Master of Ceremonies

Karen Wilson

Founder of Creative Life in Motion; Author; Professional Storytelling Speaker; Managing Partner at CE Analytic Ltd.

Karen is a highly experienced expert in developing and delivering workshops and courses live in person and online with the Kajabi education platform. 

Karen’s experience with cumulative effects and natural resource management programs and events is deep, including coordination and delivery of the annual CFX Conference for 4 years, and numerous customized online portals for CE Analytic clients and initiatives.

Sessions: Conference Co-Chair

Speakers

Edyta Marcisz

Cumulative Effects Program Manager

Born in Poland, Edyta is a non-Indigenous Cumulative Effects Program Manager for the Adams Lake Indian Band and has been their employee since 2022. She has a background in Environmental Sciences, Physics, and Computer Science. She works with consultants and community members to develop tools and indicators to monitor environmental change and gather baseline data on the territory where she then can apply her technical and analytical skills to translates them into maps and graphs. She has keen interest in any aspects of environmental science, working with wide diversity of people gives her the opportunity to fulfill that curiosity and sparked her interest into trees and their way of life, as well as geology and the origins of the land around us (in between it answered her question on the vast diversity of wildlife in BC).

Session: Caring for the Land: Cumulative Effects through an Indigenous Lense on Tuesday November 12th 11:10am Pacific Time

Mark Cliffe-Phillips

Executive Director at Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board

Mark Cliffe-Phillips is the Executive Director of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (or Review Board), which is an independent co-management tribunal responsible for the environmental impact assessment process in the Mackenzie Valley of the NWT. The Review Board is the result of modern comprehensive land claims that created a resource co-management system that enabled Indigenous peoples of the NWT to have greater say in the decision making process. Prior to joining the Review Board, Mark was the Executive Director of the Wek’èezhìı Land and Water Board, which was responsible for the licensing and permitting of Canada’s largest diamond mines. Mark has been working in the resource co-management sector in the Northwest Territories for over 20 years. He is also a founding Board member of the Indigenous Centre for Cumulative Effects, where he is now a member of the Technical Advisory Committee. He frequently participates in various environmental assessment improvement initiatives across the North and the rest of Canada.

Session: Health, CFX & UNDRIP on Wednesday, November 13th at 11:15 am Pacific Time

Pepita Elena McKee

Founder and CEO of Impact Resolutions Ltd.

Pepita has more than 20 years of experience in socio-economic, gender, health, and cumulative impact assessments, intersectional qualitative and quantitative research and analyses, and building and managing teams, implementing social management plans and benefit agreements. She embraces the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent, Gender Based Plus, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in her work.

Session: Heal the Healer (panel discussion) on Thursday November 14th at 9:35 am Pacific Time

Weam Charafeddine

Certified Holistic Life & Wellness Coach | DEIB & Energy Consultant | Project Manager

Weam is a dedicated wellness activist focused on reshaping narratives for marginalized communities across Canada and the SWANA region. Their work emphasizes advocacy, holistic wellness, and community-centred initiatives. At Impact Resolutions, they led the development of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) programs, collaborating with organizations to foster inclusive spaces. In 2022, Weam launched the Advocacy Lab at Helem, a pioneering project aimed at advancing queer advocacy efforts in the SWANA region and abroad.

With an engineering and energy management background, Weam spent over eight years in consulting and project management. In 2020, they shifted paths, moving into life coaching and wellness research—a journey that led to the founding of KaYan, after initiating and founding Meditate for Change and co-founded Space Elevate, Arab Queer Hub, and Alsahaba and sparking a movement that champions holistic development and transformative awareness between Canada and the SWANA region. Their Western University research in ACT, Mindfulness, and community resilience, and their personal research into hypnosis, somatic movement, and energy healing, have sparked a passion for demystifying the mystical and providing accessible tools for change to people from all walks of life.

Session: Heal the Healer (panel discussion) on Thursday November 14th at 9:35 am Pacific Time

Patricia (Trish) Fitzpatrick

Professor in the Department of Geography, and an Instructor in the Master’s of Development Practice – Indigenous Focus - at the University of Winnipeg.

Patricia Fitzpatrick (she/her) is  a settler on Treaty 1, the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. Dr. Fitzpatrick’s research and teaching focuses on environmental governance surrounding energy and mineral development in Canada. As part of this work she has been involved in 24 project-specific, and one regional assessment.

Session: Centering Wholistic Health in Cumulative Effects Assessment Panel  Tuesday November 12th at 10:10 am Pacific Time

Dawn Hoogeveen

Research Associate, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Dawn Hoogeveen Ph.D. (University of British Columbia) is a University Research Associate in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, cross-appointed with the First Nations Health Authority where she works as a Senior Research Fellow. Her research is on cumulative impacts, climate change and health equity, impact assessment and gender, and health and wellness environmental indicator development primarily with and for First Nations. Dawn is a third-generation Canadian settler of Dutch and British ancestry, raised on Anishinaabe territory on Williams Treaty lands near Peterborough, Ontario. She is currently an uninvited guest living on Coast Salish territories in Vancouver, BC.

Session: Centering Wholistic Health in Cumulative Effects Assessment Panel Tuesday November 12th at 10:10 am Pacific Time

Kristie Ellickson

Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists

Kristie Ellickson is a Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Her research focuses on cumulative risks and impacts, procedural justice, and environmental justice. Previously, she was a state scientist for the state of Minnesota where she worked in air toxics computer modeling and measurements, co-developing a cumulative air pollution risk model, and combing those results with socioeconomic data to investigate disproportionate impacts. She also led community air toxics monitoring grant funded work, and led a Cross Media Team which was instituted to develop processes to prevent pollution from crossing from one environmental medium to another in ways that are uncontrolled and unmanaged. Dr. Ellickson is an environmental health scientist and earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Public Health from Rutgers University.

Session: United States National Environmental Justice Advisory Council process: recommendations on cumulative impacts to the USEPA  Wednesday November 13th at 10:35 am Pacific Time

Sandra Whitehead

Associate Professor and Director of the George Washington University Sustainable Urban Planning Program.

Sandra Whitehead is an Associate Professor and Director of the George Washington University Sustainable Urban Planning Program. Dr. Whitehead has 20 years' experience in health impact assessment work that has evolved into an expertise on Health in All Policies. Her recent work has focused on cumulative impact assessment training and implementation. She is a former member of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and co-chaired the cumulative impacts workgroup with Dr. Ellickson.

Session: United States National Environmental Justice Advisory Council process: recommendations on cumulative impacts to the USEPA Wednesday November 13th at 10:35 am Pacific Time

Dr. Michael D. Smith

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Dr. Michael D. Smith is a nationally-recognized leader in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance with over 30 years of experience in project and program management, technical analysis, policy development, and training/education for a wide range of public and private sector clients. He is a Senior Vice President and the National Practice Lead for Environmental Process and Policy at WSP USA, an arm of one of the world's leading engineering professional services consulting firms. His current work focuses on providing project and program management, technical analysis and review, policy development and review, and training and education focused on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA and related environmental law compliance for some of the nation's most complex and controversial project. He frequently provides training and strategic advice for NEPA and related environmental compliance requirements as an adjunct faculty member at several educational institutions, including the University of California, Davis, and Utah State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resources Sociology from Utah State University, a M.A. in Geography and Resources from the University of Wyoming, and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Session:Health in Cumulative Effects: US Federal / State Government Context Wednesday November 13th at 9:45 am Pacific Time 

Peter Croal

Geologist

Peter Croal is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and has a B.Sc., Geology Degree from Carleton University (1979). In 2015 Peter co-founded a reconciliation project called the National Healing Forests Initiative (https://www.nationalhealingforests.ca/) There are now 27 Healing Forests in Canda. Peter also works in the field of environmental assessment and international development. He focuses on the relationship between environmental management, resource extraction, and poverty reduction in developing countries and the Arctic. Peter is particularly interested in how climate change affects indigenous peoples, and how the knowledge of Indigenous peoples can be applied to developmental challenges. He also works on expedition cruise ships to Antarctica and the Canadian Arctic as a guide, zodiac driver and lecturer. His work has taken him to over forty developing countries, including a two-year stint of living, and working in Namibia with his family. Peter started his career prospecting for uranium, zinc, silver, petroleum, peat, and groundwater in Canada. He sits on the boards of several not-for-profit development organizations. In 2024, Peter was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his advocacy work on reconciliation and climate change education.

Session: National Healing Forests InitiativeThursday November 14th at 9:05 am Pacific Time 

Patricia Stirbys

Co-Founder, National Healing Forests

Patricia Stirbys is a leader in reimagining Indigenous Relations through a reconciliation lens. As co-founder of the National Healing Forests initiative, she helps foster healing by honouring the memories of "disappeared" residential school children (nationalhealingforests.com). In parallel, Patricia is a Certified AI Coach and a passionate advocate for harnessing Artificial Intelligence to drive the future of Indigenous entrepreneurship. Her expertise empowers Indigenous entrepreneurs to realize their business goals by leveraging AI's transformative potential. Patricia is also a former Professor at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Common Law, bringing a rich academic foundation to her innovative work.

Session: National Healing Forests Initiative Thursday November 14th at 9:05 am Pacific Time

Joanne De Montigny Ph.D. (HC/SC)

Health Impact Assessment Advisor and Science Policy Analyst, Safe Environments Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Health Canada / Government of Canada

Joanne de Montigny holds a PhD in Population Health from the University of Ottawa, and her doctoral thesis examined barriers and enablers of intersectoral partnerships to tackle society’s pressing problems. Her role at Health Canada is Health Impact Assessment Advisor, where she reviews guidance documents from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and provides input on impact statements and environmental assessment applications for the approval of resource development projects. She not only comments on the adequacy of effect assessments but also proposes upstream mitigation measures to help reduce health impacts.

Sessions: Health in Cumulative Effects: Canadian Federal Government Context Wednesday, November 13th at 9:05 am Pacific Time 

Dr. Warren Bell, BA MDCM CCFP FCFP(LM)

Family physician - Associate Staff, Shuswap Lake General Hospital

Dr. Warren Bell has been a family physician for 48 years. For decades he has advocated around social development and the environment, peace and anti-nuclear movement, global health and development (with an emphasis on drug companies and patents), as well as the integration of healing modalities of all kinds. He is a past founding president of Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and a past president of Physicians for Global Survival and the Association of Complementary and Integrative Physicians of B.C. He lives and works in Salmon Arm, on unceded and essentially stolen Secwepemc territory. He is drifting slowly but steadily towards a sort of retirement.

Sessions: A Fireside Chat: Relationship, Rights of Nature & Medicine Thursday, November 14th at 11:25 am Pacific Time 

Frances Rayner

Communications and Narratives Lead for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance

Frances Rayner is Communications and Narratives Lead for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance - a global network of academics, activists and new economy practitioners advocating for a redesign of our economic systems to prioritise the wellbeing of people and planet. WEAll (for short) has hubs in 17 countries and collaborates with six national governments. Frances has fifteen years experience campaigning for social and environmental justice in Scotland, including on successful campaigns to increase social security benefits and on Scotland's world-leading climate legislation. She is particularly interested in how to change dominant understandings about the economy.

Sessions: Economies that deliver human and ecological wellbeing on Thursday, November 14th at 10:35 am Pacific Time 

Barry J. Wilson

Holistic Cumulative Effects Expert, Senior Advisor, and Capacity Builder | CE Analytic Ltd. | Founder of the RavenWater Learning Circle™ & BC Tomorrow Society

Barry Wilson has focused the last 24-years of his career on holistic cumulative effects, working with Indigenous communities and governments. He is not Indigenous but applies the concept of Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing) to lead precedent-setting cumulative effects assessments and programs. Barry founded the RavenWater Learning Circle™ to increase organizational capacity in holistic cumulative effects supporting land and marine-use planning and decision-making. He lives in Salmon Arm BC (Secwepemcúl'ecw) and works across North America. Barry serves on the Indigenous Center for Cumulative Effects Advisory Committee and is a Founder of the BC Tomorrow charity helping students and teachers work learn more about sustainability in their own watershed.

Web: www.barryjwilson.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/barryjwilson

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryjwilson/

Sessions: Conference Co-Chair, Connecting the Dots: Human-Environment Interactions in Cumulative Effects Assessment Opening Keynote  (keynote) on Tuesday, November 12th at 9:25 am Pacific Time 

More Speaker Bios coming soon...