Martin Itzkow, FRSA

Executive Director E-mail: hello@cmccfamilies.ca

Martin has had a diverse career and background in the human service sector, government, and as a private executive coach and organizational development consultant locally, nationally and internationally. Martin’s philosophy is to take care of people. When analyzing systems or data, Martin sees the patterns and designs a better solution. It’s very much about the people who are impacted by systems, structures, culture, communities, and the meaning they make in loving their lives, which matter the most to Martin.

He is a founder of many community-based organizations in Canada, including the Manitoba Federation of Non-Profit Organizations, co-creator of the Canadian Muslim Leadership Institute, and founding Executive Director of Leadership Winnipeg. He was the Director of Immigration Policy and Planning for the Province of Manitoba, seconded to Canada Immigration, and was a senior member of the Canada-Manitoba Immigration Agreement negotiating team between 1993–1996, who negotiated and developed the Provincial Nominee Program and the Canada–Manitoba Immigration Agreement. He also served as a Values Journalist for Winnipeg CBC Information Radio.

Martin is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (U.K.), a Barrett Model Value’s Certified Consultant (U.K.), an Associate of the Compassionate Education Foundation (CoED) (U.K.), an ICF member, and a certified “DEEP CHANGE” Spiritual Intelligence coach and consultant. He is one of a number of Co-Investigators for the McMaster University and University of Manitoba LEAD Outcomes Research Creating and Translating Evidence for Nursing ‘LEADership’ and Health Services. He currently serves as Executive Director for the CMCCF, working closely with Board members, volunteers and the larger community to achieve the organization’s goals of ensuring all voices are heard and valued.

Say Hello

About CMCCF

We are a diverse, collaborative network of individuals united to promote the well-being of Manitoba’s cultural communities. Using engagements, events and storytelling projects, we promote social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion through facilitated conversations where diverse voices can be heard and amplified. We are dedicated to building relationships based on trust, respect, and dignity for all.

Acknowledgement of Original Lands

CMCCF is located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. We respect the Treaties that were made on these territories, we acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past, and we dedicate ourselves to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.

Contact Us

Winnipeg, MB

Canada

Email:hello@cmccfamilies.ca

Website:https://www.cmccfamilies.ca

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Purpose

The Purpose of These Peace-First: CollaborationNet Pages These pages exist to share what we have learned. Over the past year, Peace-First: CollaborationNet has operated as a time-limited demonstration initiative, which is a space to test ideas, host conversations, and discover what might grow when peace is placed at the center. Conversations took root in informal Peace-First Hubs across Winnipeg, Thompson, Brandon, and Portage la Prairie, with related gatherings in Vancouver and Toronto. Toronto now helps convene national roundtable conversations, linking local dialogue with a broader Canadian exchange. What began as small, local discussions has become more connected — not through expansion or centralization, but through coherence. Across regions, shared themes, tensions, and hopes are emerging. This webpage documents that journey. It gathers reflections, materials, and learning from Hub conversations so others can understand what has been explored and carry it forward. From the beginning, Peace-First was designed as a seed-planting initiative, formally concluding March 31, 2026. Its focus has been to explore how individuals and cultural communities understand inner peace, collective vision, community cohesion, and cultural dignity and visibility. The Hubs are volunteer-led spaces where community connectors and members gather to listen, reflect, and imagine what a peaceful geographic and cultural community might look like in practice. Along the way, we developed background papers, reflection documents, and practical toolkits shaped by lived experience in Manitoba and beyond. This page now serves as a living repository within the Peace-First Library, offering capacity-building tools, framing papers, hub guidance, and shared learning that communities can adapt to their own realities. The purpose is not to centralize authority, but to make learning accessible. Peace-First Hubs are community-led and partner-supported — grounded in relationship, not hierarchy. Supported by ACOMI, ECCM, Palaver Hut, MIA, cultural community members across the country, and allies such as MANSO, Mediation Services, CanU Canada, and PCHS, this work moves through partnership rather than control. This initiative has been made possible through the principal financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, with a supportive role played by The Winnipeg Foundation. Their investment has allowed these conversations, materials, and connections to take shape. These materials are not instructions to replicate. They are tools to adapt. This page is more than documentation. It is an invitation. Peace-First is not about imposing a uniform model. It is about strengthening conditions for dialogue, cohesion, and shared responsibility before a crisis. If this resonates, we invite you to explore further, join a national roundtable call, or consider what it would mean to host or support a conversation in your own community. Join a national roundtable call. Complete the survey. The seeds have been planted. What grows next depends on all of us.