Where story, policy, people, and place meet
I’m Todd Lyons, a Swampy Cree founder of Namekus, an Indigenous-owned practice offering consulting, cultural learning, and small facility project services.
I spent nearly 20 years in the Government of Canada, in roles spanning policy, privacy investigations, Indigenous engagement, change management, and storytelling. That experience taught me how complicated public-sector work can get, and how much it matters to make that work clear, practical, respectful, and useful to the people it affects.
What I learned inside government
Government is full of good intentions and real constraints. Policies are sound, programs are funded, and commitments are made, but work often stalls between strategy and implementation, language and understanding, intention and impact, planning and delivery. That’s the space I work in.
Experience includes Indigenous Services Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
What I do now
- Turn reconciliation commitments into actionable plans
- Translate privacy requirements into plain language
- Support Indigenous engagement and cultural learning
- Guide organizational change that reflects people’s lived experience
- Coordinate small renovations, repairs, and facility improvements.
The common thread is practical support: helping people understand what needs to happen, organizing the work, and moving it toward completion.
Small facility projects
Namekus delivers small facility projects, including room renovations, improvements, tile, paint, drywall, finishing work, and interior repairs, valued up to approximately $40,000 CAD. After 25 years as a handyman, I do much of this work myself. For larger jobs and specialized trades like plumbing and electrical, I bring in qualified partners and manage the whole project, from understanding your requirements through scope, quotation, scheduling, documentation, and closeout.
How I work
I’m not a large firm, and I don’t bring a big team of specialists. I bring:
- Deep experience inside the federal system.
- The ability to work across policy, communications, operations, and practical delivery.
- A calm, thoughtful approach to complex and sensitive work
- Hands-on knowledge of renovation planning
- A willingness to listen carefully, clarify the problem, and do the work to move it forward.
I’m often brought in when a file is stuck, a message isn’t landing, a project needs coordination, or an organization needs a practical next step.
Why Namekus
Namekus is the Swampy Cree word for lake trout, pronounced nah-MAY-goose. It’s also the last Cree family name we had. My great-grandfather carried both a native name and a settler name, and everyone after him has had only English ones. Naming this business Namekus is a way of bringing that name back into use, and of carrying it into work I hope is done with relationship, respect, and responsibility.
Beyond advisory
My work also extends into storytelling and cultural learning. Through my collaboration with Métis Jiggers, Namekus brings context, meaning, and lived experience into organizational and community spaces.
Working together
If you’re working on something complex, sensitive, or stuck, this is the work I do.
Namekus is listed in the Indigenous Business Directory and is available for direct contracting, collaboration, and partnership opportunities.