Healing the Land Conference October 7-10, 2024 | Moberly Lake, BC

Cloy-e-isi, Dr. Judith Sayers, is President of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and Chancellor at Vancouver Island University. Judith was chief in her community for 14 years. Throughout her career, Judith has focused on sustainability and restoring and rehabilitating Mother Earth.

Chief Rudy Paquette was born and raised in Moberly Lake. He worked in the sawmill at Canfor and West Fraser for five years, then worked in the oil patch for over twenty years as a supervisor. In 2016, some of the family asked him to run for Council. He did two terms as Council and now is currently Chief of the Nation.

Juritha Owens was raised on Saulteau First Nations reserve at Moberly Lake BC. In 2017 she was elected as the Napoleon Family Councillor. Just recently she has been blessed with the opportunity to be re-elected for her third term as Council. The past six years have been rewarding and a great learning experience to help lead her Nation towards the direction of success.

Naomi is currently the Treaty Rights and Environmental Protection (TREP) Manager for the Saulteau First Nations. She sits on the Board of Directors for the Twin Sisters Native Plant Nursery, a Society Director for the Nîkanêse Wah tzee Stewardship Society, a Board Member for the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, a Council Member of the Minister’s Wildlife Advisory Council, and is a part of the First Nations-BC Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Forum.

Teena is the assistant manager of the Treaty Rights and Environmental Protection department and is involved in many community initiatives such as: Fire Lake Community Cultural Site restoration; Carbon Lake enhancement; Aski Reclamation corporation development; Caribou partnership agreement; methyl mercury study on Moberly Lake; and is a First Nations delegate on the Water strategy table with the Province of British Columbia.

Jennifer’s career has involved supporting the acquisition and designation of conservation areas and parks, developing natural resource policies, and leading programs in wildlife and habitat management. In her current role, she focuses on enhancing outcomes for wildlife and habitats through conservation partnerships.

Steven is a member and former chief of the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation, where he led negotiations with the Canadian Federal and Northwest Territories governments to establish the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area — one of the largest protected areas in North America. Steven's main focus is the First 30x30 initiative, an accelerator program providing support for Indigenous-led carbon and Nature-based Solutions projects. He is leading First 30x30 in his capacity as Managing Director for Canada at Nature for Justice.

Katherine is originally from Hazelton, BC. She holds a Diploma from the College of New Caledonia in Natural Resources and Environmental Technology. Katherine has worked for FNFN since May 2011. Her work has focused on conducting environmental reviews of projects, environmental and construction field audits, and developing monitoring programs.

Candace Batycki has been a conservation advocate for more than 30 years, specializing in protecting ecosystems for threatened and endangered wildlife, and caribou in particular. She is honoured to serve as the Executive Director at the Nîkanêse Wah tzee Stewardship Society. Prior to her current role, Candace served as the BC and Yukon Program Director for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y), where she led a team focused on supporting Indigenous-led conservation in BC’s Columbia and Rocky Mountains.

Clayton Lamb is a wildlife scientist with Biodiversity Pathways and the University of British Columbia working at the interface of population ecology, human-wildlife coexistence, and endangered species recovery. Clayton’s work provides rigorous and insightful evidence that informs wildlife management, theoretical population ecology, and maximizes conservation gains for wildlife, wild places, and local land stewards.

Darwyn Coxson is a Professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Northern British Columbia. His research examines the ecology and biodiversity of lichen communities used by caribou as winter forage, including examination of the impacts of landscape level disturbances.

Dr. Andrea Kennedy is a senior partner at Bridgeway Consulting, specializing in collaborative water and land stewardship planning, co-governance and project leadership. She has over nearly 30 years of experience working with Indigenous partners, industry clients and government on complex challenges including land-related negotiations, facilitating collaborative processes, watershed planning, regulatory affairs, and environmental stewardship. Most recently Dr. Kennedy has been supporting the implementation of the government with government Caribou Partnership Agreement.

Isabel graduated from UVic with a BA (Hon) in political science and global development studies. She was born and raised as a third-generation settler on the lands of the W̱SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples. She is a dedicated supporter of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and Indigenous sovereignty, leadership and cultural revitalization.

Carmen a SFN member, completed a MSc thesis project at University of British Columbia – Okanagan that focused on lichen abundance and restoration within the caribou homelands of NE BC. She has worked within her nation building a native seed bank, indigenous guardian program, ethnobotany book and is a board member of the Nîkanêse Wah tzee Stewardship Society.