Speaker Bios continued...

Art Sterrit, Executive Director, Coastal First Nation

Mr. Sterritt is currently the Executive Director of the Coastal First Nations (CFN) in Vancouver, British Columbia. Art provides leadership in the implementation of the Coastal First Nations vision for a sustainable coastal economy.

Art, a member of the Gitga’at First Nation, has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of Aboriginal Rights and Title, as well as self-government and community economic development.

Art also is a well-known carver (wood, stone and jewelry) in B.C. and Canada. His work can be found in museums and private collections throughout North America.

 

George Hoberg, Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management UBC

George Hoberg is Professor of the Department of Forest Resources Management at UBC where he teaches a course on Sustainable Energy Policy and Governance. He received a BS from UC Berkeley, and his PhD from MIT. A political scientist by training, Dr Hoberg taught public policy and American politics at UBC for 13 years before joining the Faculty of Forestry. His research interests include energy policy, forest policy, and more generally the design of policies and institutions to promote sustainability. He is co-author of the 2001 book In Search of Sustainability: British Columbia Forest Policy in the 1990s. He has also written books on environmental policy in the US, toxic substances regulation, and edited two books on comparative Canada-US policies and the US influence on Canada. He is research area leader for policy and institutional analysis for the Sustainable Forest Management Network Centre of Excellence. From 2001-2006, he was head of the Department of Forest Resources Management at UBC. He blogs at http://greenpolicyprof.org/wordpress.

 

Nicholas Heap, Climate and Energy Policy Analyst, David Suzuki Foundation

Nick Heap has held the position of Climate and Energy Policy Analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation as a Climate and Energy Policy Analyst since 2005. He works with government, scientists, energy experts and activists to advance sustainable energy solutions for government, utilities and the private sector.

Nick served on the External Review Panel of BC Hydro’s 2007 Conservation Potential Review study. He has promoted effective policies within BC’s climate change plan and the Western Climate Initiative cap-and-trade system. Currently Nick is intervening in the international Western Renewable Energy Zones planning process.

Prior to his work with the Foundation, Nick worked in local government for seven years, including five years at Metro Vancouver developing policy on air quality, climate change and broader sustainability issues. Nick also led the development of several Community Energy Plans for B.C. municipalities and First Nations while working for the Pembina Institute. Nick has an M.A. in Community Planning from the University of British Columbia

 

Doug McArthur, Professor, SFU Public Policy Program

Doug McArthur is Professor of Public Policy in the Graduate Public Policy Program at Simon Fraser University, and Distinguished Fellow in the Institute of Public Policy at the university. He teaches graduate courses in the political foundations of public policy, the theory of public policy and the public policy process, resources policy, aboriginal policy, and negotiations. His research includes a broad range of topics related to resources policy, aboriginal policy, policy theory, education policy, social policy, and international development. He was formerly Senior Fellow in Public Policy at the University of British Columbia.

During many years of working government, he was Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary in B.C., Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs in B.C, Cabinet Secretary and Chief Land Claims Negotiator in Yukon, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, and Deputy Minister of Northern Saskatchewan in Saskatchewan. He was Minister of Education in Saskatchewan from 1978 to 1982.

He was Chair of the Board of the Saskatchewan Power Corporation for a number of years. He is also past chair of the Saskatchewan Native Economic Development Corporation, an aboriginal owned corporation.

Besides his university appointment he is currently an advisor to the Tsawwassen First Nation both pre and post treaty. He was an international observer for the 2004 Ukraine elections an advisor to members of the Afghanistan Parliament elected in 2005, and he also advised the democratic political parties in Pakistan on renewal.

He is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, University of Toronto, and Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

 

Merran Smith, Director of Climate Program, ForestEthics

Merran Smith is the Director of ForestEthics new climate program, which focuses on ‘Stopping Dirty Energy’ and ‘Climate Solutions’. This growing program is working to stop the Tar Sands and coal bed methane in BC, and supporting climate solutions.

Prior to this, Merran was one of the key leaders in the campaign to protect Canada's Great Bear Rainforest. Her work culminated in one of North America's largest conservation agreements in February 2006. The agreement protects five million acres of rainforest from logging, and commits to new sustainable logging practices and a new economy in the region.

Merran is at the vanguard of a new environmentalism that actively promotes economic innovation and diversification as an integral component of environmental sustainability.

Merran played a key role in both the negotiations and in uniting a divergent coalition--First Nations, logging companies, corporations, government and environmentalists. Merran also played an integral role in developing the Conservation Investment and Incentives Initiative (CIII) which raised $120 million in public and private funds to ensure that the ecological gains in the Great Bear Rainforest are coupled with sustainable economic growth for First Nation coastal communities.

Merran was the recipient of the Wilburforce Conservation Leadership Award (2006) and the Sierra Club of Canada Award (2001). The conservation agreement in the Great Bear Rainforest was awarded WWF International’s ‘Gift to the Earth’ Award in 2007.

Merran has a BSc in Biology. She spent over a decade as an entrepreneur-owner of Variations on a Wave, a video production company that created award-winning documentary videos focused on social justice and environmental issues in Central America and Canada. Merran also worked with Environment Canada, Parks Canada, and the BC Ministry of the Environment.

Merran currently sits on the boards of the Coast Opportunity Funds, Hollyhock Leadership Institute; the Driftwood Foundation; and Rights Action Canada. She has served on the boards of the Forest Stewardship Council-BC; the Silva Forest Foundation; Project Accompaniment; and the GAIA Project.