Town Hall Meeting: Saving Our Environment

Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician who also works in rural and northern communities within Canada. President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and Director of PaRx, Canada’s national nature prescription program powered by the BC Parks Foundation, she is an internationally recognized leader in the field of nature and health. She has also engaged in advocacy and policy work on a broad range of other issues, from climate change and hydraulic fracturing to sustainable health care and low-carbon transportation.

A widely published writer, her work has appeared in media including the CBC, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, The Narwhal and National Observer. As a climate change panellist on CBC Radio's Early Edition, in-house medical columnist for CBC TV Vancouver and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, one of her major priorities is knowledge translation.

Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, recipient of the 2022 Adult Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature, a 2021 World Parks Week Ambassador, and sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group.

Dr. Lem explores the interactions between human health and the environment.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip has dedicated his life to defending Aboriginal Title and Rights, achieving Reconciliation and self-determination for BC First Nations. A member of the Penticton Indian Band Council for 24 years and Chief for 16 years, he is currently serving his eighth, three-year term as the President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC).

Grand Chief Phillip has fought to ensure governments stay their course in their efforts to achieve Reconciliation for First Nations, and worked with other Indigenous organizations, including the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC), to engage with provincial and federal governments on key issues for First Nations, including, but not limited to, the recognition and implementation of First Nations Title and Rights; ending violence against Indigenous women and girls; implementing the National Inquiry’s Calls for Justice; enshrining the United Nations Declaration on the Rights for Indigenous Peoples in provincial and federal legislation; establishing a game revenue sharing agreement for BC First Nations, and protecting the rights and welfare of First Nations from industrial and energy projects that infringe upon their territories and lands.

He is a strong advocate for our planet and Indigenous stewardship of lands and waters.

Adele Liu is the Treasurer of Nature Vancouver, a 105 year old and fully volunteer run charitable organization dedicated to promoting the enjoyment and preservation of nature. She joined Nature Vancouver in 2013 as she learned to appreciate the amazing natural environment and wildlife in BC and Canada.

She has partnered with environmental scientists and experienced naturalists to bring both science and ordinary citizen’s perspectives to the table.

Hailing from a country where development was prioritized almost at any cost, she feels the urgency to get the balance of economic growth and environmental protection right because she has seen firsthand the impacts of unmitigated encroachment on the natural world.

Adele works with likeminded naturalists on environmental conservation efforts ranging from stakeholder engagement to restoration projects including an oyster survey & cultivation project for water improvement in False Creek. She is also one of many voices opposing the Roberts Bank port expansion.