9 Inspiring Women Protecting Our Environment

Women have been at the forefront of the environmental movement for centuries. From Catharine Parr Traill’s work as an author, naturalist, and botanist in Ontario in the 1800s to Biruté Galdikas’ conservation and anthropology efforts throughout the late 1900s, women have been making monumental contributions to environmental conservation for quite some time. In celebration of International Women’s Day, CPAWS OV is spotlighting nine inspiring women currently protecting our environment and impacting policy in Canada.

Manvi Bhalla

Labelled one of Canada’s Top 25 Under 25 Environmentalists and Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders, Manvi Bhalla is the co-founder and president of Shake Up The Establishment, a national youth-led non-profit improving literacy about the climate crisis and encouraging youth to get involved in political action. Manvi is currently completing her graduate studies looking at climate change-related health risks. When she isn’t busy leading her non-profit or studying, she consults with the Federal Government on climate change related reports, guest lectures at the University of Guelph and Waterloo, and works with anti-poverty and anti-discrimination organizations.

Beth Eden

Beth Eden works to make the UN Sustainable Development Goals a reality, spurring other youth into action to help fight the climate crisis. Beth has been involved in the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network as a Youth Network Coordinator, has co-founded the Impact Alliance at the University of Waterloo, and is co-chair of the Impact Initiative for CICan. She also sits on the City of Waterloo’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, where her policy solutions to combat climate change were adopted and a declaration of climate emergency announced as a result. She’s also been named one of Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo

Melina Laboucan-Massimo, member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation, boasts an impressive resume. She’s the Founder of Sacred Earth Solar, the Just Transition Director at Indigenous Climate Action, a Fellow at the David Suzuki Foundation, a campaigner with Greenpeace Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network internationally, and host of Power to the People, a show shedding light on eco-housing projects, renewable energy, and food security projects in Indigenous communities across Canada.

She’s spent the past 20 years advocating for Indigenous rights and environmental justice after witnessing her traditional territory be impacted by the Alberta tar sands. Melina pushes social, environmental, and climate justice issues forward across the country and world.

Tina Yeonju Oh

Award-winning environmentalist Tina Yeonju Oh attends the annual UN COP meetings as a Canadian Youth Delegate, is a member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, led the DivestMtA program at Mount Allison University, and leads nationwide fossil fuel divestment campaigns while balancing grad school.

Her work focusing on climate action and its intersectionality with social movements has awarded her a Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 by Starfish Canada and the 2018 Brower Youth Award for her leadership. She’s also been named one of the Top 13 Canadian Environmentalists by the CBC.

Annamie Paul

Annamie Paul shifted her career from the courtroom to politics to become the Leader of the Green Party of Canada in 2019, focused on pushing back against building pipelines while ignoring community and environmental impacts. As Leader of the Green Party, Annamie’s work focuses on nature conservation, banning fracking, and more.

Annamie has had the opportunity to be on the Board or act as an advisor to many international NGOs, including the Climate Infrastructure Partnership and Institute for Integrated Transitions. She is a Fellow with Action Canada and Echoing Green, a member of the Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program and University of Ottawa’s Common Law Honour Society, and has received the Harry Jerome Award.

Autumn Peltier

Autumn Peltier of the Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, is an Anishinaabe Indigenous clean water advocate and Chief Water Protector for the Anishnabek Nation. By 12 years old, she was speaking with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Assembly of First Nations to discuss his clean-water policies. She went on to share her message with the UN General Assembly during the launch of the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development in 2018 and again in 2019 before the UN Global Landscapes Forum.

Autumn has been nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2017, 2018, and 2019 for her outstanding work in leading the global youth environmental movement. The Ontario Lieutenant Governor also awarded Autumn the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for her remarkable water-rights advocacy. Autumn continues to push for clean water access in Indigenous communities throughout the pandemic, where the number of cases has been severe.

Aliénor Rougeot

Aliénor Rougeot began her activism from a young age, raising awareness about biodiversity loss in her community. Her passion for environmental conservation stuck with her as she’s now a Climate Strike Canada organizer and leader for Toronto’s Fridays for Futures Strikes, a movement educating students about the impacts of climate change. She led 50,000 students to march in 2019 to protest for climate action. This work has led to national recognition of her efforts, including being named one of The 50 Most Influential Torontonians and Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders in 2019.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Nobel Peace Prize nominee, author, award winner, and Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier has been pioneering solutions to environmental conservation concerns for decades.

In the late 90s an early 2000s, Sheila was the Canadian president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) before becoming the international chair representing 155,000 Inuit peoples. Her 2007 Nobel Peace Prize nomination was due to her advocacy work depicting the impacts of climate change on human rights in the Arctic. In 2015, she published The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet, which was later nominated for multiple awards in 2016 and shortlisted for CBC Canada Reads in 2017. Sheila is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been awarded the Norwegian Sophie Prize and the Right Livelihood Award, the Aboriginal Achievement Award, and the UN Champion of the Earth Award.

Alison Woodley

Alison Woodley has spent over three decades protecting Canada’s public lands and waters. From the beginning of her career with Parks Canada to spending 18 years with CPAWS, Alison has played an instrumental leadership role in environmental conservation. Her impact has stretched across Canada, from playing a key role in the expansion of the Nahanni National Park Reserve to leading the Green Budget Coalition’s work of securing $1.3 billion in federal funding in the 2018 Budget.

She also works closely with the federal government to advise on conservation policy efforts. Alison has been a member of the National Advisory Panel for the Pathway to Canada Target One initiative, the federal Species at Risk Advisory Committee, and an advisor to the federal Auditor General’s office on park issues.