Speakers
Speakers
Minister
Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks (MDDEP)
http://www.mddep.gouv.qc.ca/ministre/inter_en.htm
Senior Programme Officer
Biodiversity for Development and Poverty Eradication / Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB)
Didier Babin is currently senior officer of the Biodiversity for Development program at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montréal, after having been made available by France’s Department of Foreign and European Affairs in March 2010. Previously, he had worked as a researcher for the CIRAD’s Environment and Society department since 1994. Didier Babin holds a doctorate in geography and spatial planning and studied multiple disciplines in the field of environmental and renewable resource management.
Ecological Geographer
U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Dr. Bailey, who received his PhD in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles, is an ecological geographer with the U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. He has four decades of experience working with the theory and practice of ecosystem classification and mapping, with applications in slope stability, land capability, inventory and monitoring, ecosystem management, climate change, and sustainability. He is one of the pioneers to develop the ecoregion concept, which has been adopted as the primary land management and conservation model by The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and other notable agencies and organizations. His current interest is in the linkage of regional ecosystem patterns with sustainable design.
Ross River Dena First Nation
Norman began his career as a biologist. He graduated from UBC with an MSc in Forestry, and was introduced to the Yukon while studying gyrfalcons for his graduate thesis. As a biologist, Norman worked in many different areas of Canada. In the last 15 years Norman has worked with the Kaska Nation, and more specifically the Ross River Dena, as a technical advisor and negotiator on a broad range of topics including land claims, forestry, mining, land-use planning, wildlife management, traditional knowledge, and heritage.
Norman also co-owns a naturalist lodge with the Kaska, was an adjunct professor at the Yukon College in Whitehorse, and has had a hand in producing a few DVDs on caribou and the Kaska.
Director, Department of Ecological Heritage and Parks
Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks (MDDEP)
Patrick Beauchesne has a Masters in Forest Sciences. Since 1992, Mr. Beauchesne has worked for the Quebec Ministry of Sustainable Developement, Environment and Parks, initially as project manager in ecological mapping, where he was involved in several projects concering integrated forestry resource management and the ecological characterisation of watersheds. In 2005 he became head of the Ecosystems and Biodiversity team and, the same year, director of the Department of Ecological Heritage and Parks. The main goals of this department are to establish a network of protected areas, including Quebec national parks, to implement biodiversity protection strategies in Quebec following the Rio Convention of 1992, and to develop a better understanding of ecosystem management planning. More recently the department has been given the task to dedicate 50% of the Plan Nord’s territory to environmental protection, maintaining biodiversity and developing the natural heritage.
Senior Advisor, Aborigional Relations
Canadian Boreal Initiative
Valérie is a specialist in aboriginal issues and forest ecology living in Labrador. Valerie regularly lectures at conferences and universities around the world, focusing on ecosystem planning and First Nations issues. As environmental planner for the Innu Nation in Labrador from 2003 to 2009, Valerie was responsible for land-use planning and management of environmental programs. Valerie has worked as a consultant in Aboriginal Forestry, including certification and spatial planning. In 2007, Valerie was awarded the James M. Kitz Institute of Forestry for her early-career contributions to the profession of forestry and is a board member of FSC Canada.
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks (MDDEP)
Diane Jean is a graduate in Economics from Laval University, Quebec. She has worked in the provincial public service for 30 years, taking on a variety of professional and senior executive roles. From 1999 to 2001, Diane Jean was deputy minister of Environment and also of the National Capital region of Quebec. From 2001 to 2003 she held the role of secretary to the Treasury Board. From 2003 to 2007, she was deputy minister of Revenue. From 2007 to 2010 she was deputy minister of Government Services, chief information officer and President-CEO of Quebec’s Shared Services Centre. Diane Jean has been deputy minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks since September 2010.
Stephen Kakfwi is the former Premier of the Northwest Territories and former Grand Chief of the Dene Nation. In 1987, Mr. Kakfwi joined public government, representing the Sahtu constituency, located in the Great Bear Lake region of the NWT. His four terms in Territorial politics, all spent serving in Cabinet, produced many of the political, economic, environmental, cultural and geo-political achievements which made the last quarter century so remarkable for the NWT and all its residents. His vision was to create a public system of government which incorporated the best of Aboriginal and public government institutions and practices. Mr. Kakfwi continues to be active on a variety of initiatives including working with his home community and other NWT Aboriginal governments and organizations to ensure benefits and revenues from construction and operation of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline.
Director, Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest
Harvard University
Jim Levitt is the director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, and is a fellow in the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. His interests include historic and present-day innovations in the practice of land and biodiversity conservation. Such “landmark conservation initiatives” are characterized by novelty, strategic significance, measurable effectiveness, transferability and an abilty to endure.
Chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas,
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Current Chair of the WCPA since 2004, retired from Parks Canada in 2005 from the position of Director General National Parks. Previously held positions within Parks Canada from 1980 include Executive Director Ecological Integrity Branch and Plant Science Advisor. Prior to work with Parks Canada held positions with Lands Directorate of Environment Canada and the Forest Management Institute focused on ecological land inventories.
Director of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, Griffith University, Australia
Member, IUCN Council, Regional Councilor for Oceania
Co-Chair, Earth Charter International Council
Prof Brendan Mackey is Director of the Griffith Climate Change response. He has a PhD in ecology from The Australian National University. Brendan’s research addresses the interactions between climate change, biodiversity and land use, the role of science in policy formulation of environmental regulatory frameworks, and the nexus between climate change responses and sustainable development. He has a special interest in the science and policy of ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation and related public policy issues. He is a member of he international Council for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Co-chairs the Earth Charter international Council.
Vice-Chief
Uashat mak Mani-Utenam community
Mike McKenzie has been Vice-Chief of the Uashat mak Mani-Utenam community for more than years. He has broad experience of the public and political life of the community. Before being elected, Mike Mckenzie was the recreation coordinator for the community. He organized various events with the youth in his area and developed an ability to mobilize stakeholders around key ideas. Today, as an elected representative, he is responsible for files such as public safety, youth, administration, and public and intergovernmental affairs. Mike Mckenzie would also like to help leaders of his community to use their skills and social responsibility to the Nitassinan to promote the Innu vision of protecting the Innu way of life and the political and economic development of Nitassinan. Mr. Mckenzie has 3 children and is currently pursuing studies in social sciences at the University of Ottawa. He is also a traditional hunter.
Deputy Minister
Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife
Robert Sauvé graduated from Université de Montréal with a Bachelor’s degree in architecture, and went on to obtain a Master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Oxford Polytechnic in England. He joined the Québec civil service in 1987, and worked as Associate Secretary General for Aboriginal Affairs and Deputy Minister at the Ministère des Régions before being appointed as the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources in June 2009.
Professor of Ecology, University of Alberta
Chair, Killam Memorial
Dr. David W. Schindler holds the Killam Memorial Chair and is Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. His work on eutrophication and acid rain has been widely used in formulating ecological management policy in Canada, the USA and in Europe. Dr. Schindler has received numerous national and international research awards. In 2001 he was awarded Canada’s highest scientific honor, the NSERC Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Society of London (UK), a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, and a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences. He has received ten honorary doctorates from Canadian and US universities. In January 2004 he was appointed an Officer in the Order of Canada. He was named one of 100 top Edmontonians of the first century at Edmonton’s centennial celebration. He was also inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in October of 2008.
Professor, Northern Environmental and Conservation Sciences
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta
Principal Investigator, The Canadian BEACONs Project
Fiona is Director of the Northern Environmental and Conservation Sciences Program in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta. Since 2004, she has resided in the Yukon, where her research on wildlife conservation, landscape ecology and land-management strategies are inspired by spectacular surroundings. Fiona is particularly interested in questions that bridge the science-policy interface.
Recently, she has acted as Senior Scientific Advisor and Chair of Environment Canada’s Boreal Caribou Science Committee, contributed expertise on ecologically based land-use planning as a member of the Ontario Far North Scientific Advisory Committee, and she currently acts as Senior Scientific Advisor and Science Committee Chair to forest industry and environmental organizations advancing the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement.
Ross River Dena First Nation
Norman Sterriah was born and raised in the Yukon, and traditionally raised by grandparents from an early age to learn Dena values and to preserve traditions of the Kaska Dena people. He attended Residential School from age 5 to age 13, and completed his general education at Fraser Valley College. Mr. Sterriah has served the Kaska Nation and Ross River Dena Council since 1989, including as a Band Administrator, Chief Councillor, Comprehensive Land Claim Negotiator, Kaska Nation National Traditional Knowledge Coordinator, and Ross River Dena Council Traditional Knowledge Coordinator. Mr. Sterriah is employed by the Ross River Dena Council to work with resource developers, NGOs, and governments to incorporate traditional knowledge into mining projects and environmental assessments.
Senior Advisor, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Dr. Stephen Woodley is an ecologist, who has worked in the field of environmental management for 30 years, including working in several national parks, Chief Scientist of Parks Canada, as an environmental consultant, and as Director of the Heritage Resources Centre at the University of Waterloo. Currently Stephen is Senior Advisor to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), working on protected areas and climate change in Gatineau, Québec. Stephen is a member of the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) Commission on Protected Areas and has visited parks and protected areas in over 35 countries throughout the world. He has received Government of Canada’s Public Service Award of Excellence and co-recipient of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Harkin Medal.
Moderators
Director of Science,
Nature Conservancy of Canada, Quebec Region
Professor in Forest Policy,
Université Laval
