Engage!

An edu­ca­tor and com­mu­ni­ty activist, Mitch Bour­bon­niere has long been inspired to help oth­ers find their voic­es. A found­ing mem­ber of the orig­i­nal Bear Clan Patrol, he also vol­un­teers with Ogi­ji­ita Pimatswin Kina­matwin (OPK), the Mama Bear Clan, Drag the Red, Ted­dy Bears Pic­nic, CommUnity204, Neemu-Egwah Inc., and many oth­er com­mu­ni­ty-based endeavours.

Mitch has a Mas­ter’s degree in Social work and teach­es at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Win­nipeg and Urban Cir­cle Train­ing , while being employed by Mount Carmel Clin­ic, the Down­town Com­mu­ni­ty Part­ner­ship (DCSP), and Fox Lake first nation

He has devot­ed much of his career and per­son­al time to men­tor­ing, coun­selling and sup­port­ing at-risk youth to help them devel­op self-esteem, con­fi­dence, empa­thy and social skills. By empha­siz­ing the val­ue of good cit­i­zen­ship, vol­un­teerism and pos­i­tive activism, he helps young peo­ple make pos­i­tive changes in their lives.

He helped estab­lish a men’s heal­ing group out of the North Point Dou­glas Women’s Cen­tre. He also works exten­sive­ly with Winnipeg‘s most vul­ner­a­ble peo­ple affect­ed by home­less­ness, post-trau­mat­ic stress, addic­tion, men­tal health issues, domes­tic vio­lence, gang involve­ment and sex­u­al exploita­tion through the OPK and Action Ther­a­py pro­grams and the Man­i­to­ba Youth Jus­tice sys­tem. He vis­its insti­tu­tions and sup­ports peo­ple as they tran­si­tion from prison and gang life. 

Mitch devel­oped a pro­gram called Lat­er­al Empa­thy that involves groups of young vol­un­teers col­lect­ing and deliv­er­ing dona­tions of food, cloth­ing, fur­ni­ture and house­hold goods to those in need. This group also vol­un­teers at Indige­nous cer­e­monies across south­ern Man­i­to­ba, dur­ing Sun­dance sea­son. He is a pipe car­ri­er and a 25-year Sun­dancer. He has kept the fire for the Grand­moth­ers Coun­cil, Sis­ters in Spir­it, and many nation­al and cer­e­mo­ni­al events.

Mitch pro­vides sup­port and Elder Ser­vices to Urban Cir­cle Train­ing, Man­i­to­ba Métis Fed­er­a­tion, CEDA Path­ways, North Point Dou­glas Wom­en’s Cen­tre, Ross­brook House, Sev­en Oaks School Divi­sion, the Shame­less Cir­cle, Eliz­a­beth Fry Soci­ety, the Men’s Heal­ing Togeth­er group and many oth­er organizations.

Mitch received the Cana­di­an Humane Association’s Bronze Medal for Brav­ery for jump­ing into a Win­nipeg riv­er to save a young woman’s life in Decem­ber 2016. He has also received two Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al of Cana­da Awards , the Order of Man­i­to­ba as well as many oth­er dis­tinc­tive honours .