Norman Meade

Norman was born in Bissett, Manitoba and raised in Manigotagan. He is the son of John Meade (1914-1993) and Dorothy Favel (1922-2006). Norman has been the Métis Elder in Residence at the University of Manitoba since September 2015. Norman married Thelma Barker from Hollow Water First Nation in 1965. They have two children and six grandchildren. Norman took his theological training at the Canadian Mennonite University, became an Anglican Church Deacon in 2008 and was ordained as an Anglican Pastor in 2015. Thelma, an educator, has taught for Frontier School Division, and Winnipeg #1 School Division. She subsequently got into adult training and counselling in Winnipeg through the Core Area Initiative. She then stared a private training program, the Kikinamawin Centre, which she operated for 12 years. There are thousands of Aboriginal and immigrant men and women working throughout the country who have benefited from Thelma’s programs. Later, she went onto found the Aboriginal Seniors Resource Centre where she is the Executive Director. Their daughter, Lorretta Ross is the Treaty Relations Commissioner of Manitoba.

In the 1960s Norman worked as a miner with the San Antonio Gold mine in Bissett. Hethen worked for the Wanipagow Producer’s Coop in Manigotagan first as a pulp cutter, then as the manager. In 1974, he was asked by a representative of the provincial government to set up an employment consulting office. He was good at his job and worked in both the Hollow Water region and in the city for the next six years. Then, he went back to school, enrolled in a four-year program in governmental affairs at the University of Manitoba. When he graduated, he went backto the government and worked in five different departments over the next 21 years. During that time he was seconded to the Northern Association of Community Councils (NACC) as a fieldworker and became Executive Director of NACC 1982-83. He was also seconded to the Manitoba Métis Federation as a Métis Services Officer for two years.From 2007 to 2012 Norman served as the Program Coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba Aboriginal Neighbours Program. In this capacity he became very active in his home community and divided his time between his coordinator’s role and co-pastoral duties at the Manigotagan Community Fellowship. It was at this time that he started working together with an Aboriginal couple who were Anglican ministers, and eventually they asked if he was interested in being ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church. Norman has a long-time passion for curling, and when he was Mayor of Manigotagan managed to have a two sheet rink built there. Norman is a founder of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Curling League.