Our Team

Get to know the people behind Intercordia Canada:

Intercordia Canada gives young Canadians the opportunity to see and know the world in a different way….through the eyes of their heart. Intercordia invites all of us to become peacemakers by choosing to meet people, who are different than we are, in their community, to live in their homes, to work with alongside them and especially to slow down and hear their life stories. When we get to know people and experience both the beauty and pain of their lives we will become less judgmental and more compassionate.

STAFF

Dr. Katie MacDonald, Co-Executive Director
Edmonton, AB

I was brought to Intercordia from my interest in international development, education and learning in community. I have found Intercordia to be an incredible space to explore the intersections of these three things, and to do so in community and with others. I am honored to be a part of this journey with young Canadians, our host partners and the families who welcome our participants into their home. When I'm not working with Intercordia, I am working on social housing. I love feminism, animals and the sunshine.

Jessica Vorstermans, Co-Executive Director
Toronto, ON

My Intercordia experience challenged me to step beyond my black and white perceptions of our complicated world! I lived a very different existence for three months and it changed my life path and the way I act in our world. I was so deeply touched by the struggle of those living in the Global South and felt the call to continue to volunteer and work in Latin America with not-for-profit organizations and am currently a PhD candidate at York University studying disability and human rights in Latin America. Personally, I am a more active and engaged world citizen and am constantly aware of how my actions here in Canada can impact, in positive and in negative ways, those living in the Global South. I like to say that Intercordia opened my heart and my eyes too wide to go back to the person I was before I was involved in Intercordia!

Hannah Deloughery, Mentor Coordinator
Toronto, ON

Through Intercordia I have been invited to learn about myself by living, working and being with others. For me, this is the beauty of Intercordia. Intercordia provides opportunities for young people to become more thoughtful and critically aware of themselves, others and the world through the building of meaningful connections with marginalized people. It is in these relationships that we are challenged to recognize our own limits and the gift of simply being with people in places of struggle and suffering as well as joy and community.

Clara Fraschetti, Campus Representative
Newmarket, ON

Intercordia is a unique program that enables students to ground their commitment to social change in relationships not just ideals. This grounding makes it possible for students to hold together the beauty experienced in the people and places they encounter on their placements with the pain of social inequity they witness directly. Students discover that it is possible, in the midst of suffering, for something redemptive to surface while at the same time discover that it is crucial not to romanticize the ugliness of poverty and injustice. It’s been a privilege to witness students working through feelings of paralysis and becoming agents of change in their personal lives and the wider community because of the groundedness given by their experience with Intercordia.

Kristen Loewen, Campus Representative
Rosthern, SK

I currently live in Rosthern, SK along with my husband David and puppy Lucy! I love travelling, yoga, mentorship, and cooking for my family and friends. When I'm not doing those things, I pastor at Wildwood Mennonite Church, serve at the Station Arts Tea Room, and coordinate L'Arche Saskatoon's Collective Kitchen. I graduated from Canadian Mennonite University with Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Transformation Studies and Biblical and Theological Studies. I feel my best when I am engaged and supported by intentional communities and am excited to foster this ethos within the Intercordia program.

BOARD MEMBERS

Lauren McCarthy Nagler
Toronto, ON

Intercordia provides opportunities for young people to deepen their awareness of themselves, their culture, and the immense diversities which exist in the world. As my own travels have greatly impacted me, my relationships, and how I live my life, I feel privileged to be a part of an organization which invites young people to engage in such life-changing experiences. Intercordia is wise in its conviction that simply being with people and giving of oneself is the greatest gift with the most lasting impact and honest in its recognition that there is both joy and struggle along the way. Individuals who choose to walk an unknown path such as this one are brave and inspiring, and I am grateful to be able to share the journey with them.

Nathan Ball
St. Louis, Missouri

Nathan Ball is currently the Executive Director of the L’Arche Canada Foundation. For the past 20 years he has been a member of L’Arche. From 1990 – 2001 he was the Executive Director and Community Leader of the L’Arche community in metropolitan Toronto, Canada. He has extensive experience in creating and sustaining faith-based community in which people of differing abilities, religious, and cultural backgrounds live together. Nathan is committed to the broad dissemination of knowledge that has been generated within L’Arche over the past 40 years and is convinced that Intercordia has a role to play in fostering the deeply felt need for relationship, community, and compassion in our world. Nathan is married to Paula and has four young children.

Darrell McLaughlin, PhD
Saskatoon, SK

Darrell is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean at St. Thomas More College (STM), University of Saskatchewan. He has talk courses on Social Change and Global Solidarity and Globalization and Social Justice, which consider themes of Catholic Social Thought, Colonization, and the Global Indigenous Peoples’ Movement. The focus of Darrell’s research is on the social relations producing the processes globalizing food systems and people’s responses with a special attention on fair trade, sustainable agriculture, globalisation, social justice and food sovereignty. His relationship with Intercodia dates back to 2006, at which time students in one of his classes were the first students from STM to participate in the program.