HGI is governed by the HGI Advisory Council and UBC Forestry Office of the Dean. The HGI Advisory Council is made up of members of the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society (HGHES) Board of Directors, and the HGI Director who is a non-voting member. The HGI Advisory Council is a cross-cultural, engaged, and committed working group who share in the mission and vision of HGI.
Suudihl Cindy Boyko
Suudihl Cindy Boyko has served as the Council of the Haida Nation co-chair on the Gwaii Haanas Archipelago Management Board for the past twenty years, where she has overseen the signing of the Gwaii Haanas Marine Agreement and establishment of Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, the raising of the Legacy Pole at Hlk’yahGawGa Windy Bay and signing of the Gina ’Waadluxan KilGuhlGa Land-Sea-People Management Plan. Cindy sat as an elected representative on the Council of the Haida Nation for nine years and, prior to that, was manager of the Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program. She is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Haida Gwaii Institute.
Skil Hiilans Allan Davidson
Skil-Hiilans Alan Davison is a Haida Hereditary Chief, archaeologist, and artist, serving at the Hereditary Chiefs Table of the Haida Nation. With a BA in Anthropology from Vancouver Island University and over a decade of archaeological research in Gwaii Haanas, he now manages programs at Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, focusing on Southern Resident Killer Whale recovery efforts.
Nang Ḵaa Klaagangs Ernie Gladstone
Ernie grew up in Skidegate and began working for Parks Canada as a deck hand in 1992. With a diploma in business management, Ernie worked his way into management and, in 2001, became the youngest and first Haida Superintendent of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. As superintendent, Ernie oversees the protection and presentation of the ecological and cultural heritage of Gwaii Haanas which includes SG̱ang Gwaay World Heritage Site and a number of National Historic Sites. Gwaii Haanas is cooperatively managed by the Government of Canada and the Council of the Haida Nation. Ernie was awarded a 2008 Public Service Award of Excellence for his work at Gwaii Haanas. He lives in Skidegate with his partner and their three children.
Art Lew
Art arrived in Haida Gwaii in 1998 to establish and manage Haida Gwaii Community Futures. The organization over the years played a major role in building community capacity and supporting efforts to expand economic opportunities that promote community sustainability, with particular emphasis on social enterprise. Art was a founding member of the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society and remains involved as a board member. Art continues to pursue his interest in community economic development both locally and internationally. He holds University degrees in Business Administration and in Community Economic Development, and has held positions in management consulting and in senior management in a variety of industry sectors.
Dr. Peter Marshall, RPF
Peter has worked as a professor at the University of British Columbia since 1983 and served as the Associate Dean-Academic for UBC Forestry from 1998 to 2017, playing a supportive and important role for the early years of the Haida Gwaii Semesters, as he continues to do now as a member of the HGI Advisory Council. His research interests include complex stand dynamics and design of samples. Peter has been active professionally throughout his career, serving a term as president of the Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP) and also the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF). He remains active with both organizations, serving on the Board of Examiners and the Complaints Resolution Committee for the ABCFP and as a member of the Vancouver Section Council for the CIF. He is a long-time member, and current chair, of the Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board and represents the CIF on the Canadian Federation of Professional Forestry Associations. Peter and his wife, Val, live in North Vancouver.
Keith Moore, RPF
Keith has been a resident of Haida Gwaii for more than 30 years. He is a Registered Professional Forester and has an MA in Geography. Since 2000, Keith has run a consulting business based in Daajing Giids that takes him across Canada and the world to work on forest certification with the Forest Stewardship Council. To date, Keith has been involved in over 70 certification projects in five Canadian provinces and eleven other countries. Keith is also involved in forestry and environmental issues in BC. On Haida Gwaii, these include the campaign to protect the southern part of the islands, the Fish Forestry Interaction Program, the Strategic Land Use Plan and the development of a comprehensive forestry strategy for the islands. He is a volunteer with a number of local organizations and was a founding director of the Laskeek Bay Conservation Society, which is involved with seabirds, marine mammals and forest birds. Keith lives with his wife, Helen in Daajing Giids.
Dr. Hilary Thorpe
Hilary moved to Haida Gwaii in 2008 after completing a PhD in forestry from the University of Toronto. From 2009 to 2011, she held an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship in the Geography Department at the University of British Columbia and was HGHES’ Academic Director, where she developed curriculum and taught courses in the Haida Gwaii Semester in Natural Resource Studies. Since 2012, Hilary has worked for Parks Canada as the Marine Project Manager for Gwaii Haanas. With colleagues from the Haida Nation and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, she is leading development of an integrated plan to guide management of the National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site. Prior to joining the board in 2015, Hilary was an academic advisor for the Haida Gwaii Semester, assisting in the development of the Haida Gwaii Semester in Natural Resource Science.
