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Roberta L. Jamieson, C.M., I.P.C., LL.B., LL.D. (Hon)
President & CEO, Indspire Executive Producer, Indspire Awards
Roberta L. Jamieson is a Mohawk woman from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario, where she still resides. In November 2004, she was appointed President & CEO of Indspire, Canada’s premiere Indigenous-led charity, and Executive Producer of the Indspire Awards, a nationally broadcast gala honouring Indigenous achievement.
Under Roberta’s leadership, the charity is flourishing. Indspire has disbursed almost $65 million through close to 20,000 bursaries and scholarships to Indigenous students since its inception. Indspire’s annual award disbursements have increased fivefold since Roberta’s appointment. She has extended Indspire’s youth career conferences to all regions of Canada and launched a recognition program for educators of Indigenous students. Roberta also led the development of Indspire’s K-12 Institute, a virtual resource centre focused on increasing high school completion rates and K-12 success. Under Roberta’s leadership, Indspire launched an unprecedented $20 million fundraising campaign in 2013 to support Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries and Scholarship Awards program.
Roberta has enjoyed a distinguished career of firsts. She was the first First Nation woman to earn a law degree; the first non-parliamentarian appointed an ex-officio member of a House of Commons Committee; the first woman Ombudsman of Ontario (1989-1999); and in December 2001, she was the first woman elected Chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Roberta also served as Commissioner of the Indian Commission of Ontario from 1986 to 1989.
She has earned numerous awards, including: the National Aboriginal Achievement Award (Law and Justice 1998); the Indigenous Bar Association’s highest award, Indigenous Peoples Council Award (IPC); and the Council of Ontario Universities’ 2014 David C. Smith Award, as well as 23 honorary degrees. She has been named three times to the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 list. She is a Member of the Order of Canada. She serves on the board of directors of Ontario Power Generation and the Elections Canada Advisory Board.