Staff & Board

STAFF

Emily-Sky Collins, Program Coordinator

Leslie Johnson, Administrative Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT

Keith Moore, RPF – Forestry Consultant, Moore Resource Management

Keith has been a resident of Haida Gwaii for more than 30 years. He is a Registered Professional Forester and has an MA in Geography. Since 2000, Keith has run a consulting business based in Queen Charlotte that takes him across Canada and the world to work on forest certification with the Forest Stewardship Council. To date, Keith has been involved in over 50 certification projects in five Canadian provinces and several other countries. Keith is also involved in forestry and environmental issues in BC. On Haida Gwaii, these include the campaign to protect the southern part of the islands, the Fish Forestry Interaction Program and the Strategic Land Use Plan. He is a volunteer with a number of local organizations and was a founding director of the Laskeek Bay Conservation Society, which is involved with seabirds, marine mammals and forest birds. Keith lives with his wife, Helen, and son Peter in Queen Charlotte.

VICE-PRESIDENT & SECRETARY TREASURER

Leonard Munt – District Manager, Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Haida Gwaii Forest District

Leonard entered the field of natural resource management in Ontario in 1991, as the Gypsy Moth Coordinator for the County of Haliburton, and later for the Regional Municipality of York. At York Region, he built a comprehensive forest management program that began with a $15,000 budget and grew to a $50 million program during his tenure. The York Regional Forest also became the first public forest in Canada certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. In 2003, Leonard accepted the position of District Manager for the Haida Gwaii District Ministry of Forests and Range. Since his arrival on the islands, Leonard has been working to develop new relationships, in particular, to bring together an integrated business alliance among all natural resource ministries and the Council of the Haida Nation. It is this work that fuels his desire to invest in youth, through activities such as the Junior Stewardship Ranger program and the conception of the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society. Leonard is also a Professional Associate of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto. He resides on Haida Gwaii with his wife Terrie, daughter Meaghan, son Noah and dog Charlotte.

BOARD MEMBERS

Nika Collison – Curator, Haida Gwaii Museum

Nika Collison (Jisgang) belongs to the Ts’aahl clan of the Haida nation, to which she and her husband have contributed two beautiful daughters. Nika is curator for the Haida Gwaii Museum at Kaay Llnagaay and coordinator of the Haida Repatriation Committee, Skidegate chapter. She travels to museums around the world gathering information on Haida treasures, building relationships with these institutions, and negotiating the return of Haida ancestral remains. Nika has served as consultant, author and/or lecturer at institutions including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Pitt Rivers Museum of Oxford, UBC Museum of Anthropology and the Haida Heritage Centre at Kaay Llnagaay. She has also served in various capacities for the Council of the Haida Nation in regards to Land and Marine Use Planning. Nika is a traditional singer/drummer, beginner weaver and student of Xaayda Kil (the Haida language).

Severn Cullis-Suzuki – Environmental Activist, David Suzuki Foundation board member, Skeena-Northwest BC Citizens' Conservation Council on Climate Action council member

Severn has been speaking out on social justice and environmental issues since she was small. She founded the Environmental Children's Organization with her friends at age 9, which culminated in the small group addressing the UN at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Several UN meetings later, she is a Commissioner for the Earth Charter and spearheaded the 'Recognition of Responsibility,' which was taken to the Johannesburg Summit in 2002 and on tour in Japan with the Namakemono Club. She is an Action Canada Fellow, and has a B.Sc. in biology from Yale University and an M.Sc. in ethnoecology from UVic, from studying with Kwakwaka'wakw elders. Severn lives on Haida Gwaii with her husband and baby, and continues to speak out to schools, universities and corporations around the globe about understanding our interconnections to a globalized world, and recognize our responsibility in it.

Ernie Gladstone – Superintendent, Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site

Ernie grew up in Skidegate and began working for Parks Canada as a deck hand in 1992. With a diploma in business management, Ernie worked his way into management and, in 2001, became the youngest and first Haida Superintendent of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. As superintendent, Ernie oversees the protection and presentation of the ecological and cultural heritage of Gwaii Haanas which includes SGang Gwaii World Heritage Site and a number of National Historic Sites. Gwaii Haanas is cooperatively managed by the Government of Canada and the Council of the Haida Nation. Ernie was awarded a 2008 Public Service Award of Excellence for his work at Gwaii Haanas. He lives in Skidegate with his partner and their three young children.

Art Lew – Manager, Haida Gwaii Community Futures

Art Lew is the General Manager for Haida Gwaii Community Futures and has managed its operations from its inception 11 years ago. He holds University degrees in Business Administration and in Community Economic Development, and has held positions in management consulting and in senior management in a variety of sectors. He has also been owner-manager of a small business. Art's efforts with Haida Gwaii Community Futures have played a major role in building community capacity and supporting efforts to expand economic opportunities that promote community sustainability, with particular emphasis on social enterprise.

Bill McGill – PhD, was the Dean of the College of Science and Management at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George from 2001–2010 and has been widely recognized for nearly 40 years experience as a university teacher, researcher and administrator. His soil research has advanced understanding about carbon and nitrogen sequestration and greenhouse gas exchanges with the atmosphere. He serves on the Board of the Resources North Association, and is second Vice President of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. Bill’s commitment to the development of northern BC includes among other things active engagement with the UNBC Engineering Advisory Council and the College of New Caledonia in efforts to expand engineering and technology education in the north, for the north.

Dr. Tracy Morton - has lived and practiced full service family medicine on Haida Gwaii for the past 10 years. A Clinical Instructor with UBC, he has precepted and taught family medicine residents and medical students nearly continuously since arriving on Haida Gwaii. He firmly believes that high quality care and teaching of learners can be provided in rural and remote locations by committed practitioners working in a collaborative, multi-disciplinary team. Areas of special interest are internal medicine, oncology and emergency care. Working with administration, he established Haida Gwaii Cancer Care, which provides chemotherapy locally and addresses the full range of cancer care, from prevention to palliation. He was Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2006. He lives on a small island with his wife and two rambunctious boys.