waapiskw ᐧᐋᐱᔅᒄ (Polar bears) in Canada’s Eeyou Marine Region © Alexandra Langwieder

Co-Principal Investigators

We are 6 Co-PIs with a broad range of interdisciplinary expertise, experience (in leading large research grants), and relevant skills and knowledge related to biodiversity and Indigenous health-wellbeing. As Co-PIs, we are 50% Indigenous.

Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine

I am a Tuareg (Indigenous) woman from Timbuktu, Mali. I have a medical degree from the Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi-Ouzou in Algeria, a Master’s degree in Humanitarian Action (University of Geneva) and a B.Ed. (University of Ottawa). I am a former president of the United Nation Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and have held many related positions in advocacy of the global health of Indigenous Peoples (e.g., on UNESCO Global Task Force on Indigenous Languages, Indigenous, Lead of the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV- AIDS). I will play a leadership role in respect of the whole project as well as lead the Global Transformation Pathway Team on Social Justice, Reconciliation and Healing (T5). Given my global experience, I will work closely with all GTPT on global scale transformations.

Website: https://mariamaboubakrine.com/

Danika Littlechild

Danika Billie Littlechild

I am Cree from Neyaskweyahk, Ermineskin Cree Nation in Maskwacis, Treaty No. 6 territory (Alberta) and have a long career as a lawyer in support of IPs in the areas of Indigenous legal orders, environment, conservation, and health. I have played many roles in Canada and globally that are relevant to this project. In addition to being an advisor and Indigenous Peoples Representative in the United Nations system, I was Vice-President of CCUNESCO (2014-2018). I also served on various boards of directors and am an advisor to the Assembly of First Nations. A strong focus of my work and leadership relates to “Ethical Space” and Indigenous-led conservation. This is evident in my growing publication record and role as Co-Chair of the Indigenous Circle of Experts under the Pathway to Canada Target 1. I am also a co-applicant with Conservation through Reconciliation (SSHRC-PG) and will ensure synergies with this project. I will lead the transformation pathway on Indigenous Rights (T2). In addition, I will be strongly focused on the elevation of research outputs into federal initiatives and obligations related to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Website: https://danikabillielittlechild.com/

Sherry Pictou

I am a Mi’kmaw woman from Mi’kmaki territory in Nova Scotia. I have a significant history of relevant leadership. I am a former Chief of my community (Bear River), former Co-Chair of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples and present member of the IPBES Task Force on Indigenous and Local Knowledge. I was recently awarded a Canada Research Chair (CRC Tier II) in Indigenous Governance at Dalhousie University in the Schulich School of Law. I will lead work on Indigenous Harvesting Rights and Sustainable Use (T3). Additional focus will be on the implementation of GBA+ and in the elevation of outputs from the project into IPBES other global forums.

Additional Bio from Dalhousie: https://www.dal.ca/faculty/law/faculty-staff/our-faculty/sherry-pictou.html

Brenda Parlee

I am a a ‘settler’ scholar from north-eastern Ontario, Canada with B.A. (University of Guelph, 1995), and an M.E.S. in Environmental Studies (University of Waterloo, 1998). I received my PhD from the University of Manitoba in Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) in 2005. During 2006-2016), I was a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) at the University of Alberta. I share a UNESCO Chair with Aboubakrine and Littlechild in Collaboration for Biodiversity Conservation and Indigenous Health and Well-being.

In 2025, I moved to McGill University in Montréal as the Bieler Chair in Northern Climate Change and Sustainability and Professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences | Bieler School of the Environment. I have worked in northern Canada and globally for over 27 years on a range of collaborative and community-based research projects related to community-based monitoring, social-ecological change in the Mackenzie River Basin, wildlife health, caribou-population change, sustainable resource development, and the impacts of mining on community well-being, I am the Nominated Principal Investigator of the Ărramăt Project.

Website: https://brendaparlee.ca/

John O’Neil

I am a Professor and former (Founding) Dean (2007-17) of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. I have served on the Boards of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Past Chair), the National Collaborating Centre on Aboriginal Health at the Public Health Agency of Canada (2006-17), the NeuroDevNet Network of Centres of Excellence (2012-16), and Providence Health Care Research Institute (2013-17). I have held more than $50M in grants/contracts for research involving IPs in Canada and many regions globally (150 publications, reports, 75 trainees). I am currently working with IPs in Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar supported by Grand Challenges Canada/CIHR. I will lead the work associated with Global Place-Based Research Team 10 (T10) on Indigenous Medicine and Health Care.

Additional bio from Simon Fraser: https://www.sfu.ca/fhs/about/people/profiles/john-oneil.html

Murray Humphries

I am a Professor Wildlife Biology in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University in Montreal. I hold the McGill Chair in Northern Research and serve as the academic director of McGill’s Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment (CINE) dedicated to community-based research on food and the environment. I also serve alongside Vuntut Gwitchin knowledge holder Norma Kassi as co-Research Director of the NCE Canadian Mountain Network (CMN). I led the McGill–Alberta NSERC CREATE graduate training program and was a member of the expert panel that generated the Council of Canadian Academies 2014 report on Aboriginal Food Security in Northern Canada. My research focuses on wildlife and environmental contributions to the traditional food systems of Indigenous Peoples. This focus has led me to studies of participatory approaches in natural sciences research, the nature of community-university research partnerships, and documentation of the food knowledge of northern Indigenous Peoples. I will contribute to Ărramăt by creating links to CMN, CINE, and other Québec biodiversity-wellbeing initiatives.

Additional bio from McGill: https://www.mcgill.ca/nrs/academic-0/humphries
Additional bio from CMN: https://www.canadianmountainnetwork.ca/about/directory/dr-murray-humphries

Staff

Amabel D’Souza, Zaya Yansanjav, Carrie Oloriz, Rob Stuart, Sainbuyan Munkhbat, Jacques-Ellie, Don Assalé

Indigenous-Led Place-Based Project Leaders

Co-leads of Global Transformation Pathways

Alejandro Argumedo, Treena Wasonti:io Delormier, Chris Furgal | Danika Billie Littlechild, Carwyn Jones | Sherry Pictou, Tony Charles. |. Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine, Amaranta Gómez Regalado, Val Napoleon | Kim TallBear, Warren Cardinal-McTeague, May-Britt Öhman | Prasert Trakansuphakon, Prateep Nayak | Jesse Popp, Susan Kutz Herb Nakimayak, Brenda Parlee | Maria-Eugenia Choque, Iain Davidson-Hunt, Krista Stelkia, John O’Neil

Our Ărramăt Family

Thanks To:

Tero Mustonen. Ellen Goddard. Nigel Scott. Ashlee Cunsolo, Hugo Melgar-Quinonez, Robin Roth. Noreen Willows. Alexander Arbachakov. Willie Littlechild. Frances Abele. Jakob Zinsstag. Teresa Zapeta, Tracy Howlett

In Memory Of:

Deb Simmons, Fraser Taylor, Liane Ngamane