Jocelyn Joe-Strack, Daqualama (Da-kal-a-ma), is a member of the Wolf Clan of northwestern Canada’s Champagne and Aishihik First Nation. Jocelyn is an Indigenous scientist, philosopher and entrepreneur who strives to evolve tomorrow’s policies by blending yesterday’s ancestral lessons with today’s systematic knowledge. She uses her experience as a trained microbiologist, hydrologist and policy analyst along with her cultural foundations to explore resilient approaches to challenges such as climate change, societal wellbeing and prosperity. Jocelyn is the newly appointed Research Chair in Environmental Monitoring and Knowledge Mobilization at Yukon University. Her research focuses on Youth Climate leadership, revitalizing traditional storytelling and fulfilling the Spirit and Intent of the Umbrella Final Agreement.  She is currently serving as the Co-Lead for the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship. Daqualama was born and currently lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory with her husband and two young children.

Catherine Iorns Magallanes is a Professor in the School of Law at Victoria University of Wellington, in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. She has more than 25 years' experience on environmental law, Indigenous rights, international law and statutory interpretation, and has received several awards for her teaching and research on the intersection between environmental law and Indigenous rights. As well as serving as a Trustee of RIVER, Professor Iorns is the Academic Adviser to the NZ Council of Legal Education, a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, and New Zealand's nominee to the IUCN governing Council. She is also a member of the International Law Association Committee on the Implementation of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a Board member of the New Zealand Centre for Global Studies. Prof. Iorns’ work on the power of water was recently profiled as a documentary in the ‘Water—Rapuhia, kimihia: Quest for knowledge’ documentary series and can be viewed here.

Erin Matariki Carr is of Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Awa descent and currently lives in Tāneatua, just north of Te Urewera rainforest. Erin is co-lead for RIVER, supporting the legal, administrative and Illuminating Worldviews workstreams. Erin graduated Victoria University of Wellington with a Bachelor of Law (Honours) and Arts (majoring in Spanish) and is passionate about regenerative community building. Her background has been in law and policy, working as a solicitor with Chapman Tripp in Auckland before later returning home to work for Tūhoe in serving Te Urewera, an ancient rainforest vested with legal personhood in 2014. Erin believes in the pathway of reconnection to Papatūānuku (physically, emotionally, spiritually and through creative expression) as an active means to rebuild self, identity and community. Erin is contracting in the areas of iwi environmental planning and Māori within the criminal justice system. Erin is co-Manager for the New Zealand Alternative, a non-profit organisation creating informed public debate relating to New Zealand’s place and foreign policy in this changing world.

Tanya Ball is from Lower Post, B.C. and is of Kaska and Tahltan descent. She has an educational background in Environmental studies and Advanced ARC GIS. Tanya has been employed with Dena Kayeh Institute for 6 years as the land guardian coordinator for the Dane nan yḗ dāh (Kaska Land Guardian) program. Her love for the land and learning about culture, language and traditional knowledge has made the guardian program a perfect fit for her. Incorporating Indigenous knowledge into all of her work is very important, as she learns and teaches about environmental protection and, more importantly, learns about her culture, traditions and language from elders.

Her favourite part of working with the land guardians is the field work and being out on the land and being a part of protection of Kaska Dena lands, water and wildlife.

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Dune Lankard is an Eyak activist, father, and fisherman. For 3,500 years, the Eyak Athabaskan people have been the stewards of Alaska's Copper River Delta and eastern Prince William Sound. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker spewed crude oil across more than 1,500 miles of the once-pristine shoreline of the Gulf of Alaska’s coastline. This preventable man-made tragedy turned Dune Lankard, an Eyak Athabaskan subsistence and commercial fisherman, into a dedicated full-time social activist with a dream to protect, preserve and restore two intact roadless sister watersheds. After the spill in 1989, Dune founded a cultural and legal defense fund, the Eyak Preservation Council (EPC), then in 2003 founded the Native Conservancy, the first Native-owned, Native-led and Native-run land trust in America. Native Conservancy helped spearhead dozens of environmental campaigns that resulted in one of the largest protected subsurface coal conservation easements in U.S. history, and with EPC helped preserve more than a million acres of coastal temperate rainforest habitat surrounded by some of the tallest coastal glacier-topped mountains in the world, and one of the last truly remaining roadless wild salmon habitats in existence.

Georgia Lloyd-Smith is a lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law where she focuses on revitalizing Indigenous laws and governance through the RELAW Program (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air, and Water) and caring for our ocean as part of the marine team . Her experience includes using law to support Indigenous Protected Areas, Indigenous Guardian programs, co-governance models, and community fisheries. Georgia was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada on Coast Salish territory, and is of Scottish, Irish, Welsh and English heritage. She holds a BScH in Biology from Queen’s University (2010) and a JD from Dalhousie University (2014). She articled at the Environmental Law Centre at University of Victoria where she trained with the Indigenous Law Research Unit . She also spent a formative summer in Fort McMurray, Alberta working as a legal intern with the Mikisew Cree First Nation in the heart of the tar sands. Georgia believes in the power of human connection to affect change, and sees law as an essential component of this work. She spends her thinking time in spaces where cultures, values, and ideas converge, in particular in the fields of Indigenous, environmental, health, and human rights law. She has a newfound love of creating (some people call it art ) and is a proud aunt to a growing flock of little ones. In work and in life, she is motivated to be a good ancestor.

Lindsay Keegitah Borrows (Chippewas of Nawash First Nation) is a lawyer and researcher at the Indigenous Law Research Unit at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. Previously she was a lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, where she worked on the RELAW (Revitalizing Indigenous Laws for Land, Air and Water) Project. She supports Indigenous communities to revitalize their traditional laws for application in a contemporary context. She has worked with many legal traditions including Anishinaabe, Haíɫzaqv, Māori, Mi’kmaq, nuučaan̓uł, St’át’imc, Denezhu, and Tsilhqot’in. She has also worked as a legal support team member for the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a researcher for the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court in Arizona. Each fall Lindsay returns to her home community of Neyaashiinigmiing, Ontario for several weeks to co-teach land-based Anishinaabe law camps. She is also passionate about story-telling and language revitalization. She recently published a book of creative non-fiction entitled, “Otter’s Journey through Indigenous Language and Law” (UBC Press, 2018). She is a graduate of the Banff Centre for the Arts’ Indigenous Writing Program (2014), and the Writer’s Studio at SFU (Fiction, 2019). Lindsay received her J.D. from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, and her B.A. from Dartmouth College.

David McConville grew up in the Bible Belt of Turtle Island, raised under a strict religion inherited from his settler ancestors. Becoming disillusioned with their strange and dysfunctional beliefs from a young age, he embarked on a quest to understand the origins of their cosmology. This eventually led him to recognize the existential dangers of the anthropocentric, hierarchical paradigm that continues to dominate much of contemporary science, religion, and economics. Today, he explores the potential of art and media to illuminate this dominant worldview and to cultivate reciprocal relationships with the web of life. He is currently the resident cosmographer of Spherical, an integrative research and design studio curating and producing works about planetary regeneration. He also serves as senior researcher and board member for the Center of the Study of the Force Majeure, which brings together artists and scientists to design ecosystem regeneration projects in critical regions around the world. Previously, David co-founded The Elumenati, a design and engineering firm that creates custom display installations for clients from art festivals to space agencies. He was also co-founder and creative director of the Worldviews Network, a NOAA-funded collaboration of artists, scientists, Indigenous storytellers, and educators using immersive visualization environments to transcultural dialogues in communities across the United States. David has a PhD in Art and Media from the Planetary Collegium at the University of Plymouth.

Tū ake a Panekire tōku mauna kōrero
Ki te taha whakaruna o te rohe
Kei raro ra te moana o Haumapuhia i wai hana
Ki aki ai na uri whakaheke
Ko Waikaremoana Whanauna Kore ee
Waimako raua ko Te Kuha Tarewa ōku marae
Tūhoe Potiki rāua ko Hinekura ōku whare nui
Te Whanaupani, Hinekura, Ruapani ōku hapū
Tūhoe te iwi.

Nikapuru Takuta is a Tūhoe counsellor working with our local community to move away from addictions and reconnect with their true selves; their tribal lands, people and histories. His approach is “assimilation elimination”, recognising and eliminating the harmful habits we have received from the process of our colonisation. Nika’s own life story as the son of a veteran of WWII, a former member of the Mongrel Mob (a New Zealand gang), a core part of the Tūhoe and wider Māori activist movement, a father and koroua, all informs his work now with our own community.

Skye Steritz works to protect clean water, wild salmon, and traditional ways of life in the Eyak ancestral homelands of the Copper River Delta of Alaska. Skye is the Program Manager for the Eyak Preservation Council (EPC, founded by Dune Lankard), and is leading the newest program: Copper River Delta Sound Waterkeeper. In the past, Skye coordinated the nationally-renowned program Stream Watch to protect pristine watersheds on the Kenai Peninsula. Skye has designed and directed multiple environmental education programs for Alaskan youth to inspire deeper connections with the natural world and has led water quality testing excursions to empower citizen science. Her formal training is in Water Policy, Management, and Governance with a specialization in diplomacy and conflict management. Skye’s Master of Science thesis explored tools for collaborative transboundary groundwater management. She has studied and worked closely with the Indigenous Peoples of Ghana and Alaska. Skye's ancestry is Celtic, with primarily Irish and Scottish roots. She is a passionate advocate for social and environmental justice.

Gillian Staveley is a Kaska Dena member, whose heritage lies in the Muncho Lake region of Dena Kēyeh in Northern British Columbia. Graduating from UBC in 2014 with a Masters in Anthropology, Gillian’s research explored the importance of multi-generational environmental knowledge and addressed issues of residential schooling, colonialism, and political ecology–all topics that are relevant to Indigenous Nations across the globe. Through the connection that Gillian has with her heritage and culture, she has actively promoted the conversation of what Indigenous Identity means in the 21st century. Gillian has worked predominantly in the resource development sector as a traditional land use practitioner, consultant, and archaeologist. Currently, in her work as a Regional Coordinator for the Kaska Dena, her goal is to ensure that through the Government to Government relationship that exists with her Nation and the Province, that the respect for Kaska Laws (Dene K’éh Gū́s’ān) and the commitment under the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples are upheld in all consultations and engagements with her Nation. Gillian also serves as a Director of the Dena Kēyeh Institute, a not-for-profit society created by the Kaska Nation to empower, preserve, and protect the Kaska Dena language, oral traditions, history, culture, and traditional knowledge. The primary work that Gillian has been a part of with DKI over the past year is to work with the Kaska communities on designing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas within the Kaska Ancestral Territory. As a mother of two strong and energetic Kaska boys, her livelihood is encompassed around watching them grow, live, and experience the world around them.

Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellows are a diverse group of 14 young climate leaders from throughout Canada’s Yukon Territory and Northern British Columbia. Hailing from seven First Nations language groups and between 23 and 30 years old, the Fellows bring together a broad range of life experiences. They include a filmmaker, land guardians, hunters, a youth worker, a beader, a mine worker, a drummer, an Aboriginal Rights and Title practitioner, an appliance repair business owner, a Deputy Chief, language revitalization practitioners, and students enrolled in Indigenous Governance, Northern Science and Conservation programs. Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellows have come together to address the challenges of climate change with spirit and actions that reflect a Yukon First Nations worldview. This autumn, they will begin work alongside Yukon First Nations to co-create a Yukon First Nations Climate Vision and Action Plan. In working alongside partners, they aim to co-birth a Yukon that leads through transformative climate action. Fellows are citizens of Teslin Tlingit Council, Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, Ross River Dena Council, Kluane First Nation, Taku River Tlingit First Nation, Kwanlin Dün First Nation, Tr'ondëk Hwëchin First Nation, Carcross/Tagish First Nation, Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, and Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.

Mike Taitoko is of Maniapoto descent.  For the past twenty years Mike has been a leading advisor in Māori and indigenous economic development and has advised iwi (tribes), government, private sector and communities with development strategies, policies and programmes.  Mike has a MBA with distinction from Massey University and is the co-founder of Takiwā Ltd, a data visualisation and analytics company focused on integrating environmental science data with indigenous data and knowledge in order to improve decisions impacting land use and freshwater.  Mike also co-founded Toha Foundry, an impact investment platform designed to get scaled finance to the frontline where environmental and climate-related projects are delivering measurable impact.  Toha is underpinned by Māori principles and values such as kaitiakitanga, or guardianship of our natural assets.  Mike is currently leading a regenerative agriculture project in New Zealand, using data visualisation and farmer engagement to show where improved land practices are improving environmental outcomes, sequestering more carbon and improving business resilience.  Transparency of funding flows and proof of impact is designed into the programme to improve transparency of impact investment outcomes. 

Self-employed from 18 years old, running her family social enterprise Nathalie Whitaker (Ngāti Hikairo) has gone on to develop multiple digital crowdfunding ventures and impact organisations. She is the founder of Givealittle.co.nz, New Zealand’s largest crowdfunding platform and specialises in designing platforms to deliver social and environmental change including Trees That Count and The Generator.  Nathalie is now co-founder and CEO of Toha, an impact investment marketplace under development aiming to regenerate our plant, and director of Two Tales, a venture lab that works with grassroots community to design for change. With Toha she has joined co-founders Mike Taitoko and Professor Shaun Hendy to simplify the way we fund science and raise capital for impact projects, in order to achieve regenerative outcomes at pace and scale. The Toha team are focused on how tradability of impact measurement has the potential to unlock global sustainable finance.

Rev Sara Jolena Wolcott, M.Div., started re-originating the story of climate change into the Doctrine of Discovery after a conversation with indigenous eco-justice advocates pointed her to the critical role the Doctrine has had to contemporary crises. At the time, she was in the midst of her studies in eco-theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. When her Master of Divinity thesis on that topic received much acclaim, she started teaching the material via a process she refers to as "ReMembering" to other cultural change-makers. Thus, the work of ReMembering and ReEnchanting the world began within the home she created for it: the international learning community Sequoia Samanvaya, which seeks to connect the disconnected. Prior to her current work, she spent over a decade working in international sustainable development, including obtaining a MA in Science, Technology and Society from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in England. She has conducted research on different dimensions of creating sustainable cultures in India, Indonesia, Kenya, Germany, England and the Americas. A descendent of some of the Founding Families of America, she reconnects her own and guides others in reconnecting their ancestral lineage, sourcing ancient and new practices for re-sacralizing our relationship to Mother Earth, and engaging in both healing and innovative, strategic approaches to addressing historical traumas and contemporary uncertainties. She loves to serve as a healer, speaker, legacy advisor, witchy minister, myth-caster and speaker. She currently lives and is learning from a small forest on the edge of a small lake in the midst of the Hudson Valley, on the historical home of the Mohigan/Mahigan peoples. She has had a bodywork practice for over 20 years and is in the midst of illustrating a children's book about dragons.

Bhiamie Williamson is an Indigenous man from the Euahlayi people in north-west New South Wales, Australia. In 2014, Bhiamie graduated from the Australian National University (ANU) and in 2017 from the Masters of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Bhiamie also holds graduate certificates in Indigenous Governance from the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona and Indigenous Trauma Care and Recovery Practice from the University of Wollongong. Bhiamie is now a Research Associate and PhD Candidate at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.Bhiamie’s research areas include Indigenous land management, cultural burning, Indigenous peoples and disaster recovery and Indigenous men and masculinities.

Pekaira Rei (Ngā Ruahine-i-te-rangi, Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Iwi, Ngā Rauru Kiitahi, Te Āti Haunui-ā-Pāpārangi, Taranaki Whānui-ki-te-Upoko-o-te-Ika and Te Atiawa-ki-te-Waka-a-Maui), upholds a pivotal role as Māori Cultural Advisor with the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. In this role, Pekaira provides cultural support and guidance for fellows, weaving ventures with Māoridom and ensuring a stable grounding around how to land and tread in Aotearoa. Pekaira is passionate about education and holds cultural advisory positions for the Education Council and Office of Treaty Settlements at the Ministry of Justice, while also serving as a Kaumātua for Philanthropy New Zealand, and as a Trustee for Te Muka Rau.

Mark Wedge, or Aan Goosh oo, has long been actively involved in economic and social development, land claims negotiations, ceremonial leadership, and dispute resolution in his community and throughout Canada and the United States. He has served as Khà Shâde Héni (Chief) of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, as Executive Director of the Council of Yukon Indians, as President and Chairman of Yukon Indian Development Corporation and däna Näye Ventures, an aboriginal capital corporation. For over 20 years Mark has held peacemaking circles in workplaces and public forums for sentencing for individual crimes, land claims disputes between First Nations and the Canadian government, and outstanding issues between victims of Mission School abuse and the Anglican Church. He is co-author of the book Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community, alongside Kay Pranis and former Chief Judge of the Yukon Territorial Court Barry Stuart. Mark has taught in communities throughout North America and abroad, and is working towards creating Circle-based forms of contemporary tribal governance in his First Nation Government. He advises several postgraduate students; most recently with Eleanor Hayman and Colleen James, he co-authored a chapter on a Tagish and Tlingit approach to water governance in the book, Global Water Ethics: Towards a global ethics charter. Mark currently sits on the Board of Directors of the First Nations Bank of Canada and on the Board of Governors of Yukon University. He is enjoying his new role as a grandpa.

Tame Iti is an Elder of Ngai Tuhoe, Waikato, Te Arawa who grew up in Ruatoki, Te Urewera. Tame Iti is known as many things… Activist, Artist, Cyclist. Tame's 40 year history of controversial and theatrical displays of political expression have included pitching a tent on parliament grounds and calling it the Maori embassy, shooting a national flag in front of government officials and the Waitangi Tribunal he appeared with a ladder so as to speak eye to eye with officials who were seated on stage. Iti explores how the old saying of “Te ka nohi ki te ka nohi” (Dealing with it eye to eye) creates a far more productive space for open dialogue around any issue. “No one can tell you that you are not important and your experience does not matter and if they do… I challenge them to say it to your face… where they can see your eyes and feel your breath.”

Jodi Gustafson was born and raised in what is today known as the Yukon, Canada. That upbringing and later life experiences instilled a profound respect for and curiosity about the natural world, and the familial relationship of many Indigenous peoples with ancestral lands, waters, and beyond-human kin. Jodi is of Swedish and Scottish descent on her Father's side and of mixed Irish, Scottish, English and Labrador Inuit ancestry from the Upper Lake Melville region on her Mother's side. She is grateful that her work with RIVER provides the opportunity to work towards her reconciliation responsibilities as a settler, and to honour her Indigenous ancestors too. Prior to the formation of RIVER, Jodi worked on conservation and environmental management projects with organizations including the International Whaling Commission, the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee, and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs. Aotearoa/ New Zealand has been her second home since 2007. In 2017, Jodi joined the inaugural cohort of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship on a mission to facilitate capacity building and knowledge exchange to further Indigenous-led regenerative initiatives. She gratefully lives between Tūhoe and Whakatōhea lands in Aotearoa, and Southern Tutchone lands in the Yukon where she was born and raised. Through RIVER, Jodi continues her work with Indigenous and Crown governments to evolve environmental governance and economic models beyond colonial frameworks. She is humbled to currently be supporting Jocelyn Joe-Strack as a Co-Lead for the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship. As a settler with ancestry to lands far from where she grew up, Jodi of course does not have a lived Indigenous experience and cannot contribute from that place. Instead, her role in her work revolves around supporting communities in their efforts to fulfil ancestral stewardship responsibilities amidst current colonial realities. Jodi has a Masters in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge where she studied as a Gates Cambridge scholar.

Dennis began writing and composing songs in his language, Kaska, in 2009. In that same year, Dennis created Dena Zagi with Jennifer Frohling. Jenny is originally from East Germany and is Dennis’ partner. Together they created the band Dena Zagi, which means “people’s voice”, and is written in the Kaska language. It combines both of their talents to create a traditional contemporary duo. Dennis is singer, songwriter and guitarist, while Jenny is a singer, plays a traditional drum and drum set, as well as a First Nation flute. Their lyrics are about the land, animals, respect, ancestors and traditions.

They’ve played together in various venues in Canada and Germany, and hope to encourage young people to preserve their language through music. In 2016 they received a grant from Yukon Film and Sound Commission to record a demo. In 2018, their album Gucho Hin was nominated at the IMA - Indigenous Music Awards in Winnipeg and CFMA Canadian Folk Music Awards in Calgary.

Freddy Matariki Carr is a shapeshifter, librarian and kaitiaki of Ngāti Awa and Ngāi Tūhoe descent. In the Kuna Yala Freddy made contact with a hula hoop and has been experimenting with flow arts since. She has experience as a professional dancer, acrobat, hula hooper, curator and actress. Story-telling, movement and te ao Māori are thematic in all of Freddy’s work.

Lainie has a background in various healing and mindset modalities including hypnotherapy/NLP, Māori healing, crystal healing and energy work. She's worked with people from all over the world helping them bust through their blocks and create transformation for the life they truly want. Everything is created in the mind and heart first and then manifest into reality. She teaches you the tools you need to connect inwards, do the inner work to see the outer results unfold. Learn more from Lainie on her podcast Hononga Ki Roto and her online workshops for energy mastery.

He maha nga pūkenga a Lainie ki nga momo tikanga whakaora me te whakamirimiri i te hinengaro, te rongo i te tinana, me te whakarauora i te wairua. Kua toro atu tona ringa ki nga tangata puta noa i te ao ki te arataki me te awhi ki te whakatinana i a ratou ake wawata. Hei ki tana, kei te hiringa mahara me te whatumanawa e puta ai o taonga katoa. Kei a ia ngā rauemi me te  matauranga ki te romiromi i tō waiaro, e puawai ai te aroha.

Jenni Matchett is focused on conceptualizing and designing healing ways of existing to transform current eco/colonial realities. Energy transition, and the cultural possibilities that exist under a no-carbon energy regime has been her point of departure for several years. Her deep inquiry into structural change has been influenced by a critique of her own business school education (Vancouver) and her time spent designing products for the consumer solar revolution (Boston). As an advisor to the Assembly of First Nations Yukon Regional Chief, Jenni recently worked on a regional initiative to decolonize climate and environmental policy. She is currently honing her practice as a Critical Conservation student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she is experimenting with mediums and methods that further the project of what it means to live reciprocally, regeneratively - particularly in relation to the body, the economy and the energy source. Jenni is of Scottish and Irish descent on her Father’s side, and Polish and Russian descent on her Mother’s side. For a long time, she has lived a nomadic lifestyle between the Eastern United States and Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in territory in North Yukon (where she was raised and is currently placed).

Emily McDougall is a born and raised Yukoner, based in her hometown of Whitehorse. She is a proud member of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and belongs to the Wolf Clan (Agunda). Her Indigenous background is Southern Tutchone and Tlingit on her maternal side. Emily’s family has been living in the Yukon for over seven generations. Her Grandmother, Virginia Lindsay (nee Slim) was born and raised at the Upper Village of Lake Laberge (Tàa'an Män). Her Great-Grandfather, Frank Slim (Tsenedhata), was a famous Yukon Riverboat Captain and her Great-Great-Uncle, Chief Jim Boss (Kishxóot), was an instrumental leader in Yukon Land Claims Agreements. Emily graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography and Environmental Studies. She has spent the last several years working as an adventure guide with her family’s wilderness tourism company and has experience working in the field of environmental consulting. Emily has fulfilled her role as the AFN Yukon Regional Climate Change Coordinator for nearly two years. Her main roles include liaising with the AFN National Environment Sector, sharing climate information with Yukon First Nations (YFN’s) communities, supporting Regional Chief Adamek as the National Portfolio holder for Environment & Climate Change, and serving as the technical representative on the AFN Advisory Committee on Climate Action and the Environment (ACE). Highlights of Emily’s role include exciting partner projects such as the YFN’s Climate Action Fellowship and the YFN’s Climate Vision & Action Plan (Strategy). Emily was recently named the Climate Award Winner at the 2020 AFN Yukon Regional Leadership Awards.

Graeme Reed works at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) as a senior policy advisor, ensuring federal and international climate policy safeguards First Nations rights, jurisdiction and knowledge. During this time, he has had the opportunity to represent the AFN at the COP 23, COP 24, and COP 25 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In his spare time, he is a doctoral candidate at the University of Guelph, studying the intersection of Indigenous governance, environmental governance and the climate crisis. He is of mixed Anishinaabe and European descent.

Grace Iwashita-Taylor, breathing bloodlines of Samoa, England and Japan. An artist of upu/words led her to the world of performing arts. Dedicated to carving, elevating and holding spaces for storytellers of Te Moana nui a Kiwa. Recipient of the CNZ Emerging Pacific Artist 2014 and the Auckland Mayoral Writers Grant 2016. Highlights include holding the visiting international writer in residence at the University of Hawaii 2018, Co-Founder of the first youth poetry slam in Aoteroa, Rising Voices (2011 - 2016) and the South Auckland Poets Collective and published collections Afakasi Speaks (2013) & Full Broken Bloom (2017) with ala press. Writer of MY OWN DARLING commissioned by Auckland Theatre Company (2015, 2017, 2019) and Curator of UPU (Auckland Arts Festival 2020).

Originally from Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Dakota is a Gwich’in First Nation youth and recent graduate of the University of Saskatchewan. Dakota has been researching Indigenous topics in economic development, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, youth engagement, and global strategy for several years. He currently works as a Junior Research Scholar at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, examining how Indigenous Canadians can engage with Asia. He is also a Program Manager for Youth Climate Lab (YCL). In the past, Dakota has helped with Indigenous business competitions, setting up an entrepreneurship initiative at the Edwards School of Business, and consulted in marketing and management. Alongside Shalaka Jadhav, Dakota is representing YCL on the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship Steering Committee. “In my work with YCL, I've learned how eager youth are to take action and lead in the climate space. Empowering them to do so with skills, policy, and finance is an important, neglected, and solvable challenge."

Ras K’dee from Sonoma County, California, is a Native California Pomo/African musician, community educator, and renowned lyricist, producer, & lead vocalist/keyboardist for Bay Area-based live world hip-hop ensemble, Audiopharmacy. For K’dee, his musical inspiration is deeply rooted from his experience as a cultural artist. Translating artistically through world music, hip-hop, rhymes and soulful melodies, K’dee invokes the songs and dances from traditional ceremonies of his native people, and tells stories of resistance, healing, community & empowerment that can be understood and felt universally by all people.

K’dee has toured locally and internationally with Audiopharmacy for 16 consecutive years, traveling to Germany, Austria, UK, Holland, Switzerland, France, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Ecuador, Morocco, Oman and Cyprus to share his music. In 2003, K’dee co-founded (and is the current director) of a Native youth media organization Seventh Native American Generation (SNAG) whose annual publication features the art, photos, music and writing of Indigenous Youth. K’dee leads summer workshops with Youth and is a producer and occasional co-host of the radio program “Bay Native Circle” on 94.1 FM in Northern California. K'dee is currently building the first ever sustainably built, Indigenous led, multi-media center of its kind the NEST Community Arts Center in his Pomo homeland. With the completion of the first permanent structure this fall, the cob visual arts studio, K’dee is currently fundraising to build the main structure, which will house SNAG Magazine’s offices, innovation studios, dance studio, holistic healing space, communal living space, and music studio.

Carson Linforth Bowley is a photographer, designer and creative director based on traditional Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo lands in northern California. His work aims to weave new and old ways of seeing through his creative practice, Metapattern.

Alex Jacobsen was born and raised in Whakatāne on Ngāti Awa lands. Alex has an extensive background in Information Technology and Sustainability. He is a passionate supporter of Indigenous and environmental initiatives, which makes him our perfect home based techy superhero to provide tech guidance at the Tāneatua hub during the symposium.

Tawahinga Butt (Ngāti Ranginui/Ngāti Awa) is a painter, director and playwright. He represents Kahawai Productions for the second generation to provide creative lighting and video solutions to the Tāneatua hub of the symposium.