About
Maya’xa̱la x̱a̱n’s a̱wi’nakola—‘a way of life that respects the air, land, sea and spirit’.
Awi’nakola Foundation is an Indigenous-led organization blending arts and sciences for the protection of Indigenous Territory and re-edification of Indigenous Sovereignty.
Our mission is dedicated to shapeshifting power, mobilizing funds, transforming resource equity, and building meaningful partnerships. First and foremost, we amplify Indigenous leadership and support the self-determination and rights of Indigenous peoples.
Our programming is informed by values, laws, protocols and teachings of the land, centering respectful relationships with the non-human world and sustainable reciprocity with biodiversity. Our board of Indigenous matriarchs exemplifies our foundational commitment to dismantling colonial legacies: re-centering Indigenous sovereignty, matriarchal leadership, Title and Rights, and healing.
We generate impact by:
Building opportunities for access to Territory via land and water.
Awakening ancient village sites through storytelling, observing natural laws, harvest, ceremony and honouring protocols.
Assessing cumulative impacts of landscape-level disturbances, working alongside community and qualified professionals to develop restoration objectives that can be married, merged and complement Indigenous processes.
Community-supported mapping of cultural resources, including culturally-modified trees, archeological features, and ethnobotanical inventorying, demonstrating continuous use and occupation.
Facilitating spaces for intergenerational knowledge-transfer.
Advocating with a legal pluralist approach.
Awi’nakola Foundation Team
Yakawilas Coreen Child
COREEN CHILD, YAKAWILAS, is a member of the Kwakiutl (Kwagu’ł) First Nation and has many connections to the nobility across Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw communities. She traces her lineage to times before contact and carries many ancestral lines across Kwak’wala-speaking Nations. Coreen has served multiple terms as an elected Chief Counsellor and in many leadership positions advocating for Indigenous Rights and Title, the Rights of Indigenous women and girls, language and cultural revitalization. She is a traditional singer, dancer, and cultural educator, as well as a leader advocating for Indigenous communities regionally and nationally. Coreen holds a bachelor’s degree in education, with a specialization in language revitalization and is currently completing her Masters in Indigenous Governance. She is currently the Executive Director of the Awi’nakola Foundation. Awi’nakola Vision - Maya'xa̱la x̱a̱n’s a̱wi'nakola: A way of life that respects the air, land, sea, and spirit.
Makwala - Rande Cook
Rande was born in ‘Yalis (Alert Bay), on the west coast of Canada. He was raised by the strong teachings of his grandparents, Gus and Florence Matilpi.
Rande holds chieftainships from his maternal side and his paternal side. From his father’s side he is from the Gigalgam (The First Ones). Making the Thunderbird (Kwanusila) the crest of the “Namgis (Nimpkish) tribe. From his mother’s side, he is from the Seagull (Hamatam) of the Ma’amtagila (Matilpi Village) tribe.
While growing up, Rande and his grandfather observed and discussed the traditional art forms of their Kwa’kwa’ka’wakw heritage. More specifically drawn to the ceremonial masks and the art of the potlatch. Very early in his career, Rande apprenticed with master carver John Livingston, a close family member.
Rande is the Founding Director and Director of Arts for Indigenous-led Awi’nakola Foundation, a registered Canadian charity charting a pathway for the conservation of biological diversity through decolonization, art and progressive western science, and who understand biological wellbeing as interconnected and mutually reinforcing of cultural wellbeing. The foundation’s land-based work in service to Indigenous communities began in support of the Ma’amtagila’s legal challenge to halt the illegal treaty negotiations over their territories and to bolster Ma’amtagila’s jurisdictional assertion according to Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw Potlatch Law.
Britton Jacob-Schram
Britton is a strategic, thoughtful non-profit collaborator with more than 10 years’ experience in the charitable sector. As Director of Development she supports Awi’nakola Foundation’s fund development strategy and impact, while tending to reciprocal relationships of trust and accountability with its philanthropic and grant-making partners.
Born and raised in California, in Tongva territory, Britton carries a degree with honors from University of California, Irvine (English and Biological Sciences). As an undergrad she trained in estuarine habitat restoration, bird banding at Starr Ranch Audubon Sanctuary, and invasive species management; her background in ecological restoration (Dip. RNS - UVic), journalism, and fund development helps knit together organizational strategy with financial resiliency. She's most passionate about aligning interest, heart, and opportunity to mobilize resources for Indigenous sovereignty and land-based healing.
Britton is of mixed ancestry: Irish/German (Thompson/Schram) on her father’s side; and Métis (Saulteaux/Swampy Cree/Irish/Scottish—family names: McNab, McDermot), Jamaican and British, on her mother’s. She and her partner are mums to two young children and live in t’Suk territories.
Mark Worthing
Mark Worthing (he/him) is a settler of Scottish and English ancestry based on Vancouver Island. He is a multidisciplinary community organizer, researcher, and policy-analyst working at the intersections of environmental activism, applied conservation biology, decolonization and land-based methodologies.
Mark is experienced in direct-action, movement building, intersectional advocacy, and ecology field-work research with a focus on the landscapes of so-called British Columbia. He works with and for many coastal First Nations communities, bringing nearly two decades’ experience working for many Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations at the global, national and grassroots levels.
Mark can be found somewhere between the old growth forests of coastal British Columbia, the boardroom tables of biodiversity-policy development, or global climate justice movement spaces where he centers a trauma-informed approach to healing, learning and creativity.
He is the Director of Programs & Campaigns at Awi'nakola Foundation.
Awi’nakola Board
Laqwa, Maxine Hayman Matilpi
Maxine Hayman Matilpi (Laqwa), J.D., LL.M, is a member of the Kwakiutl Nation and also identifies as Ma'amtagila and Scottish/English. A former lawyer, chief negotiator for the Kwakiutl Nation (Tsakis), instructor at Vancouver Island University (First Nations Studies; Gender Studies), and Director of Academic and Cultural Support at UVic’s Faculty of Law, her research interests are Indigenous Law and Indigenous Pedagogy. Laqwa is part of the team at West Coast Environmental Law that developed and implemented RELAW (“Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air and Water”) and co-taught in UVic’s JID Field School.
Maxine grew up in Tsleil-Waututh Territory where her social activism started early. As a child, in solidarity with Cesar Chavez and agricultural workers in California, for close to five years her family stopped eating grapes and started talking on a daily basis about exploited workers and the benefits of union membership. Later her activism led her to the practice of midwifery (long before it was legal in BC) giving women and families a choice about where and how to birth their Babies. She’s a member of the First Nations Women’s Yoga Collective, “Testify” Indigenous Laws & the Arts, a grandmother, and a life-long learner of Kwak’wala.
G̱wa̱nti’lakw Hunt Cranmer
G̱wa̱nti’lakw Hunt Cranmer, is Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw of the ‘Na̱mg̱is, Kwagu’ł, Mamaliliḵa̱la and Ligwiłda’x̱w tribes. During high school, they were very active in the movement to remove open net fish farms from the Broughton Archipelago, particularly at the Swanson Island open net fish farm. They organized walkouts in their local high school and created educational videos to share and raise awareness through social media platforms. As the Language Programs Associate at the U’mista Cultural Centre, G̱wa̱nti’lakw is deeply engaged in cultural preservation efforts, particularly in revitalizing the yaḵ̓a̱ndala (language) learning from the Ni’nox̱sola (wise ones) for the past three years. Beyond professional duties, G̱wa̱nti’lakw actively participates in the T̓sasała Cultural Group and conducts cedar weaving workshops, demonstrating a commitment to community engagement and cultural sharing. With a passion for exploring and conserving ancestral weaving techniques G̱wa̱nti’lakw has been fortunate to visit museums across North America and Europe to examine old cedar bark and Chilkat weavings to learn the ancient techniques developed by their ancestors as a continuation of the use in their traditional ceremonies today. Whether engaging with children, teens, adults, or broader audiences, G̱wa̱nti’lakw is dedicated to sharing the richness of their gwayi’le’las (our traditional ways of doing things).
Marilyn Baptiste
Marilyn Baptiste served as Chief 2008-2013, and then as Council 2013-2018, for her community of Xeni Gwet’in First Nation in British Columbia, one of the six First Nations making up the Tsilhqot’in Nation, which was awarded the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision declaring Aboriginal Title in 2014.
Marilyn co-founded the First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM) to challenge mining development projects and policy in BC and in Xeni Gwet’in land, while supporting other areas of BC facing similar challenges. She has collaborated with community leaders from the Yunesit’in and the broader Tsilhqot’in Nation to permanently protect Teẑtan Biny (Fish Lake) and the surrounding areas as Dasiqox, Nexwagwez?an ~ there for us.
For her work in leading her community to defeat a large mining project, Marilyn has been the recipient of several awards, including the 2010 Boreal Initiative Award, the Wilderness Committee’s Eugene Environmental Award, the Activist of the Year Award by the Council of Canadians, and the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s largest international award for grassroots environmental activism. Marilyn lives at home in Nemiah Valley, BC, and remains committed to defending First Nations’ values on the land and water and in her community supporting healthy children and families, language and culture for strong future generations.
Jasḵwaan Bedard
Jasḵwaan is a mother, Haida language educator, and Indigenous language advocate from G̱aw Tlagée – Massett, Haida Gwaii. Her PhD research looks to strengthen Indigenous languages. Her dissertation “X̱aad Kíhlga Tl’a Guusuugiigang: A Haida Research Framework Applied to X̱aad Kil Immersion” aims to provide a pathway for specialized Massett Haida language immersion guided by Haida community, laws, and values. Jasḵwaan is an instructor for Simon Fraser University’s Indigenous Languages Program, where she teaches the Haida language, as well as Indigenous language pedagogies. She is also a Haida singer, X̱aad Kíl translator, and X̱aad Kíl learning resource developer.
Reach Out
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