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. Through his dedication and vision, Rudy is working tirelessly to build a strong and prosperous future for the Saulteau First Nations and its members.

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.

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.

Greg Rickbeil is a Senior Terrestrial Scientist and Project Director for Ecofish with over 14 years’ experience in terrestrial wildlife science and is an Adjunct Professor at University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry. Greg is also an experienced restoration funding analyst and currently sits on the BC Hydro Fish and Wildlife Conservation Program Board in the Columbia Region.

Stewart Cameron has been a consultant in Aboriginal relations for many years. Leading to his combined experience in this field and in the oil and gas sector, Stewart served as Chief of Saulteau First Nations for 8 years. He also served as the Tribal Chief for the Treaty 8 Tribal Association and has worked as a certified Journeyman Electrician prior to his career in politics.

Dr. Jean-Marie Sobze is the Manager of the Plant and Seed Technology Access Centre at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). he focuses on developing practical technologies for the propagation of native boreal plants and seed delivery systems.

Robin Barr is the Director of Funding Indigenous-led Conservation at Nature for Justice. She brings nearly 20 years of international experience leading successful programs for community empowerment and environmental conservation across international value chains. She has worked with dozens of international corporations on implementation of ESG commitments and has deep experience related to implementation of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

Mike Toffan knew early in life that he wanted a job that allowed him to work in nature. As the Founder and Executive Director of Project Forest, Mike secures land, creates planting plans and raises funds for Project Forest’s rewilding projects. Connecting with people and communities is among the most impactful parts of his work through Project Forest. Mike values his opportunity to contribute to making a positive impact in people’s lives through building forests; this is a rare and extremely fulfilling part of his job. One of Mike’s biggest passions is to share the human impact stories of his work and inspire people to find their own way of making a positive impact in the world.

Jess has been working with Saulteau First Nations for two and a half years supervising the Land and Caribou Guardian Programs. She holds a B.Sc. from Dalhousie University.

I’ve worked for the FWCP since 2016, managing the Peace region which is within the Williston and Dinosaur reservoir watershed. As the Peace Region Manager, I support folks who are applying for FWCP grants and leading the important projects we fund. I also coordinate and support the work of our regional Board, First Nations Working Group and technical committees.

Been in the Peace Country since 1988. Over 24 years of progressive coal mining experience in BC. Besides working for Saulteau, I run my own minihoe service. Enjoy the outdoors, hiking, fishing, boating, biking.

Nevaeh Montgomery is a Saulteau First Nations member and is from Moberly Lake BC. She has been working with Aski Reclamation in the Seed Department for two seasons now. She loves working with seed and being outside and finds the work she does rewarding. She also loves how in the seed world you are always learning something new, every species is different from how we collect to how we process it back in the lab. She cannot wait to continue learning more about native plants and how it ties in with restoration and reclamation work.

With 17 years of experience and a Master’s in Botany, Natasha collaborates with communities, government, and industry to balance ecological integrity and development. Natasha leads workshops on seed collection and invasive species management, creating and implementing practical restoration plans focused on restoring ecosystems and fostering meaningful stakeholder engagement.

Mary Ann has a diploma of Agriculture Technology from Fairview College and has previously worked for the Peace River Soil Conservation Association and the Ministry of Agriculture in the Peace River area. This is her second season as Seed Lead with Aski Reclamation.

Kevin has 24 years of experience working on aquatic environmental assessment and monitoring projects. He has managed turbidity, hydrometric, surface and groundwater quality, sediment quality, aquatic invertebrate, and mercury bioaccumulation programs. Kevin has played a key role in assessing the need for site-specific water quality objectives associated with construction, commissioning, operations, and maintenance across many projects in BC.

Rod is an Advisor, Land Operations, for Ovintiv based out of Calgary. He is a Forest Technician having graduated from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and is registered with the Association of British Columbia Forest Professionals. Rod joined Ovintiv’s Land department in 2006 and has worked in various aspects of surface land acquisition. Currently he deals mainly with indigenous engagement concerning matters relating to new oil and gas development and wellsite restoration

Gary is a Negotiations Advisor for Saulteau First Nations on Land & Resource agreements. Prior to SFN, Gary worked for the Province of BC for 30 years building solution’s with First Nations, Industries, Environmental organizations & the general public to resolve contentious issues.

Mackenzie is a Master of Environment and Sustainability student at the University of Saskatchewan. She is researching collaborative restoration in the Western boreal forest of Canada as part of the Developing Eco-Restoration Together (DERT) project.

Kiara grew up in Northwestern Ontario but moved across the country to earn a BSc in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria. Since 2020, she has worked for the BC Public Service and is now part of the BC Caribou Recovery Program Habitat Team. Her work focuses on caribou habitat restoration and recreation management.

Allen is currently serving in his second term as Mayor of the District of Chetwynd. He will tell you it’s “sunny and warm in Chetwynd”. Born June 18, 1958, in High Prairie, Alberta, Allen was nine years old the family decided to move, with Chetwynd sawmills/railroad being a destination for work for his brothers and sisters. Allen attended Windrem Elementary and later Chetwynd Secondary; after leaving school in 1976 Allen went to work for the local Canfor Sawmill. After 10 years at the sawmill Allen received a Lumber Grading Ticket, Saw Filer’s certification which would be his trade until he retired in 2018.

Kirsta Lindstrom is a proud Saulteau First Nations member with a passion for learning, practicing and sharing traditional knowledge, language and culture throughout Treaty 8 territory. Krista has extensive experience as a Master of Ceremonies and has a background building partnerships, finding common ground, and mediating panel discussions. Through collaboration with Indigenous knowledge keepers and industry professionals, Krista has strengthened her working relationships across Treaty 8 territory and has been the MC for Pemmican Days, West Moberly Days, and for the Focus Conference (Fort St. John). Through the Okanagan Nation Alliance, Krista has built the skills needed for effective conference leadership.

Art is an internationally recognizable eclectic entertainer and educator. As a lifelong language keeper, with an MA in Indigenous Language Revitalization from the University of Victoria, Art is passionate about helping communities revitalize endangered languages and the thought systems imbedded within them. From education to foraging, from leadership to language, Art has spent much of his life learning to interpret traditional Indigenous tribal principles and philosophies and translate these holistic worldviews and paradigms for practical applications to modern realities.