Elders Wisdom Council

Cleo Reece

Fort McMurray First Nation, Treaty 8

Cleo Reece is a founding director for the Keepers of the Athabasca Watershed Society, which has since evolved into our present-day organization and sits on our Elders Wisdom Council. Cleo is actively involved in many of our projects, programs and community engagement work. Cleo has been actively advocating for Indigenous rights since the rise of the Red Power movement and continues to work as an active water protector and environmental activist every day. She is also a filmmaker, the Indigenous Media Arts Group (IMAG) co-founder, and the foundation director until 2005. IMAG was a coalition of Indigenous media artists organized to improve access to media equipment and increase Indigenous representation in artist-run centers in the Vancouver area. It ran from 1998 to 2007.

Cleo Desjarlais Reece was born in Fort McMurray, Alberta, to Cree and Metis parents. She was raised in Edmonton and later moved to B.C, where she raised a family of four children. She returned to University and completed her teacher training at SFU, and since then has worked in various capacities as a teacher, cultural programmer, education advisor, media arts producer, and trainer (founder of the Indigenous Media Arts Group in Vancouver and ImageNation Film festival). She has been actively involved on various boards, including the Mackenzie River Basin Board, serving three years on the Traditional Knowledge and Strengthening Partnerships Steering Committee. She is a Fort McMurray First Nation member and a past Band Councillor.

Cleo is a firm believer in advocacy and action and has been instrumental in many initiatives, including the first women’s Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women; a founding member of Keepers of the Athabasca Watershed Society, current co-chair of the Keepers of the Water Council, and a member of the (UofA Governors Advisory Circle), and sits on the Elders Advisory Council for Treaty 8 Association of Alberta.

Cleo has coordinated the Healing Gathering for the Land, Water, and People for four years. This event evolved organically out of the Tarsands Healing Walk (an internationally recognized event held from 2009 to 2014 by Keepers of the Athabasca and partners). The Healing Gathering focuses on cultural, mental, physical, and emotional healing.

She is now a proud grandmother who believes in passing on knowledge to benefit the next generations. She has attended national and international gatherings of indigenous and grassroots organizations. In late 2020, Cleo became the Director of the Community Wellness department for her First Nation and continues to work for healing and wellness in her community.