About Danielle Mitchell
Principal | Founder | Auntie
Danielle (she/they) was born and raised as a guest within the traditional, unceded territories of the xwasθkəýem, skwxwú7mesh and səl ̓ílwətaʔ Peoples. Today, Danielle is a guest within the shared homelands of the qiqét First Nation and Hul’q’umi’num’ / Halq'eméylem-Speaking Peoples.
Danielle is Nehiyaw / Otipemisiwak. Through her Father, Danielle is connected to maskêko-sâkahikan (Muskeg Lake Cree Nation) and along kisiskâciwani-sîpiy (Saskatchewan River) at St. Laurent / Duck Lake and near Maple Creek within what is known as Saskatchewan. Her ancestral ties within the Red River Valley are to White Horse Plain. Danielle's family names include St. Dennis, Cayen (dit Boudreau), McGillis, Arcand, Bottino, Houle, and through marriage, Mitchell / Maminawataw and Callahoo families (Michel First Nation). Through her Mother, Danielle descends from the Hill, Morrison, Foster, Gillies, Morrissey, Cannessa, Bandel and Watts families who settled in the territories of the Ojibway, Anishinaabeg, and Huron-Wendat Peoples.
Danielle is an auntie, sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter, and cousin. Born into a large, blended family (consider the horse analogy 'herds within the herd') - many have and continue to shape the way she moves in the world. Danielle's work is grounded in relationality, kinship, and responsibility-based practices. This includes uplifting Indigenous ways of knowing, upholding ancestral, inherent rights and cultivating collective-centred leadership, organizations, and systems.
Honouring responsibilities to her Indigenous and European roots involves respecting place-based teachings, addressing the impacts of Settler Colonialism (including Indigenous-specific racism), and contributing to futures where all communities, human and non-human relatives thrive.
Danielle is Nehiyaw / Otipemisiwak. Through her Father, Danielle is connected to maskêko-sâkahikan (Muskeg Lake Cree Nation) and along kisiskâciwani-sîpiy (Saskatchewan River) at St. Laurent / Duck Lake and near Maple Creek within what is known as Saskatchewan. Her ancestral ties within the Red River Valley are to White Horse Plain. Danielle's family names include St. Dennis, Cayen (dit Boudreau), McGillis, Arcand, Bottino, Houle, and through marriage, Mitchell / Maminawataw and Callahoo families (Michel First Nation). Through her Mother, Danielle descends from the Hill, Morrison, Foster, Gillies, Morrissey, Cannessa, Bandel and Watts families who settled in the territories of the Ojibway, Anishinaabeg, and Huron-Wendat Peoples.
Danielle is an auntie, sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter, and cousin. Born into a large, blended family (consider the horse analogy 'herds within the herd') - many have and continue to shape the way she moves in the world. Danielle's work is grounded in relationality, kinship, and responsibility-based practices. This includes uplifting Indigenous ways of knowing, upholding ancestral, inherent rights and cultivating collective-centred leadership, organizations, and systems.
Honouring responsibilities to her Indigenous and European roots involves respecting place-based teachings, addressing the impacts of Settler Colonialism (including Indigenous-specific racism), and contributing to futures where all communities, human and non-human relatives thrive.
Background and Experience
A facilitator and consultant, Danielle brings over 15 years of leadership within complex systems, organization, and transformation design and implementation. Danielle is the Principal / Founder of D.A. Mitchell Consulting Inc., which provides facilitation, consulting and coaching services. The focus of her work seeks to advance decolonization, address anti-Indigenous racism, and uphold Indigenous rights. Danielle partners with Indigenous communities and organizations; sectors such as health and social services, environment, business and technology; social innovation labs; federal, provincial, and municipal governments as well as non-government entities. Collaborations involve full-cycle planning, design, and delivery of workshops, gatherings, strategic planning processes, and comprehensive reporting.
Prior to transitioning to consulting in 2021, Danielle held senior leadership roles within the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), most recently as Senior Director of Indigenous Cultural Safety and Partnership in Indigenous Health and Human Resources. In this role, she provided leadership to provincial and national initiatives advancing Indigenous Cultural Safety and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). Their work included program leadership, delivery and evaluation, support for interprovincial expansion of the San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training and addressing Indigenous-specific racism within health systems. Danielle also held progressive operational leadership and project management roles within Health Shared Services B.C. supporting people and organizational services. This included human resources, business applications, payroll, accounts receivable, and payables. Alongside, Danielle stewarded numerous provincial clinical and business integrations with the B.C. Health Authorities and provided leadership in the design/redesign of human, financial and client-facing services. At present, Danielle's post-secondary affiliations are with the Indigenous Health Administration and Leadership Program at the University of British Columbia and formerly the School of Leadership Studies at Royal Roads University.
Education and specializations include Indigenous health, Indigenous and Human Rights, governance, and relational practice horse / herd-based facilitation. Danielle holds a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University and specialization in Indigenous cultural safety; human resources, leadership development and coaching; project and business management; and organization/systems thinking and design. Danielle is an Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) Facilitator, certified in the research-based, Cartier Farms Equine Assisted Learning Certification program.
Danielle has held the honour of being an Associate with Daxgedim Haanak’ Consulting since 2018. Contributions include governance and strategic facilitation, Indigenous community engagement, policy and program development, training curriculum design, jurisdictional scans, and large-scale evaluation across Indigenous, government, and education contexts. Danielle is further honoured to work as a Facilitator with the Urban Horse Project, who facilitates connection to horses in urban settings.
Prior to transitioning to consulting in 2021, Danielle held senior leadership roles within the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), most recently as Senior Director of Indigenous Cultural Safety and Partnership in Indigenous Health and Human Resources. In this role, she provided leadership to provincial and national initiatives advancing Indigenous Cultural Safety and the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). Their work included program leadership, delivery and evaluation, support for interprovincial expansion of the San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training and addressing Indigenous-specific racism within health systems. Danielle also held progressive operational leadership and project management roles within Health Shared Services B.C. supporting people and organizational services. This included human resources, business applications, payroll, accounts receivable, and payables. Alongside, Danielle stewarded numerous provincial clinical and business integrations with the B.C. Health Authorities and provided leadership in the design/redesign of human, financial and client-facing services. At present, Danielle's post-secondary affiliations are with the Indigenous Health Administration and Leadership Program at the University of British Columbia and formerly the School of Leadership Studies at Royal Roads University.
Education and specializations include Indigenous health, Indigenous and Human Rights, governance, and relational practice horse / herd-based facilitation. Danielle holds a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University and specialization in Indigenous cultural safety; human resources, leadership development and coaching; project and business management; and organization/systems thinking and design. Danielle is an Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) Facilitator, certified in the research-based, Cartier Farms Equine Assisted Learning Certification program.
Danielle has held the honour of being an Associate with Daxgedim Haanak’ Consulting since 2018. Contributions include governance and strategic facilitation, Indigenous community engagement, policy and program development, training curriculum design, jurisdictional scans, and large-scale evaluation across Indigenous, government, and education contexts. Danielle is further honoured to work as a Facilitator with the Urban Horse Project, who facilitates connection to horses in urban settings.