Untitled Document Canadian for the Great Bear

Biographies


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© WWF-Canada

Scott Niedermayer

Known as ‘Captain Canada’ for his leadership role as captain of the Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team, Scott Niedermayer is one of Canada’s hockey heroes. Over the course of his career, Scott has earned every North American and international hockey championship, including four Stanley cups and two Olympic gold medals. Scott was born in Edmonton and raised in Cranbrook, B.C. He grew up enjoying the lakes, rivers and mountains of interior B.C., where he gained a deep appreciation for Canada’s natural beauty and wildlife. He now puts this passion for nature to work as WWF’s Freshwater Ambassador. Scott and his wife Lisa continue to explore B.C.’s great outdoors with their four sons.



“Why I am a Canadian for the Great Bear,” Canadian veteran Trevor Greene speaks out.

Why I am a Canadian for the Great Bear

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Robyn Allan
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Robyn Allan

Named by the Financial Post as one of Canada’s top 200 CEOs, economist Robyn Allan has held key leadership positions in British Columbia’s public and private sector. They include: president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia; executive director of the Vancity Community Foundation; and senior economist for the B.C. Central Credit Union. As a consulting economist, Robyn has provided strategic business management and public policy advice to senior private sector and government personnel on investment, corporate restructuring, international trade and business development. She was a commissioner on the Barrett Commission of Inquiry into the Quality of Condominium Construction in British Columbia, and its economic and financial adviser. Robyn recently wrote the report “An Economic Assessment of Northern Gateway,” submitted as evidence to the National Energy Board. Her book Quest for Prosperity: the Dance of Success was published in 1996.




Andy Broderick, Vice President of Community Investment at Vancity, tells why Canada’s largest credit union supports a sustainable future for the Great Bear.

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Joseph Boyden
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Joseph Boyden

Joseph Boyden is a distinguished novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His first novel, Three Day Road, won him, among other prizes, the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His follow up title, Through Black Spruce, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2008. Joseph currently teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia and is writer-in-residence at the University of New Orleans. Prior to this, he taught Aboriginal programs at Northern College in Ontario. Here he was introduced to the Mushkegowuk Cree, and spent two years teaching communications throughout the reserves of the west coast of James Bay, including Moose Factory, Fort Albany, Kashechewan, and Attawapiskat. An avid outdoorsman, Joseph has always held a great passion for Canadian wildernesses, whether it's embarking on snowmobile treks to the Hudson Bay region or salmon fishing in British Columbia. Joseph is a father, a writer and a Canadian for the Great Bear.

/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Tony Dekker

Tony Dekker is the lead singer and songwriter for Canada’s indie-folk band Great Lake Swimmers. In 2009, their hit album, Lost Channels, was nominated for a Juno Award in the category of Roots & Traditional Album of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Their follow up album, New Wild Everywhere, aims to explore the transcendence in the natural world to describe the universal themes of love, mortality and escape. This is evident in the track “Ballad of a Fisherman’s Wife”, which Tony wrote immediately following the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, as an ode to the families affected by the disaster. Now, Tony is using his voice to speak on behalf of Canadians for the Great Bear.


/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Captain Trevor Greene

Captain Trevor Greene is a decorated veteran with twelve years of highly regarded service in the Canadian Armed Forces, including Afghanistan. Deployed there in 2006 as a member of the Civilian-Military Cooperation unit, Captain Greene was wounded during a community meeting with local elders outside of Kandahar. Having removed his helmet and set aside his weapon as a sign of trust and respect, Trevor was struck in the head from behind by a young man with an axe. He spent more than two years in hospital rehabilitating in a specialized brain injury facility in Alberta. In 2009, Trevor was decorated with the sacrifice medal by Governor General Michaelle Jean in Ottawa and two years later received the Courage to Come Back Award in the Physical Rehabilitation category. He now lives in Nanaimo, B.C. with his daughter Grace, son Noah and wife Debbie, where he continues his daily regime of physical therapy to regain complete independence. He speaks three languages, is a published author and a Canadian for the Great Bear.

/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Kelli Hazzard & Fletcher's Meadows Secondary School Biology Students

Kelli Hazzard is a biology teacher at Fletcher’s Meadows Secondary in Brampton, Ontario. Every term, Kelli engages her students with a biologically-based activism project that teaches them the importance of biology and nature outside the classroom. In the spring of 2012, Kelli and 27 of her Grade 11 students, decided to support WWF-Canada and Coastal First Nations of B.C on the Canadians for the Great Bear campaign. The students raised money for the campaign and delivered a petition with more than 500 signatures to the Prime Minister’s office calling for protection of the Great Bear. Most impressive yet, Kelli and her students each researched and wrote letters to the Federal Joint Review Panel, which is tasked with assessing the merits of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Because of their efforts, dedication, and passion for Canada’s natural places, Kelli and her students are all Canadians for the Great Bear.

/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Grand Chief Edward John

Grand Chief Edward John is a Hereditary Chief of Tl'azt'en Nation located on the banks of the Nak'al Bun (Stuart Lake) in northern B.C. Combining his background in law with his commitment to social and economic justice for Canada’s Indigenous people, Chief John has served in many leadership roles at the local, provincial, national and international levels. He is currently serving his ninth consecutive term on the First Nations Summit Task Group (political executive). The group is mandated to carry out specific tasks related to Aboriginal Title and Rights negotiations with B.C. and Canada, and other issues of common concern to First Nations in British Columbia. He is a former co-chair of the North American Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus and participated in the development of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007. Chief John also currently serves as North American representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Peter Ladner

Former politician, business owner and author,
Peter Ladner is the co-founder of the Business in Vancouver Media Group, which includes the award-winning Business in Vancouver weekly newspaper. Peter is currently a weekly columnist on Vancouver business and civic issues, and a Fellow at the Simon Fraser University Centre for Dialogue. He was first elected to Vancouver City Council in 2002 and re-elected in 2005. He ran for mayor in 2008, and remains active on a range of regional economic development and community issues. Peter has more than 35 years of journalistic experience in print, radio and television and is a frequent speaker on business, community and food issues. His first book, The Urban Food Revolution: Changing the Way we Feed Cities, was published in 2011.
/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Jeff Rubin

Jeff Rubin is the former Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets, a post he held for almost 20 years before resigning in 2009. He is the author of the bestselling Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization, which won the Canadian Business Book of the Year Award in 2009. His follow-up title, The End of Growth, is also a bestseller and follows up on the theme of how oil prices continue to change the world. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Toronto, and graduated from McGill University with a Masters in Economics. He is one of the world’s most sought-after energy experts and a regular contributor to Canadian business media. Jeff is also an avid fisherman who has fished up and down the BC coast. A distinguished author and one of Canada’s top economists, Jeff Rubin is also a Canadian for the Great Bear.

/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Anne K. Salomon

Author, marine ecologist and conservation biologist, Anne K. Salomon is a professor of applied ecology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Her research is motivated by a deep interest in understanding how human activities alter the biodiversity, productivity and resilience of coastal food webs to inform ecosystem approaches to marine conservation. These interests have taken Anne to the surf swept coasts of Alaska, New Zealand and, most recently, to California as a Smith Fellow in Conservation Science. In 2009, Anne launched a research program with Parks Canada, Haida Fisheries, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Simon Fraser University to examine the ecological repercussions of the proposed Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve on valuable fisheries (rockfish, red sea urchin), species-at-risk (northern abalone) and kelp forest dynamics. In 2010, she began collaborating with the Heiltsuk on B.C.'s Central Coast to advance our understanding of sea otter impacts, marine spatial planning, and Pacific herring fluctuations.

/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Hon. Tom Siddon

Former federal cabinet minister, the Hon. Tom Siddon has a long career in science, business and politics. Originally from Alberta, Tom taught as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia for ten years. He was first elected to the Parliament of Canada in 1978. He was appointed to the federal Cabinet by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1985 and served for nine years in several portfolios; as Minister of Science and Technology; Fisheries and Oceans; Indian Affairs and Northern Development; and National Defense. During that time he led numerous important initiatives in the areas of fisheries management, environmental protection, science policy and aboriginal treaty settlements. Following his political career, Tom has remained active as a consultant, lecturer, and corporate board member, and he was recently elected to the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen. Tom’s leadership and signature accomplishments have been recognized with a number of awards including an honourary Doctorate from the University of British Columbia. Tom and his wife live in Kaleden, B.C.
Hon. Tom Siddon
/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Aliya-Jasmine Sovani

As the host and producer for MTV News, Aliya-Jasmine Sovani reaches a wide audience of TV viewers in Canada and the USA, bringing fans the latest current affairs, pop culture and music news, as well as in-depth interviews with some of Hollywood's biggest names. As a host for MTV News Presents Impact, Aliya-Jasmine delves into serious topics that impact MTV viewers and aim to spark discussion and debate. In June, she traveled to the Great Bear region to film the MTV IMPACT documentary Pipeline Wars. An avid philanthropist, Aliya-Jasmine currently acts as co-chair for “The Boobyball”, a fundraiser for breast cancer research. She also participated in an initiative with MTV and Plan Canada, taking part in the MTV documentary Girls of Latitude, detailing the practice of young girls being forced into marriage in the Sudan. An unabashed hockey fan, Aliya-Jasmine was born and raised in Ottawa, and holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Broadcast Communications from the University of Ottawa..

/ ©: Eric B. Taylor
© Eric B. Taylor
Eric B. Taylor

Awarded the MA Newman prize in 1998 for excellence in aquatic research, Eric B. Taylor has been a professor in the department of zoology at the University of British Columbia since 1993. He is the associate director of the Biodiversity Research Centre at UBC and director of the Fish Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. With a PhD in zoology (evolutionary ecology of fishes), Eric was a research fellow and visiting scientist at Dalhousie University in Halifax and at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo. His research in evolution and ecology includes an interest in understanding its relevance to conservation of native fish biodiversity. Author of more than 100 scientific publications, Eric co-chairs the Freshwater Fishes Subcommittee of the Committee for the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

/ ©: WWF-Canada
vancity
© WWF-Canada
Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its 479,500 member-owners and their communities through 58 branches in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria and Squamish. As one of Canada’s largest credit unions, Vancity uses its $16.1 billion in assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while at the same time helping to develop healthy, sustainable communities. In 2011 alone, member deposits enabled the credit union to loan—with a focus on impact—more than $361 million to local businesses and organizations that are creating positive economic, social and environmental change in their communities. In addition, since 1994 Vancity has given more than $221 million to members through dividends and to communities through grants and community investment initiatives. Vancity is a Living Wage employer and a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values—a network of the world’s leading sustainable banks sharing the commitment to achieving triple-bottom-line impact through responsible banking practices.


/ ©: WWF-Canada
© WWF-Canada
Laure Waridel

Specializing in international development and the environment, sociologist Laure Waridel published her first essay about fair trade at the age of 24. Her work helped kick start the fair trade movement in Quebec, now widely-recognized across North America. Her writing has been said to ‘transform words into tools for social and environmental change, touching people’s hearts as well as their heads’ – a talent she also brought to Equiterre, a Quebec non-governmental organization she co-founded in 1993. Author of Buying is Voting and Behind the Plate, she was named one of Maclean's Magazine's ‘25 young Canadians who are already changing our world’. Appointed to Quebec's Cercle des Phénix, an honorary society for environmentalists, Laure also holds an honourary doctorate from the University of Quebec in Rimouski. Laure was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade by the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, an organization of francophone parliaments. In June 2012, Laure was recognized with Canada’s highest achievement: she was appointed to the Order of Canada by the Governor General. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva where she is completing a dissertation on the emergence of an economy that is both environmentally friendly and socially equitable.

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