Catherine MacQuarrie

Catherine MacQuarrie’s career comprises a range of experience and expertise in media, public service, and Indigenous governance. Over 26 years as a public servant she held increasingly senior leadership positions—including 14 years as Assistant Deputy Ministerin several departments and central agencies in the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories. She now works to help advance First Nations’ self-government, as a founder and now, manager, of Rebuilding First Nations Governance. RFNG is a national SSHRC-funded research project based at Carleton University.

Catherine is Métis, born in Alberta and raised in the Northwest Territories. In the early part of her career, she worked as a reporter, editor and then executive director at NCS NWT, a non-profit Indigenous media organization. She is a Fellow of Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration and holds a master’s degree in Public Administration and Policy from the University of Ottawa.