Ellie Willis

Facilitator E-mail: hello@cmccfamilies.ca

Lead Facilitator, Engaging Communities through Dialogue Training Program

Ellie has been self employed with her own company, Ellie Willis Consulting Inc. for the past 17 years, focusing on Leadership Development, Change, and Transition & Developmental Coaching. During this time, Ellie has acted as an external consultant for the Province of Manitoba, the University of Manitoba, Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH), Pollard Banknotes, as well clients in the Healthcare, Hospitality, Communications and Energy fields. Her work has taken her to Europe, China, the Middle East, and India as well as across Canada and the US.

In 2004 Ellie became involved in Leadership Winnipeg as both a program developer and facilitator in the development of Community Leaders. She continued to support Community Leadership development with the Canadian Muslim Institute, in facilitating portions of their program. Her work in conducting conversation cafes across the Province and compiling her findings gave her an increased understanding of the challenges facing non-profit groups in the Social Service sector.

Over the years, Ellie’s passion has been helping individuals to be the best that they can be…for themselves, their teams and organizations and their communities and she welcomes the continuing opportunities to do so.

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.