Organizing Committee

Organizing Committee

The Organizing Committee for the 12th International Congress of Ethnobiology was comprised of people from several organizations.

Each of these individuals was truly committed to a very successful Congress. Although the Congress is over, please do not hesitate to contact the Organizing Committee through the Chair, Josie Osborne, at [email protected] or at +1 (250) 725-1220.

Josie Osborne, Chair
Board Member, Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation.
Josie is a marine biologist and environmental educator who has worked with Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations communities on the West Coast of Vancouver Island since 1998. Her main interests are to help empower individuals and communities to better manage and co-exist with aquatic life and habitats, and her interests in ethnobiology have grown out of her experiences working as a fisheries biologist for Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. In particular, she has been inspired by the recent return of sea otters to Nuu-chah-nulth territory and her growing understanding of the relationship between sea otters and Nuu-chah-nulth people.  In part due to her passion to communicate about sea otters and other environmental and ethnobiological isses, in 2007 Josie became the executive director of the Raincoast Education Society, a leading community-based charitable organization active in environmental education,outreach and stewardship on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. Josie was thrilled to collaborate with an impressive team of Organizing Committee members and immensely enjoyed introducing ISE members and local Tofino and Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation community members at the May 2010 Tofino Congress.

George Patterson
Founder, Tofino Botanical Gardens & Clayoquot Field Station
George founded the Tofino Botanical Gardens in 1997 after 20 years of experience in the landscaping and nursery business (17 of which were owning his own Boston, USA company) and a year volunteering for Conservation International at the Wilson Botanical Gardens in Costa Rica. Since their beginnings,the Tofino Botanical Gardens have been an embodiment of ethnobotany - George actively describes and promotes the gardens as a place to explore the relationship between culture and nature, and many of the pocket gardens are themed on the various cultures that have inhabited Clayoquot Sound (Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations, European settlers, Japanese fisherman and their families, and more recently, the Hippies).  Today, the Tofino Botanical Gardens have grown to include a 32 bunk Field Station for students and researchers, and are a keystone in the growing research and education sector of the Tofino economy. George is proud to have been a part of the 12th International Congress of Ethnobiology.

Dawn Foxcroft
Principal, White Raven Consulting
Dawn has been involved in community development, youth and social justice issues since an early age in her home town of Port Alberni, British Columbia. A graduate of the University of Victoria with a double major in Anthropology and Sociology, Dawn works to help Nuu-chah-nulth communities with specific issues and challenges, while celebrating their cultural strengths, uniqueness and integrity. Dawn grew up amongst family within the Tseshaht First Nation (Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, Canada), attending Haa-huu-payuk School (a unique Nuu-chah-nulth Elementary School) learning her traditional songs, dances, language and artforms.  She has been working alongside her sister Kelly Poirier on many forms of story telling - from websites to newsletters to nationally-shown art and photography installations.

Kelly Poirier
Principal, White Raven Consulting
Bio coming

Levi Martin
Elder, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations
Levi is an elder of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island (Canada), in whose  territory the Tofino 2010 Congress takes place. Levi has spent many years involved in healing projects such as the Nuu-chah-nulth Healing Project, where he and his co-workers used cultural teachings and provided workshops on unity, healthy grieving, language and self-esteem to help survivors of residential schools.  Levi is one of the few remaining fluent speakers of the Nuu-chah-nulth language and a prominent member of the Tofino and Tla-o-qui-aht communities. He often provides traditional welcomes, prayers, and blessings for many local events. In a short ceremony at the 11th International Congress of Ethnobiology in Cusoc, Peru, Levi received Darrell Posey's walking stick and cared for it until the Tofino Congress when it was passed on.

Verna Miller
Board Member (Americas Regional Representative, 2008-2010), International Society of Ethnobiology
Verna Miller is a member of the Nlakapamux Nation (central interior of British Columbia, Canada).  She is the Americas Representative on the ISE Board. Verna joined the International Society of Ethnobiology in 2006, and participated in the special session at the 10th International Congress of Ethnobiology in Chiang Rai, Thailand, where the text for the ISE's Code Of Ethics was finalized. Her participation in the ISE is a reflection of her commitment to be a strong voice for Indigenous peoples.

Leslie Johnson
Secretary and Board Member (2008-2010), International Society of Ethnobiology
Leslie Main Johnson is an ethnobiologist and ethnoecologist who works primarily with northern indigenous people in Canada.  She is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Work and Community Studies and the Centre for Integrated Studies at Athabasca University, a distance learning university in the Canadian province of Alberta, where she teaches ethnobiology and ethnography. Her research interests include ethnoecology, traditional knowledge,  ethnobiology,  subsistence, and concepts of health and healing among northwestern Canadian First Nations.  She lived in northwestern British Columbia in the territory of the Gitksan for 12 years before returning to graduate school in the 1990's, where she earned her MA and PhD at the University of Alberta. She presently has two books on ethnoecology and landscape in press and has published a number of articles on ethnoecology and ethnobiology.

Kelly Bannister
ISE Ethics Committee Chair and Board Member (2008-2010; 2010-2012), International Society of Ethnobiology
Kelly is the Director of the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance (www.polisproject.org) and an adjunct professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria (Victoria, B.C., Canada). She has B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Microbiology/Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Ethnobotany/Medicinal Plant Chemistry. She is actively involved in both ethnobotanical field research and policy analysis, and mainly works with First Nations and treaty groups in British Columbia. Her current focus is on ethical and legal issues in research involving biodiversity, Indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage, and the potential of moral tools and local governance mechanisms (e.g., codes of ethics, community research protocols) to address power relations and facilitate equitable research practices. She is involved as a Canadian expert on developing Access and Benefit Sharing policy and legislation under the Convention of Biological Diversity. She is also involved in institutional policy development in support of collaborative research between universities, Aboriginal communities, and community non-profit organizations.

Natasha Duarte
Coordinator, International Society of Ethnobiology
Natasha is a soil scientist and anthropologist, living in Vermont, USA. She has six years of experience in greant writing, proposal preparation and project administration/managements, as well as extensive edxperience in international participatory community development. 

The Organizing Committee received invaluable support from:
Eileen Floody, Administrator, Tofino Botanical Gardens
Jack Miller, ISE Member
White Raven Consulting
Gleb Raygorodetsky, The Christensen Fund
The entire ISE Board (2008-2010 term members)