SpeakerS
Please follow along to learn more about our 2024 Sustainable Ocean Conference (Mimaju’nuk ekta’n mawiomi) keynote speaker and panellists!
ELDER dr. LORRAINE WHITMAN
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Using Indigenous Values set by the Seven Sacred Teachings, Two-Eyed Seeing, and the Concept of Netukulimk to Guide Sustainability.
Lorraine Whitman, Grand Mother White Sea Turtle and President of the Native Women Association of Canada.
Granddaughter of the late Chief Louis Peters and daughter of the late Chief Joseph Peters and Elder Doris (nee Brooks), Lorraine is one of fourteen children, seven brothers and six sisters. Born and raised in Middleton, Nova Scotia and graduated from Grant MacEwan Community College and the University of Alberta as a Rehabilitation Practitioner. She is married to her husband Thomas, and has a daughter, Zabrina.
Lorraine had worked in her First Nation community of Glooscap for a total of 30 years, 17 years as an elected councillor, Social Development Officer, and Education Councilllor. Lorraine continued her education at Yellowquill College as a Diabetes Initiative Worker. In 2017, Lorraine was elected as the President of the Nova Scotia Native Women's Association and in 2019 Lorraine was elected President of the Native Women Association of Canada. Throughout her working career, she has advocated and defended the rights of the Indigenous people and the women, girls and gender-diverse community. Over the past 5 years, she has concentrated on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Lorraine's advocacy work and volunteerism have also been recognized by receiving her Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Acadia University.
KEN PAUL
PANELIST (HE/HIM)
Ken Paul is a member of the Wolastoqey First Nation at Neqotkuk, located in the community of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick. Since 2021, Ken became the principle/owner of Pokiok Associates and as well as serving in the Lead Fisheries Negotiator and Research Coordinator for the Wolastoqey Nation of New Brunswick. In 2012, Ken took on the role of Regional Director of Fisheries for the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs, and in 2018, the role of National Fisheries Director with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). Prior to 2012, Ken had worked for 10 years in with the Canadian Hydrographic Service as and Hydrographic Engineer and Hydrographer-in-Charge of field-based multibeam ocean mapping, and 10 years with Parks Canada as a Senior Policy Advisor in Atlantic Canada and the Field Unit Superintendent in the Northwest Territories. He has also been active on the international front in Indigenous advocacy with the Post 2020 framework of the Convention of Biological Diversity, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Expert Working Group with Ocean Decade Unit of the UN IOC, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Unit at the UN FAO. He has been active in projects under the UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030) with Ocean Networks Canada and the Ocean Frontier Institute.
Ken is a board member of Marine Renewables Canada and the Foundation for Conservation of Atlantic Salmon, and a former board member of the Ocean Supercluster and the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) on tidal energy. He is currently involved in supporting offshore wind, tidal energy, ocean research, kelp aquaculture, Indigenous marine protected areas, fisheries mentorship for Inuit in Nunavut, and private partnerships. Ken has advocated for First Nations and Indigenous Peoples regionally, nationally and internationally on all aspects relating to fisheries, aquaculture, ocean protection, economic prosperity and governance as they relate to inherent aboriginal and treaty-protected rights, legislation, and policy. Ken has an MBA with St Mary’s University and a BSc from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a part-time adjunct professor at Dalhousie’s Ocean department.
Leah McConney
PANELIST (SHE/HER)
Leah McConney lives in Mi'kma'ki, the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq. Leah completed a Bachelor of Science in Marine and Freshwater Biology at the University of Guelph and is a former Master of Marine Management Graduate from Dalhousie University. She is an Oceans Biologist in the Marine Planning and Conservation Program and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in the Maritimes Region. Leah is passionate about managing and creating marine conservation areas and enjoys reading novels, going to the beach, and travelling.
dR. RACHAEL CADMAN
PANELIST (SHE/HER)
Rachael Cadman is a social scientist and an Assistant Professor in the Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University. Her research focuses on justice in marine management, with a focus on the intersection between Indigenous Knowledge and Western science in decision-making. Her work brings together themes of resource governance, decolonialism, and reflexive research processes. Her current research takes place in Nunatsiavut, an Inuit land claim in northern Labrador, and is designed in partnership with the Nunatsiavut Government, for which she supports a potential co-managed national marine conservation area/Inuit Protected Area adjacent to the Torngat Mountains. Originally from Guelph Ontario, Rachael is a settler who grew up on the territories of Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe Peoples.
