Portrait of Ed Connors

Dr. Ed Connors

Vice Chair

Dr. Connors is a Psychologist registered in the Province of Ontario. He is of Mohawk ancestry from Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. He has worked with First Nations communities across Canada since 1982 in both urban and rural centres. His work over this time has included Clinical Director for an Infant Mental Health Centre in the city of Regina and Director for the Sacred Circle, a Suicide Prevention Program developed to serve First Nations communities in Northwestern Ontario. Dr. Connors’ most recent work has involved development of Indigenous Life Promotion projects that includes Feather Carriers Leadership for Life Promotion. While developing the latter service, Dr. Connors worked with Elders and apprenticed in traditional First Nations approaches to healing. Today his practice incorporates traditional knowledge about healing while also employing his training as a Psychologist.

He and his wife Donna, manage Onkwatenro’shon:’A, a health planning firm which provides health consultation and psychological services to First Nations communities throughout the Georgian Bay Muskoka region.

Dr. Connors was a board member and vice-president of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention between 1990 – 1998 and has since returned as a board member and has chaired their First Peoples Committee since 2012. He is currently on the advisory council for the Ontario Suicide Prevention Network. Some of his current work includes consultation and community training to assist First Nations in the development of Restorative Justice programs. He has also provided psychotherapy and traditional healing experiences to native inmates at Fenbrook Medium Institution, Correctional Services Canada.