Derek Sands

Derek Sands is a Media professional, documentary filmmaker, and humanitarian having over a decade of expertise with various mediums to establish First Nation communities develop further with communications and design. Derek is in his final semester at Toronto Metropolitan University, completing his degree in Documentary Media M.F.A. program. Derek is also currently in a mentorship with legendary documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. Derek's focus for the past five years has been creating content within the Indigenous community to preserve and document the language and culture. Derek will be featured in an upcoming episode of "Stories from the Land" a CBC original Docuseries, premiering in June 2023.

From 2016 to 2020 I was the Indigenous Enrolment Advisor for Lambton College in Sarnia, ON. From there I was the Communications Coordinator for Walpole Island First Nation. Throughout the past 5 years I have worked as a documentary filmmaker.

I am enrolled at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Documentary Media M.F.A. program, in my second and final term. I recently applied for the PhD program in Design and Innovation at TMU. My undergrad is a BA in Graphic Design from Oakland University.