Board – Saamis Immigration Services Association

Skip to content

Saamis Immigration Services Association

— Assisting immigrants and refugees in the community of Medicine Hat since 1988.

Home
Events
About Us
Our Services
- RAP & SS
- LINC
- CC
- SWIS
- Program Opportunities
Resources
Facebook
Get Involved
- Careers
- Thinking of Volunteering?
Contact

Saamis Immigration Board of Directors

Nathan Gale	Board Chair
Syed Naqvi	Vice-Chair
Jonathan Tieman	Treasurer
Shantel Ottenbreit	Secretary
Dr. Richard Northcott	Director
Stephen Awudi	Director

Located on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. The Saskatchewan River was a significant transportation route for First Nations for thousands of years and was an instrumental transportation and resource corridor during the fur trade and early European exploration. Medicine Hat inherited its name from the indigenous word "saamis," which means medicine man's hat. A number of legends tell the story of how the city was named. When picking this name for our organization, our forefathers wanted to value and honour the generosity of the traditional caretakers of this land in welcoming the new settlers to this region, which is the traditional lands of the Siksika (Blackfoot), Kainai (Blood), Piikani (Peigan), Stoney Nakoda, and Tsuut’ina (Sarcee) as well as the Cree, Sioux, the Saulteaux bands of the Ojibwa peoples and Homelands of the Metis Nation within Region III. We honour and respect the Indigenous peoples' past, present, and future, as well as their cultural heritages and traditions and their relationships to the land, and we thank them for welcoming us with open arms and kindness.

© 2026 Saamis Immigration Services Association