Darcy Belanger
Indigenous Liaison
Darcy is Anishinaabe / Ojibwe and a proud member of Little Black River Reserve Southeast Manitoba, he is a graduate of Brock University and has his Bachelor of Education in Aboriginal Adult Education.
Darcy does a lot of Volunteering to give back to his community, currently lending his time to Southridge Shelter, leading multiple sports programs for the residents. He also volunteers at the Niagara Regional Native Centre where he Advocates for Abbey House Women’s Shelter and coaches an Indigenous youth ball hockey team. Darcy is a Council member of the Three Fires Community Justice Program, sits on the roundtable committee for Niagara’s Indigenous courts, is a member of the Niagara Regional Pow Wow committee, and the former Vice president of the Board of Directors at the Niagara Regional Native Centre.
Darcy was very active at the University where he was a member of the Indigenous Solidarity Coalition. During his time at Brock, he won the Aboriginal Achievement Award, and was also awarded the Brock student community volunteer award. He is one of a few guest lecturers for first year Indigenous studies class, also helped with Aboriginal Student Services Youth Science Camp for two years.
Darcy is a public speaker, and has a big role with the Compassionate City initiative with the City of St Catharines, he is an event planner for educational and Charity events. One of his big successes regarding a subject near and dear to his heart, is “The Sixties Scoop” catered event, which took place at Brock University, he produced the event to an appreciative audience of well over 100 attendees.
Darcy is a survivor of the Sixties scoop, his traumas and loss of identity/culture led to multiple suicide attempts, mental health issues, incarceration, multiple addictions for eighteen years, and homelessness. Darcy courageously battled to educate himself of his traumas and all the issues that stemmed from it, Darcy has found his identity and is in the process of learning his culture. He is now currently working on building an Indigenous Men’s Healing Centre trauma based here in Niagara, his passion is driven from his journey where he had no resources for himself and other men to access and recognizes this big gap in our community.