Dr. Steve Kokelj is the Senior Permafrost Scientist at the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Government of the Northwest Territories. For over two decades, he has led northern-based research and monitoring projects which have brought together scientists from abroad, regulators, project planners, and Indigenous partners to investigate permafrost conditions and the impacts of environmental change on northern landscapes and infrastructure. Steve leads a growing team of northern-based permafrost scientists who work with research partners to address the needs of northern stakeholders. His research highlights some of the world’s most rapidly changing permafrost landscapes. Steve has been recognized for his scientific contributions and his communication of results to northerners.

Aileen Ling is the Executive Director of Makerspace YK, a non-profit that offers digital fabrication, woodworking and creative arts programming and services. She has a background in design, architecture and community development and has always been interested in achieving social change by helping others develop their playful and inventive capacities. Before her role with Makerspace YK, she organized with the Circular Economy Clubs chapters in Calgary and Toronto. She is still a new resident in the North, but loves the culture of re-use and creativity in the Yellowknife community.

Amy is Lead Community Pathfinder with the First Nations Waste Minimization Program at Green Action Centre where she has worked for five years. Her passion for waste minimization began in her childhood home in Pinawa, where she helped her parents with the backyard compost and worked a couple of summers at the town recycling depot as a teenager. She has a Masters of Natural Resource Management from the University of Manitoba. Her thesis studied ways to improve end-of-life vehicle recycling in northern Manitoba. In her free time Amy enjoys cooking, spending time with family and being outdoors camping, canoeing or cross country skiing.

Bio coming soon

Angela was appointed the President & Chief Operating Officer for Diavik Diamond Mine in December 2021 – the first female President based at a Diamond mine in NWT – after spending two years as General Manager Operations, and two years as Vice President, Finance. Since joining Rio Tinto in 2005, Angela has had a variety of Finance, Project and Operational Roles across nine countries and 13 mine sites.

Angela is a qualified CPA with a degree from Charles Darwin University (Darwin Australia).

Bio coming soon

Environmental Coordinator, Environment & Sustainability, Town of Banff

Carla coordinates the Town of Banff’s zero waste and circular economy initiatives, which support the Town’s goal to divert 70% of waste by 2028 and ultimately send zero waste to landfill. As a municipality uniquely situated within a National Park and UNESCO world heritage site, Banff faces both unique challenges and opportunities in striving to become a model environmental community.

Carla is an amateur gardener, food enthusiast, and policy nerd. Growing up in Calgary, Carla has always had the privilege of enjoying Banff as her backyard and outdoor playground. Her deep connection to the mountains is what drives her work in ensuring that Banff’s pristine beauty remains to be enjoyed by generations to come.

Casey Frantik is a professional biologist who worked in the Oil and Gas industry for 9 years completing various environmental compliance and monitoring roles before joining the Government of Saskatchewan in the Environmental Protection Branch in October 2020. Casey currently works within the Northern Region regulating Mining, Industrial and Solid Waste Management facilities. She is passionate about protecting the environment and believes in building relationships and providing education to achieve compliance with various stakeholders. As a Not Myself Today Ambassador, Casey is passionate about mental health and finds creative ways to encourage everyone to participate in developing a positive work environment.  Casey is located in Prince Albert and has three daughters who keep her busy outside of the office.

Bio coming soon

Chris Vaughn is currently the Manager,Sustainability and Waste Management for the City of Yellowknife. He has been with the City for seven years and is originally from Montreal, Quebec where he studied Bioresource Engineering at McGill University.  He has been involved in varying degrees with northern waste issues and has helped  guide the City towards a more long-term approach to waste management.   He is currently on parental leave in Melfort, Saskatchewan.

Christina holds a PhD in Engineering Management, a Masters degree in Environmental Design (Environmental Science), as well as a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering. She operates sonnevera international corp., a waste reduction consulting firm, and is the current Executive Director of the Recycling Council of Alberta. Christina loves rural life, choosing to live on a farm near Bluffton, Alberta, where her and her family raise Warmblood horses, and enjoy many other outdoor activities.

Colin McKean is a freshwater biologist by trade and has been working in the field of environmental management for 45 years. Colin specializes in the development and implementation of environmental programs for industry and their products and Pollution Prevention Programs for industry and industrial sectors.

Currently, Colin is the Executive Director of the Canadian Battery Association and is responsible for providing CBA Members with regulatory support and developing a national product stewardship program for lead batteries within regulatory frameworks.

Dawn Tremblay is the Executive Director of Ecology North, an environmental Non-Profit Organization with Charity Status. Dawn spent several years working with the City of Yellowknife on the Centralized Compost Program, where she witnessed the challenges of managing waste in the North. Dawn has also completed public policy research on Northern Waste Management Systems. Dawn enjoys food, and equally likes compost, especially because compost helps food grow.

Ms. Burgess is licensed to practice professional engineering in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador and received her Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo. She has been practicing in the environmental field for over 20 years and has been involved in over 30 landfill gas related projects in Canada. Ms. Burgess has been employed by Comcor Environmental Limited since 2001, most recently as Director of Engineering. In this role, Ms. Burgess has experience in design, permitting, construction, monitoring and on-going operations and maintenance of landfill gas facilities.

Drew Lent is the Northeast Solar Services lead for Tetra Tech based in Rochester, New York. Drew is a professional geologist with more 30 years of environmental experience in both the public and private sectors. Over the past nine years, Drew has focused his technical expertise to develop renewable energy projects on landfills and other brownfields. Drew has worked on more than 40 solar and/or battery energy storage (BESS) projects on brownfields in the United States and Canada. He has spoken at several conferences, including the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and SWANA, encouraging renewable energy projects as potential end uses for landfills and brownfields.

-SWANA Northern Lights Chapter member since 2006. Currently a member of the faculty as an instructor.
-Solid Waste Dept Head for the City of Steinbach Class 1 regional landfill facility since 2005.
-31 years in the retail grocery business for Penner Foods/Sobeys as a produce buyer, merchandiser and store manager.

EDUCATION
-Graduated 1976 from Steinbach Regional Secondary School with an Electronics major.
-EMT Level 1 ambulance trauma attendant, 1991 – 1995.

INTERESTS
-Avid snowmobiler, motorcycle and mountain biker.
-20 years of organized hockey in Manitoba and Scandinavia.
-15 years of wedding photography.
-Rock concerts and the Winnipeg Symphony.

Eric Nielsen is the Regional Sales Manager for QED Environmental Systems. Eric has over 17 years of experience working in the solid waste industry. As a sub-contractor Eric was responsible for the  LFG and leachate management systems at WM landfills across Ontario and Quebec. After graduation Eric moved to Vancouver to assume the role of LFG Well field and Flare station Operator for the City of Vancouver landfill,  where he managed the City’s 400+ LFG well field and flare station. In 2014 Eric moved back East and took over the role of Director of Sales for ATZ applied technologies. ATZ was a Canadian family run design and manufacturing firm focused on LFG and leachate management product solutions. ATZ sold to QED in 2016, and Eric has been in the role of QED’s Regional Sales Manager for Western Canada ever since.

My name is Evan James. I am 29. I work alongside with IZWTAG (Indigenous Zero Waste Technical Advisory Group) as one of the Zero Waste Circuit Riders. It is our job and mission to help the first nations with the garbage and recycling, alongside working with the EPR programs in British Columbia.

I am a born and raised Yukon resident who has a lifelong passion for environmental science and protection. I am a mother of two who completed her degree late in life and has been with the City of Whitehorse for 2 years now. I hope my enthusiasm and creative thought process can help create a change in the minds of Whitehorse residents to see waste and compost in a new light.

Garret Gillespie, an agricultural engineer, has been on the Yukon composting scene for more than 20 years. During his time operating the Whitehorse Compost Facility in its early years, Garret began researching and developing technologies that remove contaminants such as plastic from compost. A lot of work later, a very effective separation system was successfully proven and patented, and licensed to Vermeer Corporation. In 2018 BCE began working on an affordable “cleaner-screener” for smaller-scale operations but got shelved due to the pandemic.  This work has recently resumed with field testing and proof of concept work at some smaller sites in BC.

Gayleen Creelman is the Saskatchewan Program Director for the Electronic Products Recycling Association.  She has been with EPRA since November 2014.  This role covers all aspects of the management of end-of-life electronics in Saskatchewan, including government and public relations; contract management with service providers, including collection sites, carriers, and processors; and working with communities to increase awareness and action when it comes to proper disposal of end-of-life electronics.  She is also the current chair of Recycle Saskatchewan (RS) which is an informal alliance of all the EPR programs and SARCAN Recycling in Saskatchewan.  RS members works collaboratively to be the overall voice of EPR to government at the rural, urban, First Nation, and provincial levels.  The most recent project was in conjunction with Mistawasis First Nation, Indigenous Services Canada, and Saskatchewan Aboriginal Land Technicians resulting in the launch of a Recycling Toolkit for Saskatchewan First Nations.

Gayleen’s educational background is in transportation, logistics, and distribution management and she earned the professional designation of CCLP (CITT Certified Logistics Professional) in 1996.  As with many professional designations, continuous learning is a key component.  She relishes any opportunity to learn whether that be in her professional or personal life.  She previously worked with Cargill at the largest canola seed crushing facility in North America and at Canpotex Limited, the company that exports Saskatchewan potash to many regions throughout the world.  Her passion is to fit the puzzle pieces together as efficiently and effectively as possible, which is probably the reason she has chosen logistics as the backbone of her career.  She also dabbled for a number of years in IT, including systems design, implementation, and support, managing a team of employees and contractors to serve users throughout the world.

Along with her husband, Danny, and daughter, Hannah, she has traveled the world (and all are Disney fans).  Her downtime is spent watching football with her husband, cheering for her favourite F1 driver with her daughter, or finding a place to spread out and work on her family genealogy.  She loves a good (or bad) game of golf, when she can, and plays soccer.

I work for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs – GNWT and with communities and other agencies across the NWT on integrated solid waste management activities related to design, project management, regulatory compliance, operations, training, closure, waste diversion, and waste reduction. After 15 years of living in the NWT there is still so much opportunity and much to learn.

Gerri Whiteford is a registered nurse, social worker, epidemiologist and coroner in Yellowknife. Originally from Toronto. She has lived in the North for 13 years. Gerri is a board member with Food Rescue and also a passionate volunteer in other agencies that involve the community‘s health and environment. This particularly lends itself to the SWANA mandate. Gerri has taken every opportunity the north has to offer in getting involved.

Giselle Beaudry has been working on waste reduction and waste management initiatives with the Government of the Northwest Territories’ Department of Environment and Climate Change since 2013. Her work has included the development and implementation of the NWT’s Electronics Recycling Program, which launched in 2016, and the NWT’s Waste Resource Management Strategy which is currently being implemented. Prior to this work, Giselle spent eight years with the Government of Alberta working on waste reduction, and product stewardship programs and developing and implementing Alberta’s Greening Government Strategy.

Guy West has been the President & CEO of Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation (“ABCRC”) since 2003 and has been in the beverage container industry in Alberta since 1989. ABCRC is the collection system agent (“CSA”) for the Alberta beverage container deposit system as appointed by the beverage manufacturers as their agent.

ABCRC is responsible for the (i) collection of beverage containers from the depot network established by the Beverage Container Management Board (“BCMB”); (ii) payment to the depots of the refunds paid for containers returned to their depots, and the regulated handling commissions established by the BCMB; (iii) processing the recovered containers to commodity market standards and selling the containers to both domestic and international buyers; (iv) developing and establishing communication and marketing campaigns designed to inform and educate consumers about beverage container recycling; and, (v) collecting the deposits and recycling fees from manufacturers for the containers sold in Alberta.

Guy has served, and continues to serve on many provincial and national boards, in many different roles, including the Recycling Council of Alberta; the Alberta Environment Foundation (recognizing environmental excellence); the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Network (fostering collaboration between deposit programs across Canada); the Canada Plastics Pact; the CSA Group Technical Committee working on establishing standards for recycling, and specifically plastics recycling; and, the Canadian Product Stewardship Committee (hosts a bi-annual national conference on product stewardship).

Jackie has over 10 years of progressive experience in the Environmental Consulting and Analytical Laboratory fields. She has experience in analyzing, troubleshooting, reviewing data and as well as performing field work.  Through environmental consulting, Jackie has extensive experience managing projects, quality programs, recycling programs, compost programs, landfill projects (leachate management systems, landfill gas systems, landfill cells, and compliance monitoring), and Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments.

Jamaal Montasser, BSc, MS, worked at global design and innovation firm IDEO for six years on hardware and software with clients like Google, Nest and Edwards Medical.
Jamaal taught manufacturing for two years at Stanford in the Product Realization Lab (PRL) and was awarded the Centennial Teaching Award.
Jamaal studied Mechanical Engineering at Stanford and the University of Alberta.

Jeff Ainge is an experienced and respected project manager and program coordinator with twenty years of local government experience in British Columbia.

Prior to establishing his own consulting firm in 2018, Jeff held a number of roles with the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN). He has been closely involved in researching, planning, establishing and implementing new programs, building and facilitating relationships, and leading change in the Parks, Solid Waste and Asset Management departments. Jeff is proud to have been a member of the RDN Zero Waste team recognised in the 2011 FCM Sustainable Communities Awards.

Before emigrating to Canada from New Zealand, Jeff worked in various roles in conservation, outdoor recreation, and the transportation industry.

Jeff continues to apply his thoughtful and collaborative approach to assist smaller municipalities develop pragmatic and innovative plans, strategies and programs that improve their solid waste practices.

Jeff graduated from the University of Alberta in 2008 with a Bachelors in Civil Engineering. He is a Professional Engineer with over ten years of project management, engineering, construction, and environmental and regulatory management experience on a wide variety of projects including environmental containment projects such as municipal and industrial landfills and ponds.

Jeroen has been working in the field of waste management since 2006 which is also when he moved to Calgary, Alberta after working in Europe as a consultant for a few years. He received his degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Technology Darmstadt.  After working in consulting for many years on waste management and landfill development and closure projects all over western Canada, he now works for the City of Calgary in Waste & Recycling Services. His role of Senior Environmental Engineer encompasses that of site manager for closed landfill sites and providing support for the active landfills in regulatory, planning, engineering and environmental matters.

Jessica Shrout is the owner of Circle Three Branding – a marketing agency dedicated to the waste and recycling industry. Her passion grew from a frustration that no outside agency seemed to understand the needs of the waste world – and so it became a mission to provide quality marketing services from someone who understands what you are talking about. Jessica’s work in marketing and brand development have consistently won first-place awards at the national level since 2018. She also writes on marketing strategy for the industry and her articles can be found in Waste Advantage Magazine.

Jim is Tetra Tech’s project manager for engineering and consulting services for the Youngstown Regional Landfill. Jim has had experience with landfill and compost facility fires as far back as 1980. His first experience with a landfill fire was when he was sent out to a large landfill fire in Central Alberta when he worked with Alberta Environment. Since then, he has dealt surface fires and subsurface fires in landfills and has been involved in extinguishing fires in compost and mulch pile fires. Jim provided on-site support to the Director of Operations and landfill staff during the fire and continues providing after-fire support for clean up and restoration of the landfill cell.

Jodie is the Solid Waste Project Coordinator for the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, located on the western coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Ms. Frank has worked in the Solid Waste sector for over 12 years, successfully leading solid waste and diversion programs from both federal and municipal government perspectives. Her work ranges from New Zealand with the Ministry of Environment to Saskatchewan as a Waste Diversion Specialist for the City of Regina. Since May 2020, she has had the pleasure of working as the Solid Waste Project Coordinator with the ACRD, where she was responsible for introducing organics collection to residents while transitioning manual waste collection systems to three stream automatic cart collection.

Joël is AECOM’s Remediation Practice Lead for Western Canada and the Project Manager for the Rayrock Mine Remediation Project currently underway in the NWT. A practicing civil/environmental engineer he has 30 years’ experience in environmental site remediation with significant work assignments in remote northern communities.  He enjoys both the technical and non-technical aspects of his work, in particular the range of people experiences that come with project execution.

Bio coming soon

John MacKenzie is a professional engineer with AECOM, practicing in both Alberta and the Northwest Territories / Nunavut. John graduated from the University of Alberta with a BSc in civil/environmental engineering. John has been working full time with AECOM for 11 years since he graduated. John specializes in solid waste management throughout Western Canada, as well as Northern remediation for several abandoned mine sites in the Northwest Territories, currently under custodianship of the Government of Canada.

As a soil scientist, John Paul is passionate about recycling the nutrients and organic matter in our waste. He is involved with all aspects of composting for more than 25 years. Through his company, Transform Compost Systems, Dr. Paul designs both large and small compost facilities for all types of organic waste and provides aeration and mixing equipment for compost projects. John has taught compost facility operators in BC and beyond for almost 20 years.

Bio coming soon

Lise came to Yellowknife in 1981 to work as the Regional Nutritionist for Medical Services, the Federal Department of Health. She was the Regional Nutritionist for the 58 Nursing Stations and Health Centres of the Northwest Territories which at the time included Nunavut. Later she worked for the Federal Department of Canadian Heritage as the Regional Manager. She is now retired.

With her husband she raised two boys who are successful adults and now she enjoys two beautiful granddaughters who live in Yellowknife.

Lise has always been part of the volunteer community. Initially with the francophone organizations and now with the local choir and the Yellowknife Farmers Market since 2015.

My name is Lytasha Bastine. I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. During the Canadian winter season, I enjoy traveling to hot countries. Eighteen years ago, I was fortunate to become a part of Waste and Recycling Services within the City of Calgary. Throughout the years I have had the opportunity to learn, excel and succeed. I am currently the Shepard Waste Management Facility Superintendent.

Mannie Cheung is the Vice President of Operations at Product Care Association of Canada, a not-for-profit industry association that develops, implements, and operates extended producer responsibility programs for household hazardous and special products in Canada and the USA on behalf of its’ industry members. Mannie has over 20 years of leadership and management experience in the extended producer responsibility sector and more than 9 years in the hazardous waste management industry; leading business/program development, strategic development, compliance, and optimization of program efficiencies and effectiveness. 

Mario Poveda has over a decade of experience in the consulting engineering field, primarily in the Solid Waste Management and construction disciplines in Canada and Latin America. Mario received his Civil Engineering degree from the University of Costa Rica and worked for over 3 years between Costa Rica and Panama on several projects, including the detailed design of the largest landfill currently operating in Costa Rica. After relocating to Canada and completing his master’s degree focused on leachate treatment alternatives from the University of Manitoba in 2015, he joined KGS Group and has served as Project Manager and Lead Environmental Engineer on dozens of projects of varying scale across the Prairies. Mario coordinates Solid Waste Management services for KGS Group, with projects including feasibility studies, site assessments, waste management facilities design and construction supervision, closure and post-closure plans, financial liability assessments, master plans, operation plans, and leachate collection / treatment system design and construction projects. Mario is an active member of the SWANA NLC Board of Directors since 2019.

Mark was born and raised in Yellowknife. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from McGill University in Montreal, and worked at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre as the Website and Multimedia Coordinator from 2000 to 2012.
Mark served three terms on Yellowknife City Council from 2003 to 2012, was Deputy Mayor from 2006 to 2012, and was elected Mayor in 2012 and re-elected in 2015. During his time on Council, Mark chaired the City’s Heritage Committee and Community Energy Planning Committee. From 2007 to 2017, Mark served as a member of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund Council.  He was also on the Board of Directors for the NWT Association of Communities, representing Cities, Towns and Villages of the Northwest Territories. Mark joined the Arctic Energy Alliance as Executive Director in the fall of 2018.

Matthew Grogono M.B., recipient of the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery Award in 2014, was born in London, England, and has been a Canadian citizen since early childhood. He is no stranger to most folks in Yellowknife which has been his home for over 38 years. 

Matthew is a journeyman auto mechanic and passionately lives by his motto in both his work and home life: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. He is an entrepreneur, inventor, vessel builder, and artist. He is best known as founder of the glass art studio, Old Town Glassworks, in 1994, followed by Old Town Bikeworks.

Since the 80’s he has salvaged and repurposed numerous houseboats on YK Bay and has been actively engaged in the YK arts community. He co-founded the Yellowknife City Market, the Aurora Arts Society, the Recording Arts Association of the NWT (RANT), Music NWT, The Old Town Community Association Ramble & Ride Festival, the Artist Run Community Centre (ARCC), and the Yellowknife Artists Cooperative (YAC). 

Humorously, someone once said that Matthew could make a spaceship from a paper clip, pipe cleaner and rubber band – which is not far from the truth if you’ve witnessed his ingenuity in his equipment at the magical venue of Old Town Glassworks and at his houseboat the Icarus V, repurposed from a Giant Mine bunkhouse. 

See Up Here Business Magazine, No. 3, 2019: https://www.uphere.ca/articles/how-grind-out-business-matthew-grogono

Public engagement brings together two of Meaghan’s passions and areas of expertise: landscape architecture and community development. Recently she has completed training in Planning for Effective Public Participation with the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). Since the impacts of COVID-19 have affected many aspects of practice, including public engagement, Meaghan has taken the logistical lead at SMM to bring public participation to an online platform with virtual presentations and web page development. In addition to creating accessible platforms for public engagement, Meaghan has been the creative lead and graphic designer for many engagement projects at SMM. Meaghan has developed educational booklets and games about waste diversion for Bunibonibee Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation, both of whom are undergoing infrastructure projects to improve their landfills. Meaghan’s graphic skills help the public engage with technical and complex information in easy to understand and meaningful ways, including on the English and Wabigoon Rivers Remediation Panel project.

Michel is the current (outgoing) President of the SWANA Northern Lights Chapter, a SWANA faculty member, and Manager and Senior Engineer with Tetra Tech’s Solid Waste Management Practice. Michel has worked in the solid waste field for over 20 years and in that time he has worked on hundreds of projects with a focus on managing and improving landfills and solid waste infrastructure.

Michelle Tomasiewicz is an Environmental Engineer-in-Training with AECOM based out of Saskatoon. She has been involved in the solid waste industry for four years focusing on landfill design, landfill operations, and waste diversion programs in both the private and public sectors

Natalia is an analyst in the Environmental Protection and Assessment Branch with the Yukon Department of Environment. She oversees waste diversion regulations in the Yukon and has been working to develop Extended Producer Responsibility in the territory.

Natalie Plato is the Giant Mine Remediation Project Deputy Director based out of CIRNAC (Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada) Yellowknife office where she has been since 2014. Ms. Plato has a passion for the North that has kept her North of 60º for over 25 years. Prior to joining the Giant Mine Remediation Project, Ms. Plato served as Director of the INAC Lands and Contaminated Sites directorate in the Nunavut Regional Office.  Her experience in environmental and land stewardship spans both the public and private sector, where she was formerly the district manager for UMA Engineering and worked internationally for the British Antarctic Survey. Mrs. Plato has a Bachelor of Science (w Honours) in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University.

Patrick Peck is the Executive Director of the South-Central Solid Waste Authority (SCSWA), located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Mr. Peck has 28 years of upper management experience in all aspects of solid waste operations, including Landfill, Transfer Station, and Hauling. SCSWA is the largest Solid Waste Authority in the state of New Mexico and manages waste and recycling services for 250,000 people covering 8050 square miles. Mr. Peck’s interest for solid waste came at a young age when he and his family were residents of Missi Falls, Manitoba in the mid 1970’s.  Missi Falls is known today only as Patterson island and is location at the convergence of the Churchill River and South Indian Lake.

Patrick Schmidt is a Senior Engineer and Project Lead on the Giant Mine Remediation Project (GMRP), working for CIRNAC. Prior to working on GMRP, Patrick spent 12 years working in the Waste Management industry, in both private and public sectors, and is a former member of SWANA Northern Lights Chapter. He has previously worked as a consulting engineer with Golder on landfill gas management, landfill design and permitting, and environmental compliance operations for various Ontario landfills. Prior to this, Patrick managed the operation of Saskatoon’s Landfill Gas Collection and Flaring Facility. Patrick has a Bachelor’s of Geological Engineering and a Master’s of Civil Engineering both from University of Saskatchewan.

Bio coming soon

Randy has spent 34 years working in Manitoba’s environment industry with a focus in contaminated sites remediation, hazardous waste management, waste diversion, education and training. Since 2018 he has coordinated the Backhaul Project, a collaboration with remote northern First Nations, Producer Responsibility Organizations, transporters, and recyclable material processors. The best part of his work is learning from, and interacting with, First Nation partners across northern Manitoba.

Rob is a Senior Technical Lead – Office Lead for the Environmental Remediation practice with AECOM in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Rob has experience in management, co-ordination and facilitation of significant response teams on large emergency response and remediation projects in Canada in the south and across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. He has spent much of his career in the Canadian Arctic carrying out projects located in remote areas directing multi-disciplinary teams. Rob has overseen many large complex projects across Canada and has 39 years of experience in the Arctic in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and in the Yukon and Greenland. Rob’s experience includes all aspects of remediation on a variety of projects including the Air Navigation System across the Canadian Arctic, the Distant Early Warning System (DEW line) and major releases from both upstream/downstream petrochemical companies across Canada and overseas in South east Asia and south America.

Rob was the senior technical lead for several projects including the MK Airlines 747 crash at Halifax International Airport and the remediation of JET A-1 and Arctic diesel releases at DND DEW Line BAF-3. Rob has extensive experience in northern mine site remediation involving 15 years of work at the former Colomac Gold Mine, Bullmoose Ruth and Gordon Lake Group of Mines, Stark Lake Mine, Great Bear Lakes Mine sites (Silver Bear Mines) and Rayrock Former Uranium Mine in the NWT.

My name is Roschell Clarke. I am the Solid Waste Education Coordinator for the CBRM Solid Waste Department. My education consists of master’s degree in communication from the University of Maine, a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies with a concentration in Communication from University College of Cape Breton, now known as Cape Breton University a diploma in Business Applications and Commuter Technology from Island Career Academy and a Certificate in Adult Education for Cape Breton University.

I have worked for the CBRM-Solid Waste Department for over 22 years, developing waste management programs and providing educational services to residents and ICI sector. Before beginning my career with the Solid Waste Department, I was the Community Outreach Officer for the Joint Action Group. This group was established to become the voice of the community during the remediation of the Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens Site. This was an environmental disaster left from the Steel industry that needed to be addressed. I was also employed by UCCB and taught Interpersonal communication, Public Speaking and Organizational behavior.

Bio coming soon

Sarah is a project scientist and regulatory “expert” in the Solid Waste Management Practice and is located in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, although she maintains she did not have input into the title and that there is no such thing as an expert when it comes to regulation. That being said Sarah has over 20 years of experience administering regulatory programs and policy development, for environmental and public health issues. Sarah was with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment for 17 years where she regulated all municipal infrastructure, large industry including mining and impacted sites. While with the Ministry she was the Manager of Landfills and it was during this time the provincial landfill inventory went from over 500 operating landfills to below 200, she finished her time with the Ministry as the Director of Air and Land overseeing Air Quality, Landfills and Impacted Sites. For the last three years Sarah has been with Tetra Tech’s Solid Waste Management Practice assisting with regulatory items from Halifax Nova Scotia, Port Alice British Columbia and up to Dawson City and the Yellowknife Waste Management Facility! Given the extensive fire activity this year you may find it interesting that Sarah was on the Incident Command teams as the Information Officer for several large evacuations within Saskatchewan including the Town of LaRonge and was the joint Incident Commander with Husky Incident Command during the 2016 pipeline spill into the North Saskatchewan River. Sarah is currently a Board Member and faculty member with the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) Northern Lights Chapter.  Sarah is excited to be speaking about safety at small and rural landfills today as during her time working with Yukon, NWT and northern BC and Alberta clients she has found many similarities to the many sites in Saskatchewan which far exceed the number of “large landfills” in the prairies and Northern Canada.

Sarina is a Regulatory Advisor, with over 12 years of experience, specializing in understanding and navigating regulatory and environmental risks on engineering projects. Sarina has a proven track record of leading project teams to obtain regulatory permits for our clients under tight timelines and complex situations. Sarina works collaboratively with clients to develop pragmatic solutions to address project-specific regulatory requirements.  Sarina works on projects across western Canada, including transportation, regional planning, design-build/ P3 projects, regional waterlines, water intakes, and wastewater.

Shane Thompson was re-elected to the 19^th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly representing the constituency of Nahendeh.

Mr. Thompson was first elected to the 18^th Assembly in November 2015 and served as Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development. Mr. Thompson was also a member of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning, the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures, and the Striking Committee.

Mr. Thompson was born on July 11, 1963, in Hay River. He has lived in Kugluktuk (Coppermine), Inuvik, Hay River, and in Edmonton, while at the University of Alberta. Fort Simpson has been his home since 1992.

Mr. Thompson previously served two terms (three years each) as an elected official with the Fort Simpson District Education Authority, spending the last four years as the chairperson. Over the past 35 years, he has served on various community and territorial boards.

Mr. Thompson was employed as the Senior Sport and Recreation Coordinator with Municipal and Community Affairs (GNWT) in the Deh Cho region before being elected as a Member.

Mr. Thompson completed the Community Recreation Leaders Program at Arctic College in 1989 and is currently working on a Masters Certificate on Evaluation at the University of Victoria and Carleton University. He also completed three years towards an Education degree at the University of Alberta.

Mr. Thompson is an active volunteer with Northern Youth Aboard, CBET and Fundamental Movement, and HIGH FIVE®. As well, he is a past member of the Sport North Federation Board, NWT Softball and of NWTRPA, and the past president of Seven Spruce Golf Course.

Mr. Thompson is the father of seven children – five daughters and two sons – and has nine grandchildren.

He has been a Justice of the Peace since 1991.

Ms McGarr received her Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from the University of Guelph. She has been practising in the environmental engineering field and more specifically in the area of landfill gas for twenty-seven years and has been involved in over 30 landfill gas projects across Canada. Ms McGarr is responsible for the operation and monitoring of all landfill gas collection and flaring systems operated by Comcor. She has extensive experience designing, operating, maintaining and monitoring temporary and permanent landfill gas migration and control systems, as well as analysis of large amounts of monitoring data. She is also responsible for over 20 MW of green power projects in Ontario and has also produced and sold emission reduction credits in some early voluntary carbon markets since the early 2000s.

Sonya Adams is an Environmental Engineering Technologist originally from Ontario and has considered Alberta to be home for 15 years. Sonya is the Landfill Manager for the Drumheller and District Solid Waste Association and a member of the SWANA NLC Board. When not busy at the office, Sonya is busy being a mom, wife and admirer of horses of all kinds.

Dr. Lozecznik has over 12 years of experience in the consulting engineering field, primarily in the environmental, sanitary, hydraulics, mining and construction disciplines in Canada and Chile.

His experience includes acting as Project Manager and Lead Design Engineer for a variety of Solid Waste Management projects in Cities, Rural Municipalities, Towns, Villages and First Nations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. These projects involved, for example, leachate treatment, landfill design and sequencing plans, retrofitting waste disposal sites into engineered landfills, waste audits, operation manuals, landfill biowindows, recycling assessment studies, waste audits, waste diversion programs and many others.

Mr. Lozecznik is currently serving as an adjunct professor for the Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Manitoba and working with graduate students on Solid Wastes and other R&D projects. Mr. Lozecznik is currently serving as External committee member for M.Sc. and Ph.D. students at the University of Manitoba and University of Regina on Solid Waste Management Projects.

Mr. Lozecznik has received several awards in US and Canada for his contribution to Solid Waste Management. Recently, he was the project manager of the Solid Waste Team that received the 2023 ACEC-MB Award of Excellence for Environmental.

Stevan Mikha first started working in the waste industry at 16, at the City of Regina landfill as a Technologist which continued until he began studying Electronic Systems Engineering at the University of Regina. 

He continued his academic pursuit starting a Master’s Degree in Electronic Systems Engineering focusing on applying Machine Learning to anomaly detection while working full time. 

Stevan is a co-founder and CTO of Prairie Robotics and leads the Engineering team in working with Cities across North America to reduce recycling & organics contamination at the source. 

Steve graduated from the University of Alberta with an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Engineering in Environmental Engineering. He has worked for Alberta Environment, Waste Management of Canada Corporation, and AECOM throughout his career specializing in waste management over the past 27 years.

While at Alberta Environment he was an approval writer for landfills, water, and waste water treatment facilities and then the Provinces Landfill Specialist instrumental in the development of the Standards for Landfills in Alberta, the Guidelines for Landfills in Alberta, and initiating the Standards for Composting in Alberta. He also was the chair of the Alberta Landfill and Compost Operator Certification Committee, a member of the Technical Guidance for the Quantification of Specified Gas Emissions from Landfills, the Technical group for the Management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials in Waste, and a variety of dead animal disposal committees.

While at Waste Management of Canada Corporation Steve was the Site Engineer responsible for landfill capping, developing and operating a leachate treatment plant, waste acceptance approvals, regulatory reporting, gull control, and the upgrade to a landfill gas collection and flaring system, and the siting and regulatory application for a new landfill.
At AECOM he is involved in solid waste management studies, landfill siting studies, landfill design, transfer station feasibility and design, landfill master plans, operations plans, environmental monitoring plans, fill plans, compliance audits, the National Solid Waste Benchmarking Initiative, and related environmental studies and regulatory applications. He recently has been appointed to be the Waste Services Manager for Canada.

Steve is a SWANA Northern Lights Chapter instructor for the landfill operator basics course, Manager of Landfill Operations course, and the leachate management course.

In his off time, Steve is an avid curler, runs community gardens, and tries to keep up with his two young daughter’s activities

Susan Antler serves as the Executive Director of The Compost Council of Canada. The Compost Council of Canada is devoted to the advancement of organics recycling and the return of organic matter back to our soils since its establishment as a non-profit, member-driven organization in 1991. The Compost and Digestate Quality Alliance, Compost Facility Operator training and certification, regulatory and voluntary standards, Soil Health initiatives and gardening programs such as Plant-Grow-Share a Row are just some of the many programs developed and stewarded by the Council to support the advancement of organics recycling of all types across Canada.

Susan Young is responsible for strategic and horizontal policy within the federal zero plastic waste and circular plastics economy initiative at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). She has worked on sustainability issues in both the public and private sectors since 1992. Her first government positions were at Global Affairs Canada, in the Environment and Southeast Asia Divisions. She then spent four years each at the Canadian Environment Industry Association, and as a consultant at Marbek, a national environmental consulting firm in Ottawa. After several years abroad with small children, she returned to Global Affairs where she held positions in multilateral programs, until joining ECCC in 2017. Susan holds a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Université Laval, and a post-graduate diploma in Sustainable Development: Natural Resource Management from the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy at the University of London in the U.K.

Bio coming soon

Will Burrows is Director Consumer Collection & Sustainability with Interchange Recycling.

Will brings 28 years of experience in the waste and recycling industry, (longer if you include playing at the local dump in his youth). He has served on several provincial advisory committees to help develop strategies to better manage the waste and recyclables that we all produce.

After emigrating from the UK in 1988 and will and his wife settled on southern Vancouver Island in 1995 to raise their family.

KIKI7IN T’ICH’IINIM hereditary chief of Tseshaht First Nation / William Severinson 

Tla -qui-o-aht First Nation Solid Waste Champion 

William Severinson is the Public Works lead hand and Sort’nGo Community Educator for Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations (TFN) and hereditary chief of the Tsehaht First Nation. He’s been working as the community’s Solid Waste Champion since June 2022 and plays an important role within TFN supporting his community by monitoring and maintaining key infrastructure, coordinating community clean ups and providing education relating to waste diversion in his community. William was key in the rollout of the West Coast Sort’nGo curbside collection program providing local solutions for cart storage, deployment and continued cart maintenance services for the ACRD that allowed for the successful launch of the new service. With a background in culinary arts and business management, he recently completed his Community Recycling Champion certification training in May from the Indigenous Zero Waste Technical Advisory Group (IZWTAG).