Speakers
October 28th & 29th 2020

Zoe Armstrong
Queen’s University

Bailey Bedard
University of Ottawa

Cristina Charette
Université du Québec à Montreal (UQAM)

Steven Cooke
Fish Ecology Expert
Cooke is a Professor of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. His work spans the natural and social sciences with a particular focus on developing solutions to problems facing fish and other aquatic organisms. He has much experience working with practitioners, policy makers and stakeholders to co-create useable knowledge. Cooke founded the Canadian Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation and is working with diverse partners to build capacity for evidence synthesis in his various roles in the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence. He has published more than 700 peer reviewed papers on topics such as conservation science, knowledge mobilization and enabling interdisciplinarity but recognizes that bi-directional knowledge exchange with potential knowledge users is even more rewarding. Check out his website at www.FECPL.ca or follow him on twitter @SJC_Fishy
Keynote Speaker Thursday @ 10:00am

Fin Donnelly
Founder & Chair, Rivershed Society of British Columbia
From 1990 to 2000, he made 14 environmental marathon swims, covering more than 3,200 kilometres in BC’s rivers, lakes and ocean; including twice swimming the 1,400 km length of the Fraser River in 1995 and 2000 to draw attention to the declining health of these water bodies and to encourage communities to engage in environmental advocacy.
Fin served as a member of Coquitlam City Council from 2002-2009 and as Member of Parliament for Port Moody-Coquitlam and New Westminster-Coquitlam from 2009-2019. While in the House of Commons he founded the All-Party Oceans Caucus.
As NDP Fisheries & Oceans critic, Fin introduced many bills to protect West Coast waters including legislation to ban oil tankers off BC’s north coast; transition West Coast open-net salmon farms to land-based, closed containment and ban the importation of shark fins to Canada, which became law in 2019.
In 1997, Fin was honoured with the name Iyim Yewyews, which means Blackfish, Orca or strong swimmer, by the Squamish Nation, for his stewardship work.
Fin has a Philosophy degree from the University of Victoria. He grew up in Port Moody and lives in Coquitlam with his wife Lynda.
Guest Speaker Thursday @ 1:00pm

Abraham Francis
Environmental Science Officer for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne- Environment Program
Abraham Francis has a BS in Microbiology, 2014, and MS in Natural Resources, 2019, from Cornell University. His past experiences include community empowerment, engagement, and research with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and a variety of other community-based organizations. His Masters’ Thesis focused on applied research to develop a biocultural land stewardship strategy for existing and newly settled Native American Land Claims on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, Akwesasne. His research interests are at the intersection of environmental studies, Indigenous methodologies, community engagement, education, health, social services, law, and cultural foundations as a means for empowerment and healing within Indigenous Communities.
Guest Speaker Thursday @ 9:00am

Elizabeth Grater
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Groupes de recherche interuniversitaire en limnologie
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. Focusing on fluvial systems, she has studied a variety of ecosystems, including small rivers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the St. Lawrence River (SLR) in Canada, and the Mara River in Tanzania. During her master’s project, she gained a unique view of the SLR while conducted research aboard the R.V. Lampsilis. Outside of the lab, she is passionate about combating environmental justice issues through sustainable urban initiatives. Currently, she is involved in an interdisciplinary project that brings together scientists and artists to develop effective outreach materials and art installations related to the SLR. Their goal is to connect the Montreal community with the SLR in order to spark inspiration and motivation to protect this beautiful and crucial ecosystem.
For more information about her past and present projects: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethgrater/

Lawrence Gunther
President, Blue Fish Canada

Jacey Hall
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne- Environment Program

Jaclyn Hill
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Nicholas Kiulia
Université du Québec – Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)
Kiulia is an environmental microbiologist and currently a PhD fellow at Université du Québec -INRS. Kiulia is conducting research related to biomonitoring of stream ecosystem and developing novel tools that can be used to supplement the routinely used stream biomonitoring approaches.
Kiulia has also extensive experience in environmental microbiology/virology especially wastewater based epidemiology approaches that has been used over the years to provide data for policy and decision making in the control and prevention of enteric pathogens.

Jérôme Marty
Project Director, Council of Canadian Academies
Jérôme Marty is a project director at the Council of Canadian Academies in Ottawa where he has been working at the interface between science and policy. His current work at the CCA involves 2 main topics, one the links between natural disasters prevention and climate adaptation and the second on circular economy. Prior to joining the CCA in 2016, Jérôme held positions as a research scientist at the St. Lawrence River Institute, as director of environment in a large consulting firm (WSP Canada), and as a science advisor at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). Jérôme is a past President of the International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) and the Society of Canadian Limnologists (SCL). He is a Board member of Watershed Canada and a member of several scientific advisory committees working on water science and governance. In 2019, he became the Chair of Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE) and was nominated on the Science Advisory Board of the International Joint Commission (IJC). As a freshwater expert, he continues to advise governments on water related issues. When not working, he can be found biking, paddling with his family, or playing accordion.

Mark MacDougall
Project Coordinator, River Institute
Mark joined the River Institute in 2014, and led a wide range of collaborative projects with RiverLabs, the Institute’s applied research group. His work has focused on understanding environmental change as a result of the cumulative impacts of human activity, using innovative approaches. As a result, his research has focused on two primary areas; first using spatial modelling to examine ecological shifts as a result of the presence of disturbance and pollution, and second, understanding contemporary community-level responses to road salt in lakes. Mark holds a M.Sc. in Biology from the University of Waterloo and a B.Sc. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guelph. Additionally, Mark is a Certified Engineering Technologist and holds a Project Management Professional designation.
To learn more about his past and present projects visit his LinkedIN profile.

Katherine Moir
Queen’s University
Katherine Moir’s email address: katherine.moir@queensu.ca

Patrick Nadeau
Executive Director, Ottawa Riverkeeper
Protecting the beauty and diversity of life on Earth… that’s what makes Patrick tick! A biologist by training, he is a dynamic and engaging communicator with a solid track-record of effective government relations. Patrick has held leadership roles in the environment sector for over a decade, acquiring significant experience in nonprofit management (i.e. strategic planning, human resources, fundraising, spokesperson). He has also developed broad policy expertise (e.g. water quality and management, protected areas, forestry, fossil fuels, endangered species, nuclear waste), in addition to having developed successful partnerships with several aboriginal communities (i.e. Cree, Inuit, Innu, Algonquin). Patrick is proud to be the Executive Director of Ottawa Riverkeeper, an organisation which works both in Québec and Ontario to protect the health of our watershed – so that we can continue to swim, drink, and fish for generations to come.

Amanda Nurse
University of Western Ontario, Neff lab

Catherine Paquette
WWF-Canada

Mary Ann Perron
Mitacs Postdoctoral Fellow

Jessica Taylor
Carleton University

Matt Windle
Research Scientist, River Institute