Board of Directors
Sierra Club Canada's board is a 9 person board, with elections for three positions occurring annually. Two positions are reserved for youth. To be eligible to sit on the board, you must have been a member of Sierra Club Canada for the year preceding your nomination. If you are interested in learning more about the board, or other volunteer opportunities with Sierra Club Canada, please email: president@sierraclub.ca
Current Board members are:
PAULA BOUTIS (President) is a lawyer practicing environmental, non-profit and charitable law. Paula’s commitment to the environmental movement extends to a number of a board positions including as a past director of WindShare, the co-operative that operates the Exhibition place turbine. She brings over 10 years of Club experience to her role as a Director, having volunteered at all levels of the Club, including as Chapter Chair for the Ontario Chapter.
EMMA CANE is a graduate of the University of Toronto's Forest Conservation Science program and worked at Sierra Club Canada from 2008-2010 as Ontario Chapter Coordinator, as well as representing the Club on forestry issues and sustainable transportation. Her advocacy work continues as a member of both provincial and national Sierra Club boards: focusing on urban issues locally and conservation policy at a national level. Her background in grassroots advocacy began in 2007, creating a community learning network and environmental management system based on ISO14001 for Riverdale Immigrant Women's Centre. Previously, she maintained a research-based position at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. She also has experience in an administrative capacity at Ontario's Centre of Forensic Sciences and the Ministry of Attorney General.
SAMANTHA GREEN (Youth Representative) holds a Bachelor of Arts & Science from McMaster University and is currently a senior medical student at the University of Ottawa. Throughout her studies she has been involved in environmental activism, most recently as Ottawa's medical student representative to the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, as a member of the Sierra Youth Coalition's executive committee from 2006-2009, and as the coordinator of a medical student advocacy group that explores issues of the environment and poverty through the lens of health and disease. In the past, Samantha represented Ottawa to the Canadian Federation of Medical Students' Global Health Program; coordinated the McMaster Student Union's environmental office; and represented Canadian youth on Canada's delegation to the Commission for Sustainable Development. Samantha aims to use her growing medical expertise to advocate on behalf of the environment and sustainable development. In between learning the medical profession and striving to maintain her environmental activism, Samantha loves to cook vegan feasts, run marathons, and bike around the National Capital Region.
DOUG MCARTHUR Doug McArthur is Professor and Distinguished Fellow, School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University. Before that, he was Senior Fellow in Public Policy at the University of British Columbia. He teaches government and politics, public policy theory and process, resources policy and aboriginal policy. He is also engaged in a research program encompassing these fields, and has presented and published a number of papers related to them. He is currently Chair of Sierra Club BC. He was for many years a senior public servant in the British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Yukon Governments. At various times he was Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary in B.C., Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs in B.C, Chief Land Claims Negotiator in the Yukon, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Deputy Minister of Northern Saskatchewan in Saskatchewan. He was Minister of Education in Saskatchewan from 1978 to 1982 and Chair of the Canadian Council of Ministers of Education. He advises the Tsawwassen First Nation on treaty and development issues. He is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, University of Toronto, and Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
MEREDITH JAMES (Secretary) is a lawyer practicing environmental law. She is a former Sierra Club Prairie Associate Chapter Director and founding member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. She brings experience working with a wide-range of environmental groups at the municipal, provincial, and national levels including The People’s Pedal (Edmonton’s bicycle sharing cooperative) and the Saskatchewan Eco-Network. Meredith holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Saskatchewan and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from the University of Alberta.
GORDON MAIR (Treasurer - Ex officio) is currently serving as the Treasurer of the Sierra Club Board, Gordon Mair was formerly with the Club as its Chief Financial Officer and is now the Director of Finance and Administration with Amnesty International Canadian Section. A Certified Management Accountant, Gordon has worked in finance internationally as Assistant Country Director of CARE International in Zambia, as Finance Manager for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in New Caledonia, and as the Director of Finance and Administration for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture in Costa Rica. Previously he had worked for Forestry Canada and for the Office of the Auditor General.
SEAN PETTY is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg, having completed a B.A. in English and History. A graduate of the Leadership Winnipeg program, Sean has also completed training in conflict resolution and mediation. In 2008, he was privileged to receive climate change training from former U.S. Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore. Sean has worked extensively in government. He has worked for the Manitoba government (Highways and Government Services), the federal government (Canadian Heritage), and as a political assistant to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Hon. Dr. Rey D. Pagtakhan. In 2000, he had the privilege of serving as the Canadian Liaison Officer to the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister at the War-Affected Children Conference. Fluently bilingual (English, French), Sean has a long history of volunteering in the community. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Zoological Society of Manitoba, the Celebrate Canada Committee (Manitoba), the United Nations Association of Canada (Winnipeg branch), and the Sierra Club of Canada’s Winnipeg group. He has also sat on the Board of the Liberal Party of Canada (Manitoba), acting as Manitoba Chair to the Liberal Party’s National Standing Committee on Policy Development. In 2006, he co-chaired the Winnipeg City Summit’s Youth Speakout event at the invitation of Winnipeg’s mayor.
TONY REDDIN a social activist and musician from Bonshaw, P.E.I. has been active in SCC since the Atlantic Canada Chapter began in 2001. A graduate of UPEI (BSc Physics), Tony was involved in the Maritime Energy Coalition for many years, and is presently the Energy Project Coordinator for the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island (ECO-P.E.I.)and the PEI Representative to the Atlantic Canada Sustainable Energy Coalition (ACSEC). Tony has served on the Atlantic Board for OXFAM Canada and is active in the PEI Food Security Network. He also volunteers as an educator at schools, as a community event organizer, and as a leader of singalongs, contra dances, nature walks, canoe paddles and discussions of other alternatives to fossil fuel consumption.
VANISHA SUKDEO is currently pursuing her Ph.D. (Law) at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Ontario. She is also an Instructor at Osgoode teaching first year law students. Her dissertation is entitled “Shareholder Proposals: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Intersection of Workers’ Rights” and her supervisor is Professor Poonam Puri. Vanisha received her B.A. from York University where she majored in Political Science. She then received her LL.B. from Queen’s University and was Called to the Ontario Bar in 2007. Vanisha completed her LL.M. at Osgoode before starting her dissertation. She was a Fellow of the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security in 2009-2010.
