David Pearson
Henry Lickers is a member of Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan, and is the Director of the Department of the Environment for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. For more than 25 years, Mr. Lickers has been instrumental in incorporating First Nation’s people and knowledge into environmental planning and decision making.
Throughout his career, Mr. Lickers has worked to address local, national, and international environmental issues with organizations including The International Joint Commission, The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and the Science and Technology Advisory Council to Environment Canada.
In 2006, Henry Lickers was honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne environment program for his 30 years of work with the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force. That same year he also received the Jean Woodsworth Award – given to an environmental professional who dedicates time to the community and the environment while working for a caring compassionate society and the Ross Silverside Forestry Award – presented by the Eastern Ontario Model Forest in recognition of outstanding contribution to the Vision of Sustainable Forestry in Eastern Ontario.
In 2008, Henry was awarded the Annual Sandford Fleming Medal by the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science, for his “outstanding contributions to the public understanding of science”.
Professor John Smol FRSC, and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change, is the the founding editor of the Journal of Paleolimnology.
He received his B.Sc. in Marine Biology from McGill University in Montreal in 1977, and an M.Sc. in limnology from Brock University in 1979. His Ph.D. in 1982 is from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Following post-doctoral work in the High Arctic with the Geological Survey of Canada, he became a faculty member at Queen’s University in 1984. John was promoted to Full Professor in 1991. He holds and has held adjunct appointments in Canada and the United States.
John co-directs the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Queen’s University, a group of about 30 paleolimnologists working throughout the world on a variety of limnological and paleoecological problems. John has about 400 journal publications and book chapters to his credit. He has edited and authored 16 books, including one textbook.
Dr. Smol has been the recipient of numerous national and international awards. In 1993 he was awarded the National Research Council’s Steacie Prize, as Canada’s most outstanding young scientist or engineer. John was honoured with the 1995 Rigler Award from the Society of Canadian Limnologists and the Canada Council Killam Fellowship.
In 1997 he received the University of Helsinki Award Medal and in 2001 he was presented with the Miroslaw Romanowski Medal from the Royal Society of Canada for contributions to the resolution of scientific aspects of environmental problems. In 2003, he was presented with the NSERC Award for Excellence and was again honoured by NSERC in 2004 with the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal, as Canada’s top scientist or engineer.
In 2007, John was presented with the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography “For outstanding contributions and leadership in bridging paleolimnology with limnology, ecology, and the environmental sciences, as well as his seminal work on polar limnology and environmental change.”
John was presented with his second medal from the Royal Society of Canada in 2008 — the Flavelle Medal for outstanding contributions to biology. In 2009, the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education presented John with a 3M National Teaching Fellowship, considered by many to be Canada’s highest teaching award. Shortly afterwards, John won the 2009 Killam Prize in the field of natural sciences, which is the highest career achievement award presented by the Canada Council, and later that week the Premier of Ontario presented him with the Premier’s Discovery Award for the Life Sciences and Medicine, the province’s highest award for academic achievement.
Dr. Norm Yan completed his Master’s degree at the University of Toronto, his PhD at the University of Guelph and worked as a research scientist at the Ontario Ministry if the Environment for 25 years.In 2000, he joined the Biology Department of York University as a tenured faculty member, and currently splits his time between the MOE’s Dorset Environmental Science Centre and York University. Norm teaches an upper level applied ecology course, a field course in aquatic restoration ecology, and part of an MSc course in ecology, population genetics, and evolution.
Current principle areas of research are determining the individual and joint impacts of non-indigenous species and changes in climate, acidity, base cations, and nutrients on zooplankton, and quantifying the pace, extent and regulators of recovery of plankton from environmental damage. Norm has won many awards including the SCL Rigler award and the Patalas Award for research on the causes of damage, and possibilities for recovery of Sudbury lakes.
Norm has won many national and international awards. He is one of only three Canadians to receive both the K. Patalas award for research excellence in applied limnology, and the F.H. Rigler Memorial Award for limnological research from the Society of Canadian Limnology. Dr. Yan received a Premier’s Research Excellence Award from the Ontario government and was recently awarded a Gledden Visiting Senior Fellowship by the University of Western Australia.
Dr. David Schindler is Killam Memorial Chair and Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton.
From 1968 to 1989, he founded and directed the Experimental Lakes Project of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans near Kenora, Ontario, conducting interdisciplinary research on the effects of eutrophication, acid rain, radioactive elements and climate change on boreal ecosystems. His work has been widely used in formulating ecologically sound management policy in Canada, the USA and in Europe.
His current research interests include the study of fisheries management in mountain lakes, the biomagnification of organochlorines in food chains, effects of climate change and UV radiation on lakes, and global carbon and nitrogen budgets.
Dr. Schindler has received numerous national and international awards. He is the only Canadian to have won the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize, an international award presented by the Stockholm Water Foundation in honour of outstanding achievements in science, engineering, technology, education or public policy related to protection of the world’s water resources, as well as the Volvo International Environment Prize for his outstanding contributions to understanding and protecting the environment through scientific, socio-economic or technological innovation.
David has received the Rigler Award from the Society of Canadian Limnologists and is also the recipient of an Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Institute of Fisheries Biologists. He was awarded the first Miroslaw Romanowski Medal of the Royal Society of Canada for his position as one of the world’s preeminent freshwater scientists.
In 2001, Dr. Schindler was awarded Canada’s highest scientific honour, the NSERC Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. In 2002 he was presented with the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, and in 2003 he received the Killam Prize, awarded for outstanding career achievements. In 2006, he received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Ruth Patrick Award.
Most recently in 2009, Schindler received the Sandford Fleming award from the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science as “a scientist who is able to bridge the gap between the lab and people.”
Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is also an executive member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council.
Maude is the recipient of eight honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Award, and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award. In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly.
She is also the best selling author or co-author of 16 books, including the international best seller Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
Since 2000, Gord Miller has served as the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. As ECO, Mr. Miller is considered to be Ontario’s “independent environmental watchdog”, responsible for monitoring and reporting on the provincial government’s compliance with the Environmental Bill of Rights.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Miller worked for 14 years with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources as a scientist, manager of training and development, and district manager. Throughout his career, Mr. Miller has contributed greatly to the development of provincial, national, and international environmental policy.
In April of 2005, Mr. Miller was re-appointed to another five-year term as ECO, and will continue contributing to the enforcement and development of environmental regulations through 2010.
