Métis Knowledge Keeper, Teacher, Thunderbird, Spiritual Guide, Author 

Tim Yearington is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) with Métis voyageur and French-Canadian ancestry. His ancestral Métis region is the Ottawa River Valley, Mattawa and Nipissing District. After a professional career as a freelance illustrator and artist, Tim started working as a Métis wilderness guide, a traditional Indigenous knowledge keeper, a teacher and educator and a spiritual helper to others. Having learned how to ‘walk his talk’ with many traditional teachings - teachings that helped him through a challenging time in his life - Tim eventually became a pipe carrier, a sweat lodge conductor, a vision quest guide, a traditional helper, spiritual advisor and counsellor. Tim is also a Métis public speaker, storyteller, visual artist, writer and author.

  His first book, That Native Thing: Exploring the Medicine Wheel, was published in 2010 by Borealis Press in Ottawa. His second book, Quest for the Thunderbird Nest – Returning to Algonquin Spirituality, was also published by Borealis Press in 2019. This true story reveals how Tim became a traditional Métis guide, knowledge keeper, educator and teacher today. His third book, his first novel, is called The Werewolf and the Shaman. Published in 2024 also by Borealis Press, this book is about the mysterious ‘loup garou’ – the werewolf – and the old shamans of the Mattawa River Valley once believed by the superstitious explorers, missionaries and early Métis voyageurs to be evil sorcerers and shape-shifters.

  As an adoptee who once struggled with the personal Indigenous challenges of ‘identity loss’ Tim realized he needed to find his own lost native roots. Guided by Indigenous elders and his own ancestors, he learned the traditional teachings of the manitous (spirits), the four directions and the powerful medicine of the thunderbirds. He then followed his personal vision and began blazing a trail of teaching traditional Indigenous knowledge to others. Tim started in 2009 with "The Medicine Wheel Project" for the Near North District School Board in North Bay and since then has shared traditional knowledge and teachings with many, many other organizations and groups across Ontario. Tim worked for Correctional Service Canada (Millhaven Maximum Security) as an elder and spiritual advisor. Then he worked at Queen's University as an elder/knowledge keeper within their Office of Indigenous Initiatives and as an Indigenous Curricular Innovator for their Faculty of Health Sciences. Tim also worked as an elder, teacher and guide with Indigenous students from across Canada at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Now as a seasoned  Métis elder and knowledge keeper, Tim is currently the Indigenous Spiritual Advisor at Canadian Forces Base (CFB), Kingston.

  Tim is a passionate presenter of Indigenous (Métis and Algonquin) knowledge, heritage, wisdom, teachings and worldview and, as a result, has become a very enlightening educator, advisor and storyteller. He has much experience working with people from around the world. He has taught other educators, professors, teachers and students alike. He has taught his knowledge at many schools, colleges and universities. He has shared traditional Indigenous knowledge with government departments, Indigenous organizations, environmental outdoor education centres, with social workers, psychologists, counsellors, therapists, mental health workers and many other health care providers.

  Tim shares his rock-solid foundation of traditional Indigenous knowledge with everyone. He teaches traditional wisdom indoors and practices traditional wilderness shamanism outdoors in all seasons. Tim fosters a much needed awareness about Indigenous knowledge and worldview through his traditional helping work with people, his legendary storytelling, his profound talks and powerful presentations, his inspirational writing and books, his personable author visits and his guided walks to medicine sites in the wilderness.

The Teachings Tim Carries:

Storytelling

Thunderbirds

Medicine Walks

The Vision Quest

The Sacred Pipe

Local Sacred Sites

The Medicine Wheel

The Seven Grandfathers

Way of the Thunderbird Nest

Animal Manitous and Helpers

Traditional Sweat Lodge Ceremony

Métis "Loup Garou" or Werewolf Teachings

Métis "River of Life" and "Our Brother’s Voyage"

Native Awareness & Indigenous Identity Issues

The Four Directions of Your Human Compass

Talking/Healing/Conflict Resolution Circles

Youth Empowerment Practices

Vision and Life Purpose

For more info email me