Peggy Blekkenhorst

Peggy, a Registered Nurse, worked in Public Health delivering educational programs and media campaigns on health promotion and disease prevention. She retired from Public Health and now contracts with Lakehead University School of Nursing as a clinical instructor. Peggy was born on a dairy farm outside of Thunder Bay. She has lived her life in rural settings and enjoys cross-country skiing, gardening, and walks with her husband, Berend.

Peggy enjoys the beauty of Lake Superior and the view of the Sleeping Giant. Both remind her of Canada’s Indigenous peoples who willingly shared their land resources with the early settlers only to receive brokenness in return. Peggy first learned of this brokenness while working with youth as a Public Health Nurse. She attended a display giving the history of the residential schools in Canada and was shocked to learn how the Government, in an attempt to ‘civilize’ Indigenous people, forcefully removed children from their families, stripped them of their language and culture, and mistreated them badly. This resulted in intergenerational trauma, which still effects their health, social and family structure, educational attainment, and unemployment today.

Peggy’s compassion for the welfare of Aboriginal people drew her to NorthWind Family Ministries. She began volunteering at some of the outreach programs delivered within the city and at Eagle’s Cove and then agreed to serve on NorthWind’s board of directors. She feels that NorthWind’s programs will help heal the brokenness and restore a better quality of life for the Indigenous people.