In May 2022, our team organized and convened a workshop in Vancouver titled Contested Authorities: Operationalizing Indigenous Impact Assessment. The workshop was strategically held in conjunction with a 5-day International Association of Impact Assessment conference, which our research team attended. 

Indigenous IA experts, Leah George-Wilson (Tsleil Wautauth Nation), Aaron Bruce (Squamish Nation), and Sunny LeBourdais (Pellt'iqt te Secwepemc Nation) spoke about their experiences leading assessments for the Trans Mountain Pipeline, the Woodfibre LNG and the Ajax Mining Projects, respectively. 

Following their presentations, University of Victoria law professor Dr. Sarah Morales, who is Coast Salish and a member of Cowichan Tribes, discussed the theory of Indigenous-led IA as an expression of Indigenous law and jurisdiction. 

The workshop deepened our knowledge and generated a focused set of questions to guide the case study research. We were able to speak to and hear from individuals who had direct experience developing Indigenous-led IAs in their own communities. The workshop provided a forum for robust discussion and debate among practitioners and experts in the field concerning effective models of Indigenous-led IAs and the relationship between Indigenous jurisdiction and the conduct of IAs in Canada. 

Presenter Biographies:

Sunny LeBourdais: Sunny LeBourdais is Pelltíq’t te Secwepemc Nation Council member and the Director of Transformation for the Qwelmínte-Secwepemc, a collective united through QS-G2G Letter of Commitment including seven signatories from historic divisions of the Secwépemc Nation. Sunny was the Director Governance at the Secwepemc Nation Building Initiative and Project Coordinator for the Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwepemc Nation (SSN). Sunny holds an M.Sc from Simon Fraser University and B.Sc and B.Ed from TRU and has managed and coordinated businesses and projects for the Okanagan, Ktunaxa and Secwepemc Nations. She was the project coordinator on the SSN’s Indigenous Impact Assessment Process for the proposed KGHM Ajax Mine near Kamloops which was successfully completed in 2017. Sunny lives on the Whispering Pines ranch/reserve where she was raised near Kamloops BC with her son Raven and family. She lives for horseback hunting and fishing in her traditional territory surrounding Clinton, BC.

Dr. Sarah Morales — Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria:
Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye), JD (UVic), LLM (University of Arizona), PhD (UVic), PostDoc (Illinois) is Coast Salish and a member of Cowichan Tribes. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, where she teaches torts, transsystemic torts, Coast Salish law and languages, legal research and writing and field schools. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Victoria, she taught at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law where she taught Aboriginal law, Indigenous legal traditions and international human rights with a focus on Indigenous peoples. Sarah’s research centres on Indigenous legal traditions, specifically the traditions of the Coast Salish people, Aboriginal law and human rights. She has been active with Indigenous nations and NGOs across Canada in nation building, inherent rights recognition and international human rights law.

Leah George-Wilson: Leah George-Wilson is a member of Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) located in North Vancouver. In 2001, she served as elected Chief for 4 terms for the TWN and was the first woman to hold that position. She has been an elected member of the Lands Advisory Board since 2008 and was the first woman to serve in the board. She is also has an elected Co-Chair at the FN Summit since 2004.Leah holds a BA and a JD and has been called to the BC bar since 2015. She is currently an associate at Miller Titerle + Co in Vancouver and is working on an LLM at UVIC. She lives in the TWN community in North Vancouver.

Aaron Bruce: Aaron is a member of the Squamish Nation and has worked as lawyer for 18 years including as a partner at one of the leading aboriginal law firms in Canada and has recently started his own law firm, Aaron Bruce Law, continuing to represent Indigenous Nations regarding aboriginal rights & title, natural resource law, and Indigenous jurisdictional and governance issues. He has represented First Nations in litigation, regulatory hearings, and negotiations with other levels of government and industry.