First Nations Governance with Cadmus Delorme

The Boardroom 180 Podcast

Host Munir Haque and partner Action Edge Executive Development welcome everyone to the inaugural episode of The Boardroom 180 Podcast. In this first episode, Munir welcomes guest Cadmus Delorme, former Chief of the Cowessess First Nations in Southern Saskatchewan and CEO and Founder of OneHoop, to the show. Munir and Cadmus discuss governance within the First Nations Council and the experiences Cadmus has had leading through challenges.

Opening with a sensitive subject, Cadmus addresses being Chief of Cowessess First Nation in 2021 during the discovery of the 751 unmarked graves on the residential school land. He talks about breaking the news to the Cowessess members and then the public, and how the emotional strain on the Cowessess council required focused and communicative leadership. Cadmus asked the question “What is our duty of care” to each member to guide decisions.

Munir and Cadmus address the goals of the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation, the Cowessess First Nations focus on economic self-sustainability through renewable solar, wind, and battery development, Cadmus’s experience as a board chair for the University of Regina board of governors, the roles of elected officials, and the truth about governance. The conversation is deep, vulnerable, and informative, full of insight and wisdom shared by Cadmus Delorme and one that gives an inside look at leadership through difficult times.

About Cadmus Delorme:

Cadmus Delorme, a Cree and Saulteaux, is the former Chief of Cowessess First Nation in Southern Saskatchewan. Cadmus graduated from Cowessess Community Education Centre in 2000. He later moved to Regina to pursue a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Certificate in Hospitality, Tourism and Gaming Entertainment Management from the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv), and a Master of Public Administration from the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. He has also received an ICD.D. designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and its affiliate institution, Kenneth Levene Graduate School of Business.

Under Cadmus's leadership, Cowessess First Nation prioritized economic self-sustainability and progressed renewable energy, agriculture, and land use efficiency initiatives to create current and future business opportunities.

Cadmus is the Chair of the Residential Schools Document Advisory Committee and the University of Regina Board of Directors, serves on the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation Board of Directors and is a 2023 Banff Forum delegate.

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Contact Cadmus Delorme:

• Website: OneHoop.ca
• Cadmus Delorme on LinkedIn

Contact Munir Haque | ActionEdge Executive Development:

• Website: AEEDNow.com
• Linkedin: Action Edge Executive Development Inc.

Podcast Production:

• Recording: PushySix Studios
• Production Assistance: Astronomic Audio
  
  

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Transcript

Cadmus Delorme: [00:00:05] Residential schools impacted each of us differently. And so when you talk about unmarked graves around a board level, around a council level, it triggered people differently. It was very emotional. It was something that you could talk policy, you could talk strategy, but the personal stories would come out as well. And so, just referencing it to challenges around a board table, this is as emotional that it could get. And so not everybody agreed to it. Not everybody wanted it. But everybody knew that you couldn't ignore it anymore.

Munir Haque: [00:00:47] Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Boardroom 180 podcast. I'm your host Munir Haque, an executive coach and senior board strategist. I have partnered with Action Edge Executive Development to lead their governance and political acumen division. In each episode, we meet with governance leaders and step into their boardrooms where decisions shape the world around us. We'll hear the good, the bad and the ugly, but with a keen focus on where the gaps are, discover emerging best practices and real world tools to better evaluate, guide and grow you and your boards. Today's guest is Cadmus Delorme. He's a former chief of the Cowessess First Nations in southern Saskatchewan. He is a graduate from the First Nations University and has a master's of Public Administration from the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. He has received his ICD.D Designation from the Institute of Directors, and under his leadership, Cowessess First Nations prioritized economic self-sustainability and progressed renewable energy, agriculture and land use efficiency initiatives to create current and future business opportunities. Cadmus is a chair of the Residential Schools Document Advisory Committee, and also the chair of the University of Regina Board of Governors. Through his work as a volunteer and committed athlete, Cadmus has a number of achievements which include. He was a member of the Saskatchewan golf team for 2009 to 2012. He is a mid-amateur, Saskatchewan golf champion for 2011. He has the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient for 2012, as well as he received the CBC Saskatchewan's Future 40, which recognizes builders and changemakers under the age of 40.

Munir Haque: [00:02:24] Welcome, Cadmus. Thanks for joining us today on the Boardroom 180 Podcast. I don't know if you remember this, but we met a number of years back. I think it was at the mayoral debates in Regina, and I think you were sitting as a guest at the chamber table, the Regina Chamber of Commerce. So you're sitting a guest, I was sitting beside you there. So I was a kind of a first exposure to you. I think that was just recently, after you became chief. And so it was kind of nice to see you kind of at the beginning of that trajectory and kind of your launch into becoming a fairly common name in kind of political circles in Saskatchewan. So I recently kind of, in preparation for this, I listened to one of your Ted talks and, you know, you talk a little bit about your name and the challenge, not challenges, but, you know, you had to have a bit of a sense of humor growing up with a name like Cadmus.

Cadmus Delorme: [00:03:31] Thank you. My dad got my name out of an old Western book. I love it today. There was a bad cowboy named Cadmus Steele. So that's my name today. Cadmus Dale Delorme.

Munir Haque: [00:03:42] Dale. Okay. Middle name Dale. Okay. You know, our kind of pre-interview, you said that kind of God gave you the gift of gab. And I'm going to maybe put that to the test today. So I'm going to let you do most of the talking, but we'll try to keep it, you know, light and interesting. But I am going to kind of start with some stuff that's a little bit darker. It's one of the reasons where, you know, when I thought about doing this, your name was one of the first names that came onto the list just about in 2021. You were chief of the Cowessess First Nations, when kind of were launched into international headlines with the discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the residential schools in Saskatchewan. I don't know if you want to walk us a little bit through that, and it's been a little while. Just kind of give a little bit of a reminder to some of our listeners.

Cadmus Delorme: [00:04:30] In our country today, in 2024, we all inherited a history together as Canadians ...