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| Donna
Marie was born as a middle child into a family of 13
children to Sarah Smokeyday of the Kinistin First Nation.
Her early childhood memories are of a healthy, loving
family whose values were steeped in the Saulteaux culture
and traditions. She has been married to Brian Renneberg
for twenty-eight years and they have three children. She feels her role of a mother to Simone, Amanda and Micheal is very important. Donna seldom misses hockey or ballgames and has spent many hours working bingos or other activities. Donna spent most of her elementary and part of her high school years at Muscowequan and Lebret Residential schools. One of the events she considers a milestone is her 1968 graduation at E. D. Feehan High School in Saskatoon, where nine other First Nations students graduated. This was a rare occurence in those days. Donna holds a life skills coach sertificate and a management course from Banff Training Center for Management. Most of her knowledge, skills and abilities have been acquired from experience and self-education, which she continues to pursue today. Donna has been a Welfare Worker, Childcare Worker, Counsellor, Band Governance Officer, and many years as a public servant in various capacities with First Nations and non-First Nations organizations and governments. She is presently the Chief of the Kinistin First Nation and a Board member of the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre. Donna's motto is one that she remembers her father practicing, "Be honest, work hard and the rest will follow". Donna also credits her successes to having faced adversity all her life, both as a First Nations person and as a woman. |
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