Norm is a Professional Engineer and a practicing environmental consultant. He is a member of the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission and sits on the Board of Trustees for the Fort Whyte Environmental Education Centre in Winnipeg. During his 32-year career in the Manitoba public service, the last 15 of which he served as Deputy Minister of the departments of Environment, Conservation and Water Stewardship, he has been involved in water issues from a number of different perspectives. He has represented Manitoba in inter-provincial and international water negotiations; been intimately involved in the development and administration of Provincial water legislation; and was the founding Deputy Minister for the first all-water department of government in Canada.
Bob Sandford is the Canadian Chair of the United Nations International Decade “Water for Life” Decade, a national partnership initiative that aims to advance long-term water quality and availability issues in response to climate change in this country and abroad. In this capacity, Bob is the only Canadian to sit on the Advisory Committee for the prestigious Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy. Bob is also the Director of the Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative, a not-for-profit research institute that promotes understanding of climate impacts on river systems originating in the Rocky Mountains. Bob’s third book on water issues, Restoring the Flow, was released October 2009.
David is one of Canada’s leading environmental lawyers, a Trudeau Scholar, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, and a Senior Associate with the University of Victoria’s POLIS Project on Ecological Governance. He is the author of Sustainability Within a Generation: A New Vision for Canada, Unnatural Law: Rethinking Canadian Environmental Law and Policy, and Canada vs. The OECD: An Environmental Comparison. His latest book is "David Suzuki's Green Guide" co-authored with David Suzuki.
Oliver is the Associate Director and leads the Water Sustainability Project at the University of Victoria’s POLIS Project on Ecological Governance. With a background in law, economics and ecological restoration, he focuses on the institutional and legal reform aspects of sustainable water management and provides advice to all levels of government and various nongovernment organizations. Oliver has authored or co-authored numerous chapters, articles, books and
reports on water sustainability, governance and the Soft Path including a
recent edited volume: Making the Most of the Water We Have: the soft path
approach to water management.
Jim is Canadian Policy Representative for the Soil and Water Conservation Society and serves as a consultant on climate change adaptation, water management, and natural disaster mitigation. He was first Director of the Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington and worked for 8 years as an Assistant Deputy Minister for Environmental Management and Atmospheric Environment, Environment Canada. From 1986 to 1989, he was Director of Technical Cooperation and Acting Deputy Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the University of Waterloo and McMaster University and the Massey Medal of the Canadian Geographical Society.
Marc is Director of the St. Lawrence River/Great Lakes program at Nature Québec and President of the Priority Intervention Zone Committee (Comité ZIP Saguenay) on the Saguenay River. He is also President of the Quebec Regional Advisory Council on Marine Oil Spills and a member of stakeholder committees relating to water and other environmental issues. Marc retired from the Canadian Armed Forces in 1994, where he was active in the environmental sector for 21 years, working on, among other things, hazardous material safety, contaminated soils, and water and wastewater treatment plants. He was awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Confederation in recognition of the significant contribution he has made to his fellow citizens, and to Canada.
Tony is Freshwater Director with WWF-Canada. He has been involved in water management issues for over a decade, with experiences ranging from technology development to public policy. His work has taken him across Canada and around the planet to engage business leaders, policy makers, politicians and citizens in freshwater stewardship and conservation. He has studied Environmental Technology at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, Environmental Science at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC, and water governance at the School of Planning, University of Waterloo.
Ralph is Acting Chair of the Canadian Water Issues Council, and President of Ralbet Enterprises Inc., where he has been active in consulting on a variety of water and environmental policy issues. From 1978 to 1991, he was Director of Water Planning and Management in the Canadian Department of the Environment. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing numerous Canada-U.S. and Federal-Provincial agreements and arrangements, and was the prime author of the Federal Water Policy that was tabled in Parliament in 1987. He has co-chaired five International Joint Commission Boards, and has served as an environmental consultant in numerous countries.
Merrell-Ann Phare is a lawyer and the Executive Director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, a national First nation environmental organisation. She is also a legal advisor to the Assembly of First Nations regarding water matters. Merrell-Ann serves on numerous advisory committees and consultation bodies including the Expert Advisory Committee to the National Round Table on Environment and Economy (NRTEE), the Regulatory Advisory Committee of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and recently finished two three-year terms on the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation. She was a member of the 2005 Lake Winnipeg Implementation Committee. She is also a member of RBC’s Blue Water Advisory Panel, which advises the Royal Bank on water matters and, in particular, distribution of its $50-million Blue Water Fund.
Nancy is the sole staff member of FLOW. As program coordinator, she is responsible for managing FLOW projects, communications and outreach, securing funding and administration of the organization. Nancy has a Masters of Environmental Studies degree in Planning from the University of Waterloo, where her research focused on how local water management organizations create capacity to respond to current and emerging threats. She has co-authored numerous publications on water management issues in Canada, including a book chapter in Fostering Integration: Concepts and Practice in Resource and Environmental Management.
