Experience

The Firelight Group

• Canada
• Research Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Researcher

  • Jul 2022 - Present

  Provides technical and administrative services to Indigenous government clients in support of their objectives around resource development, conservation, and planning. Services include research and analysis in regards to decision processes, leads diverse groups of subject matter experts across disciplines, develops and conducts social, cultural, and rights-based impact analyses, cumulative effects analyses, as well as long-term and regional planning processes, governance, and negotiation support.



Fisheries and Oceans Canada

• Government Administration
• 700 & Above Employee

• Regional Senior Fisheries Management Officer, Marine Conservation Targets

  • Nov 2021 - Jul 2022

  Support Government of Canada's commitment to protect 25% of Canada's marine and coastal areas by 2025 and 30% by 2030 using Fisheries Act tools. In this role, I focus on planning, establishment, and implementation of marine protected areas in the southern portion of the Strait of Georgia, part of the Salish Sea, where I liaise with a variety of sectors in DFO, as well as other government agencies like Parks Canada and Indigenous governments that may require support from DFO to achieve conservation or biodiversity objectives.

• Marine Mammal Adviser

  • Nov 2020 - Oct 2021

  Provide technical advice and coordination support for decisions related to marine mammals in the Pacific for DFO Resource Management and Sustainability Branch, including cetaceans, sea otters, sea lions, and seals. I lead coordination of cross-sector teams, support engagement activities, develop briefings for decision-makers, among other duties.



Council of the Haida Nation

• Project Manager + Research Advisor, Marine Planning Program

  • Jan 2018 - Nov 2020

  Provide technical and project management support to Council of the Haida Nation on priorities related to Haida Gwaii marine territory, focused on: - Haida Gwaii Marine Plan implementation in collaboration with the Province of British Columbia through the Marine Plan Partnership initiative and - Marine Transportation and implementation of the Reconciliation Framework Agreement on Bioregional Oceans Protection and Management implementation in collaboration with Canada.Activities are highly collaborative, involving novel co-governance models with multiple government agencies and First Nations across the Northern Shelf Bioregion, federal and provincial agencies, interdisciplinary, and team-based. Planning, policy, and management activities span a range of topics from marine shipping, aquatic invasive species, recreational fishing, logging, to protected areas.

• Project Manager (Contractor)

  • Jul 2017 - Jan 2018



Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society

• Instructor

  • Sep 2012 - Apr 2019

  Instructor of three upper-year UBC accredited courses on (1) Ecosystem-based Management, (2) Case Studies, and (3) Marine Spatial Planning and Marine Protected Areas as part of the community immersion program on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. All courses were team-taught. Required development of a semester-long syllabus, including assignments, readings, lectures, facilitating group work, field trips, coordinating guest speakers, as well as one-on-one supervision of each student for their original research project and a final, day-long symposium where students present their projects to the community.



University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC)

• Canada
• Higher Education
• 500 - 600 Employee

• Sessional Instructor, Department of Geography

  • Sep 2018 - Nov 2018

  Developed and delivered compressed, 200-level course titled Roots, Ruggedness, and Rituals: A Geography of Canada as part of a Haida Culture and Language Program. Course content developed from a critical Indigenous perspective and relied on Indigenous voices to deliver content on Canada, including Indigenous authors and guest speakers from the territories of the Cree, Dene, Anishnaabe, Haida, and other Nations. Developed and delivered compressed, 200-level course titled Roots, Ruggedness, and Rituals: A Geography of Canada as part of a Haida Culture and Language Program. Course content developed from a critical Indigenous perspective and relied on Indigenous voices to deliver content on Canada, including Indigenous authors and guest speakers from the territories of the Cree, Dene, Anishnaabe, Haida, and other Nations.



The Firelight Group

• Canada
• Research Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Researcher

  • Aug 2013 - Jul 2017

  As Senior Researcher and Project Manager with The Firelight Group Research Cooperative, I worked with primarily Indigenous government clients to provide high quality research, analysis and technical advice to find solutions for our shared futures. My strengths are in providing technical guidance through environmental assessment processes and related regulatory and negotiation activities, while also coordinating technical teams to achieve high quality results. I also offer third-party review and verification services on studies used in impact assessments, with expertise in indigenous knowledge and use, socio-economic considerations and impact assessments, and co-governance systems. I provided a variety of research and strategic services within planning and policy development and implementation as it relates to land and marine use for Indigenous Nations and communities. As a social science researcher and planner with extensive knowledge and experience in Indigenous rights and environmental laws, I offered a unique blend of policy, planning, and research services that can be tailored to Nations across the country and beyond.



University of Cambridge

• United Kingdom
• Research Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• PhD Student

  • Aug 2009 - Sep 2014

  My research focuses on how planning is used as a forum to engage with the idea of the contested idea of reconciliation. Legal mechanisms of reconciliation are required in environmental planning and decision-making regimes in Canada, notably 'consultation' and 'accommodation'. These ideas have specific legal meaning in case law and Crown government policies that have evolved dramatically over the past few decades. In planning, the interpretation of reconciliation is openly debated and, in some cases, result in agreement to disagree about its meaning or may also result in intractable conflict or disagreement. This research is influenced by theories of institutional change and reconciliation and literature on Indigenous planning, impact assessment, and policy dynamics. The research draws upon two in-depth, divergent planning cases encountered on Haida Gwaii: (1) the collaborative governance for land use management regime defined in Kunst'aa Guu Kunstaa'yah (The Beginning) - Reconciliation Protocol struck between the Council of the Haida Nation and the Province of BC and (2) the controversial impact assessment process for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway project. I am particularly interested in how the definition of reconciliation diverges in these cases, what factors influence the longer-term transformation of the dominant (though contested) meaning of reconciliation, and what this means for the much broader institutional and social process of a more meaningful pathway towards reconciliation in Canada.



AECOM

• United States
• Civil Engineering
• 700 & Above Employee

• Environmental Planner

  • Jul 2005 - Jun 2009

  I provided technical and administrative services to support clients through planning processes for natural resources, housing, energy, and transportation projects in British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska, Nunavut, and Ontario. I have helped lead interdisciplinary teams to conduct environmental and socio-economic assessments and baseline studies of various projects (British Columbia Transmission Corporation; Pebble Partnership; Western Copper Corp). I have conducted socio-economic and land use assessments (Holland America Lines). I developed guidance to aid in compliance with a Sustainable Development Framework (Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada). I have also supported clients in their First Nations and public engagement programs (City of Whitehorse; Commerce Resources).



Simon Fraser University

• Canada
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Teaching Assistant

  • Sep 2003 - Dec 2004

  Led tutorials for senior level Geography courses (Human Ecology; Political Geography). Marked papers and student performance.

• Research Assistant

  • Apr 2004 - Sep 2004

  Based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, collected primary data through archival review and interviews with key informants (i.e. First Nations leaders, territorial and federal government staff, etc.) to test a framework I developed to understand the impetus behind voluntary environmental, socio-economic, and impact and benefit agreements used by mining companies, government, and First Nations. A key focus of this research sought to understand what potential need existed for these agreements within the existing co-managed environmental assessment process.