams of Canadian youth on international volunteer and education projects. He has taught on justice and community development across Canada and Internationally. At present Dave is developing youth programs in Kenya, Brazil, Korea, and several First Nations communities in British Columbia. No matter what Dave puts his hand to he is first of all a youth worker, supporting youth to discover how they can create a more just society. Dave has been married to Liz Becker for 25 years and right now they make their home in Duncan British Columbia.
Ché Curtis-September - Board Secretary/Treasurer 2011-2013
Ché Curtis-September brings extensive management and board experience. During the past 13 years he has managed profit, non-profit, and charitable corporations and has served in various roles on community volunteer boards as well as municipal council. Ché is very passionate about sustainable community development initiatives. During his spare time he enjoys kayaking, canoeing, skiing, hunting, fishing, and trapping. He is a certified Challenge Course Facilitator (Canadian Ropes Course Company) and trained Mediator (Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution). With New Vision Unlimited, Che has served as a Board Member, provides leadership to business aspects of the organization, and enjoys assisting with group facilitation.
Michael O'Brien - Board Chair 2011-2013
Michael O'Brien has had a busy career in the field of Aviation, a career which began in 1980 and has taken him all over North America. He has 10 years experience working in a managerial position which has provided him with a variety of leadership and business skills which help inform the work he does with New Vision Unlimited and other not-for-profit initiatives. Michael has had experience in many youth sports programs as a coach over the last 22 years with a special interest in gymnastics with a level 2 certified NCCP certification. For the past 6 years Michael has combined his love of the outdoors with his dedication to youth development, providing leadership to yearly International Rotary Youth Camp Trips. In his work with New Vision Unlimited Michael is particularly interested in supporting initiatives that promote youth empowerment and leadership.
Anna Mckay-Phelan
Anna grew up in and around the First Nation of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake). Speaking only in her mother tongue of Oji-Cree, she spent much of her childhood on her family's trapline living off the land and flowing with nature's cycles for animals, fish and plants. As an adult, she earned a Social Work diploma from Loyalist College and a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Manitoba, with a major in Native Studies and minor in Psychology. Anna has worked for regional First Nations organizations in northwestern Ontario as a mental health counsellor, community development worker, workshop facilitator and still using her language, as a communications specialist and translator. She lives in Sioux Lookout, embraces life as an urban Aboriginal woman and serves the community as a volunteer, currently as chairwoman of the Sunset Women's Aboriginal Circle.
Jesse Terry - Board Member
A member of Lac Seul First Nation, Jesse Terry grew up on the land 15kms outside of Sioux Lookout, ON. He has a strong passion for outdoor adventure and education, and sharing that passion with others. Jesse has grown to believe in the strength to be found in respecting and acknowledging the earth and his aborigional roots, the personal development benefits found in adventure, and the importance of pushing his own personal limits and exploring new experiences and opportunities.
Jesse can offer a wide range of outdoor programming, including canoe training and expeditions, rock climbing guiding and instruction, dog sledding tours and workshops, youth development programming, wilderness first aid training and land based cultural education.
Wherever Jesse is, whatever he is doing, he feels it is important to help others connect with the land.
Monika Orzechowska
Monika Orzechowska is an Ontario Teachers College registered teacher with a focus on Junior, Intermediate and Senior grades. She also holds an Honours degree in Geography and Environmental Studies is a qualified adult literacy educator. Monika has spent several years living, learning and working in Inuit and Cree Communities and has extensive training in crisis intervention, trauma work as well as conflict resolution. In her work with New Vision Unlimited she led the Experiential Grade 1 Class Pilot project that was undertaken in partnership with Sioux Mountain Public School in Sioux Lookout and continues to facilitate programs within the LearnFit Program. Using intuition, past successes, personal experiences, an enthusiastic respect for all life and a strong ability to connect with people, Monika works with students to facilitate eye, mind and heart opening journeys of discovery. Monika builds student confidence, self-awareness, engagement and voice through activities that are hands on, experientially based and responsive to individual student skills and strengths. Students shine as they cook, create, converse, make music, play, use cameras to document their perspective, explore the wonder and beauty of natural environments “face to face”, develop a healing relationship with Mother Earth and grow in their role as global stewards.
Jacob Jeswiet
Jacob "Sven" Jeswiet is an Ontario Teachers College registered primary, junior and intermediate teacher and has worked with New Vision Unlimited as the LearnFit Leadership Adventures Program Coordinator. A graduate of the Lakehead University Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism program and the Queen’s University Outdoor Experiential Education program Jacob brings his love of the outdoors into his teaching and various community groups he provides leadership to. It is his belief that classroom teaching is important but the things we learn “outside the box” have a profound impact on people's lives, and facilitating those experiences is what he strives to do. He is a registered ORCKA (Ontario Recreational Canoeing and Kayaking Association) Instructor and has spent several years guiding for Boy Scouts of America's Northern Tier program as well as helping manage a remote Northern Ontario Camp. Jacob's greatest joy is to be out in nature no matter the weather or season and to share those experiences with others. He currently resides in Kenora, Ontario.
Susan Barclay - Bookkeeper
Susan is currently the Executive Director of the Sioux Lookout Out of The Cold, an Emergency Shelter with counseling support and Community Food Bank. Susan has worked for several organizations, including St.Mary's Anglican Church, the Independant First Nations Alliance, Pelican Falls Centre, Wawatay Native Communications Society, and the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council. Susan is a strong believer in community. She is an active member of the Rotary Club and volunteers as Treasurer of the Sioux Lookout Anti-Racism Committee. She served as chair of Queen Elizabeth District High School, Sunset Region Figure Skating Board, and the Meno Ya Win Health Care Facilities Chaplaincy Program. Susan and her husband Peter have lived in Sioux Lookout since the early 1980's. She is the mother of three grown children and the grandmother of four.
