People Behind the Work.

Lacrosse Roots.

Miles grew up inside the Six Nations lacrosse tradition. He played on the 1992 Six Nations Arrows team that became the first Indigenous team to win the Minto Cup and was drafted by the Buffalo Bandits in 1992, the same year the expansion club won its first professional championship.

He was also a core member of the Six Nations Chiefs team that won three consecutive Mann Cup national championships in 1994, 1995, and 1996. Lacrosse later became a way to lead. As head coach of the Six Nations Jr. B Rebels, he treated coaching as responsibility beyond the floor: young men needed discipline, honest conversation, and someone willing to listen.

Personal Healing.

Miles has publicly described his path through incarceration, alcohol addiction, and Indigenous-focused justice alternatives, including IPC court, circle sentencing, the Ontario Correctional Institute, and Native Horizons.

In a 2017 interview, he spoke about a 14-month sentence at OCI and completing that sentence at Native Horizons. He described rehabilitation as essential to getting his life back, then returned to Six Nations focused on motivational speaking, coaching, and helping others believe that accountability and community support can change the direction of a life.

Traditional Healing.

Miles is a spiritual healer and Pipe Carrier. He has worked with the mental-health and psychiatric team at McMaster Children's Hospital, where he was permitted to bring traditional medicines into the hospital and administer them in support of patients.

That experience reflects the role he continues to carry: bringing cultural and spiritual practice into settings where Indigenous people may otherwise be separated from those forms of care.

Addiction Circles.

Miles founded the SixMiles Inspiring Friends Addiction group and kept it active for approximately two and a half years, including through part of the COVID period. Members reached lasting sobriety milestones through the circle.

That work taught a simple lesson: regular meetings, honest conversation, cultural grounding, and people who stay involved matter.

7Sticks.

Miles co-founded 7Sticks Men’s Mental Health and Addiction Circle on October 31, 2024. Lacrosse provides a familiar cultural foundation for conversation, healing, and men’s wellness.

The circle’s work has included connections with the Indigenous Mental Health and Addictions office at Brantford General Hospital and participation in four circle sentencing processes.

Reintegration Work.

Miles has helped people returning from incarceration find lodging, reconnect with parole or probation, secure work, and rebuild a daily routine.

For one person, that support brought together a place to stay, local supervision, a job through SixMiles, and help starting a lawn-care business. It showed how practical help can open the next door.

Justice Service.

Miles now works within the systems he once experienced from the other side. His experience includes Indigenous Circle Hearings and Native Inmate Liaison Office work with White Buffalo Road Healing Lodge, contracted NILO work at the Ontario Correctional Institute, and a co-Elder role supporting southern Ontario penitentiaries beginning in 2024.

Tim Bucci has offered to work alongside and mentor Miles, sharing experience in community safety and justice work.

Building Opportunity.

Miles has built businesses that created practical opportunities, including a manufacturing operation that supported 13 jobs and SixMiles Security, which supported six employees.

He has stepped away from tobacco manufacturing to focus on addictions, mental health, traditional healing, and reintegration. The commitment to work, skills, mentorship, and responsibility continues through SixMiles.

Community Safety.

Miles joined the Six Nations Community Safety Table at its second meeting and is helping develop its written work. Tim Bucci brought departmental leaders together around community safety and mental health.

These relationships connect the day-to-day work of SixMiles with the wider effort to strengthen community wellbeing.

Why SixMiles.

Miles has seen how difficult it can be to leave treatment or incarceration without housing, work, cultural connection, or people who remain involved. SixMiles grows from that experience.

His vision is a place where these supports come together long enough for people to rebuild. Our current housing capacity for two Six Nations community members is a starting point. The permanent centre and micro-home community will create room for the work to grow.

From circle work to practical help after release, Miles’s journey continues in the people and relationships around SixMiles.