Rotary Meeting Lunch: Indigenous People's Day
Contact:
Carol Hutchinson
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19 Jun. 2026 |
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 Toronto
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The Rotary Club of Toronto
Friday, June 19, 2026 Lunch - 12:00 pm
The National Club
303 Bay Street, Toronto
Keynote Speaker
Steve Teekens, Executive Director
Native Men's Residence (NaMaRes)
Topic: NaMaRes Efforts to Address Homelessness
Payment Link to Register:
Deadline to Register: Monday, June 15, 2026
Steve Teekens Bio
Steve Teekens is the Executive Director at Na-Me-Res (Native Men’s Residence) where he has worked since 2008. He has been working with the marginalized and homeless sector in Toronto since 1995. Steve is a member of Nipissing First Nation, has a master’s degree in public administration from Queen’s University.
Steve is very active in Toronto’s Indigenous Community where he volunteers at Toronto Aboriginal Social Services Council (TASSC), Aboriginal Legal Services Community Council Program. Steve also teaches traditional drumming and to the youth and men at various Native organizations inside and outside of Toronto.
Steve enjoys working and volunteering in the Indigenous Community and wishes to see people overcome their obstacles and find the resilience in themselves to succeed in life.
Guest Speaker
Sage Hodder
Darren (Sage) Hodder - bio
Darren (Sage) Hodder is an Indigenous young person, a OneChild Youth advisor, a HIP Y2Y Alumni, and the founder of Oshki-anishinaabeg bimadagaawag aanjijiwanong (OshkiABA)— a youth-led organization working at the intersection of digital safety and Indigenous rights.
From the historical Labatte family, a prominent Métis family with a deeply rooted history in the Upper Great Lakes region, particularly within the Georgian Bay and Penetanguishene Métis communities in Ontario, Sage has lived in Toronto all his life. Sage participated in Rotary HIP’s National Youth to Youth program at the Six Nations of the Grand River — a nation-wide reconciliation effort between 25 Indigenous and 25 non-Indigenous youth. Sage was among ten selected students who completed the ZNBGK program focused on Indigenous healthcare held at the University of Toronto.
As a Grade 10 student at Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts, a member of OneChild's Youth Advisory Squad (YAS), and a member of the Toronto Indigenous Youth Council, he has worked on creating a pathway for youth to become change-markers. As a leader in HIP’s Y2Y program, he will introduce new solutions to a criticaland largely invisible crisis: the digital exploitation of Indigenous youth.