Valérie Courtois

Why you should listen

Valérie Courtois is a member of the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, located on the shore of Peikuakami, or Lac-St-Jean, in what is now known as Québec. She is the director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, which is dedicated to strengthening Indigenous Nationhood and supporting Indigenous Nations in honoring the responsibility to care for lands and waters. She has also served as a forestry advisor for the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador, forestry planner for the Innu Nation and as a consultant in Aboriginal forestry, including certification and spatial planning and caribou planning. She has received numerous awards and recognitions for this work, including as a Labradorian of Distinction, a distinguished alumnus of the Forestry Faculty of the University of Moncton and most recently received an Honorary Doctorate in Laws (honoris causa) from the University of Guelph.