West Coast Climate Action Network
Meet Our Dedicated People
At the heart of the West Coast Climate Action Network lies a dedicated community of passionate volunteers. WE-CAN celebrates the incredible individuals who tirelessly unite to amplify the efforts of environmental organizations across British Columbia.
Together, we stand stronger in the fight for climate justice and in our collective efforts to address the climate crisis. Here, you will see the faces behind our mission and learn about their stories. Your support through donations and funding is crucial in sustaining our work and driving meaningful change. To donate, click here. Please join us in our commitment to a healthier, more sustainable future for all by becoming a member, or volunteering on one of our working teams.
Alison Bodine
Director, Team Leader for the Communications Team
Originally from the U.S., I have lived in Vancouver for a majority of the last 15 years after graduating from the University of British Columbia. Since high school I have been an environmental, antiwar and social justice activist dedicated to the fight for a better, sustainable, and just world.
For the past five years, I have been a central organizer with the grassroots climate justice coalition, Climate Convergence Metro Vancouver. With Climate Convergence I have been part of building the growing movement in Metro Vancouver against the disastrous environmental policies of the government of Canada, including the Site C Dam, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, and the Coastal GasLink Pipeline.
I am also a journalist, author, and researcher with a focus on environmental, Latin American and immigration issues. Most recently, my articles have been published internationally by Venezuelanalysis, Global Research, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Common Dreams, Orinoco Tribune, Monthly Review and Counterpunch.
Brad Procter
Director
Brad is a lawyer by trade, with a business degree, who has worked as a corporate litigator on Bay street, a real estate executive throughout Western Canada, a field accountant in a distant past, and most recently in leadership roles in the ENGO sector. Brad is currently the Executive Director of the Gorge Waterway Action Society, a charity dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the Gorge Waterway in Victoria, BC, on Lekwungen-speaking territory.
In recent years, Brad has focused more and more on climate work, with an emphasis on government relations, lobbying, training, and climate education.
Chélie-Renée Elsom
Independent Consultant – Operations and Strategy
Chélie-Renée brings exceptional communication, research, organizational, and writing skills to her work in the environmental sector. She holds a Certificate in Business Sustainability Management from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, a Diploma in Environmental Studies (Management), and a Bachelor of Environmental Practice from Royal Roads University, where she graduated with distinction, receiving the President’s Scholar award and the Chancellor’s Medal.
She is the owner of One Planet’s Worth, a small environmental consulting and communications business that supports nonprofits, small municipalities, and community organizations with strategic planning, digital systems, sustainability consulting, and communications, and she sits on the Salmon Arm Environmental Advisory Committee.
Guy Dauncey
Director, Co-Chair, Team Leader for the Climate Action Provincial Assembly (CAPA) Team
I am a self-employed organizer and author who works to develop a positive vision of a sustainable future and to translate that vision into action. I am the founder of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, co-founder of the Victoria Car-Share Cooperative, President of the Yellow Point Ecological Society, and co-founder and Co-Chair of the West Coast Climate Action Network. I am the author or co-author of ten books, including The Climate Challenge: 101 Solutions to Global Warming and Journey to the Future: A Better World is Possible. I am currently completing my latest book, The Economics of Kindness. I believe that the 2020s are the most critical decade in the history of our civilization. I am a climate alarmist, but not a doomer: I share the view of Paul Hawken that if we put our minds to it, we can end the climate crisis within one generation. If we all work together, we can exert an incredible influence.
Joslin Jose
Storyteller
Our Storyteller, Joslin, shines a light on the incredible work of our member organizations. Through thoughtful interviews, Joslin explores these groups’ missions, projects, and unique contributions, creating compelling stories that celebrate their impact. From highlighting innovative climate solutions to showcasing grassroots efforts in action, Joslin’s stories bring our network’s collective efforts to life. By sharing these stories, we aim to inspire collaboration, amplify our members’ voices, and strengthen the movement for climate action in British Columbia.
Katherine Maas
Director, Secretary, Team Leader for the Indigenous Engagement and JEDI Teams
I am a retired educator, a mother and grandmother, a systems thinker, a passionate climate hawk, an experienced coach and facilitator, comfortable with technology, with strong writing and editing skills, a committed and collaborative team member.
Previous governance experience:
- 7 years as a community organizer at Dogwood
- 10 years as manager of an international team of professionals responsible for developing and delivering interpersonal skills training to engineers in a multinational telecom
- 10 years as a strata council president including directing a successful and harmonious $1.5M envelope replacement
- 3 years as a founder and board member of a daycare start-up
- several years as a community association board member
- 3 years as a board member of a women’s collaborative investment club
- current board member of the First Unitarian Church of Victoria
As a mother and grandmother, I am determined to help drive the actions needed to ensure a livable planet for future generations – not only for humans, but for all lifeforms and the interconnected ecosystems we are dependent upon.
Lauren Touchant
Director
Dr. Lauren Touchant is a Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy in the Department of Political Studies at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia. She specializes in Environment and Climate Policy, Energy Policy, Digital and AI Governance, Emergency and Disaster Management, and Social Policy.
Dr. Touchant completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Royal Roads University under the supervision of Dr. Smith-Carrier, Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in the School of Humanitarian Studies at Royal Roads University, British Columbia. She also completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Ottawa within the Centre on Governance (COG) and the Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS), focusing on Water Law and Freshwater Governance.
She received her PhD in Public Administration from the University of Ottawa and has been recognized with several prestigious academic scholarships and awards. Dr. Touchant graduated as Valedictorian and was awarded the Vanier Scholarship (2016-2019) and the Alex Trebek Scholarship (2022-2023). She has also received numerous community honors, including the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Pin, the Vanier Community Award, the Ottawa Distinguished Women Award (Community Pillar), and the 2018 Ontario Leading Women, Leading Girls, Building Communities Award.
Dr. Touchant has several publications and currently leads the development of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Program on Climate Leadership in Canada and Senegal.
Mariama J. Krubally
Director
Mariama is a first-generation University graduate hailed from The Gambia, West Africa. She earned a Bachelor’s in Development Studies and a Master’s in International Relations and Diplomacy. She is an activist and has volunteered with different youth organizations from a young age to date. Mariama is passionate about environmental preservation and sustainable development. Her hobbies include Arts and crafts in which she recycles products to create interior designs to help reuse and reduce waste. She loves nature and finds fulfillment in nurturing fruit trees and tree planting activities. Mariama is a content creator, she loves photography and uses pictures to tell stories, which can be found on her YouTube channel. She is concerned about Climate Change and always willing to join the fight irrespective of where she finds herself, thus her motivation to join the WE-CAN Climate Action Network of British Columbia for a better and healthier planet.
Robert Gunn
Director, Treasurer
Robert settled in Port Alberni in 1973 by way of NZ and Peru. He has worked for FN and provincial governments and private industry and has been self-employed for the past 50 years. As a grandfather to young children, he disparages the implications of the climate crisis and the havoc it is already causing and which will only worsen as this decade unfolds. He believes that we are all complicit, in as much as we lack the social cohesion needed to address the well-understood root causes. Perhaps WE-CAN will be able to play its part in building the required community to address this huge and painful issue.
Saskia Geurtzen
Director, Co-Chair, Team Leader for the Members and Fundraising Teams
Saskia is a passionate climate advocate with extensive experience in policy development, partnership management, and community engagement. With a background in Public and Business Administration, she has worked with organizations such as the European Climate Foundation and Oxfam, supporting climate resilience and sustainable development worldwide. At WE-CAN, Saskia contributes her expertise to the fundraising, governance, and member engagement teams, driven by her commitment to building a sustainable and equitable future for all.
Sebastian Sajda
Director
Sebastian Sajda is the Organizing Program Manager at Organizing for Change (OFC), where he leads the Campaign Accelerator program, helping organizers and community groups across BC build their skills in strategy, organizing, and campaigning for climate and environmental justice. Based on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Semiahmoo, Katzie, and Kwantlen First Nations (Surrey, BC), he draws on a political science background from Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria, focused on political theory. He is particularly interested in how technology can strengthen grassroots organizing and democratic engagement.
At the municipal level, Sebastian serves as vice‑president of the Force of Nature Alliance, where he helped guide the organization through a transition from a staffed model to an all‑volunteer one during a budget crisis. As a petitioner in Force of Nature Society v. City of Surrey, he was part of winning an injunction that temporarily halted the 84 Avenue road project through Bear Creek Park and set important precedent for community efforts to protect urban green space. He serves on Surrey’s Environment and Climate Change Committee as vice chair, and in the 2022 municipal election ran for Surrey City Council, earning nearly 20,000 votes and finishing only a few thousand votes short of a council seat in a crowded field of 56 candidates.
Provincially, Sebastian supports OFC’s mobilizations and advocacy with environmental and community partners, helping to strengthen climate networks across BC. He first ran for office at age 18 as the Green Party candidate in the 2005 B.C. provincial election in Surrey‑Green Timbers, an experience that anchored his long‑term commitment to grassroots democracy and climate action. His organizing has been recognized locally, including an honourable mention as Environmental Leader at the 2024 Surrey Now‑Leader Community Leader Awards.
Tara Shushtarian
Director
For the past twenty years I have been a strong advocate for climate and social justice and a core team member with the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, Dogwood Initiative and Force Of Nature Alliance. I have worked on several campaigns like the BC Poverty Reduction Plan, which has been adopted into legislation; Climate Emergency Declaration in Municipalities; All On Board for accessible, affordable transit; and the referendum on electoral reform in BC. My recent involvement with Fair Vote Canada has amplified the need for a citizen’s assembly and proportional representation at the municipal level. I also did a two-year stint with the BC Centre For Palliative Care as a South Asian advisor for their Advanced Care Plan. I am currently on the Environment Committee for Burnaby Council as a resident representative and have been elected to the board of Fair Vote Canada. A cinema aficionado, I am on the board of the NewWest Film Society.
With the various crises the world faces, be it climate catastrophe, burgeoning inequalities and the dire pandemic we are living through, we need urgent action and renewed energetic trajectory changes. My canoe has left the bank on the river of reconciliation. I continue to grow and learn about Indigenous rights. Along with my activism, I have worked as a translator, teacher and mortgage consultant which has always allowed me to bring different perspectives, skills and viewpoints to the table. I have good analytical skills and am a team player fostering relationships through an alliance with environmental, social and racial justice.
TJ Nyhan
Storyteller
TJ is a youth climate activist, art student, writer and lifeguard. Her passion for sustainability stems from her experiences on the BC coast and a practical dream of longevity for the world. Having spent much of her teenage years participating in social justice initiatives on Vancouver Island, including serving as a youth representative for BC Resilience, she has developed skills in non-fiction storytelling and communication.
Through her work on WE-CAN’s impact stories with Joslin, TJ hopes to combine her knowledge with the amazing stories present in WE-CAN’s network to provide thoughtful, summative articles for readers and members.
