Building A Fire

About Bundled Arrows

Ron Deganadus McLester, Jr.

Turtle Clan, Oneida Nation — Haudenosaunee (Six Nations)
Pathfinder & CEO, Bundled Arrows

I am a proud Turtle Clan member of the Oneida Nation, one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. My work is shaped by the values, teachings, and responsibilities passed down through my family, and by the Haudenosaunee principles of peace, strength, and unity.

For more than two decades, I have supported institutions, architects, colleges, and communities in understanding how Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, and relationships can meaningfully shape decision-making. I specialize in building strong and authentic relationships, designing engagement processes rooted in cultural care, and helping leadership teams move from intention to measurable, accountable action.

My approach is relational, trauma-informed, and grounded in the belief that meaningful reconciliation begins with trust, listening, and shared responsibility.

My Background

I have led Indigenous engagement, reconciliation strategy, and knowledge integration work at major institutions across Ontario and beyond. Much of my work has focused on bringing Indigenous voices and teachings into:

  • Campus planning and real estate strategy

  • Leadership decision-making

  • Organizational transformation

  • Architectural design and placemaking

  • Community consultation and nation-to-institution relationships

I have contributed to transformative projects such as:

  • Ottawa Public Library & Library and Archives Canada — National Indigenous engagement

  • McMaster, Mohawk, Sheridan & Algonquin Colleges — Indigenous integration across campus planning and capital strategy

  • George Brown College — Indigenous-informed Future of Work 2.0 strategy

  • Numerous Indigenous-led community projects and partnerships

Across all of this work, I am guided by the Haudenosaunee teaching symbolized in the name Bundled Arrows:
we are strongest when we bring people together.

My Purpose

The purpose of Bundled Arrows is simple:

To help organizations understand, include, and work respectfully with Indigenous peoples — and to ensure that Indigenous worldviews meaningfully shape the decisions that impact land, community, and future generations.

This work requires humility, courage, patience, and the willingness to sit with complex truths. I help teams navigate this work with clarity, cultural fluency, and a grounded relational approach.

How I Work

Relationship-first practice rooted in Haudenosaunee values

  1. Trauma-informed engagement and culturally appropriate facilitation

  2. Collaboration with Elders and Knowledge Keepers

  3. Clear communication and transparent decision pathways

  4. Honouring protocols and ensuring community benefits

  5. Strength-based, forward-focused strategy and implementation

What Bundled Arrows Means

In Haudenosaunee teachings, a single arrow can be easily broken — but a bundle of arrows, bound together, is unbreakable.

This business is named in honour of that teaching.
My work brings together diverse voices, perspectives, and responsibilities so that projects, teams, and relationships grow stronger — and so that the work we do today supports the generations to come.