After resigning last month from his role as executive director of the Niagara Regional Native Centre, Karl Dockstader has landed a new position with Plenty Canada, an Indigenous not-for-profit organization.
In a news release from its Six Nations Bureau office, the organization announced that Dockstader is being brought on board as an advisor for Indigenous content, culture, and protocol.
“I’m looking forward to putting together a couple of webinars a month,” Dockstader told The Local Monday after signing off from his CKTB show. “I look forward to learning more about Plenty Canada’s projects, supporting their projects, and any cultural insight I can add to the great cultural work they’re already doing.”
“Well known across Niagara, Dockstader brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in Indigenous organizational management, visual and media arts, and cultural protocol and practice,” said the press release of his hiring.
“Karl’s knowledge of his Oneida culture brings a great deal of expertise to our work as we roll out projects in the region dealing with Indigenous-led conservation, Indigenous education, and all manner of Indigenous cultural expression,” said Larry McDermott, and Algonquin elder and executive director of Plenty Canada.
With Sean Vanderklis, Dockstader co-hosts the Indigenous-themed radio program One Dish, One Mic that airs in Niagara, London, Windsor, and Hamilton. He is also one of three rotating talk show hosts, along with former St. Catharines mayor Walter Sendzik and broadcaster Steph Vivier, on 610 CKTB’s The Drive, airing weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. Dockstader can be heard on CKTB two to three afternoons a week.
In addition to his radio work, Dockstader is familiar to viewers of CTV News Channel, where he appeared as a regular panellist on the politics show CTV Power Play in 2021 and 2022. He has also done a variety of freelance work, generating bylines for CBC and Canadaland, a news site and podcast network.
With Plenty Canada, his role will include producing and hosting webinars that will focus on a range of Indigenous issues spanning culture, language, and current events to matters of the environment. He will also represent the organization at Plenty Canada programs, events, and meetings, and will attend events hosted by other partner organizations.
Dockstader’s departure from the Niagara Regional Native Centre captured much attention when he was walked off the Airport Road property by board president Lacey Lewis and treasurer Wanda Griffin on Dec. 16. Subsequently, three other board members resigned from their posts, forcing an election later this year to fill enough seats for the board to operate and to qualify for funding from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres.
Prior to being escorted out, Dockstader had already submitted his resignation, which was supposed to take effect last week.
“I felt one way, leadership felt another way,” Dockstader said of parting ways with the Native Centre. “I chose to walk away. I made that choice. There are certain things that I brought to the centre, and there are certain things that I take away from the place that made me a better person. I’m just really lucky that I could add something to the centre for a couple of years.”
Dockstader sees a lot of symbiosis between his new role and his continued work in radio.
“There is synergy between all the projects that I am involved with currently,” he agreed. “The key is that I really love doing community work. My job on the radio, and what I will be doing with Plenty Canada, is to find people that are already out there doing amazing work, and to give them a platform and an opportunity to share that work with more people.”
“I’ve really come to appreciate and respect Karl’s considerable talents,” says Plenty Canada senior advisor Tim Johnson. “He’s a really perfect fit for what we are doing. As a broadcaster he’s a phenomenal host and presenter. We thought he would be ideal to come on board with the organization.”
Johnson added, “He’s one of the leading authorities on contemporary Indigenous issues. To have someone with the organization that has that knowledge base, sensitivity and understanding is so important. He’s a very talented artist, a cultural authority, a singer. I love his overall approach.”
“I’m so excited about working with Tim,” Dockstader said. “He’s connected to so many people, and so connected to all of the things that all of the people he knows are connected to, in all of the best ways.”
Plenty Canada was first incorporated provincially as the Plenty Relief Society of Canada in 1976, and then federally in 1984 as Plenty Canada. It’s an Indigenous not-for-profit organization committed to reconciliation through the cross-cultural protection of nature. Plenty Canada’s many projects merge traditional Indigenous knowledge with western science to work toward a goal of sustainable living for all people.
Johnson says it is likely the focus for Dockstader’s debut webinar will be on the environment.
“Larry (McDermott) and I spoke to Karl about this on his radio show about a year ago,” Johnson says. “Climate change is the existential crisis that humanity faces. There’s no escaping it. We’d love to come out of the gates with that.”
Johnson adds that the organization itself, both at its Lanark, Ontario head office and the Six Nations bureau, walk the walk when it comes to the environment as a carbon-neutral operation.
“These are the principles that we work from,” Johnson says. “It puts us in a good position to talk about climate change because we’re already doing things about it.”
Dockstader hopes to host his first Plenty Canada webinar by the end of January, but says he doesn’t want to rush it.
“Just like with radio,” Dockstader laughed, “I would rather do it well than do it fast.”