First Nations: Key to Sustainable Energy

“First Nations people are not opposed to development. They are opposed to development that is going to destroy our rights”

Kekinusuqs, Judith Sayers
Kekinusuqs, Judith Sayers is the National Aboriginal Economic Development Chair and an assistant professor at the University of Victoria’s faculties of business and law. She also works as a strategic advisor to corporations and First Nations communities, helping them negotiate equitable agreements. She served for fourteen years as chief of the Hupacasath First Nation, located in Port Alberni, BC, where she focused on capacity building and sustainable development. Judith is co-chair of the Island Corridor Foundation, a joint venture between regional districts and First Nations that own Vancouver Island’s rail line. She is on the boards of the New Relationship Trust, Clean Energy BC, and the Ch’nook Initiative, an Indigenous business education program. She also co-chairs the Joint Working Group on First Nations Heritage Conservation.