First Nations women are at the forefront of conservation and stewardship. This fellowship aims to support leaders by expanding their professional experiences within the conservation movement.
Fellowship for Women
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI) andWildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCS Canada) have come together to support women leaders by launching the First Nations Women Transforming Conservation Fellowship.
The fellowship is designed to empower First Nations women to envision and build vibrant, resilient communities that reflect who we are—our ways of knowing, doing, and being. It will draw on the expertise of both ILI and WCS Canada, including advocacy, policy, and western scientific research.
Five primary learning goals are woven through the program via workshops, field experiences, camps and mentor-guided opportunities.
Indigenous Nationhood & Land-Based Conservation
Cross-Cultural Leadership, Research & Policy Fluency
Community-Rooted Leadership & Relational Accountability
Strategic Communications & Public Advocacy
Wellbeing, Identity, and leadership sustainability
Throughout the fellowship, fellows will explore how to align learning opportunities with their own goals and learning needs.
Caring for the Land
Indigenous women carry the knowledge and traditions that are central to our relationships with our lands and waters, safeguarding them for our people and future generations. Their leadership in renewing, mobilizing, and sharing Indigenous knowledge is pivotal to sustaining healthy lands and waters.
Colonialism and paternalistic policies have restricted the spaces where women belong. This has led to conservation strategies that often overlook the leadership and knowledge of Indigenous women. The resilience of our lands and cultures is weakened as a result.
Yet Indigenous women still step in as leaders in conservation and stewardship–both within and beyond our Nations. To continue to flourish, Indigenous women leaders need spaces where they can build relationships, find mentorship, and experience learning opportunities that align with their values.
Meet the 2026-2027 Fellows
Coralee Johns
Coralee Johns is a Yukon First Nation, Wolf woman living in Whitehorse, YK. She seeks to honour her inherent right and responsibility to steward the lands, waters, and wildlife as her ancestors have done.
Johns has worked in fish and wildlife conservation and environmental protection for nearly two decades, including a salmon enhancement project, "The Fox Creek Chinook Salmon Stock Restoration Plan" she spearheaded for nine years, and a water quality data collection initiative she worked on with Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council for thirteen years.
In all her roles, she remains rooted in the traditional knowledge of her community. She is deeply grateful for her mother’s and maternal grandparents’ teaching, which have molded her into who she has become. She looks to seven generations into the future as a way to guide her actions today.
She describes motherhood as her greatest achievement and draws strength from her two sons.
Jolene Patrick
Jolene Patrick, from N’Quatqua, is of St’át’imc Nation from her mom and Chinese Cantonese from her dad. Growing up in the semi wilderness has inspired her passion for protecting and respecting wildlife and wild spaces.
Since 2016, Jolene has been working with the nonprofit group Coast to Cascades Grizzly Bear Initiative, promoting proactive stewardship by honouring the connections between St’át’imc and ta St̓alhálama (the Grizzly Bear).
With a Bachelors of Science in Animal Biology, Jolene has had opportunities to work in the territory on wildlife studies, including northern spotted owl, grizzly bear, and bats. Sharing knowledge with community is important to her, and she hopes to inspire all ages to want to protect ti tmicwa (the land) for future generations.
She recently graduated from the Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas Advanced Planning Certificate program from Vancouver Island University and is a member of the N’Quatqua Lands and Resources Committee.
Jolene is grateful for opportunities to be on i tmicwa (the lands) and waters, reconnecting to space and being, and she is on a journey to learn both language dialects of the North and South St’át’imc, as a way to honour ancestral knowledge.
The Aunties Circle
Indigenous Peoples have always turned to trusted aunties to guide us. The fellowship draws on this same principle. We have convened an Aunties Circle of mostly Indigenous women with a breadth of experience in conservation and stewardship.
These Aunties have been recognized as leaders within their communities and Nations, have a passion for our relationship and responsibility to lands and waters, and are committed to uplifting other women in their successes.
The Aunties will meet regularly as a group to guide the initiative, and they will form collaborative relationships with the fellows to provide regular mentoring.
The Legacy of Dr.Cheryl-Lesley Chetkiewicz
The fellowship celebrates the legacy of Dr. Cheryl-Lesley Chetkiewicz, WCS Canada’s Director of Indigenous Communities and Conservation.
Throughout her career, Cheryl worked to foster greater collaboration between conservation scientists and Indigenous communities. She was a biologist who practiced science with rigour and integrity, and an advocate who uplifted Indigenous leaders and ways of knowing and doing.
Cheryl dreamed of creating more opportunities to support Indigenous women in conservation. Her insight, leadership, and empathy have served as a guide in the design of this initiative.
We are thrilled to launch this fellowship, and to sustain it beyond the pilot year, we welcome your support. Your donation will help empower Indigenous women leaders in conservation for years to come.
