‘I will always be an advocate,’ says retiring Indigenous senior civil servant Gina Wilson after decades working to ‘bridge worlds’

Gina Wilson, recognized by her peers as Canada's first woman Indigenous deputy minister, often 'set the ball in motion' from behind the scenes to get action on important issues, says Senator Kim Pate.

Former federal deputy minister of Indigenous Services Canada Gina Wilson is retiring this spring after almost three decades in the public service. 'My whole career, I focused on Indigenous federal employees. Recruiting them, retaining them, building their talent, developing them, and building policies around them to support them.' Photographs courtesy of Gina Wilson

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BY ELEANOR WAND

January 26, 2026

One of the highest-ranking Indigenous women in the federal public service, Gina Wilson, is saying goodbye to the government—an institution she once called an “evil empire” and never pictured joining—after almost three decades of blazing trails for Indigenous public s...

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