CPAWS 2009 AGM

The 2009 Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) will be held:

October 23^rd from 7pm-9pm
Ambrosia Conference & Events Centre
The Powell Room
638 Fisgard Street
Victoria BC
V8W 1R6

Special guest speakers will be present to promote our “Exploration” themed AGM. So please come out and explore what the world of conservation has to offer its members!

Nominations

CPAWS is pleased to introduce a new slate of nominees for election at the AGM

• for terms ending at the 2012 AGM: Marianne Alto, Susan Ellis, Wayne Sawchuk, and Peigi Wilson
• for a term ending at the 2011 AGM (filling the vacancy left by Joshua Wolfe stepping down): David Lang
• for a term ending at the 2010 AGM (filling the vacancy left by Sherri Watson stepping down): Alan Appleby

Nominees to CPAWS National Board: Short Biographical Information

Marianne Alto-Bond (British Columbia)

Marianne has a lifelong passion for wild spaces. With her parents, she spent 12 years traveling the Americas, camping in hundreds of parks and wilderness areas. That experience set the stage for a life of community and political activism dedicated to creating a better world in which her sons may live.

Marianne has spent 20 years facilitating social, legal, organizational and economic change for communities, small business, non-profits and governments. She has designed, organized and animated a broad range of unique, client-centered initiatives. Her approach balances competing interests, using innovation, mediation and conciliation to achieve outcomes that serve all parties.

Marianne has been a leader in local, provincial and national organizations, from her younger son’s school Parent Advisory Committees to the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and the New Democratic Party of Canada. Most recently, her terms as national Treasurer of Canada’s NDP saw that organization reach its strongest financial position ever, growing its fundraising capacity and member services while committing to fiscally responsible oversight that repaid significant election campaign debts well ahead of schedule. She will bring facilitation, communication, financial stewardship and leadership skills to the CPAWS Board, and would consider it a privilege to serve as a CPAWS Trustee.

Marianne has a degree in Law from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Science in Geography from the University of Victoria, where she studied Natural Resource Management with (then Professor) CPAWS Trustee Emeritus Philip Dearden. She continues to walk in the wild, and has never lost her wonder of wilderness.

Alan Appleby (Ontario)

Alan G. Appleby has broad experience over the past 38 years in both government and the consulting field. He has worked in a wide variety of cultural and geographic settings and with a broad range of associates on many aspects of environment and resources management.

He brings 20 years of experience in government in both Saskatchewan (16 years) and Ontario (4 years) in environment and natural resources management, land use planning, parks management and environmental assessment. He also has 18 years consulting experience across Canada and in the United States in many aspects of environmental affairs from pollution monitoring to wilderness

preservation. In that time, he has worked extensively with First Nations, Aboriginal and community groups across northern Saskatchewan, and with the ranching and agricultural community in the prairies and southern Ontario.

He was involved with the Saskatchewan chapter of CPAWS for many years until he recently moved to Ontario.

“I believe that there are ways to explore, discover and develop in this world without destroying humanity or the environment. I hope the work I do will contribute to that ideal.”

Susan Ellis (Prairies)

Susan has enjoyed a career of consulting to profit and not-for-profit organizations on an amazing array of human and organizational effectiveness projects. Her background includes an M.A./A.B.S., adult education and a mixture of business administration. She has served on a number of boards and was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee medal in 2002 for her various leadership and community contributions. Born and raised in Edmonton, AB she now lives in Calgary. Working for the health of important ecosystems, is a natural step for Susan, as she has always had an affinity for the great outdoors. Canoeing the Churchill River from Saskatchewan border to border was one of her most memorable trips.

David Lang (Ontario)

David Lang ,BA,BEd, MEd, lives on a farm an hour north of the city of Toronto with his wife of 34 years. He is currently retired after careers in agriculture and education. He maintains many contacts in the business community through his involvement in various investments. David is a life long canoeist and cruising sailor with a passion for wilderness adventure and preservation. The summer of 2009 was spent cycling from Vancouver to Toronto with an old friend. He became a director of the Wildlands League in 1991, a position he has proudly maintained to the present. He served as secretary of the League for many years, and as its president since 2004. For the past few years he has also served as an elected trustee on the national board, and as a member of the executive committee.

Wayne Sawchuk (BC)

A lifelong resident of northern British Columbia, Wayne Sawchuk has worked as a logger, trapper, sawmill worker and wilderness guide, and has become renowned for his work as a conservationist, author and photographer who has fought to protect the country he once logged. He owns and operates a trap line in the remote wilderness of Canada’s northern Rockies, and is a sought after speaker on issues of conservation and wilderness protection.

In January 2009, Wayne was made a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a prestigious honour given to a very few individuals around the world who promote new field science and discovery. Wayne’s appointment recognizes the many expeditions of scientists and artists he has led into what is now known as the Muskwa-Kechika area of the Rockies.

Wayne began working on environmental issues in 1990 and was a key player in the land use planning process that brought resource industry, environmental, outfitting, trapping and First Nations interests together with government to develop policies that led to the creation of the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area. This innovative land use planning and management model has attracted the attention of conservationists and governments around the world.

Peigi Wilson (Ontario)

Peigi bring16 years of experience dedicated to national and international environmental law and policy with a focus in past ten years on Aboriginal rights. She worked for several years with the Assembly of First Nations, including as the Director of Environmental Stewardship, where she drafted many policy briefs and represented the AFN nationally and internationally on environment issues.

As a consultant, she assisted Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation in negotiation, communications, and legal strategy, aiding in the peaceful resolution of uranium exploration dispute. She also worked with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to amend the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Internationally, she provided advice to UNEP and various developing countries, and was commissioned by the Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity to prepare the Composite Report On The Status And Trends Regarding The Knowledge, Innovations And Practices Of Indigenous And Local Communities Regional Report: North America, in 2003 and 2007.

She is a Director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, and has been on the board of the Greater Bobs and Crow Lake Association where she organized development of a lake management plan.

Submit nominations

CPAWS members are invited to submit names to be nominated to CPAWS National Board of Trustees. Nominations must be accompanied by: written consent of the nominee; biography of the nominee; and the address and contact information of the nominee

Please submit nominations to:
Nominating Committee
CPAWS National Office
Suite 506 – 250 City Centre Avenue
Ottawa ON K1R 6K7
Fax: (613) 569-7098
Email: nominations@cpaws.org

Nominations must be received by the nominating committee no later than Friday September 11, 2009.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Law from University of Victoria and Masters of Law from University of Ottawa,