Biographies
Read on to learn more about conference keynote speakers Bob McDonald, Josephine Mandamin, Mark Angelo, Ryan Hreljak, Simon Jackson and Wade Davis and our panelists Danielle Droitsch, David McLaughlin, Jim Brewington, Ken Schmidt and Mark Mattson.
Keynote Speakers
Bob McDonald, Science Advisor, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Bob McDonald is one of Canada’s best-known science journalists, T.V. and radio personalities and published authors. He is the host of a children's TV science show called Heads Up!, which runs on TVO and the Knowledge Network, as well as CBC’s Quirks & Quarks show which he has been hosting since 1992. McDonald is also a weekly science commentator on CBC Newsworld Morning, and a science correspondent for CBC Television’s The National.
McDonald has been awarded several prizes for his contribution to science in Canada. In the fall of 2000, McDonald’s book, Measuring the Earth with a Stick: Science as I’ve seen it, was short-listed for the Canadian Science Writers Association Book Award. McDonald also received the 2001 Michael Smith Award for Science Promotion, from NSERC, the 2002 Sandford Fleming Medal from The Royal Canadian Institute, and the 2005 McNeil Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. All three make up the “triple crown” of science communication in Canada. In 2006, Bob received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Carleton University "In recognition of his outstanding contribution to helping the public understand and appreciate science." Bob is also Chairman of the Board for the Geospace Planetarium.
Grandmother Josephine Mandamin, Wikwemikong Unceded Nation, Great Lakes Mother Earth Water Walk
Josephine’s life experience includes 30 years of working with her own people. She brings these experiences and her great love of nature to light in her teachings.
When challenged by one of her traditional teachers to not accept that she was powerless, Josephine came upon the idea of walking around Lake Superior to draw attention to the fact that water is the lifeblood of Mother Earth. Other grandmothers joined her in what eventually became a walk around the five Great Lakes. She and her supporters raised awareness of the critical water shortage and of political and spiritual issues around water. She also motivated those with whom she came in contact and emphasized the important role women play in the protection of the waters.
The grandmothers’ example helped to bring together over 100 Tribes and First Nations to sign the Tribal and First Nations Great Lakes Water Accord in which all pledged to work together to protect water.
In her presentation Water is Sacred, Water is Alive, Josephine shares how her vision came to be what it is today and leaves us with a renewed commitment to the tradition of protecting our waters.
Mark Angelo, River Conservationist, paddler, teacher and writer
Mark Angelo is a renowned river conservationist, paddler, teacher and writer. Over the past four decades, Mark has traveled, kayaked and rafted along hundreds of rivers on six different continents and is well known to Canadians as a passionate and articulate advocate for our waterways.
Mark is the head of the Fish, Wildlife and Recreation Program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and is broadly viewed as one of North America’s pre-eminent river conservationists. He is the Rivers Chair of the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC and founder of BC Rivers Day, an event, which attracts up to 75,000 participants annually. He played a key role in the establishment of Canadian Rivers Day and is the founder and chair of World Rivers Day. Mark also chairs BC's annual endangered rivers initiative and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines on various river and environment-related issues.
In 2001, Mark received his country’s highest honour, the Order of Canada, for his river conservation efforts both at home and abroad. Among his other honours are the Order of British Columbia, the National Recreational Fisheries Award and Canada’s National River Conservation Award. Mark was also recognized with a special United Nations Award during the International Year of Fresh Water.
Ryan Hreljac, Founder, Ryan’s Well Foundation
In 1998, 6-year-old Ryan Hreljac was shocked to learn that children in Africa had to walk many kilometres every day just to fetch water, the most basic element for human survival. Deciding he needed to build a well for a village in Africa, Ryan raised the $70 necessary for the project by doing household chores and public speaking on clean water issues. Since this first well was built in a northern Ugandan village in 1999, Ryan’s efforts have contributed to a total of 461 wells in 16 developing countries bringing clean water services to 599,081 people.
Now 18, Ryan Hreljac is a compelling voice for those impacted by the water crisis throughout the developing world. He is the founder of the Ryan’s Well Foundation, an organization supporting activities to build safe water sources, educate individuals, schools, corporations and other service organizations to create awareness of water related issues, and to motivate present and future leaders to realize their own global citizenship.
Ryan has received many awards for his work, including the Order of Ontario, the Canadian Meritorious Service Medal, Canadian Peace Award – Youth, the Top 20 Under 20 Youth Award, and the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Volunteers. He has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and on CNN and CBC, as well as in numerous books, magazines and newspapers. He is recognized by UNICEF as a Global Youth Leader.
Simon Jackson, Founder, Great Spirit Bear Youth Coalition
Simon Jackson is the founder of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition. It is one of the world's only completely youth-run organizations, and the first to take an active role in helping protect the last remaining habitat of North America’s rarest bear, the white Kermode.
The primary goal of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is to create a new type of environmental advocacy group.
On April 4th, 2001, at the age of 18, Jackson’s Youth Coalition helped create an historic land-use agreement with logging companies, First Nations, all levels of government, and environmental groups to create a framework for sustainability on the coast of British Columbia (BC). The agreement helped protect half of the spirit bear’s last intact habitat, and defer development in the other half, and went on to look at the entire BC coast. It resulted in the largest land protection measure in the history of North America.
Today, Jackson remains the full-time volunteer Chairman and Spokesperson of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition.
Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer in Residence
Wade Davis, a native of British Columbia, is an ethnographer, writer, photographer, and filmmaker. He holds degrees from Harvard University in anthropology and biology as well as a Ph.D. in ethnobotany. Davis’ work has brought him all over the world to study indigenous groups and botanical collections. His findings have inspired him to publish over 150 scientific articles, and photographs in National Geographic, Newsweek, Premiere, Outside, Omni, Harpers, Fortune, Men's Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Natural History, Utne Reader, National Geographic Traveler, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Globe and Mail. His 1988 novel Passage of Darkness, an international best seller, was translated into ten languages and spawned a motion picture by Universal.
Davis has received many awards, including honorary doctorates from the University of Victoria and the University of Guelph, the 2002 Lowell Thomas Medal and the 2002 Lannan Foundation prize for literary non-fiction. In 2004 he was made an honorary member of the Explorers Club, one of just 20 in the hundred-year history of the club.
As a licensed river guide, Davis worked as park ranger, forestry engineer, and conducted ethnographic fieldwork among several indigenous societies of northern Canada.
Panelists
Danielle Droitsch, Executive Director, Water Matters
Danielle Droitsch is the recently appointed Executive Director of Water Matters, a province wide charitable organization dedicated to the protection of Alberta’s watersheds. From 2004-2008, Danielle directed Bow Riverkeeper, a regional organization based out of southern Alberta. Prior to arriving to Canada in 2004, Danielle served as the Policy Director at American Rivers a national and Washington D.C. based organization. In 1998, Danielle founded and directed the Tennessee Clean Water Network, a statewide rivers protection organization. Between 1997-2000, she was the Associate Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association’s southeast office.
Danielle holds a law degree from the University of Tennessee, College of Law and her bachelor’s degree from James Madison University (Honors Scholar). Danielle sat on the Alberta Water Council from 2006-2008 and currently serves as chair and coordinator for the Alberta Environmental Network’s water caucus. She paddled the entire length of the Bow River in 2005 and tries to find herself in a paddling down a river in Alberta whenever possible. Danielle is originally from Arlington, Virginia and came to Canada to be with her husband David Kalbfleisch who is originally from Kitchener-Waterloo.
David McLaughlin President & CEO, National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
David McLaughlin is the President and CEO of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), a policy advisory agency that advises the federal government on sustainable development solutions.
NRTEE’s mission is to play the role of catalyst in identifying, explaining and promoting, in all sectors of Canadian society and in all regions of Canada, the principles and practices of sustainable development. The agency also builds coalitions, reaching out to expert organizations, industries and individuals that share its vision for sustainable development.
McLaughlin has over 20 years of experience as a senior public policy professional at both the federal and provincial levels of government, and as a deputy minister and chief of staff in the private sector and in multi-partisan, multi-government settings. Recent career highlights include serving as Deputy Minister to the New Brunswick Commission on Legislative Democracy (2003-2004), as the Executive Director of the Council of the Federation Advisory Panel on Fiscal Imbalance (2005-2006), and as Chief of Staff to the federal Minister of Finance (2006-2007).
David McLaughlin holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Carleton University in Ottawa and an M.B.A from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.
Jim Brewington, P. Eng, Manager, Environment and Greenhouse Gas – Oil Sands, Shell Canada Energy
Jim Brewington is Manager, Environment and Greenhouse Gas for Shell’s Oil Sands business.
Following a number of years in environmental consulting, Jim joined Shell in 2001 and has held various business and environment management roles including Manager, Marketing Properties and Manager, Upstream Environmental Affairs, where he managed petroleum industry environmental issues related to the manufacturing, distribution and retailing of fuels across Canada.
MIn 2008 Jim was appointed Manager, Environment and Greenhouse Gas for Shell’s Oil Sands business, which includes the Muskeg River Mine, Jackpine Mine and Scotford Upgrader in Alberta, Canada. In Oil Sands, Jim leads a team of environment and technical experts in the fields of chemistry, biology, hydrology, limnology and greenhouse gases. Together the Oil Sands Environment and Greenhouse Gas team monitors, assesses and creates management and policy frameworks that support the principles of sustainable development and responsible development of the Canadian oilsands.
Jim is a Professional Engineer and he holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. He is married with children and resides in Calgary, where he enjoys the outdoors. He is an active volunteer with Alpine Canada as an event organizer and as a race official.
The Shell Muskeg River Mine, Jackpine Mine and the Scotford Upgrader are part of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project, a joint venture among Shell Canada (60%), Chevron Canada (20%) and Marathon Oil Sands L.P. (20%).
Ken Schmidt, General Manager, Essex Region Conservation Authority
Ken has been employed with Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) since 1975 and became the General Manager in 1989; he has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Geography from the University of Windsor. .
Following University, Ken taught secondary school in Leamington from 1971-1975. He was elected as a Member of the Essex County Board of Education where he held a number of key positions from 1985-1991.
Ken has also been an active member of the Detroit River Remedial Action Plan Bi-National Public Advisory Council since 1989 and was Chair in 1994-1995.
In order to better recognize the many significant attributes of the Detroit River and to stimulate enhancements, Ken represented Canadian interests and worked with representatives of the City of Detroit and downstream American municipalities as well as many private sector interests in achieving American Heritage River status in 1999. He also chaired the very diverse community effort to have the Detroit River designated as a Canadian Heritage River in 2001.
During its thirty-five (35) year history of integrated watershed /ecosystem-based resource management within the Windsor-Essex Region, ERCA has initiated a large number of programs and projects applicable to the Detroit River including: wetland mapping; fish habitat rehabilitation projects; input into municipal planning documents; regulations associated with waterways; flood and erosion control programs; and waterfront parks and Conservation Areas
More then 3,500 acres of ecologically significant land have been acquired and managed for long-term public appreciation and use. Ken was instrumental in purchasing and developing the Chrysler Canada Greenway through a large number of public and private partnerships. This major accomplishment was instrumental in development of plans for regional trails (both green and blue throughout the Essex Region).
Under Ken’s management, ERCA has become recognized as a leading advocate of Federal and Provincial collaborations with watershed communities in order to recognize the key interrelationships between healthy watersheds and healthy Great Lakes. Likewise, Ken has between influential in creating an understanding that a healthy environment/human health and economic health are inextricably linked.
A lifetime resident of the Essex region, Ken resides in Leamington with his wife, and they have two daughters.
Mark Mattson, President and Waterkeeper, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
As President and Waterkeeper of Lake Ontario, Mark Mattson works tirelessly to promote and defend the ideals that safe waterways belong to the people. In 2001, Mark founded Lake Ontario Waterkeeper to give a voice to the cares and concerns of the millions of people who live in the Lake Ontario Watershed.
Mark received his Bachelor of Arts from Queens University, graduated of the University of Windsor School of Law, and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. With his practice focused on environmental and regulatory matters, Mark has acted as counsel for environmental and public interest groups at over fifty hearings, including the Walkerton Inquiry.
Mark has also appeared on behalf of clients in front of the International Water Tribunal in Amsterdam, and serves as the Canadian representative to Waterkeeper Alliance’s Board of Directors. He is the supervising attorney with the Clean Water Workshop, a program dedicated to mentoring law students and providing legal tools to citizens fighting for clean water in their communities.
Mark has been investigator and/or co-counsel on nearly every Fisheries Act private prosecution in Canada. He has been credited with helping Ontario residents win some of the largest fines ever levied under Canada’s Fisheries Act.